The UN Security Council has called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and expressed concern over the escalation of the conflict, Reuters reports.

Ballmer bids farewell to Microsoft Former Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer has stepped down from the company's board of directors to devote his time to running the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, which he recently acquired from Donald Sterling and his wife Shelley, the Financial Times reports. In a letter to his successor, Satya Nadella, Ballmer expressed optimism about Microsoft's prospects and urged the company's top management not to be afraid of tough and difficult decisions.

The Kremlin and the government have agreed to extend the contract of Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin for three years. Three informed sources told Kommersant about this. Yakunin's previous term ended in mid-June.

August 21, 2014, 17:09 / Finance Fitch: Weak ruble ensures good pace of corporate lending The share of state participation in the growth of real lending set a new record - 7.1 trillion rubles, the profitability of the sector remains low, notes Fitch agency Ekaterina Kravchenko Maxim Stulov / Vedomosti Only two banks showed good income dynamics - Sberbank and Alfa-Bank .

The embargo has caused problems for some Russian dairy producers. As a source in the dairy market explained to Interfax, supplies of industrial dairy ingredients, including dry whey, dry skim milk, and anhydrous milk fat, have decreased. In connection with this, several enterprises have asked Rosselkhoznadzor to consider the possibility of expanding supplies of these products to Russia from other countries.

21.08.2014 Germany will supply weapons to a combat zone for the first time since World War II Advertising Advertising

The Finnish concern Valio plans to resume the export of lactose-free products to Russia on Friday, August 22, the general director of the Russian division of the company, Mika Koskinen, told the Finnish Telegraph Bureau. “We hope that the first cargo will arrive tomorrow,” he said. According to Koskinen, the concern is also working to change the composition of its regular products for Russia and use it to produce lactose-free products.

The participation of parties in the upcoming September 14 elections in the regions and their administrative centers is declining. 53 parties out of 69 that had the right to do so participated in the nomination of candidates and lists. However, only 41 parties managed to pass the registration stage, which is less than two-thirds of the total number, according to the authors of an analytical report published today by Alexei Kudrin's Civil Initiatives Committee (CIC).

“An amazing transformation happened to Yegor Skumbrievich! Just half an hour ago, the wave took on a very active social activist, the kind of person about whom even the chairman of the local committee, Comrade Niderlandyuk, said: “Who, who, but Skumbrievich will not let you down!” But Skumbrievich let us down! And how he let us down!” (With)

Anti-submarine forces of the Pacific Fleet yesterday stopped the reconnaissance activities of the Japanese submarine Oyashio in the border waters of the Sea of ​​Japan, Kommersant reports , citing sources in the Russian General Staff and the Ministry of Defense. The boat was discovered in the north of the La Perouse Strait, through which the Russian-Japanese border passes. A detachment of ships and naval aviation units were sent to monitor it.

21 August 2014, 14:41 / Finance How to help an entrepreneur enter the “white” zone? To reduce the number of employees working in the “shadow”, balanced measures are needed on the part of the state and provision of access to financial resources, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to develop their business in accordance with legislative norms Denis Neretin There is an informal labor market in every country. No state has yet managed to completely eradicate this phenomenon.

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Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Pavlo Sheremeta has resigned. This information appeared on August 20, and on the morning of August 21 it was confirmed by the Cabinet of Ministers. Sheremeta's statement has already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, UNIAN was told by the government press service. The reasons for the resignation were not given there. The press service of the Ministry of Economic Development also declined to comment on the resignation of the head.

Wild body painting in performance is the only reminder of familiar art forms / Herman Sorgeloos It turns out that some things never get used to. And twenty years later, viewers leave the French choreographer's performance of Jеrоme Bel indignantly. Some of them, without ever seeing the horrible episode with the peeing boy and girl, which, however, is not horrible, if you forget that people usually do it behind a closed door. But that's if they are people.

Nevertheless, the government is preparing a negative response to the bill, two federal officials told Vedomosti on Monday. The Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Economic Development spoke out against it. The officials call Pechora a raw project, without a clear strategy and development plan, and "without this, it is too early to change the law for it." But there is another argument - the deal with Rosneft has not been closed.