St Petersburg to host a series of pop music concerts

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ST. PETERSBURG, June 28 (Itar-Tass) - The French star Mylene Farmer
is starting her guest tour of Russia on Sunday with a mega-concert in St.
Petersburg. Thirteen trucks delivered the equipment for her show a week
ago. It took three days to install the equipment for special light
effects. The French pop diva will give her next concert in Moscow only on
July 1.
This is Mylene's second visit to St. Petersburg. She presented
her "Millennium" show here in March 2000. The signer said he liked Russia'
s northern capital. This time she has brought a new super show to Russia.
Mylene Farmer is the author of all her songs. Expenses for her
organizing her concerts exceed 30 million euros. Her concerts are
performances, which have a storyline and style. They always complicated in
terms of equipment and decorations. After France, Italy, Belgium, Canada
and Switzerland Mylene fan clubs have appeared in Russia.
One hundred sixty people, including a personal cook, will accompany
Mylene on her trip to Russia. Half of the rooms in a hotel in the centre
of St. Petersburg have been booked for the singer and her team.
Mylene's concert will open a series of mega-shows by world famous pop
stars on the banks of the Neva River. Madonna will visit St. Petersburg in
August but prior to that the American pop diva Britney Spears will stage
an extravagant show in St. Petersburg's Ice Palace on July 19.
Marianna Lyubina, the PR director of the "Planeta Plus" Company, the
PMI Corporation, told Itar-Tass that it would be the pop star's first
performance in Russia. It will be held as part of Britney's much-talked-of
tour "The Circus Starring Britney Spears".
St. Petersburg's ice arena has never seen such an incredible amount of
equipment. It will be delivered on thirty-four trucks. It's going to be a
unique show with numerous light effects, moving decorations and screens,
and acrobatic feats. Britney Spears decided to create the atmosphere of a
circus performance on the stage. That is why the stage is going to be
round and people will sit around it in a circle as if it were a circus
arena. The action will take place in the centre of the auditorium.
According to Marianna Lyubina, the singer will arrive in St.
Petersburg shortly before the concert and will leave straight after the
show. She will spend just a few hours in Russia's northern capital.
To avoid exhausting her children with endless flights, Britney Spears
and her family will settle down somewhere in Europe. She will fly to
concerts on her own and will return to her family after each performance.
The singer's team including artists, the staff and managers consists
of 200 people. Her own cook who will cook for the entire team will
accompany the pop star. Britney Spears will bring equipment for the
make-up room from abroad. She will need a motorized cart to move on the
stage, 500 kilograms of ice cubicles for drinks and 200 one-color towels.

.Israeli president to begin two-day visit to Azerbaijan.

BAKU, June 28 (Itar-Tass) - Israel's President Shimon Peres will begin
his official two-day visit to Azerbaijan on Sunday, the first in the
history of Israel's bilateral relations with Azerbaijan.
According to diplomatic sources, Peres is expected to arrive in Baku
in the afternoon. High-level Azerbaijani-Israeli talks will begin in the
Azerbaijani president's country residence on Sunday evening.
Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliev and Shimon Peres will first meet
vis-а-vis. The delegations of the two countries will joint the talks later
in an expanded format. The agenda will include an entire range of
bilateral relations including expansion of economic cooperation and trade.
Natural gas deliveries from Azerbaijan may be a priority theme for
discussion. Israel has many times said it's interested in buying gas from
Azerbaijan. Georgia and Turkey are the main transit countries for gas
deliveries from the Caspian region. A gas pipeline is to be built on the
bottom of the Mediterranean to extend the already existing route to Israel.
The political agenda will focus on regional security in the light of
the recent events in Iran, the settlement of conflicts in the breakaway
region of Nagorno-Karabakh and in the Middle East and the opening of the
Embassy of Azerbaijan in Israel.
Israel opened its diplomatic mission in Baku in 1994.
On June 29 the Israeli president will visit the grave of the national
Azerbaijani leader Geidar Aliev and the Alley of the Fallen in Baku where
the victims of the January tragedy of 1990 are buried. The same day Peres
will meet Azerbaijani Prime Minister Arthur Rasi-zade. He will take part
in an Azerbaijani-Israeli business forum and will deliver speeches at the
Language University of Azerbaijan and in front of the Jewish community.
In an interview with Azerbaijani media in the run-up to the visit
Peres said that Azerbaijan was a special country for him, which he could
trust. "Azerbaijan is a place where Judaists, Muslims and Christians live
without hatred and fanaticism," Peres went on to say. He also said that he
loves Azerbaijan because it has always been good to the Jewish people.
A large business delegation will accompany Perez on his trip.
"We want to establish stronger ties with Azerbaijan in economy and
science," the Israeli president emphasized.

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