Candidates for participation in Eurovision from Russia have been announced The list of potential contenders is more varied than ever: Anastasia Stotskaya, the Smash duet, VIA Gra, Verka Serduchka. The artists are not very similar, although formally the first two candidates will be united by participation and victory in the Jurmala “New Wave”, the second two will be of Ukrainian origin. The English-singing handsome guys Smash are a completely formatted group for the competition.

Group MENATEP is again trying to sell its Yukos shares to the government YUKOS managers no longer know what to offer the Russian government to resolve the conflict around the company, and are once again returning to previously voiced scenarios for resolving the situation. According to the chairman of the board of directors of the holding, Viktor Gerashchenko, “Group MENATEP as the owner of the holding may disappear in the near future, that is, this financial group may sell its share (61%. - Ed.

The son of a Don Cossack really wanted to have his own yacht In San Francisco, prominent local lawyer Nikolai Tein was convicted of embezzling more than $2 million that belonged to his clients. Thein, 58, lasted a month and a half and ended with the jury finding him guilty on all 15 counts, including fraud and money laundering.

The Olympic Games can change Russia and leave the people with a rich economic and cultural heritage, strengthen the transition to democracy and relations with other states of the world. 90% of Russians support Moscow's participation in the competition for the right to host the 2012 Summer Games. The history of the Olympic movement is studied even in schools. More than five hundred Olympic medalists live in Moscow.

Fashionable prose is pleasant to ARSS Critics are peculiar people. And different. The laureates of the Apollo Grigoriev Prize, that is, the writers who created the most significant works in 2003, were Yuri Arabov (the martyrological novel “Big Beat” - “Banner” No. 7-8), S. Vititsky, aka Boris Strugatsky (novel “The Powerless of This World” - St. Petersburg, “Amphora”) and Victor Pelevin (collection “Dialectics of the transition period (from nowhere to nowhere)” - M., “Eksmo”).

There were conflicting reports about Yasser Arafat's condition yesterday. Vremya Novostey columnist Elena SUPONINA spoke by telephone with a member of the Central Committee and head of the political department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement, Mr. Farouk KADDUMI, about this, about the reasons for the illness of the Palestinian leader and about the scandals associated with it.

Will Israeli citizen Zeev Rosenstein be extradited to American justice? Knesset member from the ruling Likud party, member of the parliamentary committee on justice and legislation, Yuli EDELSTEIN, answers a Vremya Novostei correspondent. - Israel's policy is not to extradite its citizens. Is the possible extradition of Rosenstein consistent with such a policy? - This is not the first time an Israeli citizen associated with the mafia has been extradited.

“Vacationists” can intervene in the battle for “gold” of the Premier League The intrigue of the Russian Championship survived until the last round. The tension is felt at both ends of the standings. And on Friday, November 12, it will be decided who will win three sets of medals and who will leave the Premier League. On the eve of the 29th round, almost no bookmaker accepted bets on the option of the prize trio: Lokomotiv, CSKA, Krylya Sovetov.

Russian Railways agreed with the Germans to create a joint production of high-speed trains The head of Russian Railways, Gennady Fadeev, met in Munich over the weekend with members of the central board of Siemens AG Edward Krubasik and Rudi Lamprecht. As a result, a draft agreement was signed on the creation of a joint production of a modern electric train with a speed of up to 230 km/h. Siemens will be assigned the role of technology supplier.

President Transformed the Human Rights Commission under the President into the Presidential Council for Promoting the Development of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights . Ella Pamfilova, who previously headed the Human Rights Commission, became the chairman of the council. “Our status is increasing.

Ramzan Kadyrov found his father's killer The leadership of Chechnya spent the whole day yesterday reporting on the successful operation of the local special services, during which they allegedly managed to destroy 22 influential militants. In the evening, the press service of the President of the Republic announced that among those killed, a terrorist named Suleiman had been identified, who organized the murder of Akhmat Kadyrov in May of this year.

For the sake of beneficiaries, the government will exceed its powers In the reform to monetize benefits, carried out in parallel with the redistribution of interbudgetary relations, it turned out that not only citizens, but also ministers, governors and mayors were confused. Some categories of beneficiaries, as well as part of the budget obligations, were simply lost in the rewritten budget powers.

The Russia-EU summit, scheduled for November 11, was unexpectedly postponed. Yesterday, President Putin noted that the forced postponement of the summit would make it possible to “hold it fully.” The Russian President advised the Foreign Ministry “not to dilute the substantive part of the dialogue with the EU.” Vremya Novostei special correspondent Katerina LABETSKAYA asked Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Vladimir CHIZHOV, who oversees Russia-EU relations, about this.

At the request of the United States, a criminal tycoon was arrested in Israel On Sunday evening, Zeev Rosenstein, a shark in the Israeli criminal world, was arrested in Tel Aviv. The most interesting thing is that the American Los Angeles police demanded his arrest. Israeli police tried many times to arrest Rosenstein, but each time he was released due to lack of evidence.

The Central Bank reassured Sodbiznesbank clients The Central Bank, which revoked the license of Sodbiznesbank (SBB) in the spring on charges of money laundering, decided to reassure its depositors, excited by the results of the first meeting of creditors (see Vremya Novostei, November 2) . According to a statement from the Central Bank, published late last week, “according to a pessimistic forecast,” during the liquidation of the SBB, depositors will receive about 65-70% of their stated claims.