Consider the late Steve Jobs (whose Syrian father came to the U.S. for his doctoral studies) and Russian-born Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.

FORBES: Want To Reduce Income Inequality? Lower The Barriers To Talented Immigrants

The bicentenary of Pushkin's birth in May 1999 will be marked by no fewer than three new English biographies and critical studies as well as innumerable Russian publications.

ECONOMIST: Russian writers

While she is at the academy, Tala will learn Russian and continue the rest of her academic studies.

BBC: Tala Lee-Turton

Julian Lee, an analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, says that the increase in Russian production, from 6m barrels in the late 1990s, is not sustainable.

ECONOMIST: OPEC and Russian oil

The organizers are: The Russian Academy for Public Administration, under the President of the Russian Federation, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Interreligious Dialogue, the UNESCO Network of Chairs on Intercultural and Inter-religious Dialogue and the UNESCO Moscow Office.

UNESCO: CULTURA