The volume of international (formerly gold and foreign exchange) reserves of Russia for the week from July 11 to July 18, 2008 increased by ten billion dollars. This is stated in the official press release of the Central Bank of Russia. As of July 18, the volume of Russian reserves reached $588.3 billion. On July 11, they amounted to $578.3 billion. In mid-June, Russia's reserves in gold and foreign currency exceeded $550 billion for the first time.

Home Credit and Finance Bank has put up for sale private debts belonging to it, Vedomosti writes , citing data from collection agencies. The amount of the debt portfolio is about 2.72 billion rubles. If the deal goes through, it will become the largest in Russian history. This sale will be the third for Home Credit in the last three years. The bank became the first in Russia to sell its debts to collectors. In 2006, he transferred 2.7 billion rubles, and a year later - another 1.6 billion.

Construction of the world's largest long-term hotel, the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, will be completed. The Times reports this. According to various estimates, the work could cost from 750 million to two billion dollars. Construction of a 105-story hotel in the capital of North Korea began in 1987. However, since 1992, work was stopped due to lack of funds. Nevertheless, the building became a kind of symbol of Pyongyang - its image was replicated on postcards and postage stamps.

The US government has promised to impose new economic sanctions on Iran if Tehran does not shut down its nuclear program, AFP reported on July 23. This was stated by press secretary of the US National Security Council Gordon Johndrow.

On July 23, oil prices continued to fall in commodity markets. In New York, a barrel of WTI for September delivery fell another almost four dollars to $124.44, which is the minimum for a month and a half. A barrel of Brent now costs $125.29, notes the K2kapital agency . The trading was influenced by the US Department of Energy report on oil reserves in the country. American stock indices closed in slight positive territory on July 23.

reports In Nazran, unknown persons fired at the car of the Deputy Mufti of Ingushetia Kambulat Zyazikov, Interfax . Zyazikov was hospitalized with moderate injuries. It is also reported that the incident occurred at about ten in the morning on July 24 in the Barsukinsky municipal district. Unknown people opened fire on the Chevrolet Niva in which Zyazikov was driving, and then fled in a silver VAZ-2107 car. Currently, an interception plan has been introduced in Nazran.

Eight-year-old Ukrainian tennis player Anastasia Korzh was disqualified for tips she received from her father via radio. The tennis player heard the hints thanks to a miniature earphone hidden in her ear. Anastasia was withdrawn from the youth (for children under 10 years old) tournament in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, reports the local publication The Press.

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported a 19 percent decline in quarterly profit, citing disruptions in Boeing's 787 Dreamliner program and a delayed contract to supply military aircraft to the Australian Air Force. The New York Times reports this. The delay in deliveries to customers in Australia led to a fine from the customer of $248 million, the AP clarifies. In total, the corporation's profit in the second quarter was $852 million, compared to $1.05 billion for the same period in 2007.

24.07.2008, 13:47:13 version Print | PDA/PDA Banner of Spartak fans. Photo from the site fratria.ru Planned crisis of "Spartak" Spartak found itself in crisis for the third year in a row On July 12, Moscow “Spartak” suffered a crushing defeat from CSKA (1:5) in a Russian championship match. After this, Spartak head coach Stanislav Cherchesov transferred three team leaders to the reserve team, including captain Yegor Titov, and fans demanded the resignation of the entire club management.

Former Soviet partisan Vasily Kononov won a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights against Latvia, whose judicial authorities sentenced a pensioner to prison for killing civilians during World War II. As stated in the message published on the website of the Strasbourg court, it was established that during the conviction of Kononov the norms of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms were violated.

The Uzbek football club Kuruvchi has reached an agreement with the Spanish Barcelona to hold two friendly matches. The first game will take place in the capital of Catalonia during the Spanish Championship break on Christmas Day at Barcelona's training ground, and the second game will take place in Uzbekistan until January 31, 2010, according to the official website of the Spanish team.

Negotiations between Tim Burton and Australian Mia Wasikowska are nearing completion: the director invited the 18-year-old actress to play the lead role in the film “Alice in Wonderland” based on the Lewis Carroll fairy tale of the same name. The Hollywood Reporter writes about this. The script for Burton and Disney's film was written by Linda Woolverton, who worked on Disney's The Lion King.

24.07.2008, 10:33:08 version Print | PDA/PDA Damon Albarn. Photo by user Rama from wikipedia.org Merry carousel The leader of Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad and the Queen creates a new project The tireless Damon Albarn, one of the most talented musicians of his generation, never lets himself or his fans get bored. Soon, the founder of three influential British bands from the 1990s to the 2000s intends to present to the public a new project called Carousel.

The Merekeskus shopping center is up for sale in the Estonian capital, reports "dv.ee" . A shopping center popular with city residents and especially visiting Finnish tourists, located near the Tallinn Passenger Port, is up for sale for 187.2 million kroons (about $18.5 million). The successfully operating Merekeskus shopping center with a total area of ​​about 3.5 thousand square meters is located on a site of about 4 thousand square meters in the city center.

Oakdale High School teacher Jim Salava spent 20 hours riding the ride and won $1,000 after beating nine competitors, AP reports . He also received a lifetime pass to Nickelodeon Universe, where the competition was held, and a family cruise. The competition began on Monday at 6:30 am local time. Three hours after the start, out of ten participants, only three remained, and Salava’s last opponent left the race at 2:35 am on Tuesday.