The Belarusian state managed without Interfax On the eve of the parliamentary elections in Belarus, a unified system for distributing official state information is being created on the basis of the Ministry of Communications. Yesterday, Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting on this topic.

The activity of foreign capital in Russia in the 19th century can be sufficiently illustrated by the fact that from 1860 to 1880 the share of foreign capital in domestic joint-stock companies reached 16 percent, and in absolute figures increased 10 times - from 9.7 to 97 million rubles. The national debt also reached several tens of millions of rubles.

Russian triumph in Okinawa turned out to be a joke by Kim Jong Il Russian diplomacy received a painful blow - and not from the West, where it is accustomed to expect all sorts of nasty things, but from the Far East, beloved by the mysterious Russian soul. In an intimate conversation with the tycoons of the South Korean media business invited to Pyongyang, the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Il suddenly shed light on the origins of Vladimir Putin’s sensational statements on Okinawa.

Zhiguli cars rise in price for the second time in three weeks AvtoVAZ is again raising selling prices for a number of its models. It is noteworthy that the last increase was quite recently, on July 24, and affected almost all car models. But the management of the Volzhsky Automobile Plant, it seems, decided not to stop there. Therefore, from today, 13 modifications of various models of the Tolyatti Automobile Plant will cost buyers an average of 1-4 thousand rubles more.

By 2005, there will not be a single Russian-flagged merchant ship left in the Far East. There is no longer a Russian merchant fleet in the Far East. Just 20 years ago, shipping companies provided up to 65% of export-import traffic on the Pacific Ocean, today - only 6%. By the middle of this year, the average age of the remaining ships had exceeded 20 years.

The last Russian emperor canonized The Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church yesterday at 16.57 decided to canonize Nicholas II and members of his family: Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.

Bus and trolleybus drivers are holding a protest today A nationwide protest “in connection with the critical situation at urban passenger transport enterprises” is being held today by the trade union of road transport and road workers. In Moscow, a rally will be held at the Ministry of Transport building and near the Government House, and in the regions there will be two-hour pickets in front of the buildings of city and federal administrations.

Timely write-off of Russia's debt may be more profitable for the West than current payments The Ministry of Finance is rapidly starting to prepare negotiations with the Paris Club of creditor countries. Today, the debt of this organization, which Russia inherited from the Soviet Union, amounts to about $40 billion. Deputy Minister of Finance Sergei KOLOTUKHIN tells Vremya Novostei newspaper columnist Andrei DENISOV about the prospects for negotiations with the Paris Club.

Today marks ten years since the death of Viktor Tsoi Early in the morning of August 15, 1990, Viktor Tsoi died in a car accident at the age of 28. On a deserted highway near Riga, his Moskvich crashed into an Ikarus. Death came instantly. The examination showed the absence of alcohol in the blood. “Analysis of brain cells indicates that he fell asleep at the wheel, probably from overwork” (this is from the medical examiner’s report). Ten years is not such a short period of time.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that Emperor Nicholas II was canonized by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. The sum of the reasons can be reduced to the sacramental “it went well.” Something else that is worthy of surprise is the excitement with which the upcoming decision of the Council was discussed. Flaws in it were sought out and discussed by people who were often extremely far from the church walls. They do not hide their atheism.

Being a foreigner in Georgia is not easy On Sunday, in the highlands of Svaneti, an armed group attacked German tourists traveling in Georgia by car. They tried to rob them, but were unsuccessful: the police accompanying the Germans opened fire and scattered the attackers. The frightened tourists were taken to the regional center of Mestia and then evacuated to Tbilisi.

Guests again complain about gross refereeing errors The next 21st round of the Russian football championship, at first glance, did not make any fundamental changes to the standings. However, if you arrange the teams depending on the points lost, then the loss of position among the leaders of the capital “Torpedo” will become obvious. After the defeat from CSKA, Vitaly Shevchenko's team missed the chance to get closer to Spartak and Lokomotiv, and now, having lost to Zenit St.

Musical classics appear in the format of a new computer game In the sea of ​​computer games, which, by the way, children navigate much better than adults, the appearance of a new product called Music Puzzle looks unusual. It’s unusual because the goal of this game is not to punch three hundred virtual monsters in the face, but to instill in children a love of classical music. This toy was created by Moscow sound engineer and computer scientist Dmitry Elyashev and his friends.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov came to the White House yesterday to negotiate. Last week, a scandal broke out between the Moscow mayor and the federal government: Mr. Luzhkov said that the government promised to assume obligations on the capital's external debts, compensating for Moscow's losses (45 billion rubles, according to the mayor's calculations) from the introduction of the Tax Code. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin immediately disavowed this statement.

Chechen election commissions do not need counterfeit dollars Chechnya is ready to elect its deputy to the Duma next Sunday. Having discussed yesterday the progress of preparations for the elections of a single-mandate from Chechen constituency No. 31, the Central Election Commission did not find any serious omissions. This time all regions of the republic will vote without exception.