Duma deputy wants permanent winter time for Russia

by RIA Novosti at 20/01/2014 13:36

The Moscow News

Abill to set Russian clocks permanently to winter time has been submitted to the State Duma, a Russian legislator told RIA Novosti on Monday.

“With the adoption of this bill Russians will begin to live according to astronomical time, as in nature,” said Sergei Kalashnikov, chairman of the Duma Health Committee and one of the bill’s authors.

Russians have been living on permanent summer time since March 2011, under an initiative introduced by then-President Dmitry Medvedev, who said it would benefit farming and be better for Russians’ well-being.

Not everyone welcomed the move, however, as it now stays dark until after 10 a.m. in many parts of the country.

Kalashnikov said more than 100 Duma deputies had already signed the bill.

Sergei Zheleznyak, deputy Duma speaker and a member of the ruling United Russia party, said deputies were unlikely to discuss the bill until after the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, due to be held in Russia in February and March.

Another bill recently introduced to the Duma would see a return to the system widely used in the West of moving between summer time and winter time twice a year.

The International Olympic Committee called last year for a return of winter time to make the broadcast schedule of the Sochi Games more convenient in other countries.

President Vladimir Putin ruled out that possibility, and a senior Russian official said in October that such a change could cost the country $300 million.

In March, Russia’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by a patients’ rights group to scrap permanent summer time.

Russia says Latvia sprats contain high levels of carcinogens

by RIA Novosti at 13/01/2014 15:23

The Moscow News

Russia said Monday that it has discovered unacceptable levels of a cancer-causing chemical in sprats imported from Latvia and plans to prevent sales of the oily canned fish around Moscow.

Samples of sprats taken during a border control inspection revealed levels of benzopyrene during lab testing that were above Russia’s allowed standard, the government food safety inspector said.

The safety inspector said it has set up stricter laboratory checks over sprats from the Latvian producer SIA Randa Klavas.

The statement did not specify how much of the chemical it found in the fish or what is considered an acceptable amount by Russian authorities.

Benzopyrene is a carcinogen that can be created during food manufacturing processes, such as heating oil at a high temperature. Scientists say the chemical can be dangerous to consume even in small quantities.

In the past, countries whose food exports were subject to Russian bans over purported health concerns have accused Moscow of using the measure to exert political pressure. Russia barred products from a chocolate manufacturer in Ukraine last year just as Kiev was contemplating building closer ties with the EU.

Bilateral relations between Latvia and Russia have been strained recently by the Baltic nation’s decision to adopt the euro currency starting January 1.