PARIS - France Telecom Corp. said Monday it would buy the free-floating shares of mobile operator Orange from minority shareholders. The deal, worth about 7 billion euros, marks the end of Orange's era of independence, which began with a stock market float in February 2001. Minority shareholders currently own 13% of Orange. France Telecom is offering 11 of its shares for 25 of the company's shares.

"I am grateful to the editorial board of the Vedomosti newspaper for the timely reminder of the need... for greater responsibility when defending certain economic or political positions." State Duma deputy Alexey Melnikov. Last Thursday, Melnikov asked the Prosecutor General's Office to look into Alfred Koch's role in the privatization of Norilsk Nickel, but on Friday he changed his mind and decided to withdraw his request.

David Colhoun hardly knew what he was getting into when he agreed to head General Electric's aircraft engine division three years ago. The American economy was already ailing in 2000, and the airline market had collapsed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. But even during the downturn in the sector, Colhoun managed to keep his division's profits at the same level. Demand for jet engines, parts and maintenance shows no sign of recovering.

Political ideas that are heard in tea-time conversations or in party platforms are often based on myths about the economy. This article is the last in a series designed to dispel such myths. Today's topic is immigration. In most developed countries, migration policy is based on hypocrisy and double standards. The Russian state is quickly learning from its European neighbors. While the president declares support for labor migration, laws and regulations increasingly restrict immigration.

The energy reform plan has suffered its first setback. The pilot project for reforms in the regional energy company - Tulenergo OJSC was chosen - has been postponed for at least a couple of months. The two shareholders of this company - RAO UES of Russia and the MDM Group - cannot reach an agreement on the terms of its division. The disagreement is simple: MDM wants to acquire the Novomoskovsk GRES, which is part of Tulenergo.

Canadian company Alcan, the world's second-largest aluminum producer, has not given up hope of absorbing one of its European competitors, the French Pechiney. After Pechiney's management rejected the Canadians' offer worth $3.9 billion, Alcan proposed raising the deal price to $4.34 billion. But even this offer seems insufficiently generous to Pechiney's top managers.

However, there are more cautious analysts. James Fenkner, head of the analytical department at Troika Dialog, hopes that by the end of the year the index will reach 550 points, but it will take a year and a half to reach 600 points. "Dividend yield and the buyback of shares by YUKOS, of course, contribute to the growth of the market," says Fenkner.

Many have heard of the so-called Wiener hypothesis. Its essence is as follows: several monkeys, if you put them at typewriters, will sooner or later type all of Shakespeare's plays. Humanity has remembered the striking example given by the great mathematician and, by the way, the founder of cybernetics, and with persistence worthy of a better application, from time to time tries to prove this hypothesis in practice.

The Czech Skoda models - Octavia and SuperB - may disappear from the range of Russian car dealerships. The government threatens to respond to the prohibitive duties imposed by the Czech Republic on Russian fertilizers with additional duties on these cars. Until recently, Skoda cars were among the most popular foreign cars in Russia.

The board of directors of Sibirtelecom approved a deal with Alfa-Bank to pay off a debt to the state in the amount of 12 million euros. Thus, Alfa-Bank becomes the largest creditor of Sibirtelecom - at the beginning of the year, the operator already borrowed $21 million from the bank to buy stakes in Yeniseytelecom and Baikalwestcom.

In the "Words" section (No. 156 from 09/01/2003, p. A2) it should be read: "Ignatiev believes that if Moscow and Minsk do not sign an agreement on Belarus' transition to the Russian ruble in the near future, the use of cash rubles on the territory of Belarus may not begin on January 1, 2005." The editors apologize.

The MDM Group is ready to completely redesign the system of reforming RAO UES of Russia, created by Anatoly Chubais and his team. As Vedomosti has learned, MDM has developed an alternative option for reforming the JSC-energo, the ultimate goal of which is to gain control over generating assets. Experts believe that the group is trying to violate the very logic of the reform.

A computer scientist from St. Petersburg has managed to trick the centralized testing system of the Ministry of Education. Successful completion of these tests guarantees admission to most Russian universities. The director of the Testing Center calls the hack an isolated incident and promises to strengthen security measures and prevent similar cases in the future. Sp0Raw, as the St.

Due to a cold and rainy summer, Russia will harvest a quarter less grain this year than last year. This has driven up barley and wheat prices to record highs and is threatening to paralyze the grain market: traders have limited exports and even stopped buying grain from Russian producers. Analysts continue to lower their forecasts for the 2003 harvest, and Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev compares grain harvesting conditions to the cold summer of 1953.

The budget annually underpays exporters about a third of the value-added tax returned to them, the Ministry of Economic Development believes. German Gref's department proposes to correct the formula for calculating the amount of refundable VAT and the 2004 budget project so that next year exporters will receive 83 billion rubles more. The Ministry of Finance considers this idea unfeasible. The Tax Code sets a zero VAT rate for exporters.