World press review: advice from Zbigniew Brzezinski to the new US President, Facebook will not pay $1 billion for Instagram and what will Warren Buffett spend $20 billion on? Brzezinski: USA as a hostage of elections American foreign policy has become a hostage to the election campaign on the eve of the country's presidential elections, writes the famous political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski in a column for the Financial Times .

Air carrier Singapore Airlines Ltd. closes two of the longest flights in the world: Singapore - Newark and Singapore - Los Angeles. The flights were launched in 2004 and will be suspended by the end of 2013. The flight from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, USA lasts 18.5 hours. The plane crosses a distance of 15,300 km. The flight Singapore - Los Angeles lasts 16 hours, distance - 14,080 km.

Former United Russia deputy Alexei Knyshov, who was deprived of his mandate the day before for illegal business activities, will have something to do after becoming a deputy. According to Vedomosti , his company Donaerodorstroy won a government contract for road construction worth almost 7.5 billion rubles.

The Russian federal budget in 2012 will most likely be executed with a surplus. President Vladimir Putin announced this on October 25 at a meeting with participants of the Valdai Discussion Club. “Last year we planned a small deficit, and this year we planned a small deficit. Last year we had a surplus of 0.8% (GDP), and this year we also have a surplus for January-August. And, most likely, there will be a year with a surplus,” RIA Novosti quotes Putin.

The Moscow prosecutor's office recognized as legal the refusal to initiate a criminal case on the misuse of funds received from the sale of shares in the Bank of Moscow. The supervisory agency denied the information that appeared that the case was initiated at the request of the lawyer of the former head of the Bank of Moscow, Andrei Borodin .

American company Ford Motor Co. stops car production in the UK. The Southampton and Dagenham plants will close next summer. More than 1,000 people will be left without work. At the same time, Ford will retain two plants for the production of diesel and gasoline engines. Earlier, the automaker announced that by the end of 2014 it would close the plant in the Belgian city of Genk. Ford produced the first car in Britain in 1911.

Oboronservis denies the information disseminated by the Investigative Committee about the conduct of searches in the company. “All the information on the Internet has nothing to do with us,” ITAR-TASS quotes an employee at the reception desk of the company director. “No criminal case was initiated. There were no seizures of documents,” he said.

A man suspected of murdering the US Ambassador to Libya in September of this year was killed in Cairo. Egyptian authorities announced this on Thursday. According to the official version, early on Wednesday morning, Egyptian police and intelligence officers besieged an apartment in one of the buildings in Cairo, in which there was a person suspected of participating in the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi.

The US Department of Justice has accused Bank of America of committing $1 billion in mortgage fraud. The US Department of Justice believes that mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, which was acquired by Bank of America in 2008, developed a system for quickly issuing home loans without properly checking their quality. These loans were sold to government mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, at which he instructed him to ensure cooperation with the investigation into the fraud case at Oboronservis. This was announced on October 25 by the press secretary of the head of state, Dmitry Peskov. The meeting took place in Novo-Ogarevo, RIA Novosti reports.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov commented on the situation around the Oboronservis holding, controlled by the Ministry of Defense, in which ICR officers are conducting searches and interrogating officials as part of an investigation into a case of fraud with state property worth more than 3 billion rubles.

The privatization of up to 6% of the shares of the largest Russian oil company Rosneft in 2013 will most likely be carried out as part of a deal with the British BP. The UK oil giant offered to buy a 5.66% stake in Rosneft from Rosneftegaz for $4.8 billion. “BP will buy this stake as part of the planned transaction,” the Prime agency quotes a source familiar with the situation.

Former Deputy Minister of Communications Naum Marder has been appointed vice president of Rostelecom. At the state-owned company, he will deal with issues of interaction with government authorities. “In this position, he will represent a wide range of interests of the Company in government bodies,” says a press release published on Thursday on the Rostelecom website .

photo by RIA Novosti A high-profile criminal case of fraud worth 3 billion rubles provoked a new scandal around the head of the Ministry of Defense. After the scandal, he may leave the government, experts admit The news about searches in the Oboronservis holding company controlled by the Ministry of Defense appeared on news agencies early on Thursday morning. The Investigative Committee promptly accompanied this information with an official comment.

Ukraine will not initiate a criminal case into the kidnapping of Russian opposition leader Leonid Razvozzhaev in Kyiv. The republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that he was detained and taken to Moscow by the Russian special services.