The State Duma adopted amendments to pension laws in the first reading The State Duma on Friday approved in the first reading a draft amending the laws “On investing funds to finance the funded part of a labor pension,” “On non-state pension funds,” and “On individual (personalized) accounting in the compulsory pension insurance system.” After its approval in all readings, the period in which citizens have the right to make a choice between government agencies or private funds and management

Dozens of religious festival participants killed in terrorist attack in Pakistan A bloody terrorist attack in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan claimed the lives of about three dozen people. The explosion occurred late on Saturday during a religious festival near the village of Fatehpur, located 350 km south of the main provincial city of Quetta. About 20 thousand people gathered at the grave of the revered Shiite saint.

The scandal with Leonid Desyatnikov’s opera based on the libretto by Vladimir Sorokin “Children of Rosenthal” is taking on completely anecdotal forms. On March 4, the State Duma voted almost entirely to check information about the pornographic content of the opera.

Altai Governor Mikhail Evdokimov gathered a full house against him within a year A year ago, pop entertainer and regular on the “Full House” program Mikhail Evdokimov won the gubernatorial elections in the Altai Territory. Even during the election campaign, Mikhail Evdokimov admitted that he did not have the knowledge necessary to govern the region. And he promised that he would bring with him a team of professional managers.

Scandalous charges brought against Parmalat case The loudest and largest financial scandal in Europe - the bankruptcy of the Italian concern Parmalat Finanziaria SpA - is flaring up with renewed vigor.

Last month, the State Council decided to sharply accelerate the process of unifying the Russian aircraft industry. According to the schedule, which was announced at that meeting by the Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko, consolidation is planned to be carried out over the next two years. Nevertheless, there are leaders in the industry who find this period too long and the plan itself unrealistic.

A weapons scandal erupted in Ukraine The case of the illegal sale of Ukrainian strategic weapons to China and Iran, which has been pending in court behind closed doors for seven months, recently received wide international resonance. This is another blow to Leonid Kuchma - since the sales occurred during his presidency.

A meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko is due to take place soon. This was announced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during negotiations with the Belarusian president in Minsk. The date of the meeting has not yet been announced. During a meeting with the Russian minister, Alexander Lukashenko complained about pressure from the United States and the EU, the meaning of which, in his opinion, was to force Minsk to abandon its friendship with Russia.

The Baku terrorists were associated with the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, the Ministry of National Security (MNS) of Azerbaijan believes. As Vremya Novostey was told by the MNS, the investigation was completed at the end of last year, and the other day a trial was held behind closed doors and in compliance with strict security measures. The defendants were found guilty of preparing terrorist attacks, illegal acquisition and storage of explosives.

The Kyrgyz authorities used troops against the opposition Over the past 24 hours, the situation in Kyrgyzstan has dangerously worsened. According to reports received from there over the past two days, the republican authorities decided to use force to suppress spontaneous protests in the south, in the Jalal-Abad and Osh regions.

Technoproexport begins building a large power plant The head of Technopromexport, Sergei Molozhavyi, will today sign a contract with the Indian state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for $454 million. The Russian company undertakes to build turnkey three power units of the Bahr coal power plant in the state of Bihar by 2010 with a total capacity of 1980 MW.

The London court for YUKOS turned out to be the most humane in the world YUKOS continues to be plagued by failures in American court. On Friday, the company was denied a request to stop the sale of its assets pending an appeal in a Houston court. At the same time, Judge Nancy Atlas made it clear that she intended to uphold the decision of the Texas Bankruptcy Court to dismiss the Yukos case. True, in England the company's managers were luckier.

MMK will pay shareholders half a billion dollars The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, still known for the lowest dividend payments among Russian metallurgists, will pay its shareholders a record amount for the industry in 2004 - $518 million. Thus, management led by Viktor Rashnikov will have the opportunity to repay part of the loans raised to obtain full control over the plant.

Europe hopes for Russian energy resources Vladimir Putin's working visit to Paris last Friday turned out to be a double premiere for him. Firstly, a new format, the so-called, debuted. "European Four" - a summit of the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Spain. And secondly, Putin flew on the new presidential airliner for the first time.

MDF exhibitions as part of the “Fashion and Style in Photography” festival The director of the Moscow House of Photography, Olga Sviblova, chose “cinema” as the password word for this year’s festival. This is very wise. The trouble with all previous fashion photography festivals was that the onslaught of photographic products became a real natural disaster for the viewer's eye. After the fourth, fifth, tenth exhibition, my mind went beyond my mind.