Syrian militants published on the Internet a video with Sergey Nikolayevich Gorbunov, who was taken hostage by an engineer from Russia. In the video, Gorbunov reads a text in which he asks to exchange it through the Red Cross for Khaleda Suleiman from Saudi Arabia, which the Syrian authorities detained in Hama. The Russian says that five days are given for the exchange, otherwise he will be killed. There have been no official comments about the authenticity of the video yet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his greeting to the participants in the meeting of the Central Election Commission with the heads of election commissions of the subjects, noted that the country's political system is developing, and people expect more openness and competitiveness from it, RIA Novosti reports. According to him, this public requests were implemented so that trust in the elections increased.

In Russia, sales of two new iPhone models - 5s and 5C - will begin on October 25, RIA Novosti reports with reference to retailers. The iPhone 5s will sell at a price of 30 thousand rubles for a version of 16 GB of memory. 35 and 40 thousand will cost versions from 32- and 64-gB-byt of the version, respectively. The iPhone 5C can be purchased for 25 thousand rubles for modification from 16 GB of memory and 30 thousand for 30 GB of memory.

November 14, 2013 (Thursday), as part of the Public Lectures project, Polit.ru, will be Vladik Avvanesovich Avetisov -Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Head of the Laboratory for the theory of complex systems of the Institute of Chemical Physics named after N.N. Semenova RAS.

The famous mixfiditer Alexander Emelianenko filed a counterclaim to the police for 63-year-old Vasily Dyutin, who allegedly beat the combat sambo champion in a cafe in southern Moscow. This was reported by Interfax with reference to a source in the capital's law enforcement agencies. Earlier it was reported that the police detained Emelianenko in connection with the appeal of Mysyutin, who claims that it was he who was beaten by an athlete in an institution on Vostochny Street.

In September, the external debt of Russia increased by 12.6%, according to the website of the Ministry of Finance. Currently, the country's public debt is $ 55.78 billion. The department notes that the main increase in debt falls on an increase in bond debts. Debts increased by 18% and amounted to $ 40.65 billion. The first contribution of $ 2 billion will transfer to creditors in 2015.

In recent years, our government has been waging a desperate war with reality, firmly following the dead -end economic course and trying to prove its high efficiency with the help of verbal interventions and rhetoric, inherited from the USSR.

The Ministry of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine has made an initiative to amend the legislation of the country that will organize the production and sale of soy from genetically modified seeds, Kommersant reported with reference to the head of the department of Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk. “We initiated the issue of partial resolution of the cultivation of technical cultures-soy from GMO-Semyan, as is happening in Russia and the EU countries,” said Priyazhnyuk.

The Accounts Chamber in its report announced violations in the penal system for a total of almost 3.7 billion rubles. Violations were found in contracts for the purchase of an electronic monitoring system of controlled persons and in the construction field (SAMPL). The amount of purchased SAMPL was overpriced by 1.6 billion rubles. FSIN officials purchased too many such systems, as a result, Sample in the amount of 1.2 billion rubles turned out to be unused.

Two world aluminum giant Rusal and Alcoa could earn up to 1.4 billion dollars due to the slow work of the London Exchange. It is reported by The Wall Street Journal. Many companies could not achieve raw materials for years, and had to pay extra for the speed of delivery. As a result, Rusal and Alcoa received an increased prize to the price of aluminum. The publication also mentions the manufacturer of Aluminum Rio Tinto, which could earn money delays up to $ 1.8 billion.

Nigerian pirates captured two US citizens, reports Reuters . Both Americans were part of the crew of the refueling vessel. The ship of Edison Chouest went under the American flag.

The resignation of the head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko is designed to weaken the department, which will then be disbanded, write Izvestia with reference to sources in the government.

On October 23-24, Moscow hosts the International Practical Conference “Internal Control and Audit in Russia: Concept and Practice”. The organizer of the conference is the Russian representative office of the Institute of Certified Financial Managers (Great Britain) with the support of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom. In accordance with the Federal Law on Accounting, which entered into force on January 1 of this year, internal control is mandatory for Russian economic entities.

The scientific organizations of the Russian Academy of Sciences will be transferred to the management of the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations (Fano), which was created during the reform of the Academy of Sciences. This was announced on Thursday by the deputy head of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Lyudmila Ogorodova, RIA Novosti reports.

Russia supported the intention of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to join the Customs Union, RIA Novosti reports. The corresponding statement was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference following the EU meeting in Minsk. Belarus and Kazakhstan also showed support for Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. A special working group will be prepared by the plan to join the two states to the Customs Union.