Azerbaijan is preparing for parliamentary elections In Baku, the capital of an oil-rich state of 8 million, water is supplied on a strict schedule: three hours in the morning and the same in the evening. You can buy an Italian unit for $500 and pump water to a separate apartment. Or the neighbors can come together and, by paying the person responsible for maintaining the schedule, extend the time for taking a shower or doing laundry by half an hour.

Rossvyaz is against the privatization of Tatarstan Pochtasy The Kazan authorities decided to privatize Tatarstan Post. The Federal Communications Agency (Rossvyaz) calls this step contrary to the Constitution and intends to seek its reversal in court. This was stated recently by the head of Rossvyaz, Andrei Beskorovainy.

-- You headed the jury of the national children's literature competition “Cherished Dream”. What inspired you to do this? — I’ll tell you a sketch from the repertoire of the Moscow State University Miniature Theater; we wrote it many years ago together with Felix Kamov. Before the elections, a campaigner comes to a voter’s home and asks them to go vote. “No, I won’t go...” The agitator persuades: “Old man, you understand, do I need this? No, it's not necessary. Do you need it?

President Signed a decree on the Presidential Council on Physical Education and Sports. In addition to the president, the council included the head of Rossport Vyacheslav Fetisov, the president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Arkady Volsky, the Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, the director of the FSB, the president of the All-Russian Volleyball Federation Nikolai Patrushev, the Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko.

Small on the threshold of the anniversary season The gathering of the Maly Theater troupe took place in a format that was not kind to the theater: it was a small one-act play with one quiet motive. Motive - anniversary; season - 250th. Last season, the president met with the leaders of the Maly Theater and Alexandrinsky Theater and discussed the upcoming anniversary.

Egyptian President's fifth term will be democratic Today, in Egypt's 72 million population, nine candidates will compete for the presidency. The list of candidates is headed by the current president, 77-year-old Muhammad Hosni Mubarak. Most likely, the majority of 32 million voters will give preference to him, a proven veteran of Egyptian and all Arab politics.

Moscow asks RAO UES for money for network facilities Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has figured out how to manage the money that Mosenergo and RAO UES of Russia must pay as compensation for damage to capital enterprises from the May energy accident. As Mr. Luzhkov’s first deputy, Pyotr Aksenov, told news agencies yesterday, the mayor turned to Anatoly Chubais with a proposal to send all 1.8 billion rubles.

Russia and Belarus organized a PR day for the union state in Minsk The Union of Russia and Belarus, which is going through hard times today, is trying to survive with the help of its ideologists. And now the fruitless, essentially destructive disputes about a single currency in the form of the Russian ruble are resolutely relegated to later. We are no longer talking about 2006, or 2007, or even 2008.

The registration procedure in Moscow is being demanded to be declared illegal Yesterday, the Moscow City Court began hearings on a lawsuit filed by 17 residents of the capital demanding that part of the Moscow government resolution regulating the rules for registering Russian citizens at their place of residence be invalidated. They believe the ruling violated their constitutional right to freedom of movement.

The head of Rosenergo admits the possibility of state regulation of gasoline prices Officials are unable to combat the ever-increasing cost of fuel. They are ready to take the most extreme measures in the form of introducing state regulation of fuel prices. As the head of the Federal Energy Agency (Rosenergo) Sergei Oganesyan said yesterday, “the state is on the verge of such a decision” and will make it if the cost of petroleum products rises sharply. Mr.

The XVIII Moscow International Book Fair opens today The autumn review of book achievements will traditionally be held in pavilions 20 and 57 of the All-Russian Exhibition Center. From Wednesday to Sunday, guests of the fair will be able to see more than one hundred thousand books, albums, booklets and other printed products, presented by almost three thousand participants. Publishers from 54 countries intend to arrive in Moscow.

Watch from September 8 on Moscow screens “Carrier 2” (France-USA, Louis Leterrier). The sequel to a very good action movie about former special forces soldier Frank (Jason Statham, a Guy Ritchie favorite), who made a living by transporting anything and anywhere on time and without asking questions. Now he has retired, settled in Miami and serves as a personal chauffeur for a wealthy family. But he is forced to remember the past when his employer's son is kidnapped.

The starting Super League tournament will face a tiring prelude to the playoffs The Russian Ice Hockey Championship among Super League teams begins today. The leaders of our hockey did not change the best tradition of changing the tournament formula every year this time either.

Bellini's new Norma at Novaya Opera The New Opera Theater, which for two years amazed the public with incredible embarrassments from either Roman Viktyuk or Yuri Grymov, finally made a knight's move and straightened out its shaky reputation.

Russian political scientists are beginning to prepare the basis for a new “YUKOS case” “The government’s task is to form a powerful anti-oligarchic coalition by 2008 and prevent a coup d’état,” Sergei Markov, director of the Institute for Political Research, said at a press conference on Tuesday.