The rescue of French Alstom remains in doubt The French engineering and energy giant Alstom SA, whose possible bankruptcy Europe is concerned about, may avoid a sad fate. Yesterday it became known that representatives of the concern managed to reach an agreement with the French government and banks on financial support. In total, it is estimated at 7 billion euros. Half of this amount will be provided in cash, the rest, as Bloomberg reports, will be issued in the form of bank guarantees.

Yesterday, Belarusian Information Minister Mikhail Podgainy was dismissed. His place was taken by the former ambassador to China Vladimir Rusakevich. Lukashenko expressed dissatisfaction with Podgainy’s work back in the spring, although at the end of May the publication of the non-state “Belarusian Delovaya Gazeta” and other publications was suspended. This did not help the minister retain his post.

Gazprom was left alone with Briling Boris Titov, who heads the RSPP working group on reforming the gas industry, brought his cooperation with Gazprom in the case of the agrochemical corporation Azot to its logical conclusion. The offshore Solvalub controlled by him sold Mezhregiongaz a stake of 7.24% minus one share of this company. Now Gazprom, together with its subsidiary Mezhregiongaz, controls 47.36% of Azot shares.

William Burns kicks off Middle East tour from Russia US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns is in Moscow on an official visit. Today he will hold talks with his Russian colleagues - Deputy Foreign Ministers Yuri Fedotov and Alexander Saltanov. On the eve of the meeting, the parties spoke differently about its goals.

New adventures of Lara Croft on Moscow screens Lara Croft - the title character of a series of popular computer games, a virtual girl without an address, but with character, an expert in the field of ancient treasures and a kind of Indiana Jones in tights - first gained screen flesh two years ago. The flesh belonged to the wonder actress Angelina Jolie, so Simon West's film was quite watchable.

The epic investigation into the kidnapping of LUKOIL Vice President Sergei Kukura has received a new development. The Moscow region prosecutor's office insists that the case is still not solved, but the Smolensk special services are finding out more and more scandalous details about it. As our newspaper has already reported , one of the organizers of the attack was recently arrested and all participants were identified.

In France, a dad bullied his children's athletes' rivals There are many parents in the world who are eager to turn their child into a sports star - the national pride of the country. But what 43-year-old Frenchman Christophe Fauviau did is perhaps without precedent. To ensure victories on the tennis court for his 16-year-old son Maxim and 13-year-old daughter Valentin, the former military man added an antidepressant that causes drowsiness to the soft drinks of their opponents.

Moscow and Tashkent do not lose hope for rapprochement Even on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s arrival in Samarkand yesterday, the city was almost completely blocked; on that day, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov flew here. At the airport of his hometown, he met Putin in person at 6 o’clock in the morning.

The Don governor threatened to take away financial powers from municipalities The heads of 23 municipalities of the Rostov region received a stern warning from Governor Vladimir Chub about the possible introduction of external financial management on their territory. Mr. Chub is dissatisfied with the way some mayors attract investment, collect taxes and spend above-plan budget revenues.

Parliamentarians will determine the amount of payments to victims of the terrorist attack Another court case regarding moral compensation for former hostages of the Dubrovka Theater Center ended in failure for the plaintiffs. The Basmanny Court yesterday rejected four claims from five foreign citizens against the Russian Ministry of Finance. This time, residents of America, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the Netherlands tried to defend their rights. The total amount of the claim was $11.5 million.

Ivan MELNIKOV, Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: - I think our electoral association was not noticed in this kind of technology. Yes, we don’t have such opportunities. You see that we have been excommunicated from electronic media; there is no opportunity to speak on any television channel. Noisy actions make sense when there is wide access to television, so this kind of action is typical for the party in power.

Almost the entire European territory of Russia will be occupied by an Atlantic cyclone, the center of which will be located over the north of the central regions of Russia. Cold air enters the rear of the cyclone, so almost everywhere will be cool. Tomorrow the cyclone will move slightly to the north, the intensity of the rains will decrease, but they will not stop. Today and tomorrow will be cloudy, with occasional heavy rain, thunderstorms and possible hail. Daytime temperature +16...+21оС.

To return Russian oil Shareholders of the Latvian company Ventspils Nafta (VN) no longer believe that Russia will ever resume oil exports through their terminal. According to the company's president, Janis Adamsons, it would be naive to believe that the situation will improve over time, since Russia is rapidly increasing its own transit capacity in the Baltic ports. So VN can only rely on deliveries by rail.

At first glance, it may seem that summer is not the season for figure skating. But it is in the summer that demonstration shows are held all over the world, in which the most honored and popular athletes participate. It just so happens that most of these skaters have ended their amateur careers and now perform not for sporting glory, but for money and their own pleasure.

South Ossetia, a former autonomous region within the Georgian SSR, wants to become part of Russia. The other day, Prime Minister of the unrecognized republic Gerasim KHUGAEV proposed to disavow the agreement “On the fundamentals of political and legal relations between the parties to the Georgian-Ossetian conflict” signed in the late 90s in Austria, which, according to Tskhinvali, leaves Georgia the right to claim South Ossetia.