The mayor will not participate in televised debates The main contender for the post of Moscow mayor in the upcoming elections, Yuri Luzhkov, decided to save money from his election fund and refused to place paid advertising in the media. The incumbent mayor seems so confident of victory that he has refused both free print media coverage and televised debates with his rivals.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations decided to teach regional heads The leadership of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has come up with an unprecedented initiative - to oblige all incoming governors to undergo a special training course and certification for actions in emergency situations.

The Duma invites a pensioner as an expert on housing and communal services Yesterday the State Duma did not support Boris Nadezhdin’s bill proposing to strengthen the connection between members of the Federation Council and the regions that delegated them. According to current legislation, the governor and the regional Duma have the right to recall a senator without giving reasons.

The regional public organization “Open Russia” was established in 2001 with funds from shareholders of the Yukos Oil Company and proceeds from a number of private investors. From the very first days, the public organization announced the implementation of projects in the field of modernization of education, culture and charity as its sphere of activity, thus taking over the baton from the Soros Foundation.

CLUBS Miss Universum (Sweden). Katie Brandelius is the former vocalist of communist punks Doktor Kosmos, a feminist who sings in English about global warming, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and women's freedom. In addition to singing, she performs ballet steps, reads poetry and pathetic dialogues. “Chinese pilot Zhao Da” , 23.00. "Tubas Groove" : Evgenia Bragantseva (guitar, vocals), Sergey Shuranov (bass guitar), Sergey Vlasov (bass guitar), Valery Kuzmin (drums).

After Klebanov's departure, the ministry will receive additional functions The Ministry of Industry and Science will not be liquidated with the departure of Ilya Klebanov. As Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Boris Aleshin, who oversees administrative reform issues in the government, told reporters yesterday, currently, as part of the administrative reform, the functions of the Ministry of Industry and Science are being analyzed, many of which require modernization.

UN seeks perpetrators of crimes in Rwanda An international trial of four former members of the Rwandan government has begun in the Tanzanian city of Arusha. They are accused of participating in the 1994 genocide, when a wild inter-tribal massacre broke out between the two Hutu and Tutsi peoples inhabiting this African country. In just a couple of months, up to 800 thousand people died in the bloody massacre.

The Middle East problem is resolved in Geneva Switzerland is preparing to publish the so-called Geneva Accords, a secret plan for a peace settlement in the Middle East. This 60-page document was prepared for two years in deep secrecy by Palestinians and representatives of the Israeli opposition with the support of Switzerland.

The law on compulsory motor third party liability insurance (OSAGO) has been in force in Russia for four months. Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA) Yuri BUGAEV told the Vremya Novostey newspaper about the first results of insurance, the prospects for the motor vehicle market and the Russian insurance industry as a whole.

Tax police reported for last year The Federal Tax Police Service (FSNP) reported yesterday on the results of its activities for the past year. According to statistics, tax police solved almost 24 thousand economic crimes. The damage to the budget system in completed criminal cases alone is estimated at more than 19 billion rubles. Trade workers hid the largest sums from the tax authorities - 32% of the total damage.

In the match of leaders, Shevchenko did not reach a hundred Eight rounds were played in the Italian football championship. Quite a short distance, not even a quarter of the way has been covered. Nevertheless, some conclusions can be drawn. And the first of them: two clubs are vying for the Scudetto - a small brooch, a symbol of champion power.

The Lithuanian Seimas yesterday created a special commission of nine people representing all parliamentary factions to investigate the scandal surrounding the country's president that has erupted in recent days. Over the weekend, the Department of State Security (DSS) declassified and handed over to the media a certificate with operational information and recordings of telephone conversations.

MAP will check customs at the border The Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support (MAP) will conduct a study to limit the access of insurance companies to the issuance of compulsory motor liability insurance policies at customs posts. As the deputy head of the MAP Andrei Kashevarov reported, the order to conduct an analysis on this issue was sent to the territorial offices of the ministry.

Government commission optimizes government spending The government intends to conduct an inventory of all budget expenditures in order to eliminate ineffective ones. The task of checking the validity of spending was assigned to a government commission formed in December last year, the first meeting of which was held yesterday in the White House by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.

The Ministry of Industry and Science and the Ministry of Finance are arguing about taxes for high-tech The Ministry of Industry and Science will defend the need for changes in tax legislation in order to stimulate the development of small innovative enterprises and the influx of venture capital into them - the main driving force of high-tech. This was stated by First Deputy Minister of Industry, Science and Technology Andrei Fursenko.