UC Rusal sent a request to OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel to convene a new extraordinary meeting of MMC shareholders to re-elect the current board of directors. The press service of the aluminum company reported this on Thursday. The reason that prompted Rusal to demand a new meeting of the board of directors is OC's concern that the deal to sell quasi-treasury shares to the Dutch Trafigura “may be a sham” and aimed at strengthening the influence of the Interros holding company in Norilsk Nickel.

In Minsk, about 100 opposition supporters who took part in a protest in the center of Minsk after the presidential elections were released, RIA Novosti reports . After the rally, according to official information, 639 people were detained, of whom about 500 continue to serve administrative sentences. Such data was provided on Thursday by the head of the press service of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Minsk City Executive Committee, Alexander Lastovsky.

// document.write(' South Korea on Thursday, December 23, began military exercises at a minimal distance from the border with the DPRK, during which live firing is envisaged. The exercises, we note, will be the largest in the history of the country . Agence France Presse reports this. agency The RIA Novosti , citing the North Korean news agency KCNA, reports that the DPRK authorities criticized South Korea's plans to conduct the largest military exercises in its history.

Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Viktor Grin sent a criminal case to the Moscow City Court regarding the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova. This is stated in a statement from the press service of the supervisory agency. The deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office approved the indictment against Nikita Tikhonov and Evgenia Khasis. They are accused of committing crimes under Part 2 of Art.

Elena Baturina initiated a “legal audit” of her condition, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Thursday . The wife of the ex-mayor of Moscow thus wants to allocate property that creditors will not be able to claim. From the report, prepared at the request of the entrepreneur herself and VTB Bank, it follows that the value of Inteko, excluding debt, exceeds €1 billion, and the personal assets of its owner are estimated at more than €350 million.

The Internet telephony service Skype, which stopped responding to requests from some users around the world on Wednesday evening, began to gradually return to normal operation on Thursday morning. Full restoration of access to the company's services may take several more hours, according to the official Skype blog on Twitter. Messages about the “collapse” of the service began to appear on blogs in different countries around the world late on Wednesday evening, Moscow time.

X5 Retail Group expects gross revenue to grow by 40% in 2011, to 500 billion rubles, according to a company press release. The retailer plans to open about 540 new stores this year. The forecast includes revenue from approximately 700 acquired Kopeyka stores, plus revenue growth from new store openings and increased like-for-like (LFL) sales. The company expects organic growth in net ruble revenue to be about 20%, with the rest of the contribution to revenue dynamics coming from Kopeyka.

JSC Aeroflot - Russian Airlines will carry more than 11 million passengers by the end of the year. The general director of the company, Vitaly Savelyev, stated this in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel. According to him, “the 11 millionth passenger will be transported next week.” It was previously reported that the airline forecasts an increase in passenger traffic of 27.7% in 2011.

At an auction on Thursday, the Federal Property Management Agency sold 100% of the shares of Moscow Metrostroy OJSC, the general contractor for the construction of the capital's metro, to Tsentrstroy LLC (Moscow) for 7.559 billion rubles, with an initial price of 2.199 billion. Four out of eight participants who submitted bids were admitted to the auction. Competition for Tsentrstroy at the auction included CJSC Finservice, LLC Evrostroy and LLC Seltekhstroy.

The US Senate on Wednesday, December 22, after seven days of debate, finally ratified the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START). According to the Associated Press, 71 senators voted in favor and 26 against. Let us note that a week ago there was no confidence that the agreement would be ratified. Democrats have 58 seats in the Senate, plus two independent candidates who traditionally cooperate with them. For ratification, two-thirds of the quorum was required, that is, at least 67 votes.

What you need to know to succeed in online commerce Author - Director of E-Commerce TUI Russia & CIS It is impossible to create a perfect online store - it is not a project that can be completed 100%. It is a process of continuous improvement, successes and failures. There are many factors that go into success or failure in e-commerce, but most of them can be summarized into three basic principles.

The Warsaw District Court on Thursday announced the termination of consideration of Russia's request for the extradition of Chechen separatist emissary Akhmed Zakayev due to the absence of the person involved in the case in Poland. This was reported by Gazeta Wyborcza on Thursday . Zakaev was detained by Warsaw police on September 17.

Andrey Babitsky Author Products, events and research that ensured the progress of humanity in the past year New items, inventions and discoveries have appeared at such a speed over the past 12 months that any consistent attempt to capture them is doomed to failure. Without the ability to be objective, we can only try to identify the events that have changed our lives to the greatest extent or will change it in the near future. How will 2010 be remembered?

On Wednesday, December 22, the Japanese government decided to dismiss Japanese Ambassador to the Russian Federation Masaharu Kono for the fact that the embassy did not provide timely and reliable information about the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to the southern Kuril Islands expected in November, RIA Novosti reports with reference to newspaper "Yomiuri". On November 1 this year, Medvedev visited Kunashir, one of the Kuril Islands, which Tokyo considers its territory.

The examination, commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Development, confirmed the validity of the assessment of Svyazinvest subsidiaries made by Ernst & Young as part of the reorganization of the holding. was informed about this Interfax by a source in the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, familiar with the results of the study. The examination was carried out by the self-regulatory organization “Russian Society of Appraisers” (ROO).