Russian show business figures have sent a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov proposing an original solution to the problem of audio and video piracy. The musicians and producers propose charging a mandatory "copyright fee" on any CD or DVD sold in Russia, regardless of whether it is pirated or official. Opponents claim that in this way, show business figures are effectively legalizing piracy.

Foreign companies are hardly raising capital on the US stock market. They have lost their taste for the American market due to the worsening market conditions and the fall of the dollar against the main world currencies. According to Citigroup, the total amount of capital raised by foreign companies from American depositary receipt (ADR) sales and private placements since the beginning of the year was $9.3 billion.

The Dagestan prosecutor's office has opened a criminal case against the president of the company "Dagsvyazinform" Akhmed Zakharov on charges of violating antimonopoly legislation. The territorial department of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy of Dagestan claims that "Dagsvyazinform" interfered with the normal work of the local communications operator "Makhachkala".

The Expert Council at the Federal Securities Commission did not approve the regulator's resolution reducing the time it takes for registrars and depositories to perform transactions. The experts believed that the rush would destabilize the work of infrastructure organizations. Their representatives fear that for the sake of speed they will have to reduce the number of clients.

"LUKOIL" - JP Morgan. American investment bank JP Morgan has assigned a recommendation "above market" to LUKOIL common shares, setting their fair price at $21 per share. The bank's analysts consider these securities to be one of the most attractive assets on the Russian market. JP Morgan is confident that LUKOIL has great potential to improve its financial performance, primarily by reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency.

Disappointed analysts have already labeled Surgutneftegaz as a "regional company" - it has been pumping oil in the Khanty-Mansiysk District for 10 years, refining it in the Leningrad Region, and is not getting involved anywhere else. All the talk of its managers about the company's entry into the Timan-Pechora Province or Yakutia has already been forgotten, and the Surgut residents themselves have given up the fight for Slavneft.

Turkcell creates a joint venture in Ukraine. Kyiv - Turkish mobile operator Turkcell will invest $50 million in a joint venture with Ukrainian mobile operator Digital Cellular Communication (DCC), the Turkcell press service reported. Yesterday, the Turkcell board of directors approved the deal, as a result of which Turkcell will own 51% of the shares of the new company, which is being created jointly by the current shareholders of DCC and Turkcell's subsidiary, Turktell.

The excitement around the tender for the right to manage the North-West Thermal Power Plant seems to be starting to subside. As Vedomosti has learned, one of the potential contenders, the German concern E.ON, has notified RAO UES of Russia of its refusal to participate in this project. And along with the Germans, the company Lenenergo, which had planned to form an alliance with E.ON to participate in the tender, has also lost interest in the plant.

Alfa Bank Sales Manager Alexander Zakharov believes that Templeton became a shareholder in AvtoVAZ in the first half of September. "The most active transactions with the plant's shares were observed on September 9-10," he says. "Then someone conducted a fairly large block of papers (approximately $1.5 million) through RTS." Templeton Fund admitted yesterday that it is a minority shareholder in AvtoVAZ.

The manager of the Jeans Symphony chain of stores, Aleksey Potapov, forbids his salespeople from asking customers the question: "How can I help you?" The taboo on these words was introduced here a year ago. As competition among retail chains intensifies, many retailers are seriously concerned about the quality of customer service and are now implementing systems to increase the motivation of ordinary personnel, says Yuri Yakovchik, CEO of the Paterson supermarket chain.

Yesterday, YUKOS finally made public its views on the upcoming "divorce" with Sibneft. The company insists on a reverse mirror deal and joint liability to shareholders. However, Sibneft's comments show that the parties have not yet managed to reach a final agreement. In early October, YUKOS became the full owner of 92% of Sibneft shares, having given Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich and his partners $3 billion and 26.01% of its shares for them.

The management of SIBUR has approved a project to build a thermal power plant to supply heat and electricity to Togliattikauchuk. The investment volume will exceed 800 million rubles. Analysts believe that if the project is implemented, the Togliattian Thermal Power Plant, whose main consumer today is Togliattikauchuk, will suffer. OOO Togliattikauchuk was founded in 1999 on the basis of Sintezkauchuk. The main owner of the plant is Khimprom, a subsidiary of SIBUR.

MOSCOW - TMK Steel Limited (Cyprus) has become the owner of 51% of the shares of ZAO TMK , according to a TMK press release. The company explained that the consolidation of the share package is one of the stages of the program to transform ZAO TMK into an open joint-stock company. "The transition of TMK from ZAO to OAO will take place no earlier than 2005," the source specified. (INTERFAX).

The European Commission has demanded that Electricite de France return $1.09 billion in state subsidies received between 1987 and 1996. French officials are unhappy with the decision. They say they may challenge the European Commission's verdict in court. Electricite de France is a French state-owned company that specializes in the production, transmission and sale of electricity. In 2002, EDF's revenue was $50.68 billion, net profit - $504.1 million.

Residents of the Italian city of Parma, peacefully preparing for the Christmas holidays, could not have imagined that Italy's most notorious financial scandal in recent times would bring down their hero.