UN recommendations on private sector development to fight poverty are not very suitable for Russia One of the main goals for human development in the new millennium, proclaimed by the United Nations, is the fight against poverty. For Russia, this problem is more than relevant. According to the World Bank, Russia has 19.6% of the poor. Despite the fact that the Russian government plans to halve the number of people living below the poverty line by 2007.

Vladimir Putin and Gennady Fadeev bet $100 million on which diesel locomotive engines are better At yesterday’s meeting between Vladimir Putin and the head of Russian Railways, Gennady Fadeev, two rather scandalous topics were discussed: attracting foreign investment in the industry and the threat of flooding a small railway line connecting the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur Mainlines.

The Airshow China 2004 air show taking place these days in Zhuhai (Guangdong Province) in a sense sums up a decade of massive deliveries of Russian cruise technology to the People's Republic of China. These supplies became possible in the first half of the 90s thanks to the normalization of relations between the two countries that took place shortly before. Now they are gradually becoming a thing of the past due to China's new strategic focus on technology acquisition own aircraft production.

Russia and Italy get to know each other at a new art exhibition In Rome, in the Scuderie drl Quirinale (Stables of the Quirinal Palace), the most interesting exhibition Da Giotto a Malevic is open until January 9. La reciproca meraviglia, held within the framework of the program “Italy and Russia through the centuries”. The official translation of the title into Russian is “From Giotto to Malevich. A mutual miracle." It would be more accurate to use another word - “amazement”.

The leadership of the capital's police ordered its subordinates to treat Ukrainians well The head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate, Vladimir Pronin, instructed the heads of all departments to take control of the implementation of the agreement to extend the period of stay of Ukrainian citizens in Russia without registration. This was announced yesterday by the head of the information and public relations department of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, Kirill Mazurin.

Nikita Mikhalkov has finally finished working on the script for Burnt by the Sun 2. All those parts that he read last year at the Window to Europe film festival, where the project was presented, will be included in the future film, but during the work the script has grown greatly, now the director plans to make two big films - following the example of Quentin Tarantino with his "Kill Bill".

Gang of police killers eliminated, but still dangerous The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, Adilgirey Magomedtagirov, announced yesterday that in the republic “the gang of Rasul Makasharipov, which specialized in the murders of law enforcement officers, has been virtually eliminated.” The minister recalled that in a year and a half, 29 police and FSB officers, as well as the Minister of National Policy, Information and External Relations of Dagestan Magomed-Salikh Gusaev,

The fate of the all-Russian monetization of benefits is still unclear The monetization of benefits, which caused widespread popular discontent, but nevertheless passed through the Legislative Assembly, is desperately slowing down. The reform should start on January 1, 2005, but in many regions tasked with monetizing benefits for war and labor veterans, there are still no relevant laws, sufficient funds and lists of beneficiaries.

CLUBS "Night Avenue". The group, which released the first Russian (then still Soviet) industrial album and stopped creative activity quite a long time ago, is presenting a new album! In addition to Alexey Borisov (vocals, guitar), Ivan Sokolovsky (keyboards) and Dmitry Kutergin (violin), Sergey Letov (saxophone), Boris Raskolnikov (guitar) and others will take part in the concert. "Home" , 19.30. Tuxedomoon (USA).

The other day, qualifying competitions for Russian athletes were held at the new indoor speed skating rink in Krylatskoye in Moscow. Based on the results of the tournament, the list of participants who will represent Russia at the opening stage of the World Cup was named. According to the President of the Russian Skating Union, Vladimir Komarov, for the first time in the last few seasons, the formation of the national team went without problems, since the sports principle was taken as the basis.

President He awarded Academician, Secretary of the Department of Mathematical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ludwig Faddeev the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, third degree. As noted in the presidential decree, Mr.

CSKA missed a penalty and lost So Chelsea visited Moscow. But there was no celebration. Having conscientiously worked 90 minutes of the Champions League match with CSKA, the English club achieved a minimal victory with a score of 1:0, leaving a feeling of slight disappointment. Maybe we shouldn’t have expected a super game from Roman Abramovich’s super club - for Chelsea the meeting with CSKA was just a passing game and didn’t decide anything.

Nino Burjanadze is ready to join the European Union The Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, Nino Burjanadze, is creating his own political party on the eve of the anniversary of the Rose Revolution on November 23. The queen of Georgian politics is meeting on the sidelines with representatives of the intelligentsia and officials who could not get along with the new authorities, the informed Tbilisi newspaper Alia reported yesterday.

Former Ambassador Piebalgs will become European Commissioner Yesterday, Riga made its contribution to the resolution of the pan-European scandal that followed the recent decision of members of the European Parliament not to support the new composition of the European Commission (EC). Among the problematic candidates was the Speaker of the Latvian Seimas, Ingride Udre, who applied for the post of Commissioner for Taxes and Customs.

Gazprom tried on the role of a partner in Sakhalin-1 After the announcement of the imminent merger of the state company Rosneft, which has a good position in projects on Sakhalin, with Gazprom, the concern shifted the priorities of its eastern strategy towards the island. This seems to have seriously worried the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project, the world's largest oil corporation ExxonMobil, which is now conducting intensive negotiations with potential gas buyers.