Cyclone with snow hits Sakhalin, ferry link to mainland closed.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, November 15 (Itar-Tass) -- A cyclone with wet snow
and gusts of wind of up to 25 metres s second is moving across Sakhalin.
The ferry service in the Tatar Strait between Vanino and Kholmsk is
halted. Four vessels of the service have taken shelter from 3.5-metre
waves in the ports of Vanino and Sovgavan, the Khabarovsk Territory.
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk airport works as normal.
The entire southern part of the island is covered with wet snow. The
temperature is above zero, meteorologists said.
There have been no reported serious emergencies caused by the cyclone,
which sweeps Russia's entire Pacific coast, the Russian Emergencies
Ministry's Far Eastern regional centre said,
The Vanino-Kholmsk ferry service will be resumed on Monday, November
16.
.

.Cyclone suspends liquefied gas shipping from Sakhalin.
.


YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, November 15 (Itar-Tass) -- The powerful cyclone
raging on Sakhalin has suspended shipping of liquefied gas at the port of
Prigorodnoye.
Two giant tankers do not approach the port because of the windstorm.
The two ships, each about 250 metres long, lie at anchor five miles off
the coast, a port service said.
The giants will be placed for loading only after the windstorm
subsides.
The cyclone has also stopped the work of other Sakhalin ports --
Korsakov and Kholmsk. Vessels are removed from piers and lie at anchor,
waiting for calm weather.
According to Sakhalin meteorologists, the cyclone is expected to move
to the Sea of Okhotsk later in the day and subside there.
.


.Medvedev to continue work at APEC summit this Sunday.
.


SINGAPORE, November 15 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev on Sunday will continue the work at the APEC summit.
The president's aide Sergei Prikhodko said Russia entirely supported
the Singaporean government-proposed agenda with the theme "For Sustainable
Development and Consolidation of Regional Ties".
Russia is ready to continue to make a constructive contribution to the
APEC efforts to counteract the crisis on the world financial markets,
overcome its consequences and prevent such situations in the future, the
aide said.
For the solution, a broad format is required with the participation of
key economies of the world, including leading developing countries of the
Asian-Pacific region, he added.
An APEC secretariat source told Itar-Tass the main themes of
Saturday's session of the APEC summit in Singapore were overcoming of
consequences of the global financial and economic crisis, regional
economic integration, conclusion of the Doha round of the multilateral
trade talks, trade liberalization and protectionism prevention.
All the participants in the summit spoke about protectionism. They
confirmed their obligations assumed at the summit in Lima last year and
called for their more decisive implementation. The leaders noted that
protectionism was ineffective and hampered normal development of trade
partners. The subject may be reflected in the final declaration of the
summit. The Russian president also noted that protectionism measures
failed to work in Russia.
Summit participants noted that the current crisis was not caused by
trade liberalization, but many admitted that the crisis prompted the need
to take protectionism measures. Nevertheless, the situation is believed to
be gradually returning to normal and the crisis is being overcome on the
whole, though many problems and risks remain in the trade and economic
sphere.
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