The central bank, which bought more than $2 billion in the foreign exchange market last week, stopped participating in trading on Friday, sending the dollar sharply lower again. The official exchange rate of the Central Bank on Saturday-Sunday was 28.5514 rubles/dollar, having decreased by 0.5%.

The Ministry of Finance liberalizes taxation of small businesses On the two-year anniversary of the introduction of a special tax regime for small businesses - the so-called “simplified tax regime” - the government is preparing a surprise for small businesses.

The calm before the storm has arrived in Belarus Belarus withdrew its draft resolution on the situation with democracy and human rights in the United States yesterday at the UN. By introducing such a project for discussion, the Belarusian delegation wanted to demonstrate to the international community that no country in the world is free from such problems.

Forecast for the coming days Cyclones rule the roost throughout the European territory of Russia. The North Atlantic one will come from Scandinavia, and the southern cyclone from the Mediterranean Sea will enter the Black Sea and then go to the Caspian Sea. The weather in their coverage area is cloudy with precipitation and gusty winds.

Recreating historical truth is, of course, a good thing. And a full-color picture of the history of Russian art of the second half of the 20th century is better than that black and white reproduction with poor printing quality, on which more than one generation of our fellow citizens was brought up.

Minibus drivers will be required to identify terrorists The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Transport intends to radically change the approach to ensuring the safety of mass passenger transportation. Deputy head of the department Anatoly Voronin announced this yesterday. “From November 15 to December 1, Operation Minibus will be carried out throughout Russia, the purpose of which will be to inspect vehicle fleets and enterprises providing transportation by minibuses,” he said.

Yesterday, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan admitted that he is not optimistic about the prospects for resolving the Karabakh problem. He complained that Baku wants to negotiate exclusively with Armenia.

Luzhkov and Gromov fight noise The administrations of Moscow and the Moscow region entered into an almost feudal civil strife with elements of modern air warfare. The mayor of the capital, Yuri Luzhkov, launched an offensive against the Ostafyevo airport located in the region. And yesterday Governor Boris Gromov responded by laying siege to Vnukovo Airport, also located in the region but belonging to the city. Fortunately, the battle is still unfolding in a purely legal field.

Ulyanovsk Governor Vladimir Shamanov was appointed Advisor to the Prime Minister On Monday, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Vladimir Shamanov, was appointed assistant to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Thus, the issue of General Shamanov’s employment after his expected resignation from the post of head of the region was resolved.

Guests from Serbia asked the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government for help The Russian Orthodox Church agreed to help the Serbs complete the construction of the Cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade. Yesterday in Moscow, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a charity event “Together with Serbia” took place, the proceeds from which will be transferred by the Moscow Patriarchate to the treasury of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Maria Sharapova beat three Russians on her way to the final American Serena Williams and Russian Maria Sharapova, who permanently resides in the United States, reached the finals of the final women's tournament of the year - the BTA Championship with a prize fund of $3 million in Los Angeles. Sunday's matches for reaching the decisive round of the competition turned out to be extremely spectacular and brought maximum pleasure to the spectators who filled the stands of the Staples Center.

Georgy KUNADZE, a famous diplomat-orientalist, Japanese scholar, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia in 1991-1994, answers questions from Vremya Novostey columnist Elena SUPONINA. — Every time, back in Soviet times, when relations between Tokyo and Moscow deteriorated, there was no talk about the 1956 Declaration. And whenever there was some hope of resolving the territorial dispute, Moscow immediately hinted at the possibility of returning to this declaration.

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Rodrigo de Rato, who will fly to Moscow today, is confident that Russia should repay its debt to the fund ahead of schedule. He stated this in an interview with ITAR-TASS on the eve of the visit. Mr. Rato's first visit to Russia as head of the IMF (he previously came to Moscow as Spain's finance minister) is expected to last three days and end on Thursday with a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Red Bull buys Jaguar team to participate in Formula 1 The Austrian company Red Bull GmbH, known for its drink of the same name, decided to try its hand at Formula 1 auto racing. On Monday, she announced the purchase of the Jaguar stable from the American concern Ford. The parties have not yet disclosed the exact amount of the transaction. According to some sources, it is symbolic.

The cult Korean film Old Boy is coming to Moscow screens Old Boy has received such a flurry of rave reviews, from the notorious praise of the chairman of the Cannes jury, Quentin Tarantino (who, among other things, said that he was “happy” with this picture) and ending with more than flattering reviews from critics of all major newspapers in the world, that I add my humble voice to this somehow even strange to the choir.