Russian gas monopolist Gazprom took the fourth place in the ranking of world 500 biggest corporations made by The Financial Times.

The London Stock Exchange and Lehman Brothers establish a Pan-European trading platform Baikal, named after the world deepest lake.

Bank of Cyprus takes over Russian Uniastrum Bank for $576 million. It has become known that two key shareholders of the Russian bank will hold 10% of the stake each.

Every second Russian citizen believes introduction of ration cards for food can make the life of the poorest better. At this, 22% of the respondents are absolutely sure that ration cards are urgently needed.

Rusian steel giant Severstal announced it has reached an agreement on acquisition of Esmark Inc., one of the fastest growing steel services companies in the world, for $1.25 billion.

The first Kika store will open in December of 2008, and then the company plans to launch a network of 15 stores in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Tyumen and other Russian cities.

Yesterday Italian architect Dr. David Fisher announced two first buildings in motion to be constructed within two years, one of them – in Moscow.

Russians have bought up 30% of all apartments in Marina 101 Project in Dubai, the head of BuyDubai Investment Company reported on Monday.

French Company L’Oreal and the authorities of the Kaluga Region, Russia, signed an agreement on construction of a cosmetics factory. The expected volume of investments is 45 million EUR.

LUKoil and ERG S.p.A. based in Italy signed an agreement on creation of a joint venture to operate the ISAB refinery located in Sicilia.