The authorities of Italy announced on Wednesday that last year they confiscated the members of the mafia property with a total value of four billion euros. The confiscation of buildings, hotels, restaurants, expensive cars and yachts stipulated by law is considered an effective means of combating organized crime in Italy. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Italy, among two thousand suspects who were arrested last year, eighteen are considered “especially dangerous”.

People continue to die in Syria A powerful explosion occurred on August 15 in the center of Damascus near a hotel in which the UN observers working in Syria live. As expected, on August 15, Syria’s membership in the organization of Islamic cooperation will be suspended - in protest against the refusal of the country's current authorities from attempts to resolve the internal conflict with peaceful methods. According to Syria's state television, 3 people were injured as a result of the explosion.

In Ukraine, the court decided to extradite to Russia two suspects in preparing an attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin - a citizen of Kazakhstan Ilya Pyanzin and a native of the formidable Adam Osmaev. This was announced today by RIA Novosti by the press secretary of the prosecutor's office of the Odessa region of the country Elena Abramova. According to her, Osmaev’s transfer to the Russian side may take place in the near future.

The Governor of the Moscow Region dismissed the mayor of the city of Khimki Vladimir Strelchenko, against whom local civil activists were not a year or two. But the mayor lost his post, not therefore: he was from the "Afghan mafia" of the former governor Boris Gromov, and Shoigu has enough of his people to work. Strelchenko, what to say there, was a bad mayor - but they took him away at all.

Action at the entrance to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior Four participants in the action of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in support of the arrested girls from the Pussy Riot group are accused of violating the procedure for holding a public event. According to activists on Twitter, they will be judged on Thursday in the world section of the Khamovnichesky Court. In accordance with the new law on rallies, they face a large fine.

Krymsk. 40 days the economic environment 08/15/2012

Funeral of those who died in the city of Krymsk In Moscow, a group of civilian activists spends tonight - on the 40th day of catastrophic floods in the Kuban - an action of the memory of the victims of the tragedy. All sympathizers are invited to come with lit candles to the building of the Krasnodar Territory in Moscow in order to express condolences to the victim Kuban, Radio Liberty told one of the organizers of the action.

In Spain, in a number of areas of which until recently, forest fires raged, the situation is normalized. On Wednesday morning, the fight against fire was carried out only on two islands of the Canary Archipelago - Tenerife and Homer. This is reported by the Radio Liberty correspondent in Spain Viktor Cheretsky. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Russian Embassy in Madrid published a warning that was reprinted by many Russian media.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a working visit to Minsk, commented on a sharp aggravation of relations between Belarus and the European Union, especially Sweden - after a scandal with the so -called “plush landing”. In early July, hundreds of toy bears with slogans in defense of freedom of speech were dropped from the Swedish light -motor aircraft over the territory of Belarus. The authorities of Belarus refused to accredit the Swedish ambassador.

In Argentina, the court began in the case of the former president of the country Fernando de la Rua, who is accused of bribing senators. According to investigators, in 2000, de la Rua paid about $ 5 million to a group of legislators so that they supported the unpopular reform of labor legislation. The ex-president of the prosecution himself rejects, calling them politically motivated.

The volume of industrial production in Russia during July increased by 0.9% - after zero growth in June, the Federal Statistics Service said. By last year's level of July, growth amounted to 3.4%, while in June - 1.9%. From January to July, industrial production in Russia increased by 3.2%. Last year, growth in the first seven months amounted to 5.3%.

According to media reports, by the end of 2012, the Presidential Commissioner may appear in Russia. He will solve conflicts arising on national soil, and report on the situation personally to Vladimir Putin. Referring to sources in the presidential administration, Izvestia write that the idea of creating the Ministry of National Affairs did not find support.

In Moscow, near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior , an action was held today in support of the arrested participants in the Pussy Riot punk group . According to civilian activists on Twitter, about 20 people in masks held the letters of the poster with the inscription "Blessed are the gracious." There was a brawl with employees of the protection of the temple, several journalists were injured, a video camera was broken. There are detainees.