Bob has an opinion article in today's edition of the Guardian stressing the importance of linking human rights with foreign relations during David Miliband's visit to Russia this week, and elsewhere in the same paper, Mikhail Khodorkovsky's mother has issued her own appeal to the foreign secretary.

At least one report confirms that Khodorkovsky's case will indeed be discussed.

Miliband has started on this path already, apparently. He met with human rights activists today where, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Libery, he "expressed his concern over the killings of activists of nongovernmental organizations in Russia and the pressure that is being imposed on civil society."

Miliband also pressed Russia to

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We are initiating coverage of Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. (OXBO) with an ‘Outperform’ rating. Despite what has been a tumultuous past for the company and a abysmal fate for competitors attempting to develop similar products, the potential upside that Oxycyte offers is too significant to ignore.  Does Oxycyte do what management says it does? (Key Efficacy Question) In theory, Oxycyte has the potential to be a wonder drug -- a sort of WD-40 of medicine. Preclinical data suggests that Oxycyte has astounding potential for the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, sickle cell crisis, organ preservation and as a neuroprotectant in patients with myocardial infarction or stroke. The effects in TBI were clearly evident in the phase I program conducted by Oxygen Bio in 2006. Initial phase II data from STOP-TBI will become available in 2010. However, data from small ...

Oxygen Biotherapeutics now has a clinical development pipeline which includes seven indications for Oxycyte(TM) emulsion. Oxycyte is the Company’s perfluorocarbon (PFC) therapeutic oxygen carrier. The new Oxycyte pipeline includes: Traumatic Brain Injury, Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Surgical Iatrogenic Air Embolism, Spinal Cord Injury, Organ Preservation, Decompression Sickness, and Sickle Cell Crisis.

The company has also reported that its topical pipeline includes six additional indications in development for the Oxycyte Gel. The first use of the Dermacyte Gel is for a cosmetic line that is now available for pre-orders via the BuyDermacyte.com website, with product shipment expected in about four weeks. Other uses include treatment for Wounds, Burns, Acne, Rosacea, Cell Treatment after Radiation Therapy, and Erectile Dysfunction. Oxygen Biotherapeudics is also working on two additional uses for Oxycyte Compounds, including a ventilation device called VitaVent and a Deep Immersion Fluorocarbon Treatment for severe burns.

Oxygen Biotherapeutics CEO Chris Stern commented on the

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XOMA is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and manufactures therapeutic antibodies. These antibodies and other agents are developed in order to treat inflammatory, autoimmune, infections and oncological diseases.

The company has a premier antibody discovery and development platform that incorporates leading antibody phage display libraries and XOMA’s proprietary Human Engineering(tm) and Bacterial Cell Expression (BCE) and manufacturing technologies.

Partnering with companies, such as Novartis AG, Schering-Plough Research Institute and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, enables XOMA to develop additional antibodies with multi-indication potential. Partnering not only allows XOMA access to new drug targets, but will add substantially to the generation of more revenue for the company.

XOMA was awarded a $65 Million multiple year contract from the National Institute of Allergy and infectious Diseases (NIAII). This contract will support XOMA’ s ongoing development of drug candidates towards clinical trials in the treatment of botulism poisoning, which could be

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A very modest «Alenka» (on the profanation of the idea of energy conservation)

Grigory Pasko, journalist

I recently attended a seminar for radio journalists in Irkutsk, which had an interesting article published in the official programme about the implementation of "energy conservation projects in the Shelekhov municipal district."

Will you look at that, I thought to myself, there are actually ahead-of-the-curve people in off-the-beaten-track Shelekhov district, thinking progressively and implementing energy-conservation technologies! The only thing that perplexed me was why there weren't any such examples of energy conservation in the oblast center itself - in Irkutsk. Well, be that as it may, I together with a group of radio journalists set off for Shelekhov to check it out.

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The ruble has made its biggest leap in a decade, jumping 2.4% against the dollar, with Urals crude advancing to more than $65 a barrel.  GM has three final offers for the Opel sale, which included a modified proposal from Magna which would reduce the size of Sberbank's stake. Home improvement retailer Kingfisher is planning to expand in Russia with a new format store in Moscow, hoping the country has the market potential to be the 'next Poland' where sales have been buoyant.  Premier League side Tom Tomsk, which owes almost $6.4 million in arrears, will not be forced into bankruptcy says the Sports, Tourism and Youth Politics Minister.  Lawyers for billionaire Roman Abramovich have asked a judge to throw out a $3.5 billion lawsuit that former business partner Boris Berezovsky has filed against him.  Oleg Deripaska ...

Risk Aversion is strong once again…  Currencies get sold…  What’s China really up to?  RBA to leave rates unchanged? And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Some people have the day off today, so we’ll probably not be back in full force until tomorrow… Not that we’ve been in full force, as a workforce in the U.S. for some time… But that’s another story for another day! Today is a new day, and new week!

Friday’s thinned out markets were not what the currencies wanted to see, as the bias to Risk Aversion was magnified in the thinned out markets, only making the selling of the currencies even worse… Some “levels” were hit in the thinned out markets, and that caused even more selling in the overnight markets as Japan and Asia came on board.

I’m really kind of shocked at the Asian selling… You may recall that last week

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March 12, 2009 Do you believe in the tooth fairy? Or, Santa Claus?? How about Standard & Poo??? Why anyone would find anything valid these discredited rating organizations say is beyond understanding except for one thing—markets were still oversold and TPTB (the powers that be) don’t have anything else to pump you up with. But, it’s not you they’re pumping, it’s trading desk profits. Da Boyz will take whatever information suits their purpose to launch program trades. Today the headline read that Standard & Poo’s GE rating cut wasn’t as bad as feared. Then, under intense political pressure, the FASB may cave on mark to market rules for banks and others meaning they can hide their crap longer. If it weren’t real money (“your tax dollars at work” on the trading desks) it would be funny. Nevertheless, ...

It is a sickening feeling when you realise you’ve been hung out to dry by someone you trusted.

Fonterra must be feeling extremely sick this morning as it becomes clear that the Chinese government has decided to hang our largest exporter out to dry. Tian Wenhua, the former chairwoman of Sanlu who was convicted of putting the toxic material melamine into baby formula, has now claimed Fonterra gave her the green light to keep poisoning the milk back in August by giving her a document citing safe levels of melamine in Europe.

Fonterra has denied this claim, saying it told Sanlu as soon as it found out in August that no level of melamine was safe and all product should be recalled immediately.

The details of the claim are almost irrelevant. Madam Tian will be scrambling for any excuse to appeal the conviction and frankly it will be almost impossible to determine

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TODAY: French police conclude Moskalenko poisoning was ‘an accident’; Russia criticizes US over Syrian attack, offers Cuba support; Saakashvili dismisses PM; British MP admits it was a ‘mistake’ to meet Deripaska; youth groups, internet firewalls. French investigators have reportedly concluded that mercury found in the car of Karinna Moskalenko, former lawyer to Anna Politkovskaya and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was the result of an accidental spillage. Russia is up in arms over the allegation that US helicopters attacked a Syrian farm near the Iraqi border. Will the IMF’s newly agreed loan to Ukraine protect the latter from ‘cash-rich’ Russia, wonders The Economist. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, dismissing his prime minister, said that he needed a new team to help him face the Russian threat. The Russian military is to offer defense expertise to Cuba this ...