As earlier reported, on January 27 in Davos the President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev has given interview to the Bloomberg News Agency. AzerTAc presents the text of interview.

- Azerbaijan is a very big oil producer. What do you think about price of oil?

- I think that now price is fair. The prices satisfy the needs of produces, consumers and at the same time allow companies also to invest. Because, the price below the current level will make difficult for companies to invest in new development, exploration and production. I think this price is balanced and we are happy about that.

A great - and still growing - divergence appeared in 2009 between public statements by leaders and their public performance. The politicized, romanticized theater of increasingly populist "democratic" leaders and media seemed to be of a different planet from activities taking place in the real world.

Azerbaijan and Turkey have agreed on price of the Azerbaijani gas in the first stage of the Shah Deniz project, Head of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev said today.
"We have agreed upon issues concerning the gas price in the first stage," he said.
"The gas price in the second stage has not yet agreed upon. Therefore, a final decision on the whole package [of issues] has not been adopted yet."
According to him, as the Azerbaijan-Turkey relations in the gas sector are currently being discussed within the package of questions, coordination of a single question without the consent of the others means absence of a final agreement.

The Vienna-based Azerbaijan Academic Union will organize a rally at the St Stefan square here on February 26 on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.
The Union will distribute books, brochures and demonstrate photos featuring Khojaly genocide and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Trend News exclusive interview with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Trend News: Armenia has not yet implemented four resolutions adopted by UN Security Council on the withdrawal from occupied Azerbaijani territory. Do you believe it is necessary to introduce new mechanisms for resolving the problem?
Ki-Moon: The United Nations do not have any direct engagement on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, where the OSCE is in the forefront. This question should be asked to the OSCE.

Thus 99 % of the financed projects fell on regions

A. Fuad (Zerkalo)

The national economy has shown high rates of development within the conditions of the world financial crisis. It became possible thanks to projects realized in the country on development of regions and allocation of the state financial support to businessmen, the chief executive of National Fund for Entrepreneurs ship Support (NFES) of Azerbaijan Shirzad Abdullayev declared at the press conference on Tuesday.

Less time is left for Turkey on consideration

A .Korotkov (Zerkalo)

The main stream of the Azerbaijani natural gas can bypass Turkey. We will mark that for today Iran has already expressed desire to gain to 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, and Russian "Gazprom" has declared readiness to gain all volume of the free gas offered by Azerbaijan.

A sculpture by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti has smashed the world record for an art work at auction, selling in London for $104.3 million (?65 million), Sotheby's said.
"L'homme qui marche I", a life-size bronze statue of a man, was expected to go for up to 29 million dollars at the sale Wednesday - but an anonymous telephone buyer paid almost four times that amount.
It beat the previous record for a work at auction set by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso's painting "Garcon a la Pipe" which was bought for 104.2 million dollars in New York in 2004, said the auction house.

From a distance, Michael Jackson's iconic rhinestone-encrusted glove shimmers like a marquise diamond. A closer look, however, reveals that the piece of pop history is a rather less resplendent re-fashioned golf glove with sweat stains and frayed edges.
That is unlikely to deter the late singer's fans who can now see the glove and about 40 other items of Jackson memorabilia up close at a gallery which opened Monday in the glitzy Asian gambling haven Macau.

John Terry will discuss his future as England captain with manager Fabio Capello before making any public comment, the player's spokesman said on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Chelsea skipper's position has been called into question following reports of an affair with model Vanessa Perroncel, the former girlfriend of international team-mate Wayne Bridge.

Arsene Wenger knows Arsenal's hopes of staying in this season's Premier League title race will be as good as over if they lose at leaders Chelsea on Sunday.
Much was made of his side's crushing 3-1 home defeat by Manchester United last week being the first English match screened in 3D but Wenger needs no special glasses to see the confidence draining out of his side.

Michael Schumacher expects the Mercedes GP car to be "competitive" this season but isn't sure if the team can win the Formula One championship.
Schumacher will be aiming for an eighth Formula One title.
Schumacher was pleased with his first full day of driving a competitive F1 car on Wednesday, saying it was "running very smoothly, very nice, I'm looking very positive into the season."
But he didn't sound bowled over in his return after a three-year retirement.

Operating in over 70 countries, with more than 90,000 employees, the Holcim Group is one of the world's leaders in production and
distribution of Cement, Ready-Mixed Concrete and Aggregates. Since 1999 "Garadagh Cement" has become a part of Holcim Group.
For the support in implementation of its operation in Azerbaijan, "Garadagh Cement" announces vacancy for position of
Electrical Supervisor