"The way you treat yourself the first time is how you will be treated in the future," one of my old colleagues, now a well-known journalist, liked to say. The rule applies not only to individual life, but also to public life. Let's try to look at the "10 tasks" - the declaration of the newly created association of media workers "Mediasoyuz" - from this angle.

According to Bridgestone President Yoishiro Kaizaki, the Japanese corporation's total losses as a result of the recall of 6.5 million tires from the market will amount to $900 million this year. Kaizaki claims that these expenses will not ruin the company. The Russian division of Bridgestone is definitely not suffering from the growing payments yet.

PETERSBURG - "North-West GSM" will buy 100% of the shares of the company "Mobile Phone" in Veliky Novgorod, which holds licenses and provides cellular services in the GSM-900 and NMT-450 standards. The St. Petersburg company already has a GSM license for the entire North-West. A precedent is being set: one operator holds two GSM licenses for one region.

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials have found that high school is hurting students. A recent study shows that the longer children stay in school, the worse they are at learning core subjects. In addition, the Test of International Mathematics and Science Mastery (TIMMS) shows that American students are significantly behind their peers in Europe and Asia.

Aeroflot and the Moscow Region government signed a three-year cooperation agreement yesterday. Aeroflot secured tax breaks from the Moscow Region authorities for its Sheremetyevo-3 project, a new terminal that the company intends to build in exactly three years. Aeroflot intends to begin construction of a new terminal next spring. For this purpose, the airline has leased 50 hectares of land in the Khimki District of the Moscow Region, not far from Sheremetyevo-2, for 49 years.

Russian enterprises are leaving an ever smaller share of their export earnings abroad. According to the Center for Macroeconomic Research of the Unicon/MS company, in the first half of the year, non-returns amounted to 6.8% against 21.3% in the second half of last year. Strict state control seems to be doing its job. However, now the outflow of capital is accelerating again, and this is advantageous to the monetary authorities, experts say.

NOVOSIBIRSK. As the prosecutor of the Central District of Novosibirsk Yuri Kondratyev reported on Wednesday, the Novosibirsk prosecutor's office, which is supervising the investigation into the case of the assassination attempt on Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev, has information about the location of the last defendant in this case - the head of the MIKOM group Mikhail Zhivilo. At the same time, he specified that the available information is operational in nature and needs to be verified.

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. is planning to slow down its rollout of new models as it struggles to cope with the tire recall scandal. Dealers have reported a growing number of complaints from customers who bought the company's latest, much-hyped Escape SUV. Five have been returned since it went on sale in August. The once-popular Focus compact has also been the subject of complaints, with four vehicles recalled since late 1999.

Late yesterday evening, Mikhail Kasyanov finished another meeting on the restructuring of RAO UES of Russia. According to eyewitnesses, the head of RAO UES Anatoly Chubais can celebrate victory: his plan for reforming the energy company is liked by almost everyone, and, most likely, it will be approved in one form or another at the government meeting on December 14.

This will most likely force Russian borrowers to make adjustments to their plans for placing their securities on foreign markets. The first to do so was Alfa Bank . As reported by ITAR-TASS, the bank's president Petr Aven said yesterday in New York that the bank had decided to postpone the issue of $150 million in Eurobonds and the attraction of $100 million in loans planned for the second quarter of 2001. Aven added that the issue of Eurobonds is possible later next year.

Yesterday, the Duma adopted in the first reading amendments to the second part of the Tax Code, eliminating the draconian procedure for taxing citizens' transactions with securities. But the deputies were late: the likelihood that the law will be adopted before the New Year is extremely low.

The issues of state property management seriously worry members of the Unity faction. Yesterday they presented to the public two bills proposing to create a single register of all assets and debt obligations of Russia. The deputies want to approve this register annually together with the budget. However, government officials call the initiative of the loyal faction "senseless".

WASHINGTON - World Bank economists predict strong growth for developing countries in the coming decade, with the near-term outlook clouded only by the possibility of a U.S. recession, according to the World Bank's annual Global Economic Prospects and Developing Economies report. According to the WB forecast, in 2001 the US and Eurozone economies will grow by 3.2%, Japan by 2.1%.

The State Statistics Committee pleased us with the information that the growth of foreign investment in the Russian economy for the first nine months of 2000 was 22%, and its volume was $7.9 billion. However, at the same time, statistics recorded that our country in the same period officially invested $11.5 billion in the world economy. Mainly in the USA and for a short period.

It's been a long time since I wrote about personal pages, especially those outside the RuNet. However, there are still completely private projects that can really surprise you. And I'm not the only one who noticed the site I'm going to tell you about today - several hundred thousand people visit it every day. We're talking about a simple invention of two young Americans called "Am I Hot or Not?" (www.amihotornot.com), i.e. "Am I Hot or Not?" What attracted so many people here?