The Barack Obama administration is preparing a bill that will expand the technical capabilities of American intelligence agencies and police to track the Internet activity of citizens suspected of committing crimes, The New York Times reports. The need to amend the current legislation, which already gives American intelligence services significant powers in this area, is dictated by technical progress in the communications sector.

AP Weather forecast of the Hydrometeorological Center of the Russian Federation in the Central Federal District (CFD) for September 28 Weather forecast for Moscow from September 28 to October 10 (gismeteo.ru) In the European part of Russia, Indian summer will end this week.

The MP3 market is rapidly approaching saturation point: the active growth of MP3 downloads in the US has ended, the Financial Times reports. According to the Nielsen research group, music lovers downloaded only 630 million tracks in the first half of this year – exactly the same as in the first half of last year. For comparison, in 2009, compared to 2008, the growth in the number of tracks downloaded was 13%, and in 2008 – 28%.

There is no shortage of teachers in Russia, said Andrei Fursenko, the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, who is participating in the first UNESCO World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, on Monday. "In fact, there is no shortage of teachers in Russia, moreover, there is a certain desire among young people to go to school. I think that if we build the policy correctly, the same thing will arise in the sphere of preschool education," the minister said.

The first time the privatization of distribution networks was postponed was by the Chairman of the Board of RAO UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais in 2008. The same investors will come to the networks as to generation, and this will lead to monopolization of the sector and the disappearance of competition, he explained, privatization is possible in 3-4 years, after the transition to a new tariff system - Regulatory Asset Base (RAB).

But the resignation of the general director is not at all a reason not to respond to his accusations against Marshall Capital, Svyazinvest minority shareholders say. Chief Executive HSBC Michael Geoghegan, who announced plans to step down starting next year on Friday, will receive 1.42 million British pounds ( $2.25 million) in compensation, The Wall Street Journal reports .

The US Department of Defense bought and destroyed thousands of copies of a book by a former US Army officer who served in Afghanistan, in what a Pentagon spokesman says is an attempt to protect state secrets. The book in question is Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer's "Operation Dark Heart: Espionage and Special Operations on the Front Lines of Afghanistan and the Path to Victory," which was scheduled to be published on Aug. 31.

The euro rose to April highs on Monday, exceeding $1.35 for the first time in five months. During trading, quotes reached $1.3507. Later, the European currency rate rolled back down to $1.3465. For several sessions, the dollar has been weakening due to speculation regarding the second stage of quantitative easing - the prospect of the US Federal Reserve injecting money by purchasing debt securities from the market.

Many bankers say that not only small credit organizations, but also state-owned banks, whose regional divisions sometimes act as market makers in a particular market, are keen on cashing out. State bankers avoid such a sensitive topic in public statements. But they invariably assure that they follow all the necessary procedures (and even constantly improve them) to combat the laundering of illegal income.

S. Nikolaev On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the creation of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on the basis of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office (SKP) of the Russian Federation, and introduced a bill on the SKP to the State Duma, which will now be subordinate not to the Prosecutor General, but to the President.

Chinese food maker Bright Food is in exclusive talks to buy British confectionery maker United Biscuits for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.96 billion), including debt, the Financial Times reports, citing people familiar with the matter. As a result of this deal, United Biscuits could become the first major European food company under the control of Chinese capital.

September 27, 2010, 13:56 / Business GAZ wants to assemble Chinese trucks in Russia Oleg Deripaska today signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese manufacturer of commercial vehicles. Alexey Nepomniachtchi AP Billionaire Oleg Deripaska today signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturer FAW Group, Bo Andersson, president of the Deripaska-controlled GAZ group, told Bloomberg.

There was no loss On the article “Tinkov wrote off a billion” (No. 147 of 10.08.2010, p. 07) The article claims that "TCS Bank wrote off 1 billion rubles of loans in 2009, losing more than all other Russian banks." This information is not true. It is absolutely incorrect to use line 27304 "Expenses from writing off assets (claims) and uncollected accounts receivable" of Form 102, which is used to make the comparison in the publication, to analyze the situation with bank losses.

In Western countries (and now in Eastern countries) people consider the choice offered to them – and they actually choose themselves. The right to choose was granted to us too – since the early 90s. And we chose, but we considered the choice offered not independently, but through the “glasses” of well-paid manipulators operating through the media. They were increasingly paid for by representatives of the "fingered" community.

September 27, 2010, 10:51 am / Finance European central banks stopped selling gold reserves In the last financial year, eurozone central banks, as well as banks in Sweden and Switzerland, reduced sales to 6.2 tons, down 96% from the previous year. Tatiana Seyranyan AP Photo Over the past decade, European central banks have resorted to every trick except one: they did not try to restrain sales of gold reserves.