Deputies legalized the new election system Yesterday, the State Duma adopted in the second reading a bill introducing a number of fundamental changes to election legislation. As is usually the case with fateful initiatives, the changes were introduced by the head of state for consideration by the chamber. The law will change the party system in Russia, reshape the face of the State Duma, and affect the future of many deputies.

The commercial series “Golden League” starts in Paris On July 1, the first of six commercial tournaments of the prestigious Golden League athletics series starts in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. Following the French capital, the hosts of the competition will be Rome (July 8), Oslo (July 29), Zurich (August 19), Brussels (August 26) and Berlin (September 4). The final of the prestigious competition will take place in Monaco on September 9-10.

The 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar was celebrated with a colorful reenactment at sea On Tuesday, Great Britain recalled the glorious days of its history - the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar was solemnly celebrated near Portsmouth. For England, which for several centuries rightly bore the title “Mistress of the Seas,” this battle is the pinnacle of domestic naval glory.

The visit to Moscow of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, which ended yesterday, left an awkward feeling of reticence. Although Karimov spoke, as always, a lot, emotionally, and sometimes even convincingly. In any case, when he tried to explain why he was against an international investigation into the events in Andijan.

Randy Brecker brought a dream team to Le Club Unexpected glimpses occur in the summer-sluggish concert life of Moscow. Moreover, where no one is waiting for them. For example, trumpeter Randy Brecker has performed at Le Club a hundred or two hundred times already, and everyone knows it. And that he is good in all compositions (“a living classic”, what can I say) - also a well-known plot.

YUKOS property put on international wanted list The excitement around the Lithuanian asset of YUKOS - the Mazeikiu Nafta concern - is growing stronger every day.

Yulia Tymoshenko banned Naftogaz of Ukraine from re-exporting gas The head of Naftogaz, Alexey Ivchenko, who failed in negotiations with Gazprom and Turkmenbashi (see Vremya Novostey, June 27), received another blow - in the back. The government of Yulia Tymoshenko, having approved the corresponding decision of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, actually prohibited the state-owned company from re-exporting gas until its shortage in Ukraine was eliminated.

English director Peter GREENWAY was one of the honorary guests of the Moscow Film Festival. His films have not participated in any competitions for a long time. But they please Russian fans of intellectual cinema. At the XXVII MIFF, the director presented his own program entitled “Peter Greenaway: Russian Version”. There are only two films in the program - the first and second parts of the film “The Suitcases of Tulse Luper”. Olga KUZNETSOVA spoke with Peter Greenway.

On July 1, a new federal energy law came into force in Germany, adopted by both houses of the German parliament after difficult debates. This legislation belatedly implements EU requirements at the national level, planned for 2003. The law, due to its importance and universality, has been dubbed the “constitution of the electricity and natural gas markets,” liberalized seven years ago.

America is ready to suffer in Iraq indefinitely America does not intend to withdraw troops from Iraq until it “fulfills its duty.” US President George Bush announced this yesterday. He performed at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina. His speech, which was broadcast on major US television channels, was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the formal transfer of power to the interim Iraqi government.

The Latvian National Opera ends its season with a festival The Latvian National Opera (LNO), which in recent years has become one of the most intriguing European theaters, organized a festival at the end of the season, showing four premieres along with repertoire hits - “Tosca” and “Aida”. One could hear and see works from the 18th to 21st centuries, performed at the highest level, which remains a pipe dream for Moscow.

The state announced support for aircraft leasing companies The Ministry of Industry and Energy announced yesterday how much budget funds it decided to allocate this year to replenish the authorized capital of two aviation leasing companies eligible for state support - Ilyushin Finance Co (IFK) and Financial Leasing Company (FLK).

Energy of Europe columnist Yuri ShPAKOV talks with the bloc’s speaker on European energy policy, Kurt Dieter GRILL, about what changes in Germany’s energy policy should be expected if the conservative bloc CDU/CSU wins the upcoming elections. -- Mr. Grill, CDU/CSU candidate for Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the party's energy strategy. What do you see as the main features of the energy policy of Christian Democrats?

A major power accident occurred in the Amur region An accident at one of the large Blagoveshchenskaya substations occurred early yesterday morning. As the chief engineer of Amurenergo, Alexander Paley, told reporters, the employee made a mistake when carrying out scheduled repairs of one of the transformers. A failure at the main substation led to the automatic shutdown of four others. The first and second microdistricts of Blagoveshchensk were left without electricity.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Yemen last night very late. The head of the Foreign Ministry was detained for an hour and a half at Amsterdam airport. Lavrov was in the Netherlands on a working visit. According to Vremya Novostei, the takeoff was postponed at the request of the Dutch intelligence services, who wanted to board the Russian plane at all costs. At first it was about finding an armored car with diamonds, stolen right from the tarmac of Amsterdam airport a month ago.