Air passengers in Russia fear women in black more than hurricanes The Ministry of Transport, under the pretext of ensuring the safety of air transportation, can today propose even the most stringent measures that not only create inconvenience, but also limit the rights of passengers. Those who regularly use airline services will understand this.

The first Russian stand up comedy festival begins From November 23 to 28, Moscow will host the first festival of stand up comedy - performances based on improvisation by one or two performers. The word comedie in the name of the genre is rather a deception. The performance does not have to be funny at all; the main thing is that it touches the viewer's heartstrings.

Vladimir Putin allowed early payment of debts to the IMF and the Paris Club Rodrigo de Rato's first visit to Moscow with the rank of Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (he previously came to us as the Minister of Finance of Spain) ended in a sensation. For the first time, Russia openly declared its readiness to pay off its debts to the IMF and the Paris Club ahead of schedule.

The European Union has undergone a planned change of commissioners. The post of EU Energy Commissioner, strategic for Russia, went to Latvian Andris Piebalgs, a native of the former Soviet Union (the vote in the European Parliament to approve the new composition of the commission was supposed to take place after the signing of this issue of “Energy of Europe”). It is difficult to predict how this appointment will affect cooperation with Moscow, including on gas issues.

FIRST NOVEMBER 22 , MONDAY 6.00 Good morning 9.00, 12.00, 15.00, 18.00 News 9.20 “THE FALL OF THE BLACK HAWK.” Action 12.10 “WOMEN IN LOVE”. Series 13.10 “HELLO AND FAREWELL.” Comedy 15.20 Guess the melody (S) 15.50 The Last Hero (S) 17.00 Five evenings 18.20 Boom or bust 19.00 “CLONE”. Series 20.00 Wait for me 21.00 Time 21.30 “Children of Arbat”. Hood. movie 22.30 “Black Hawk Down.” True story." Doc.

Unknown sources rushed to report Sibneft’s tax problems Tax officials explained yesterday what is behind the reports published on Wednesday about the presentation of claims against Sibneft for 2000-2001 in the amount of 21 billion rubles. As a source in the tax authorities told Vremya Novostey, in fact, in accordance with the law, the Federal Tax Service (FSN) is obliged, after receiving objections to the inspection report, to issue a demand for payment of the amount to the budget.

Forecast for the coming days The central and northwestern regions will be at the epicenter of bad weather on Friday and Saturday. There is snow, sleet, heavy in places, blizzards, icy conditions, wind, snow drifts on the roads in places, rolling, sleet, during the day -5...+2oC. On Sunday it will get colder by 2-3 degrees. In the capital on Friday it will be cloudy, with light snow at times. Temperature at night -1...-6оС, during the day 0...-2оС, north-west wind, 5--10 m/s.

Apple juice will be repainted to match the opposition The second round of presidential elections will take place in Ukraine on Sunday. Voters' sympathies are polarized: the west and center of the country support opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, the south and east support the current Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Vadim TYULPANOV, speaker of the St. Petersburg parliament: -- The Federation Council should be formed according to the old scheme from the heads of the executive and legislative authorities of the constituent entities of the federation, and not from their representatives. Mainly because with such a mechanism, governors and speakers will directly participate in the adoption of the federal budget and really influence the formation of the treasury, defending the interests of the regions.

In the language of sociologists, the forecast “horizon” of most studies is located at a distance of 20-30 years. When it comes to such periods of time, it is usually assumed that the fundamental parameters - demographic development, economic growth, political conditions - are under more or less reliable control of the forecaster and are in fact “constant”.

Detentions of holding employees continue The Prosecutor General's Office dealt a new blow to the top managers of YUKOS. Yesterday it became known that the company’s chief lawyer, Dmitry Gololobov, had been put on the international wanted list and the deputy manager of YUKOS-Moscow, Alexey Kurtsin, had been detained. The tax authorities also made their contribution: an Interfax source reported yesterday that claims will be presented separately to all subsidiaries of the disgraced holding.

Is the introduction of hydrogen fuel and the abandonment of the “peaceful atom” a utopia or reality? German-Russian energy cooperation has turned out to be so close and promising in recent years that again - approximately as it was more than three decades ago, when the first supplies of Russian natural gas to Western Europe were being prepared - opinions are heard from time to time in the West, warning against Germany's potential "over-dependence" on Russia for its energy supply.

CLUBS Myllarit (Karelia). Folk rock. November 19 at Parabar , 10 p.m. November 20 at the Bilingua club, 21.00. "Picnic". November 19 in “Sixteen Tons” , 22.00. Monsieur Blumenberg + Doctor Zoil. A duet of two stars of the Italian lounge. November 20 in the Keks cafe, 23.00. CONCERTS "Spleen". Presentation of the album “Reverse Chronicle of Events”. Moscow Art Theater named after. Gorky , 19.00.

Alexander Lukashenko dismissed the KGB chief Yesterday, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko fired the head of the Belarusian KGB, Leonid Erin. A statement from the presidential press service said that Erin was relieved of his post “due to his transfer to another job.” What kind of work this is is not yet known. A new chief of the Belarusian KGB has also not yet been appointed. 53-year-old Leonid Erin has headed the KGB since November 2000.

The President will return governors to the Federation Council The experiment with the formation of the Federation Council from professional lobbyists was apparently considered a failure. Yesterday, in an interview with three Russian television channels, Vladimir Putin spoke in favor of another Senate reform and the return of governors and heads of regional legislative assemblies to the building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka.