Russia to present Timbaland's song at Eurovision 2008

Dima Bilan will once again represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest, having just won the 2008 Russian national final with the song Believe.



The Russian national selection, held in Moscow, was one of the longest of the 2008 season so far, no fewer than 27 competing songs. Dima's winning song Believe was produced by world renowned producer Timbaland, who had also previously worked with Dima on his recent hit Number One Fan.

Dima Bilan, born Viktor Belan is of course no stranger to the Eurovision Song Contest, having ultimately finished in second position in the Final of the 2006 Contest in Athens with his song Never Let You Go, losing out only to Lordi from Finland. Since then, Dima has hired t.A.T.u.'s former PR manager, Sasha Tityanko, to help him to try and break out in the western market.

In 2008 Dima is planning to record three albums, a Russian, English and Spanish one. Now he is working on his English album, for which some tracks were produced by Timbaland. In February 2008, Dima went to Los Angeles and recorded a Spanish album with famous producer Rudy Perez, which will include a duet with Nelly Furtado, and a Spanish version of his first international single Number One Fan.

Russia will participate in the first Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday 20th of May in Belgrade. CREDIT: Eurovision.tv

Expobank scandal calendar and other examples of erotic advertising

Visiting the bank manager used to be a somewhat sobering experience. How times have changed. If Barclays is successful in its £200 million bid for Russia's Expobank, it may find that the assets are more tangible than it had imagined.

These scantily-clad employees – ranging from secretaries to senior executives – have spiced up the Moscow-based bank's image with a 2008 calendar that is certain to raise eyebrows with the UK giant. The women, aged between 20 and 33, peeled off to reveal an unexpected side to the world of commerce, with their pictures accompanied by provocative slogans doubling as advertising messages.

























The models include the bank's chief economist for super-rich VIP clients, Anna Pogodina (Miss March), and her boss, Julia Kovyneva (Miss April), who is sprawled across a bed. Senior manager Maria Guterman begins the year with her modesty protected by only a tray of cakes. She is followed by Miss February Yevgenia Trusilova, a network sales manager, who is seen bending over a kitchen counter and accompanied by the slogan: "We work under your personal request."

An Expobank spokeswoman said: "We wanted to make a pleasant surprise for our clients. "We wanted them to know that it's not only professionals working with them but also beautiful women."

Expobank is a relatively small retail and commercial banking group whose major shareholders include British financier Lord Hambro, who has extensive interests in Russian gold-mining. Barclays, Britain's third largest lender, with 2007 annual profits of more than £7 billion, is in the advanced stages of talks to buy a controlling stake in the bank. CREDIT: dailymail.co.uk

While the foreign banking industry is surprised with Expobank disarming frankness this calendar is no shocker in russian advertising world. See other examples of erotic approach to the business which is practiced in Russia.

International Moscow Bank









Pharmaceutical company ZELDIS











Telecommunications company CORBINA TELECOM











Automobile Association MUSA MOTORS

Dmitry Medvedev - New President of Russia

So the new President of Russia for the next 4 years is Dmitry Medvedev. He gathered almost 70% of votes in Russia today, March 2, on the Russian President's Elections Day. But who is this politician?



Dmitry Medvedev was born September 14, 1965 in Leningrad (St.Petersbourg). He graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. In 1990 he worked in Leningrad Municipal Soviet of People's Deputies. Between 1991 and 1999 he worked as a docent at his old university, now renamed Saint Petersburg State University. In 1991 - 1996 Medvedev also worked as a legal expert for the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office under Vladimir Putin.

In November 1993, Medvedev became the legal affairs director of Ilim Pulp Enterprise, a St. Petersburg-based timber company. In 1998, he was elected a member of the board of directors of the Bratskiy LPK paper mill. He worked for Ilim Pulp until 1999.

In November of 1999 he became one of several St.Petersburgers brought by Vladimir Putin to top government positions in Moscow. In December of the same year he was appointed deputy head of the presidential staff. Dmitri Medvedev became one of the politicians closest to President Putin, and during the 2000 elections he was head of the presidential election campaign headquarters.

From 2000 to 2001, Medvedev was chair of Gazprom's board of directors. He was then deputy chair from 2001 to 2002. In June of 2002, Medvedev became chair of Gazprom's board of directors for a second time. In October 2003, he replaced Alexander Voloshin as presidential chief of staff. He was appointed first deputy prime minister of the Russian government on November 14, 2005.

On December 10, 2007, he was informally endorsed as a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections by the largest Russian political party, United Russia, and officially endorsed on December 17, 2007. Medvedev's candidacy was massively supported by former president Vladimir Putin and pro-presidential parties.

A mild-mannered person, Dmitry Medvedev is considered to be a moderate liberal pragmatic, an able administrator and a loyalist of Putin.

Dimitri Medvedev is married and has a son named Ilya, 12 y.o. His wife, Svetlana Medvedeva, was both his childhood friend and school sweetheart. They wed several years after their graduation from secondary school in 1982.

Medvedev has often represented himself as a devoted fan of hard rock, listing Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as his favourite bands. He is a collector of their original vinyl records. Among his hobbies are reading the works of Mikhail Bulgakov, and following his hometown professional soccer team, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. He keeps an aquarium in his office and cares for his fish himself.
Medvedev stands tiny 162 centimetres (5'4") in height and is even smaller than Putin.
CREDIT: Wikipedia

The air muscovites breathe

This is Moscow.



For the second year in a row Moscow has been the world's most expensive city. After calculating the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive than New York.

Today Moscow has nearly 3,000,000 cars. Gray-brown noxious haze of smog covers the streets filled with jam-packed traffic, which blows out tons of unhealthy exhaust fumes of carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals. As a result concentrations of harmful substances often exceed maximum allowable by 10-20 times.

Several government programs were designed to combat air pollution with a target to bring Moscow back down to EU standards by 2010. But those are just optimistic plans considering the severe present conditions. Credit: worldfrontpage.com

Who will be the next President of Russia?

While Putin's portrait by "Platon" for TIME magazine was named the best portrait at World Press Photo 2007...



...everyone in Russia is discussing next president as Russian President Elections are to be held on March 2nd. And now it's almost obvious that the next President of Russia will be Dmitriy Medvedev. Putin himself said he would like him to lead the country for the next 4 years and besides his 3 rivals are as weak as ever. Here's Medevedev's official website.



Honestly Russians not keen on Medvedev but there's no-one to choose from. So many people are talking about ignoring the elections.