The President wants everyone to pay for themselves At the end of last week, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly returned to the topic of tax reform, which had been postponed, it seemed, until the State Duma returned from the summer holidays. While talking with mayors of small towns in Staraya Ladoga, the president made three statements that were undeservedly ignored by the press.

The fighting for Azot will take place in the best traditions of Russian corporate conflicts Gazprom did not want to put up with the loss of the agrochemical corporation (AHC) Azot. Moreover, he managed to announce the acquisition of control over it in the official financial statements according to Russian standards for 2002.

Liberian President vows to fight to the death This weekend, the situation in Liberia sharply deteriorated again. Rebel troops launched another attack on the capital Monrovia. They managed to capture the strategically important St. Paul's Bridge, which allowed them to attack the city center. From there last night there were conflicting reports, including the news (it was not confirmed) about the capture of the capital by the rebels.

As the Vremya Novostey newspaper previously warned , starting August 1, the procedure for issuing American entry visas will be tightened. This was caused by good intentions - “concern for the safety of both American citizens and visitors to the country” after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Björk performed at the Olympic Stadium Now hardly anyone will believe that in 1989 the concerts of Bjork Gundsmutdottir (which in a crude translation from Icelandic means something like Bereza Gundsmutovna) and her then band Sugarcubes in Leningrad did not take place due to the ridiculous number of tickets sold. When you see kilometer-long queues of people eager to join the work of the star, entwined around the sports complex that is your Ouroboros, this story seems completely incredible.

An unhealthy situation has once again developed at the NTV television company. As the newspaper Vremya Novostey learned, the head of NTV news broadcasting, Alexander Gerasimov, decided to close the information program “Country and World.” This program has been broadcast on NTV since February of this year from Monday to Thursday at 22.00.

You can communicate with referees, but not with CSKA players In the last round of the Russian Championship, CSKA again lost points, which happens to the championship leaders more and more often. But again, competitors failed to take full advantage of this. “Saturn” played a draw with “Rubin”, and “Dynamo” could not win against “Lokomotiv”, although they really wanted to.

Confrontation with Mars will not affect health Earthlings will be able to observe the great opposition of Mars at the end of August, said Lidia Rykhlova, head of the department of space astrometry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “At this time, the Earth and Mars will be at a minimum distance from each other. During such periods, Mars is most accessible to observers,” said Ms. Rykhlova.

But there are still no competitors Despite the ever-growing number of candidates for governor of the Sverdlovsk region, the elections themselves, scheduled for September 7, seem to be going very calmly. The fact is that Mr. Rossel still has no real rivals.

What the Chekhov Festival told us about Summing up the results of the festival and discussing its general theatrical meaning is an activity that is as exciting as it is risky. There are always few significant performances that allow us to draw some conclusions and make calculations: good if there are five or six, happiness if there are ten.

Russia does not rule out worse developments Japan and South Korea are becoming increasingly vulnerable to North Korean attacks. While the South Koreans are within reach of the North's long-range artillery, the Japanese are threatened by Pyongyang's short- and medium-range missiles. North Korea this weekend additionally deployed long-range missiles reaching the coast of Japan (the distance between the countries is only about 480 km).

“Pokhmelkinsky” and “Berezovsky” continue to fight for the party Inter-liberal strife flared up with renewed vigor. Last weekend, both warring parts of the Liberal Russia party held events directed against each other. First, on Friday, supporters of Viktor Pokhmelkin lined up a picket outside the British Embassy demanding the extradition of Boris Berezovsky. The part of “Liberal Russia” that went over to the oligarch’s side did not remain in debt.

Yuri Kudinov won the 25-kilometer marathon for the fourth time The author of the most striking victory among open water swimmers was Yuri Kudinov, who was the first marathon runner to win the 25 km swim for the fourth time in a row. Even before the start, the Russian was called the main contender for the “gold” of the world championship, and nevertheless, Yuri will remember the Barcelona Marathon with special pleasure. Everyone was familiar with Kudinov’s tactics.

"Magnitka" does not lose hope of merging with "Mechel" The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works plans to resume negotiations on a merger with Mechel JSC, said MMK General Director Viktor Rashnikov. A little over a year ago, MMK management already held negotiations on this issue with Mechel executives, but they did not end in anything. At the same time, MMK is ready to resume work in this direction, said the plant’s general director.

Drug prices are increasing regardless of the wishes of officials Major players in the pharmaceutical market are not giving up the idea of ​​lobbying for the abolition of value added tax on medicines and medical equipment on the eve of the Duma elections.