Interview with Kuwaiti sheikh enriches the Russian budget Yesterday the oil markets were in a fever. For the first time in the last 15 months, the price of a barrel of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose to a record high of $29.84 per barrel, immediately soaring by 1.7%. The US has sounded the alarm.

Sberbank of Russia and the diamond mining company ALROSA entered into an agreement to provide a loan in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles for two and a half years. As the company’s press service told the Vremya Novostey newspaper, the loan agreement was signed “as part of a plan for production development and attraction of long-term loans.” Last year, Sberbank provided ALROSA with a loan of $70 million to restore Lensk after the flood. "TIME FOR NEWS"

Russian business has become interested in Moldova Long-awaited Russian investments have finally flowed into Moldova. President Vladimir Voronin's election promises to create new jobs and attract capital are beginning to come true. Currently, Chisinau is not able to solve the employment problem - a third of the country's working population has left to work abroad. Many Moldovan families exist only at the expense of funds sent by guest workers from abroad.

Football. English Championship. 1st round Newcastle - West Ham - 4:0, Aston Villa - Liverpool - 0:1, Arsenal - Birmingham - 2:0, Blackburn - " Sunderland - 0:0, Charlton - Chelsea - 2:3, Everton - Tottenham - 2:2, Leeds - Manchester City - 3:0 , Manchester United - West Bromwich - 1:0, Southampton - Middlesbrough - 0:0, Fulham - Bolton - 4:1. The English Championship has already started, but many clubs are still trying to strengthen their ranks.

The golden days of Russian futsal seem to be behind us There are just over two weeks left before the start of the 11th Russian Futsal Championship, but it is still unknown how many teams will take part in this tournament. It was originally planned that the major league would increase from sixteen to 18 teams, but it is already clear that this will not happen.

Communists are preparing for the 2003 elections Judging by yesterday's statements by the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, the leftists have begun their election campaign for elections to the State Duma. True, not a word was said about the elections themselves yesterday. But everything that the party has planned for the coming autumn can give only one effect - propaganda, which is required exclusively in pre-election situations.

“Kaunas” is promised to be raised by winter The six-day blockade of Volgo-Balt, which has been blocked since Friday by the sunken bulk carrier Kaunas, should end by this morning. At least, the governor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Yakovlev, promised yesterday that navigation on the Neva should be opened on Wednesday night. Vladimir Krivoshey, head of the inland waterways department of Rosrechflot of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, agreed with him.

The water did not reach the Sistine Madonna Most of the world's famous monuments survived the European floods of the past week, but now need special attention and expensive repairs - these are the most preliminary "cultural" results of the flood. Monstrous photographs of the Zwinger Museum going under water along with the masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery and the flooded medieval Prague made us expect the worst.

Vladimir Putin is sure of this At a meeting held yesterday with the Minister of Taxes and Duties Gennady Bukaev, the president first of all asked how the Ministry of Taxes intends to increase the level of tax collection, which has decreased compared to last year. According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first half of the year the Tax Ministry collected 829.3 billion rubles, which is 77% of the adjusted target.

The problem of communication with the Kaliningrad region has become one of the most difficult and inconvenient problems in relations between Russia and the European Union. The Kremlin entrusted the negotiations on Kaliningrad to Dmitry Rogozin. After visiting Lithuania and the Russian enclave in the Baltic, Putin's special envoy went to find out the opinions of the leaders of Finland, Denmark, Austria and Germany.

Within the next month, the Lithuanian government must decide whether YUKOS will have a controlling stake in the Mazeikiu Nafta concern. So far, the company owns only 26.85% of the enterprise, but yesterday it was announced that an agreement had been concluded between YUKOS and the American Williams International Company (WIC) on the sale of its part of Mazeikiu nafta (also 26.85%) to Russian oil workers. Another owner is the Lithuanian government, which owns 40.66% of the concern.

It is still unclear who the “Russian mafia” dealt with in Hollywood The sensational criminal case in the United States about the “Russian mafia,” which allegedly captured five large entrepreneurs in Los Angeles, received ransoms for them, and then dealt with the businessmen, is taking on increasingly strange forms. As it turned out, some of the Russian citizens whom the American authorities arrested in connection with this investigation were recently released.

Sibneft conquers capital markets Sibneft managers yesterday answered a question that worries the oil community: what will the company do with the steadily growing volumes of oil produced (according to plans, by 2006 production will reach at least 43 million tons per year, and by 2020 - 55-60 million T). First Vice President of Sibneft Alexander Korsik argues that the main thing is not to sell crude oil within the country: it should be processed and sold at the company’s gas stations.

Perhaps some Americans dream of a flood What is happening this summer in America was well depicted by writers from the Russian land. “Summer has arrived in full force! - wrote Vera Panova in “Kruzhilikha”. “The sun imparted its ability to radiate heat to all objects: stone, metal, and the human body.” Or here’s Korolenko’s story “On a Cloudy Day”: “The sun sank strongly, but the heat did not subside.

Second half - not included The International Aviation Union (IAU), which, as it turned out, was organized back in July of this year, but has not yet been seen in public activity, yesterday presented itself to the media for the first time. However, enterprises and companies united in the ISA do not need a special introduction. The founders of the non-profit partnership (namely, in this form the union was registered) were the Aviation Complex named after.