13:05 Property Battle Rages Over St. Petersburg's Historic Center
Seven years of Russian economic growth has more than quadrupled property values to an average of $1,800 a square meter in St. Petersburg, the czarist-era capital, says Itaka, a local real-estate firm.

11:50 Russian-Japanese business forum opens in St. Petersburg
Russia's second city has become a pace-setter in Japanese-Russian cooperation with auto majors Toyota and Nissan planning to build plants in Russia's northern capital.