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Putin orders measures to address art thefts

By TIMES WIRES
Published August 11, 2006

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin ordered top officials to conduct a nationwide inventory of 50-million artworks at Russian museums, concerned that other treasures may be missing after the theft of $5-million worth of valuables from the famed Hermitage.

Putin on Thursday told Cabinet officials to set up a commission by Sept. 1 to conduct the inventory, the president's office said. Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev were among the officials tapped for the commission.

Russian authorities say that only a quarter of the country's artworks have been inventoried since a check began six years ago, the first such survey since the closing years of the Soviet Union.

It was announced on July 31 that valuables including jewelry, religious icons, silverware and richly enameled objects had been stolen from the State Hermitage Museum.

Three suspects have been detained in the Hermitage robberies, including the son and husband of a late curator who had been in charge of the collection.

The thefts have highlighted lax security and antiquated record-keeping at Russian institutions and underscored a funding crisis.

About 50 to 100 thefts are registered each year in Russian museums, officials say. Although outright robberies are less frequent because of new security measures, inside jobs are increasing.

Oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria and Colombia

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - Gunmen in military fatigues seized two foreign oil workers in southern Nigeria early Thursday, the latest violence targeting the petroleum industry in Africa's largest producer, authorities said.

The workers - a Belgian and a Moroccan - were abducted as they traveled through the southern city of Port Harcourt, where many international energy firms make their bases, Rivers State Police Commissioner Samuel Adetuyi said.

Recent violence against the petroleum industry has forced a nearly 20 percent reduction of Nigeria's usual 2.5-million-barrel daily production.

In Colombia, rebels kidnapped two engineers and a helicopter pilot who were part of a seismographic oil exploration crew Wednesday in the northwestern state of Choco near the border with Panama, said state Interior Minister Freddy Lloreda.

Lloreda said that Colombia's second-largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, was believed to be responsible.

Chavez says Castro in 'great battle for life'

MUNICIPIO INDEPENDENCIA, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday his close friend and ally Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life," but he expressed optimism about the 79-year-old Cuban leader's recovery.

"From here, let's pray to God for Fidel and his recovery, and he's fighting a great battle," Chavez said in a televised speech from the eastern state of Anzoategui.

Chavez said he had received a message from Castro on Wednesday "that filled me with more optimism, with more faith."

Castro said July 31 he was stepping aside temporarily to recover from intestinal surgery.

Death toll rises to 250 in Ethiopian flooding

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The death toll from Ethiopia's worst ever flash floods climbed to 250 Thursday and was expected to rise as crews searched for more bodies, authorities said.

Six days after a river burst its banks following torrential rains more than 10,000 people were homeless and 300 remained missing.

The search from the flooding that hit Dire Dawa, about 310 miles east of the capital, Addis Ababa, has stretched for nearly 20 miles along the river.

[Last modified August 11, 2006, 01:53:28]