Brazilian police have detained Jose Dirceu, the top adviser to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as part of a large-scale corruption investigation, Western media reported on Monday, August 3. The former president's top adviser is believed to have been one of the architects of a criminal scheme to profit from Brazil's largest oil and gas company, Petrobras.

03 August 2015, 14:02 / Business Medvedev estimated the damage from drought at billions of rubles Vedomosti Damage from drought in Russia is estimated at billions of rubles, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting in Sochi dedicated to the progress of harvesting work. “Several regions are suffering from abnormal heat. In nine of them, a state of emergency was introduced, where drought destroyed part of the crops.

A meeting of four working groups on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine has ended in Minsk, the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry reported. Following this, a meeting of the contact group is to begin with the participation of the representative of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, Russia Azamat Kulmukhametov, the OSCE Martin Sajdik and representatives of the two self-proclaimed republics - Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego.

President Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov does not believe that his expensive watch could be grounds for an anti-corruption investigation. "It is unlikely that gifts from a wife to a husband or a husband to a wife could be related to anti-corruption activities," Interfax quotes him as saying.

Silvio Berlusconi's company Fininvest, which owns AC Milan, announced the sale of a 48% stake in the football club to Thai entrepreneur Bee Techaubol. The deal, worth €480 million, must be finalized by September 30. this . reports Football Italia According to media reports, Berlusconi will retain his position as club president and will continue to own the majority of Rossoneri shares.

In the first half of 2015, sales of the Heineken brewing concern in Russia decreased by a double digit percentage, reports Interfax . The company's report states that macroeconomics and declining consumer confidence continue to put pressure on the Russian beer market.

03 August 2015, 15:19 / Finance / Economics Brent oil price fell below $50 per barrel The reason for the fall is Iranian and Chinese factors Vedomosti Brent oil price fell to four-month low / Smartmoney On Monday, August 3, benchmark oil prices dropped to their lowest level in six months. This is evidenced by trading data. The reason for this was Iran’s promises to quickly increase production after sanctions are lifted, as well as new signals of a weakening Chinese economy.

Policy Watches of Russian officials In 2009, Vedomosti compiled a ranking of those government officials who wear the most expensive watches 08/03/2015 Photo: Vedomosti M. Stulov Vedomosti Sergey Stepashin, head of the Accounts Chamber, Rado Integral bicolor, СHF180... S. Porter Vedomosti Valery Shantsev, governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region (income for 2008 - 4.57 ... E. Stetsko Vedomosti Viktor Ishaev , plenipotentiary representative for the Far Eastern Federal District, La Grande Cl... D.

02 August 2015, 22:26 / Business Three top managers were fired at Rosseti Among them are two first deputy general directors Dan Belenky and Andrey Demin Alina Fadeeva Ivan Peschinsky The order to dismiss first deputy general directors Dan Belenky (left) and Andrey Demin was signed on Thursday / D.

The depository bank for Phosagro's GDR program, Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland AG, has resumed operations to convert the company's receipts into shares and back, the company said. This is reported by Interfax. The conversion of shares into GDR was suspended at the end of June due to the arrest of 170,500 shares of Phosagro (0.13% of the authorized capital), stolen from the former CEO and minority shareholder of the company Maxim Volkov in the fall of 2014.

03 August 2015, 09:53 / Business The PMI index of Russian manufacturing industries showed another decline in July Vedomosti The business activity index (PMI) for Russia's manufacturing industries in July 2015 amounted to 48.3 points compared to 48.7 points in June. This was reported in a study by the analytical agency Markit. The July survey showed output contracted for the third month in a row.

The President of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Joseph Blatter, has decided not to be re-elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). IOC President Thomas Bach announced this decision by Blatter on Monday, August 3, at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, AFP writes . In 2016, the FIFA president will turn 80 years old, and in any case, according to the regulations of the International Olympic Committee, he would have to leave his post.

In the last months of 2014, according to Rosstat, there was a significant increase in producer prices in almost all sectors of Russian industry, which accelerated somewhat at the beginning of 2015. Each sector has its own reasons for such dynamics, but despite the differences in the factors determining price growth in various segments of industry, some of the main reasons for changes in producer prices on the domestic market are changes in world prices and the weakening of the ruble.

03 August 2015, 15:26 / Auto UAZ will recall 4,300 cars due to possible problems with the braking system Vedomosti Previously on the topic: UAZ raised prices for the third time since the beginning of the year OJSC Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant (UAZ, part of the Sollers group) is recalling 4,297 Patriot SUVs due to a possible malfunction of the brake system, according to the website of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart).

03 August 2015, 18:23 / Business / Economics Corporate investment in the world will decline due to falling commodity prices At the same time, for companies from non-resource sectors in 2015 they will increase by 8%, S&P predicts Alexey Nevelsky Oversupply in commodity markets and concerns about slowing economic growth in China have led to a decline in prices for oil, gold, copper and other raw materials to multi-year lows / Ilya Yakovlev / TASS Global corporate capital spending is expected to