Today, a nuclear conflict with Moscow is unlikely to bring success to the United States. The first strike can destroy no more than 75-80% of our intercontinental ballistic missiles. The United States cannot cope with the remaining hundreds of Russian ICBMs even with a deployed national missile defense system. Based on this, the Americans are also cautious regarding Russian satellites. Dealing with China today is much easier, and this apparent ease can encourage Americans to take radical action.

Viktor Khristenko proved that the CIS countries need to integrate Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko yesterday explained to journalists, including Ukrainian and Belarusian, why economic integration is needed in the post-Soviet space. It turns out that despite the growth in production and domestic consumption in the CIS countries, trade turnover within the Commonwealth has remained at the same level over the past two years - approximately $60 billion per year.

Spartak and Torpedo advanced to the next round of the UEFA Cup Russian teams passed the first round of the UEFA Cup without losses. Torpedo defeated the Bulgarian CSKA in the 1/64 finals of the tournament only as a result of post-match penalties. Spartak also did not present any unpleasant surprises, although a 1:1 draw with the Danish Esbjerg can hardly be added to the list of achievements. Next year, not two, but three Russian teams will participate in the UEFA Cup.

The second reading of the capital's bill on military service was postponed until 2008 The Moscow City Duma seems to be preparing to switch to martial law. The deputies not only remembered their military ranks, but also declared their intention to lobby for the interests of the army, regardless of the position of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Volga Federal District, General Vladimir Shcherbakov, yesterday announced the detention of two people suspected of murdering the editor-in-chief of the weekly Togliatti Review, Alexei Sidorov. The attack on him took place on the evening of October 9, when the journalist was returning home. At the entrance, an unknown person hit Mr. Sidorov several times with a sharp point in the heart area.

More than 9 thousand Russians received compensation from Austria for the fact that under the Nazi regime they were involved in forced labor in the country. The total amount of payments since April (then an agreement was reached) amounted to 18.6 million euros. Yesterday in Vienna, concluding his working visit to Austria, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov expressed satisfaction with the progress of payments and thanked his colleague Ms. Benita Ferrero-Waldner for this.

The fake is better than the original. It's cheaper, more affordable, and you don't feel sorry for it. Then, there is only one original, and no matter what it is, you have to be content with it. Is it a fake? They are different: some are worse, others are better. You can compare and choose. Just like in a democracy.

The White House puts pressure on the Security Council through influential media Yesterday Washington was ready to put a new draft resolution on Iraq to a vote in the UN Security Council. America expressed full confidence that the document would not be subject to veto by any of the permanent members of the Security Council and would receive the approval of the required majority.

RSPP formulates principles of competition with Sberbank The largest private banks, members of the board of directors of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), are entering into an open struggle for equality with Sberbank when participating in the deposit insurance system. Members of the RUIE bureau yesterday agreed on the position of the union, according to which Sberbank should enter the system on a common basis with other banks.

On the last day of his work as editor-in-chief of the Izvestia newspaper, Mikhail KOZHOKIN spoke about the reasons that prompted him to write a letter of resignation and his future plans to Vremya Novostey correspondent Vladimir SHPAK. — Mikhail Mikhailovich, your resignation did not take place on Wednesday... - A little bit wrong. I submitted my resignation. On Wednesday, the board of directors of Prof-Media simply did not have time to consider this issue.

On the first game day of the Basketball World Cup - a new intercontinental competition for women's club teams - the champion of the Euroleague and Russia UMMC (Ekaterinburg) prevailed over the Brazilian "Sao Paulo" - 83:52. As part of the Ural girls, four Americans, a Bulgarian, a girl from Portugal and only five Russian players took to the court. The Brazilians resisted until the final period, and in the last quarter they lost with an indecent score of 4:26.

Bigger government won't work The government yesterday made an attempt to cool the ardor of parliamentarians who on Tuesday adopted in the first reading a bill to repeal the law on compulsory civil liability insurance for car owners (OSAGO). Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that in the second and third readings the bill on deferring the “automobile citizenship” for a year will not be adopted.

The RSPP established a committee on social responsibility The topic of relationships between business and government can be considered closed. Many years of discussions about de-bureaucratization, the arbitrariness of the security forces, the participation of entrepreneurs in political processes, and so on and so forth, ended in a banal manner: the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs voluntarily established a new tax for itself.

Intelligence agencies do not read other people's SMS The capital's Central Internal Affairs Directorate decided to refute the recently spread rumors about the interception of telephone messages by law enforcement officers. Yesterday, the head of the first operational investigative unit of the criminal police, police lieutenant colonel Dmitry Chepchugov, said at a press conference that all this is speculation. “This is impossible for legal, technical or technological reasons,” he explained.

The Central Election Commission asks TV channels not to be afraid of parliamentary candidates At yesterday's meeting, the Russian Central Election Commission determined the procedure for drawing lots between parties and blocs for the distribution of air time on television and radio channels. The draw will take place on November 4, but parties are advised to submit applications for participation in advance, no later than October 29.