The autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was held in Strasbourg, at which deputies elected the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), Spaniard Mateo Sorinas Balfego.

Rada deputies understood Berezovsky differently So did Boris Berezovsky give money for the election of President Viktor Yushchenko? At the end of last week, representatives of the Ukrainian parliamentary commission, which is investigating information about illegal financing of the presidential campaign in 2004, met with the oligarch in London. Following the meeting, the deputies made contradictory statements.

Russia beat Luxembourg with a score of 5:1 The fate of second place in the third European qualifying group for the 2006 FIFA World Cup will be decided on October 12 in the meeting between Slovakia and Russia. Moreover, our team in Bratislava will be satisfied with only one result - a victorious one. This is precisely the conclusion that can be drawn after the Russians beat Luxembourg with a score of 5:1.

The history of the prize for the novel of the year has been enriched with the most ridiculous shortlist Talking about the long list of candidates for the Booker - Open Russia Prize (see Vremya Novostei, June 28) , I suggested that the spectacularly meaningless beginning of the current novel competition will be remembered more than its subsequent stages. I was wrong - there is no limit to perfection!

The star of British journalism left for Al Jazeera Famous British journalist David Frost leaves the BBC and becomes an employee of the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera. He agreed to become a TV presenter for the English-language news channel Al-Jazeera International, which will begin broadcasting 24 hours a day in the spring of 2006. “My shows used to be aimed at an audience in the UK and the US, but now it's six billion people across the planet, and that's a huge responsibility,” he said.

The Azerbaijani opposition unites and waits for Guliyev Yesterday, in the center of Baku, the opposition bloc Azadlig (that is, Freedom, this bloc includes the Democratic Party, Musavat and the Popular Front of Azerbaijan) tried to hold an unauthorized rally. Several activists were detained by police, who once again dispersed the demonstrators.

The grandees of the Dark Continent were left out of the World Cup While the strongest teams of the Old World were just preparing to take to the field in the qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup, sensational news began to arrive from the Dark Continent one after another. The revolution in African football, as recent events here have marked, has led to the fact that the upcoming World Cup in Germany will be held without recognized leaders of the continent.

A new theater has opened in Moscow This in itself is an event so rare that it deserves attention, but the new theater has one more obvious preliminary merit. The artistic director of the Praktika theater, Eduard Boyakov, former director of the Golden Mask, an experienced theater manager, conceived the project as open to everyone who is interested in searching for a new language and new heroes, the hidden meanings of modern life and its still unclear images.

Two United Russia members clashed in the Irkutsk mayoral elections Yesterday a series of municipal elections took place in various regions of Russia. In the Irkutsk region, the most intense, as observers predicted, was the struggle for the seat of mayor of Irkutsk. Nine candidates applied for the post of Irkutsk mayor.

...In accordance with the forecast of socio-economic development of the Russian Federation for 2006 and for the period until 2008, even with favorable conditions in the world markets for raw materials and energy resources, the growth rate of gross domestic product when implementing these measures can amount to 5-6% per year, which does not allow us to solve the problem of doubling GDP in a decade.

A year after the tragedy in Beslan, the Duma did not manage to patch up the legislative holes in the security system In the near future, the State Duma promises to closely engage in the fight against terrorism. Because this legislative priority was clearly missed by the deputies. More than a year ago, after the tragedy in Beslan, the Duma Security Committee developed a package of 44 bills on anti-terrorism.

Tax officials like the “YUKOS effect” After a break of one and a half years, tax officials decided to resume relations with the media. The topic of the conversation turned out to be the most pressing: control over the largest taxpayers.

FOOTBALL. October 12. Qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup Slovakia - Russia. Bratislava. Premier League. 26th round. October 15. “Lokomotiv” - “Shinnik”, “Torpedo” - “Saturn”, “Terek” - “Rostov”, “Tom” - “Amkar”. October 16. CSKA - Rubin, Krylya Sovetov - Moscow, Spartak - Zenit, Alania - Dynamo. The match in Bratislava, of course, receives the status of match of the year for all Russian football. In the event of a draw or defeat, Yuri Semin's team remains outside the German World Cup.

New citizen identification technology will be introduced next year According to Vremya Novostey, on October 7, the winner of the competition for the right to implement the Project to create a state system for the production, registration and control of new generation passport and visa documents was determined. It became the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Research Institute "Voskhod".

Mikhail Fradkov has his own economic program Mikhail Fradkov seems tired of waiting for ministers to develop measures that will help bring growth rates to the trajectory of doubling GDP over a decade. Moreover, to all such calls the prime minister heard the same answer in different interpretations: “it’s impossible.” Apparently, having finally lost faith in the ability of his subordinates to carry out the president’s instructions, recorded in his message to the Federal Assembly in 2002, Mr.