Khvorostovsky to sing title aria in Verdi's opera in USA.

NEW YORK, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Prominent Russian baritone singer
Dmitry Khvorostovsky will sing the title aria in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera on January 20.

This will be his debut in the role of the Doge of Venice. Two years ago
Khvorostovsky was a great success in singing the aria in a San Francisco
presentation of the opera.
The celebrated singer cut a brilliant figure in Verdi's four operas
staged at the Metropolitan. On the New York stage he sang the part of
George Germone in La Traviata, Rodrigo in Don Carlos, Renato in A Masked
Ball, and Count di Luna in IL Trovatore.
The opera will be performed under the baton of Metropolitan music
director James Levine. The performance, which will run five times in
January and February, will also feature Italian soprano singer Barbara
Fritolli and famous Mexican tenor Ramon Vargas.

.Bosworth to discuss resumption of six-way talks.

SEOUL, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Stephen Bosworth, US special
representative for North Korea policy, arrives in the capital of the
Republic of Korea (ROK) on Tuesday to discuss the problem of resuming the
six-country talks with Pyongyang on denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula. The American emissary will also visit China and Japan.
The tour is made within the scope of Washington's preparation for a
summit meeting with Beijing which calls on the negotiating countries to
have dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with a view
to easing tension around the Korean Peninsula.
A meeting in Washington between US President Barack Obama and Chinese
President Hu Jintao is scheduled for January 19. The North Korea problem
will be the main subject of discussion at the summit.
While in Seoul, the American official will meet Wednesday with South
Korea's chief delegate at the talks Wie Sung-rak, and call on Kim
Sung-hwan, ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

.Transaero establishes Russia-Brazil direct air link.

RIO DE JANEIRO, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - The Transaero air company has
established a direct air link between Russia and Brazil.
A Boeing-747 airliner with 303 Russian tourists on board landed here
on Tuesday, covering 11,800 kilometres that separate Galean international
airport and Domodedovo in 13 hours and 40 minutes in a non-stop flight.
The airliner's crew commander Oleg Strochevoi has told Itar-Tass, "The
flight has been made in a normal mode".
Andrei Budayev, Russia's Consul-General in Rio de Janeiro, who was
present at the airport during the airliner's landing, said, "The start of
Transaero airliners' flights to Rio de Janeiro is a great contribution to
the programme for the development of strategic partner's relations between
Russia and Brazil. This contribution will promote a further development of
our tourist and business exchanges".
Budayev emphasized that the question of establishing a direct air link
between the two countries had been raised last year during meetings
between Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Luis Inacio Lula da Silva
of Brazil.
The Russian diplomat recalled that "For half a year now, people of
Brazil and Russia have had no need for visas for mutual tourist trips".

.Ice situation deteriorates, trawler close to shore.

VLADIVOSTOK, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Out of all ice-nipped ships in
the Sakhalin Gulf, the trawler Mys Yelizavety (Cape Elizabeth) has found
itself in the most dangerous situation on Tuesday. The drifting ice
carried the trawler close to the shore, to a distance of less than one
kilometre from the coast.
The icebreakers Admiral Makarov and Magadan have been sent out to
rescue the trawler, the sea rescue coordinating subcenter
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk announced.
All in all, five ships are currently nipped in the ice of the Sakhalin
Gulf: the depot ship Sodruzhestvo, the research vessel Professor
Kisiwetter, transport refrigerators Bereg Nadezhdy (shore of hope) and
Anton Gurin, and the trawler Mys Yelizavety.
The small harbour icebreaker Magadan with a power of 13,000 hp tried
to approach them for two days but was unable to overcome the snow-covered
hummocky ice the thickness of which is up to two metres.
The 36,000-hp icebreaker Admiral Makarov entered the Sakhalin Gulf on
Tuesday morning. Rescuers hope that with the icebreaker's assistance the
ice-nipped ships will be led to ice-free water.
There are about 500 people on board the five ice-nipped ships, with
the depot ship Sodruzhestvo having a 340-member crew. The depot ship
captain radioed to the rescuers that there is no danger to human lives.
The ship has a store of fuel and food for 75 days.
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