Dmitry Medvedev is confident that “Russia will not stray from the path of reform” The Kremlin has decided not to ignore the West's growing concerns about what Putin's second term in power will turn out to be like and the direction in which Russia has begun to move.

General Blaskic was released five times faster than expected In the coming days, the released Tihomir Blaškic, who was sentenced for war crimes by the appeals chamber of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), intends to leave Zagreb for his native places in Central Bosnia. The discount for the ex-Bosnian Croat general was significant - the term was reduced five times, from 45 to 9 years.

US banks have stepped up offshore activities The unfolding scandal surrounding the participation of major international banks in the bankruptcy of the Italian concern Parmalat (see Vremya Novostey, August 3) has attracted close attention to the problem of the use of offshore centers. The Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has already recorded a significant increase in business activity carried out through offshore zones for some time now.

The television company will resume work in Belarus, taking into account Lukashenko’s opinion NTV is returning to Minsk, from where the Russian television company’s own correspondent was deported with scandal in July 2003. It is expected that the work of the NTV Minsk bureau will resume in early February.

CMD did not want to take away his server Immediately after the meeting of the expert council at the State Duma Committee on Property, at which the latest events in the Center for International Affairs were discussed, the questions of Vremya Novostei correspondent Alexander SHVAREV were answered by the Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Valery SYZRANTSEV.

Railway communication with Moldova disrupted Transnistrian authorities yesterday blocked the unrecognized republic's railway communication with Moldova, placing concrete barriers and armed guards on the rails in the city of Bendery.

Professors took bribes with potatoes, chicken and butter Two leaders of the Voronezh State Agrarian Institute recently found themselves in the dock. The accused, according to the GUBEP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the UBEP of the Voronezh Region Department of Internal Affairs, built a real business on students, which brought not only good financial income, but also constantly replenished the cellars and refrigerators of the teaching staff.

The leader of the Union of Right Forces will fight for fair presidential elections in 2008 Chairman of the Federal Council of the Union of Right Forces party Boris Nemtsov claims that his resignation is a decided and inevitable matter. However, the final decision will be made by the Union of Right Forces congress, scheduled for January 24-25. “At the congress, I will resign as party leader.

Yesterday, Sirazhudin Ramazanov, “Chairman of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Dagestan,” surrendered to the authorities of Dagestan. Ramazanov had been wanted since September 1999 on suspicion of armed rebellion. It was then, in 1999, that the republic was attacked by militants, the hitherto unknown “Islamic Republic of Dagestan”, a group that declared itself the leadership of the republic, took responsibility for their actions.

Another 600 houses will be built for them Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has approved a plan to build 600 new homes in the West Bank. It is planned to expand the settlement of Maale Adumim, located several kilometers east of Jerusalem. Today it is the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank. According to the Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs, at the end of 2003, 26.5 thousand people lived in Maale Adumim.

Offended wife ordered the murder of her banker husband The Moscow City Court yesterday handed down a verdict in the case of preparing the contract murder of the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Credit Trust Bank Andrei Samoilov. Despite such an impressive formulation, the cause of the crime, as it turned out, was ordinary family squabbles. The banker husband decided to divorce his wife, and she, not wanting to lose her husband’s wealth, hired killers.

Mozart's "That's What Everyone Do" at the Salzburg Festival The premiere of the opera "That's What Everybody Do" at the Salzburg Festival evokes nostalgia for two historical phenomena - the wonderful opera productions of Giorgio Streller and the Soviet Union, rich in voices. After Anna Netrebko became the cover face of all festival magazines after performing in Mozart's Don Giovanni two years ago, Salzburg froze in anticipation of a new sensation from the East.

Putin punished Trutneva to work according to general rules President Vladimir Putin yesterday met with Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev and discussed with him the problem of establishing order in Russian subsoil use.

Terrorism will plague the world for another hundred years Today politicians, experts, and military personnel are talking about new threats to Russia and the world. However, if we move on to a substantive conversation, it turns out that most of them by new threats mean international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In fact, the range of threats is much wider and they are not so standard. Who is threatening Russia today and with what?

Legislation on depositories will be governed by Based on an analysis of the events surrounding the Central Moscow Depository, the State Duma Property Committee will prepare amendments to several federal laws by the end of September. This was announced yesterday by its chairman Viktor Pleskachevsky at the end of a closed meeting of the committee’s expert council.