In 2006, record labels received $728 million in royalties from fifty-one countries, The Economist reports. The majority of revenue (87 percent) comes from payments for the use of records. The remaining 13 percent was obtained through TV channels' rotation of music videos. In addition, The Economist provides the ratio of royalties and sales volumes of music products in individual countries.

Regional and municipal authorities will soon have the opportunity not to sell non-residential buildings they own, but to rent them out at preferential rates to small businesses. Corresponding amendments to the law on regional and local self-government were introduced to the State Duma on July 4, Vedomosti reports . The amendments are part of the state program to support small and medium-sized businesses.

American Larry Weingarten invented a heating system for his home in California using a mixture of vodka and water, reports The New York Times. Weingarten, 53, a water heating expert, completed the renovation of his three-story residence in 2006. The work cost the owner 180 thousand dollars.

Former world boxing champion in the first heavy weight (up to 90.7 kilograms) Calvin Davis, who received a severe spinal injury, began to walk, reports the online publication fightnews.com. On June 25, an athlete preparing for another fight in Auckland (New Zealand) jumped off a narrow bridge to avoid a collision with a car driving towards him. The 29-year-old American fell to the ground from a height of more than seven and a half meters and was unconscious for about two hours.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his intention to allocate 3.1 billion Canadian dollars (2.9 billion US dollars) to modernize the 12 Halifax-class frigates at the disposal of the country's Navy, The National Post reports . The corresponding program is designed for the period from 2010 to 2017. According to the prime minister, after modernization the ships will become much more powerful.

In Guatemala, at the 119th session of the IOC, the capital of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games was determined. According to the voting results of the IOC members, Sochi received the right to host the Olympics. In the second round of elections, the Russian resort city beat the South Korean Pyeongchang by a margin of four votes. It is worth noting that after the first round, the Korean city received 36 votes, Sochi - 34, and the Austrian Salzburg - 25.

Chinese stock indices dropped significantly during trading on July 5. For example, the Shanghai Stock Exchange SSE Composite Index (CSI) fell immediately by 5.25 percent to 3,615.87 points. Other stock indicators fell by an average of five to six percent. According to Bloomberg, sales of Chinese shares were affected by the anticipation of a series of new share placements on local exchanges. Traders believe they could significantly reduce investor interest in already traded securities.

Two employees of the Russian news agency "New Region" were beaten and robbed in Simferopol, the agency reports. According to the victims, they were attacked by security guards of the local Privat Bank. As the editor of the New Region, Alexey Nezhivoy, said, he and his colleague, correspondent Ivan Usenko, decided to drink a bottle of beer and sat down on a bench near the fountain on Teatralnaya Square, located on Heroev Adzhimushkaya Street.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has decided to eradicate piracy with the help of bait, according to the website Tech.Blorge. Media Defender, a company that fights online piracy and is part of the association, has created a bait site called MiiVi.com to catch copyright violators. At the moment, the site is already closed, and as a result of the whois request, the GoDaddy provider is indicated as the registrar.

A week after a violin worth about one hundred thousand dollars disappeared from a New York subway station, the owner of the instrument, 36-year-old Tom Chiu, a member of the avant-garde quartet Flux, received the violin back from subway officials. A valuable instrument from 1913, made by one of the best craftsmen of the 20th century, Stefano Scarampella, has been returned to its value and safety, The New York Times reports.

Michael Bay's Transformers grossed $27.5 million in American theaters on its first day. According to Comingsoon.net, this is an absolute record for films released on Tuesday. "Transformers" managed to improve on the previous achievements of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which also took in $15.7 million at the box office on Tuesday. In total, taking into account pre-premiere screenings, the box office of “Transformers” has already amounted to $36.3 million.

On the occasion of the meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which opened in the Verkhovna Rada on July 5, beer dispensing machines were installed in the parliament building for the first time in its history, reports the New Region news agency . At the same time, a glass of 0.3 liters will cost quite cheap, the agency notes - only 1.8 hryvnia (about ten rubles).

The Moscow branch of the Movement against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) began creating “people’s self-defense” (NS) groups.

St. Petersburg divers discovered a watch decorated with diamonds at the bottom of the Neva, which a foreign tourist dropped into the river a few days ago, RIA Novosti reports . At the same time, the watch, which had been lying in the water since last weekend, continued to run, only the strap came off, which was lifted from the bottom separately. REGNUM news agency, a storm warning was announced in the city, but despite this, search work continued.

The European Central Bank left the refinancing rate at four percent, AFP reports , citing the bank's press secretary. It is expected that the figure will be raised closer to September 2007. Currently, the refinancing rate in the eurozone is at its highest level in the last five and a half years. Earlier on Thursday it was reported that the Bank of England raised the policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.75 percent.