.Moldovan TV chiefs deny airtime to parliamentary speaker.

CHISINAU, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- The management of Moldova's public
television channel Moldova-1 on Friday refused to let parliamentary
speaker, Mihai Gimpu, elected by the ruling coalition Alliance for
European Democracy, make a televised address to the nation. The
press-service of one of the alliance's members - the Democrat Party - said
that was done on the excuse there was no vacant time on the air.

Earlier in the day a majority of lawmakers voted for a decision Gimpu
and his associates in the coalition must be granted one hour of live
airtime to address the electorate. Delegates from the Communist Party,
whose deputies staged a walkout and did not participate in the election of
the new parliamentary speaker, were invited to participate in the program.
The Communists plan to protest Gimpu's election in the Constitutional
Court.
The first session of Moldova's newly-elected national legislature on
Friday ended with a row. The chairman - the oldest legislator Ivan Kalin,
of the Communist Party - adjourned the session till September 4. The
coalition, which controls 53 seats in a 101-seat parliament, said the
decision was illegal. The Communist faction left the conference hall. The
remaining legislators voted to elect Mihai Gimpu, of the Liberal Party, as
the speaker of parliament.
Gimpu said that at the next session, due on September 2, the country's
governing bodies will continue to be formed. He declared that the head of
the Democratic Party, Marian Lupu, would be elected president, and the
leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, Vlad Filat, would take the prime
minister's seat. Gimpu said nothing, though, about how the coalition hoped
to elect the president without support from at least some of the Communist
faction members. A new head of state is to be endorsed by at least 61
members of parliament. The Communists have 48 mandates. Under Moldova's
legislation, if parliament fails to elect a head of state after two
attempts, it will have to be disbanded. The next parliamentary election
can be called no earlier than next year. Until then Moldova may see double
rule - the Communists will control the posts of the president and the
prime minister, while the legislative power will be in the hands of their
opponents.

.Trial of pilots charged with 2007 Tu-134 crash postponed.

SAMARA, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- The trial of pilots charged with the
2007 crash of the Tu-134 airliner in the airport of Samara has been
postponed due to the illness of one of the defendants, a source at the
Samara Region's court told Itar-Tass.
Preliminary hearings on the case were to begin on Friday. The two
defendants are the crew's commander and the second pilot. Both are accused
of violation of traffic safety and aircraft operation rules that caused
negligent death of two or more persons. Under this article of the Criminal
Code the maximum punishment is seven years in prison.
The investigators maintain that in running the aircraft the crew
committed multiple violations of mandatory requirements and instructions,
which caused destruction of the plane and heavy loss of human life.
On March 17, 2007 the air accident at Samara's Kurumoch airport
claimed six lives. Twenty eight passengers were injured and taken to
hospital. The Tu-134 liner, en route Surgut-Samara-Belgorod, touched down
400 meters short of the runway, capsized and fell apart. There were 53
people on board.
The investigators claim that in the conditions of poor visibility of
less than 800 meters the crew - commander Oleg Zubkov and second pilot
Andrei Lapanov -were obliged to delay the landing and make a second loop.

.Euroset company's former deputy president faces final charges.

MOSCOW, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- The former deputy president of the
Euroset mobile phone retailer, Boris Levin, on Friday faced the final
version of criminal charges. In the company Levin was responsible for
internal security.
His lawyer, Marat Faizulin, has told Itar-Tass the charges had
undergone minor editing.
"There is nothing new," he added.
Although no formal statement to the effect the investigation is over
has been made, such a procedural move is a sure sign the investigative
actions are about to be completed and the defendants and their lawyers
will begin to study the case.
The lawyer said that very soon final charges might be brought against
Levin's deputy, Andrei Yermilov.
Levin and Yermilov are accused of abduction of Euroset's shipping
agent, Andrei Vlaskin, in 2003. The company's former co-owner, Yevgeny
Chichvarkin, is also involved in the case. On March 11, 2009 he was put on
the international wanted list. Moscow's Basmanny court issued a warrant
for his arrest in absentia.

.No risk H1N1 flu may delay beginning of school year - watchdog.

NOVO-OGAREVO, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- The chief of Russia's consumer
rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Gennay Onishchenko, believes that no
region of Russia has the slightest reason of delaying the opening of
schools on the first day of the academic year due to a flu epidemic threat.
At a conference under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin on Friday devoted to whether schools and colleges were prepared well
enough for the new year, Onishchenko said that some European countries
following World Health Organization warnings were considering the
possibility of keeping the schools closed for a while.
"This year there are no reasons for denying permission to open schools
on September 1 not in a single territory of Russia," Onishchenko said.
Restrictions will apply only to those children who have arrived home from
other countries less than seven days before September 1.
In part, the arrival of a group of 200 children is expected from
Burgas, Bulgaria. In all 7,000 children will be back home on the eve of
the new school year.
Onishchenko recalled that of the 280 children who returned home from
the Black Sea on August 13 30 had to be taken to hospital with H1N1 flu.
As for the vaccination of children from ordinary flu, two million doses of
the vaccine have been dispatched to regions. It will be used for children
under three years of age, and also for primary school students and
teachers. A total of 6.6 million doses of the vaccine will be distributed
among Russia's territories.