Kremlin hopes future of Opel deal to be cleared up soon.

SOCHI, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- The Kremlin hopes that the future of
the Opel deal will be cleared up before long.

"We expect that the situation will get clear in the near future. The
negotiations on the transaction are proceeding in favorable political
conditions," a source in the presidential staff told the media on Friday.
According to the official the theme of cooperation with Germany in
major investment projects, including that involving Opel, was high on the
agenda of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's meeting with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel a week ago.
"We hope that the discussion that has taken place will give an impetus
to the early completion of the talks on this complicated and important
matter," the source said, adding, though, that many details were still to
be coordinated. "In the end it is not the speed of decision-making that
really counts, but its quality."
The board of directors of the US automotive giant General Motors was
to meet in session in Detroit on Friday to make a decision on who would
take over the European division incorporating Germany's carmaker Opel and
Britain's Vauxhall. According to sources in London, the likely new owner
of Opel and Vauxhall is Magna, of Canada, in which Russian capital is
present.
The concept offered by Magna, acting in partnership with Russia's
Sberbank and GAZ Group has earned support from Chancellor Angela Merkel,
the federal lands, the workers of Opel's Germany-based plants and its
dealers.

.Russia celebrates State Flag Day Aug 22.

MOSCOW, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia is celebrating State Flag Day.
It is a newly-introduced tradition to pay respects to the flag by singing
the national anthem and attending rallies and street processions and gala
concerts. In Moscow and St. Petersburg festivities will begin at noon.
Similar activities are taking place in many other cities across the nation.
The holiday was introduced under a presidential decree of 1994.
Although it is not on the list of official holidays and days off, the
occasion is marked annually on August 22. It was on that day in 1991 that
for the first time ever the Russian three-color flag was spontaneously
hoisted over the white marble building of the Russian government
overlooking the Moskva River to replace the Soviet Red Flag with the
hammer and sickle emblem.
Although the holiday is rather young, the history of the
white-blue-red flag is centuries long. It is known since 1667, when it
began to be used as the identification emblem of Russia's first warship,
The Oryol (The Eagle), built during the rule of Czar Alexei Mikhailovich
(1629-1676). Officially, this symbol was approved by Peter the Great. In
1705 he established the order of stripes, personally drew up its sketch
and ordered hoisting the flag on all Russian ships.
In modern Russia the three-color banner was established as the
official state symbol in August 1991, first by a resolution of the RSFSR
Supreme Soviet, and then by a presidential decree of 1993. The law adopted
in 2000 ordered using it only for official purposes and on public holidays.
In the meantime, the Russians' attitude to the state flag has long
ceased to be purely formal, and the state flag law had to be eventually
amended last year. Sports fans were the first ones who caused the
excessively formal attitude to the state flag to melt. Now the people are
allowed to use the flag in any situations to demonstrate the feeling of
patriotism.
The state flag has since been taken to the North Pole, to the bottom
of the Arctic Ocean, to the tallest peaks, to remote corners of the world
and even to outer space.
This year on Russia Day, June 12, the state flag for the first time
since 1991 was unfolded on the top of Moscow's Ostankino television tower
- the tallest in Eurasia.
According to the latest VCIOM opinion poll, the three-colored flag is
one the most popular symbols of Russia. Nearly one in three (29 percent)
citizens says that the flag arouses the feeling of sympathy, and one in
two (52 percent) associate the flag with far more serious emotions, such
as pride and admiration.