Departments According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the natural decline in Russia's population (the excess of the number of deaths over the number of births) in January-February 2004 amounted to 167.2 thousand people compared to 179.4 thousand people in January-February 2003.

He issued derivatives on Gazprom shares The second largest bank in the world, Deutsche Bank (DB), offered its clients to invest in Gazprom shares, which are still prohibited for sale to foreign investors. Non-residents will be able to purchase derivatives secured by shares of the gas concern. Analysts are confident that this is an analogue of the scheme that the United Financial Group, affiliated with DB, has already offered to foreigners.

USA Today editor-in-chief paid for a talented writer The scandal surrounding former USA Today journalist Jack Kelly has reached its climax. The editor-in-chief of the largest circulation publication in the United States, Karen Jurgensen, was forced to resign. With this dismissal, the management of the publication “paid” for the activities of Jack Kelly.

Imam instructs husbands to beat their wives below the waist The French Ministry of the Interior has decided to expel Abdel-Kader Bouzian, the imam of a mosque in Vénissier, one of the Lyon suburbs, from the country. This happened after the preacher’s instructions on family relationships were quoted by the local newspaper “Lion-Mag”: “A husband should not hit his wife in the face, he should aim below the belt - in the stomach or legs.

People over 36 years old in Russia are not recommended to grow old Yesterday the government discussed privatization and pension reform. The result is approximately this: if you are 37 years old or older and if you do not privatize some enterprise, you will not be able to earn money for a comfortable old age.

Critic Zara Abdullaeva spoke about “Real Cinema” In our country, film criticism, by misunderstanding, is called journalism that serves film distribution and supplies spectacular stories for glossy magazines. Therefore, Zara Abdullayeva’s new book “Real Cinema” almost gives the impression of a revelation.

CLUBS Festival of Sergei Kuryokhin (SKIF). Opening of the annual festival of avant-garde music, held simultaneously in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The head of the Maikop branch of the Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve, Nikolai ESKIN, believes that capital construction on the Lago-Naki plateau should not be allowed. And he calls active work in the Lunnaya Polyana tract “an experiment to study the impact of permanent structures on mountainous terrain.” -- There is currently an active trial going on around the Lago-Naki plateau. What exactly are they being sued for?

Now the European Union has taken on Intel After most of the antitrust proceedings against Microsoft Corporation were completed, another computer industry giant, Intel, became the object of close attention of the European Commission. Regulatory authorities in the Old World have begun investigating the activities of the governments of several EU countries, which, when purchasing computers, give a clear preference to the products of this company.

Krzysztof Zanussi will make Nikita Mikhalkov a major diplomat Famous Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi announced the start date of filming of his new film during a press conference at the Montevideo Film Festival. Nikita Mikhalkov will take part in it as an actor and producer. According to Zanussi, he intends to begin filming this November in Montevideo. The collaboration of Krzysztof Zanussi with Mikhalkov in the work on the film Persona non grata became known some time ago.

The treatise of Imam al-Wahhab was banned in Russia The capital's prosecutor's office and personally the city prosecutor Anatoly Zuev contributed to the fight against extremism and terrorism. By decision of the Savyolovsky District Court of Moscow, the publication and distribution of the main work of Muhammad al-Wahhab ibn Suleiman at-Tamimi, considered the founder of Wahhabism, is now prohibited in Russia - “The Book of Monotheism”.

The government will decide the fate of OGK by July For the first time as head of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, Viktor Khristenko told State Duma deputies about the progress of energy reform. And although in essence he repeated his first public statements on behalf of the new government, which were made at the end of March, in form the former deputy prime minister was more correct in relation to the head of government. Mr.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has published 150 documents about his military past. Heroism in Vietnam is Kerry's election hobby. He was awarded the Silver Star for Vietnam, as well as three Purple Hearts for being wounded on the battlefield. Kerry was shot three times in three months. And suddenly, the other day, Kerry’s colleague in Vietnam said that the first wound was not worth a medal. In response, Kerry brought up the Navy archives.

The program of the 57th Cannes Film Festival, which will take place on May 12-23, was announced yesterday. 18 films are participating in the competition, including three French ones. For the first time at the festival, a film from Thailand will be shown - it will be “Tropical Disease” directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In addition, two animated films are presented at the competition: “Shrek 2” by American director Andrew Adamson and “Innocence” by Japanese director Oshii Mamoru.

Vekselberg became the first blocking shareholder of RKS Gazprombank announced that it has accepted the proposal of the United Financial Group (UFG), acting in the interests of its clients, to sell the bank's 25% stake in OJSC Russian Utility Systems (RKS). Thus, Gazprom finally withdrew from the project, which was imposed on it a year ago by the state as an additional social burden.