The German Chancellor won an intermediate victory Last Friday, Chancellor Schröder won an important victory in the Bundestag. Deputies from the ruling red-green coalition, which has a minimal majority in the lower house of parliament, presented a united front during the vote on the fate of the reform package, supporting the government’s proposals. Schröder himself did not quite believe in the possibility of such solidarity.

On Saturday, the US Senate and House of Representatives voted to allocate $87 billion to the White House to finance military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president has requested $66 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year and more than $20 billion for economic recovery and political stabilization in Iraq.

Tax evaders were given a choice: either money or prison Tax evasion will soon be punished much more severely: fines will increase many times over, and those hiding from paying the fine will face prison. But those convicted who are already serving time for tax crimes may be able to pay a fine and be released early. Such norms are contained in presidential amendments to the Criminal Code, considered on Friday by the State Duma in the first reading.

At the end of last week it became known that an expert group of Russia and the EU had finally begun work in Brussels to establish a visa-free regime. The director of the consular service department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Vladimir Kotenev, made a special trip to Brussels.

Before heading to the districts, deputies allowed foreigners to serve in the Russian army and adopted a law on passports State Duma deputies on Friday decided to extend the work period in the districts to a month. In the last session, this period was a week, then the chamber switched from normal work to pre-election mode and allocated two weeks to the districts. And now it has been decided that parliamentarians will gather for the next plenary session only on November 18.

Sheremetyevo is being put up for competition in its entirety The government decided to place management of the entire Sheremetyevo airport complex into one hand, including the yet-to-be-built third terminal.

The birthday of the B2 club was celebrated with a performance by the Latvian band Brainstorm Brainstorm is one of the few groups from the countries of the former USSR that managed to achieve popularity not only in Eastern Europe, but also in Western Europe. In 1989, in the small Latvian city of Jelgava, five school friends aged about fourteen created a group (then it was called “Blue Ink”, or modestly - “Five Best Guys in Latvia”).

Forecast for the coming days With westerly flows, humid sea air continues to be carried into the European territory of Russia. And the trajectories of movement of cyclones from the Atlantic pass through the central strip of the European territory of Russia. Therefore, in areas lying to the north of the trajectories of movement of cyclonic eddies, it is colder than usual, and to the south - warmer. In the central regions, the temperature regime is close to normal for these days of the month.

Director Yuri Eremin's streak of failure continues There is no reason to talk about “The Shadow” by Evgeny Schwartz, released at the Academic Youth Theater (directed by Yuri Eremin, set by Valery Fomin) in detail, especially with enthusiasm. It’s a strange thing: already at the premiere performance, one could feel some kind of internal fatigue of the play - as if it had been going on for several seasons and the actors had become tired of it.

The Vatican recognizes Mother Teresa as blessed On Sunday, Pope John Paul II marked the 25th anniversary of his pontificate by beatifying the most famous Catholic of the 20th century, Mother Teresa. This was solemnly announced to the 400 thousand believers who gathered yesterday in Rome on the huge square in front of St. Peter's Basilica.

Kirill RAZLOGOV, director of the Institute of Cultural Studies: - An artist is not an independent person. He tends to lean towards those who currently have some power. Artists have always been with the tsar, with landowners, with rich people, with the Communist Party of the USSR. They have never been independent, except in isolated cases related to show business. They have always been economically and politically dependent on others.

People's Artist, actor of the Satire Theater Mikhail DERZHAVIN, as well as his wife, actress and pop singer Roxana Babayan, have United Russia party cards. — Mikhail Mikhailovich, why did you join the party and why specifically “United Russia”? - By nature I am a party person, a collective person. That's how he was brought up. It's not good, it's not bad. This is a given. This is fine. My best friend Shura Shirvindt has never been a member of any party, and this is also normal.

The Accounts Chamber revealed the diversion of assets from Domodedovo Airlines The Accounts Chamber found that the management of Domodedovo Airlines (DAL), a controlling stake in which is assigned to the state, unlawfully withdrew 93% of its assets from its company. The management of DAL considers the conclusions of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber to be erroneous, but refrains from commenting on the substance of the accusations made.

Don entrepreneurs will punish each other for unethical behavior Rostov adopted the experience of oligarchs from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, who created an institute of arbitrators under the RSPP to resolve corporate conflicts.

Maxim DIANOV, director of the Institute of Regional Problems: - There are figures of science and culture in all reputable parties, so they do not influence politics and the election campaign - there is some kind of mutual compensation. I checked this many times during regional elections. Artists come from Moscow, hold a concert, people come, listen with pleasure, watch... And they vote the same way as in the neighboring city, where the artists did not come.