Electronic media to get a glimpse of their digital future.

MOSCOW, November 10 (Itar-Tass) - The peculiarities of the Russian
market of television and radio broadcasting in the context of transition
to digital technologies will be the main subject of discussion at the 13th
International Congress of the National Association of TV and Radio
Broadcasters (NAT), which is to be held from November 17 to19 at the
All-Russia Exhibitions Center.

A regular International exhibition of professional equipment for TV,
radio and Internet broadcasting (NATEXPO) will be arranged here at the
same time. This annual congress has already become a major event in the
Russian media community and has gained world prestige.
An official in theNAT press service has told Itar-Tass,
"Notwithstanding the recession, the present exhibition and the make-up of
participants in the congress will be still greater than in previous years."
The exhibition, taking up an area of 14,000 square metres, will
feature the latest development products of the leaders of the world
market of electronics, Sony, Panasonic, Canon, and Apple. Among about 200
exhibitors there are leading Russian broadcasters such as the First
Channel, NTV, TV Center, REN TV, TNT, Zvezda, and domestic manufacturers
and integrators of equipment,such as the Almaz-Antaeus Telecommunications,
Okno-TV, and producer centers, and distributors.
"The Congress proper will be also held in an unusual format this
year," the NAT official specified. "It will be organised in the form of
dialogue between the leaders of domestic television and radio broadcasting
and the key figures of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications,
other ministries and agencies, enterprises and institutions participating
in the implementation of the programme for the development of television
and radio in the Russian Federation," the NAT official said.
Invited to take part in the dialogue are Telecommunications Minister
Igor Shchyogolev, Rospechat (Federal Agency on Press and Mass
Communications) chief Mikhail Seslavinsky, Roscomnadzor (Federal Service
for Supervision ofLegislation in MassCommuinications) chief Sergei
Sitnikov, Yuri Prokhorov, general director of the GPKS Space
Communicaitons, Alexei Malinin, chief of the RTRS, and other officials of
respective ministries and agencies. They will brief those present on the
2009-2014 programme for the development of TV and radio broadcasting in
the RF and answer questions asked by participants in the forum.
On the first day of the exhibition and forum, NAT and Itar-Tass are to
give a joint news conference dedicated to the World Day of Television, and
present NAT prizes to the best Television and Radio Networks of the Year.

.Patrol boats of two Koreas exchange shots in Yellow Sea.

SEOUL, November 10 (Itar-Tass) - An armed clash between the gunboats
of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of
Korea (RK) occurred in the Yellow Sea at 11:30 local time on Tuesday, a
spokesman for the RK Defence Ministry announced.
A South Korean gunboat, he said, had to fire warning shots after a
North Korean patrol boat crossed the sea boundary line near Paengnyong-do
Island. The gunboat of the DPRK Navy returned the fire.
"Although, according to preliminary data, there are no losses on the
South Korean side, we are seeking to find out whether there is any
damage," he pointed out. Preliminary information has it that the North
Korean gunboat sustained damage.
In 1999 and 2002, there had been sanguinary armed clashes between the
combatant ships of the two countries precisely in that area of the Yellow
Sea, where the so-called northern boundary runs. At that time the clashes
entailed losses on both sides in manpower and materiel.
The boundary line had been drawn towards the end of the Korean War of
1950-'53 by the Command of UN Forces. Pyongyang had never recognised it
and kept insisting on a transfer of the boundary farther south. The area
is rich in fish and marine products, such as blue crab, in particular. In
pursuit of catch the fishermen of the two countries, as well as Chinese
schooners often cross the above-mentioned sea boundary line.
-0-pop