The State Duma Committee on the federal structure and local self -government on Thursday approved the amendments to the bill on municipal reform, recommending to adopt it in the second and third, final, reading on May 20. By virtue, the law may enter in early June.

The Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak said that Russia is ready to discuss a gas discount for Ukraine if Naftogaz pays Gazprom at least 2.237 billion dollars of debt for the fuel delivered, Reuters reports. “We will discuss this opportunity if they pay the debt on April 1, namely 2.237 billion dollars,” Novak explained.

The head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development of Suma Chakrabarty is unlikely to go to the "Russian Davos" - the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, writes The Wall Street Journal . According to him, Russia is becoming less priority for the EBRD, so he called his presence "unlikely." The Bank President emphasized that other representatives of this organization will visit the forum in St. Petersburg.

In Donetsk - the capital of clashes with Ukrainian military rebellious Donetsk region - a meeting of the third session of the so -called Supreme Council of the self -proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) was held. During the meeting, the separatist leaders partially approved the composition of the government and chose the Prime Minister. They became a Russian citizen named Alexander Borodai, reports RBC-Ukraine .

On Thursday, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation sent a letter to the rector of the country's universities about the inadmissibility of the establishment of a “commandant hour” in student dormitories.

The troops of the Russian Federation are preparing for the “peacekeeping operation” in Ukraine, the head of the Public Organization of the Center for Military-Political Studies, Dmitry Tymchuk, said on his Facebook page with reference to his own information service “Information Resistance”. "Russian troops, located in a 100 -kilometer zone from the state border with Ukraine, are pulled to the border opposite the Luhansk region," the report said.

The PRC police finds out the circumstances of the triple murder of civil servants committed in the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region. The corpses of the victims with stab wounds were discovered in the lake, to which they went fishing, the Free Asia radio station reports. The crime was committed on April 27, and the very next day, a visit to Xinjiang of the Chairman of the PRC and the head of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, began.

The Crimean authorities banned all mass events in the republic until June 6, so as not to disrupt the holiday season. The corresponding decree was signed by the temporarily acting head of the Crimea Sergey Aksenov, ITAR-TASS reports.

In the court in the case of the ex-mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov , who takes place in Rostov-on-Don, demonstrated an impressive object, which, according to the investigation, was material evidence. The material evidence was the portable anti-aircraft missile system "Strela2M", from which it was planned to make an attempt on the head of the Pension Fund of Dagestan Sagid Murtazaliev, Interfax reports.

The General Motors concern announced the next car recall campaign: 2.7 million of the auto -breeding five models sold in the United States fell under it. The financial losses of the concern in this regard will amount to about $ 200 million, Autonews notes. It is reported that problems in the wiring were found in the Chevrolet Malibu sedan, as well as in the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, Pontiac and Saturn Auras.

The chairman of the information department of the Moscow Patriarchate Vladimir Legoyda, in response to the call of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, to connect religious communities to resolve the conflict in Ukraine that the Russian Orthodox Church is not only praying for the termination of fratricidal perch, but also offers all participants in the confrontation in the reconciliation of the Ukrainian people with the consent of all political forces.

Ford announced the final tests of the compact Ecosport crossover on Russian roads. The date of the premiere of the model, the main competitors of which will be Nissan Juke and Opel Mokka, is not yet called. Fords test pilot cars produced at the modernized Ford Sollers plant in Naberezhnye Chelny. All changes provided for by the adaptation program have already been made.

In the northern capital, the day before, the conference was completed by the conference “Methodology for teaching church history in universities”, organized by the Holy Philretical Orthodox Institute (SPI) with the participation of the St. Petersburg Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy (RHGA).

Malaysia Airlines reported a record quarterly losses over the past two months after the MH370 flight disappeared during the flight over the Atlantic, Reuters reports. The disaster caused a sharp reduction in passenger flow. The statement widespread by the company said that its losses for the first quarter of the year amounted to 138 million dollars. This is the biggest loss of the company since 2011.

The opposition Indian People’s Party, led by Narendra Modi, won a crushing victory in the elections to the lower house of the Indian parliament (Lock Sabha). According to the results of the vote, the party received 340 seats, reports The Hindustan Times . This is the largest victory over the past 30 years. Indian stock markets instantly reacted to the victory: investors invested more than $ 16 billion in Indian securities, and the shares of Indian companies rushed up.