Bills on de-bureaucratization may fail Following the Duma, the Federation Council will finish its spring session today. The last meeting of the upper house will be no less eventful than the last meeting of the lower house. Senators will have to approve or reject 40 bills already adopted by the Duma. A special place in today's discussion will be occupied by the financial and economic block of laws. Most likely, changes to the Tax Code will be approved, reducing the income tax rate from 35 to 24%.

Anti-globalists took up the Genoese watch For the first time, the agenda of the summit of leaders of major powers opening today in Genoa includes the question of what role non-governmental organizations play in determining this very agenda. Representatives of non-governmental organizations, more often united by the word “anti-globalists,” will at this time keep 20 thousand police officers in Genoa in suspense.

American congressmen called security This had never happened on Capitol Hill - for the first time, hearings in the US Congress were held in the presence of armed police.

The Pope travels along the borders of Russia John Paul II enjoyed traveling through the former Soviet republics. Today, the apostolic administrations of Kazakhstan and Armenia received official notification from the Vatican about the pontiff’s upcoming visits to these countries. “It is expected that Pope John Paul II will fly to Kazakhstan on the evening of September 22,” Father Raymond Conard, press attaché of the Holy See in Almaty, told a Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent.

The Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory rejected the resolution to establish a personal pension for Viktor Astafiev. This came as a complete surprise to many deputies. None of them doubted that a world-famous writer who had kindly glorified the region had the right to count on some financial assistance from his fellow countrymen. During the preliminary discussion, the debate was only about the size of the pension - 3 thousand rubles or 4.

Bank Vozrozhdenie dreams of reviving the interest of Western investors in its shares The only Russian bank that managed to place Level 1 ADRs on Western markets before the crisis expects to enter the same river in the next two years. In any case, this is how the managers of Bank Vozrozhdenie explain the upcoming consolidation of its preferred shares. Analysts agree that this could make the stock more attractive to portfolio investors. But this alone is not enough.

Bike highway. 88th Tour de France. July 20--22. 12--14th stages. Two of the five most difficult mountain stages of the Tour de France are behind us. And both were won by the American Lance Armstrong, who has already become a living legend. Yesterday was a day off at the race, and from Friday to Sunday the riders will have to overcome the remaining three difficult mountain stages.

The ruling of the Moscow Garrison Military Court came into force, by which on July 6 Major General of the Reserve Valery Monastyretsky was released from criminal liability. The Prosecutor General's Office accused Monastyretsky of the fact that, as head of the financial and economic department of FAPSI, he, using his official powers, in 1994-1995. repeatedly committed large-scale fraud.

“Independent Entreprise” showed what a classic love quadrangle looks like in the Internet era The play Closer by contemporary English playwright Patrick Marber (in the version directed by Pyotr Stein and produced by Yuli Malakyants - www.London.ru) is already familiar to advanced metropolitan audiences. About two years ago it was brought to Moscow by the Royal National Theater of Great Britain (then the title was translated as “Touch”).

Interesting events unfolded yesterday around Mosstroyekonombank. First, the Interfax agency, citing an anonymous source, reported that Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov decided to exclude Mosstroyekonombank from the list of authorized banks of the capital government (allegedly due to the fact that the bank “does not take an active part in city programs and does not fully fulfill its obligations"), and transfer the remaining city budget accounts in it to other authorized financial institutions.

A subsidiary of the largest European bank Deutsche Bank - Deutsche Bank LLC - received a license from the Central Bank on June 4 to work with individuals. The bank was unable to comment yesterday on whether it plans to actively develop retail or limit itself to servicing payroll projects for corporate clients.

Russian banks form the Belarusian gold and foreign exchange reserve Russia is actively replenishing the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Belarus, while missing out on the benefits from the export of its gold. Due to unreasonable customs and tariff policy, it goes past Russian customs.

Soil with fragments of human bones was brought to one of the courtyards in the Northern District of Moscow for landscaping. On Wednesday, on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street, 64 fragments of human bones were discovered during excavation work in imported soil. According to preliminary estimates, they lay in the ground for about 40-50 years. The remains were sent for examination to the forensic medical examiner's office. It is now being determined where the soil was brought from.

Football. Russian Championship. July 22 . 18th round. The most interesting match is expected in Moscow at the Luzhniki stadium, where Torpedo will play with CSKA. The performances of the black-and-whites in recent meetings resemble a steep rollercoaster: a 1:4 defeat against Saturn, a 4:0 victory over Dynamo and immediately a 0:4 score in the game against Krylia Sovetov. If you follow this torpedo logic, then in the match with CSKA Shevchenko’s team should celebrate success.

Narcologists believe that they are not the ones who should fight drug addiction A new program for the prevention and prevention of drug addiction is currently being prepared in the Moscow City Duma. Its main feature is that the city authorities intend to find funds for additional funding of anti-drug activities.