World Economic Forum to open in Davos.

DAVOS, January 27 (Itar-Tass) - Jubilee 40th World Economic Forum is due to open Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland, under the general motto of improving the situation in the world through reconsideration and rebuilding.

The five-day event is expected to bring together more than 2,500
representatives of governments, business communities and public
associations from 90 countries of the world.
The organizers expect the arrival of the heads of state and/or
government of 30 countries.
The discussions will also involve Foreign Ministers, the presidents of
twelve national banks, heads of 50 leading international organizations,
more than 500 activists of civic society, and leaders of 50
nongovernmental organizations.
Executive Chairman and founder of the Davos forum, Dr Klaus Schwab,
admitted on the eve the forum that the existing system of global
cooperation has obviously stopped functioning and the world has changed
radically after the outbreak of the economic crisis in 2008.
The forum's program focuses on the ways of laying down the groundwork
for new values, strengthening the economy and improving the social
situation, the scaling down global risks and systemic errors, guaranteeing
steady and sustainable development, ensuring reliability, and setting up
efficient international institutes.
The participants will seek adequate responses to these challenging
tasks at dozens of roundtable conferences packed into the itinerary.

.Poland to host events on anniversary of Auschwitz liberation.

KRAKOW, January 27 (Itar-Tass) - Events dedicated to the 65th
anniversary since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration
camp by the Soviet Army will be held in Poland's second major city,
Krakow, Wednesday.
The program of commemorative functions includes a pan-European
conference of education ministers and the 3rd international forum Let My
People Live organized by the European Jewish Congress.
In the afternoon, a display will be opened in the so-called 'Soviet
block No. 14' on the territory of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum. It has
been prepared jointly by the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum and Moscow's
Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War.
The display that occupies the floor space of 200 square meters will
familiarize the visitors with how the operation to liberate the
concentration camp was prepared and with the personalities of some Soviet
prisoners tortured to death by Nazis there.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu are expected to take part in a special ceremony on the territory
of the camp. The Russian delegation will be led by Education Minister
Andrei Fursenko.
Participants will light up candles in front of the monument to over
1.1 million people, the vast majority of them Jews, who were annihilated
in Auschwitz during World War II.
They will also commemorate the dozens of thousands of Soviet POWs and
Polish intellectuals, who shared the plight of Jewish convicts in that
concentration camp.
Alongside officials and politicians, a number of former convicts and
Soviet Army veterans who liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau 65 years ago have
arrived in Krakow to attend the festivities.

.Ukrainian financial official says awaiting massive frgn investments.

KIEV, January 27 (Itar-Tass) --- Ukraine expects an amassed inflow of
foreign investments, Deputy Finance Minister Alexander Savchenko said
Tuesday in a televised interview.
"Ukraine has a very good potential for borrowings from international
financial institutions and the European community is queuing up to give us
a loan - almost 600 million euros," Savchenko claimed.
He also said that Kiev hopes to get a new tranche of an IMF loan right
after the runoff presidential election due February 7.
"We're cooperating with the IMF at the level of consultations and are
preparing to receive a loan after the election," Savchenko said.
IMF governors said earlier they expect resumption of cooperation with
the Ukrainian government after the presidential election.

.Towing of distressed Russian ship almost complete in Sea of Japan.

VLADIVOSTOK, January 27 (Itar-Tass) - Towing of the distressed Russian
motor ship Ivan Makaryin, which lost a propeller blade January 21, is
nearing completion in the Sea of Japan.
By 12:00 hours local time /02:00 hours GMT/, the towboat Irbis is
expected to pull the motor ship to the port of Vladivostok.
Problems on the Ivan Makaryin began some 90 nautical miles to the
southeast of the Russian commercial port of Nakhodka when the ship was
returning from Japan.
"The crew felt a strong vibration of the hull, the superstructure and
mechanisms and a decision was taken to shut down its main engine," the
press service of Russia's Far-Eastern Shipping Line said.
The management of the shipping line issued an instruction to the
icebreaker Ivan Khlebnikov to render assistance to the Ivan Makaryin but
the leeway carried the latter 150 miles eastwards while the icebreaker was
en route to help it.
As a result, the motor ship's crew found itself almost near the
Tsugaru Strait that separates the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu.
The Ivan Khlebnikov was returning through it from an expedition to
Antarctica.
The towing began January 24 and the towboat Irbis joined the operation
the next day.
The operation was carried out at a speed of 3.5 knots (around 6.5
kilometers per hour), the wind blowing at 16 to 18 meters per second and
the sea waves up to 2.5 meters tall.
-0-kle