"Russia launches investigation into crowded boat’s sinking; Scores missing in Volga River presumed dead" July 12, 2011|By Will Englund, Washington Post
MOSCOW - The 56-year-old excursion boat that sank in the Russia’s Volga River Sunday, probably killing more than 100 on board, was not licensed to carry passengers, prosecutors said yesterday.
The boat also was carrying 79 more people than it was designed for, had a defective engine, and was listing to starboard from the moment it pulled away from its pier, Russian safety officials said.
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a criminal investigation “to establish the cause of the tragedy and find those responsible for the incident’’ and announced a sweeping inspection of public transport in Russia.
“We need a total inspection of all public carriers,’’ he said, according to the Interfax news agency. “We can see from the information we have that the vessel was not in the appropriate condition.’’
The Bulgaria, built in the former Czechoslovakia, sank Sunday afternoon in one of the broadest reaches of the Volga, more than a mile and a half from shore. Passengers said it suddenly heaved over to starboard and went down in minutes, settling on the bottom in about 60 feet of water. Some reports suggested the boat may have been trying to execute a sharp turn to the left, which would make it heel to the right, just before it sank.
At least 80 people were reported saved, including several who swam to the riverbank....
Passengers on earlier trips said yesterday they had been alarmed by leaking portholes. Officials said the portholes on the boat’s lowest deck may have been open when it leaned over, allowing the river water to pour in. There were no watertight compartments dividing the hull.
“The vessel was all right,’’ Svetlana Imyakina, director of the company that charters the boat, told the Interfax news agency. “Everything was all right, judging by the registration certificate, and the vessel was in good technical condition.’’
Then why did it sink?
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Related: Russia mourns cruise ship deaths; search continues
"Russia adopts law meant to clamp down on abortion" July 16, 2011|By Sophia Kishkovsky, New York Times
MOSCOW - President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law the first steps designed to restrict abortion since the collapse of communism, the latest salvo in what is beginning to resemble the fierce divide over abortion in the United States....
In Soviet times, abortion was free and unrestricted after the late 1960s.
Related: My Abortion Evolution
Also see:
"In 1936, Stalin banned abortion to stimulate the birth rate"
The NYT lies. They lie right to your face.
But in recent years, contention over abortion has begun to sound like the debate in the United States.
Medvedev has made the fight against Russia’s falling birthrate and plunging population, now at just under 143 million, a feature of his presidency, offering incentives such as payouts for a third child and land plots to encourage women to give birth.
Official statistics placed the number of abortions at 1.3 million in 2009, a significant drop from the 1990s. Russia’s increasingly vocal antiabortion activists, some in Parliament, said it is perhaps many times higher, and Medvedev’s wife, Svetlana Medvedeva, has taken up the cause. Her organization, Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives, recently launched a nationwide campaign, “Give Me Life!’’ which it advertised on its website, in brochures, and other materials.
Several local governments supported the campaign, and state-run medical centers offered families and single women consultations to avoid abortion and lift the birthrate....
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"Voters approve bid to oust Parliament
RIGA - Latvians voted to sack their Parliament in a historic referendum yesterday as the country attempts to dismantle a culture of graft existing between politics and business. With more than 57 percent of ballots counted, 94.8 percent of voters supported the legislature’s dissolution, according to Central Election Commission data, setting the stage for a parliamentary election in September. Only a simple majority was needed to sack Parliament, regardless of voter turnout. Data showed that less than 45 percent of registered voters participated."
Getting any ideas, America?
