Four people, including 2 children, die in fire in Samara region.

SAMARA, January 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Four people, including two children, have died in the fire that broke out in an apartment block in the Samara region, the regional emergencies department told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

The fire broke out at about Tuesday midnight in a flat of the
five-storey apartment block in the town of Otradny.
"Four people were found dead - a man, a woman, a 2-year-old boy and a
six-year-old girl - in the firefighting efforts at the 3-room flat," chief
press officer of the regional emergencies department Mikhail Metelkin told
Itar-Tass.
The fire was put down at 00.56 a.m. Moscow time. The fire embraced 41
square meters. The investigation into the fire is underway.
Twenty dwellers were evacuated from the apartment block during the
firefighting operation. They will be accommodated temporarily.

.GM to launch new Opel Astra production in St Petersburg 2010.

ST. PETERSBURG, January 5 (Itar-Tass) -- The U.S. General Motors
Company (GM) is planning to enlarge its series of models at a motor works
in St. Petersburg presenting a new Opel Astra model and continuing the
sales of the 2009 model - Opel Insignia, General Motors CIS PR director
Sergei Lepnukhov told Itar-Tass on Monday.
According to him, the previous year was heavy for the whole world car
making industry, including for General Motors. "However, we managed not
only to continue the production at the motor works in St. Petersburg, but
also to put into production a new model - Chevrolet Cruise, which is
produced at the GM motor works in various countries, including Russia,"
Lepnukhov said. He emphasized that the St. Petersburg motor works is
already ranked among the GM leading motor works, "as the newest models are
being assembled" in the Russian city. Specifically, GM is planning to
launch the commercial production of a new model of the hatchback Opel
Astra, which was produced in Germany just a few months ago.
In general, the 2010 year will not be easy, the GM top management
believes. A more affordable automobile lending for people and high oil
prices are among the major conditions for the stabilization of the
situation on the Russian car making market, Lepnukhov said.
The GM CIS PR director confirmed the GM plans to reach the annual
design capacity of 60,000 cars by the end of 2010. He also noted that "in
theory the production at the St. Petersburg motor works can be enlarged."
"The Russian motor works is flexible and satisfies fully the demand on the
market," Lepnukhov said. He also added that such plans, including the
investments in the second line of the motor works, will depend directly
from the market situation.
The GM motor works was commissioned in the industrial zone Shushary
(St. Petersburg) on November 7, 2008. The investments in the first line of
the motor works with the annual output of 60,000 cars exceeded 300 million
dollars.

.North Korea names Rason as 'special city'.

PYONGYANG, January 5 (Itar-Tass) -- North Korea designated Rason, the
country's first free economic zone, as a "special city" on Monday. The
Standing Committee of the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly
designated Rason as a special city in a decree, the KCNA news agency
reported on Monday.
The Rason free economic zone (abbreviation from Rajin-Sonbong) is
situated in northeastern North Korea and borders the Chinese Jilin
Province and the Russian Primorsky Territory. North Korea has established
the first country's free economic zone in 1991; and the country's
leadership intended to attract foreign investors there. Chinese companies
make the overwhelming majority of foreign companies operating in the city
of Rason.
The local media do not specify what goals the North Korean authorities
were after taking a decision to change the status of the foresaid city.
Foreign analysts link this step with North Korea's latest measures to
streamline the management of the country's economy. Specifically,
settlements in the foreign currencies are banned in North Korea since
2010. According to observers, "the special status" of Rason will probably
make the city the exception from the ban. Before Rason was officially
considered "a city under the direct control" of the country's leadership,
as well as Pyongyang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has inspected the free economic zone
in the previous month first for a long period of time. The country's
leader urged to develop the foreign trade and seek for new market outlets
abroad for North Korean goods.
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