Russian officials remain a caste isolated from the outside world Russian bureaucrats remain a closed caste, dedicated to their work, despite modest earnings, and negatively perceiving the outside world.

New York mayor plans to sell his news agency New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg may soon sell his news agency of the same name. This was reported yesterday by the British Independent, citing independent sources close to the deal. The 63-year-old Bloomberg could be prompted to take this step by the upcoming mayoral elections in New York, in which he plans to retain his post. Among the possible buyers, the publication names the Internet portal Yahoo! and computer giant Microsoft.

Russia is against political games around Iran Today in Tel Aviv, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his first deputy Shimon Peres. Syria, Iran and the Palestinian problem are traditionally hot topics at meetings between Russian diplomats and Israelis.

Scientists are preparing to propose a new dietary policy to the authorities Even the food of Russians is not their private matter, but requires state participation.

The Ministry of Defense equated preparations for winter to a large-scale military operation Along with yesterday's first snow, Major General Yuri Gunkin appeared in public. This is the new head of the main housing and operational department - deputy head of the housing and arrangement service of the Russian Ministry of Defense. He had the mission of convincing taxpayers that the military department was ready for winter.

S&P assessed the transparency of Russian credit institutions The international rating agency Standard & Poor`s is dissatisfied with the way Russian credit institutions disclose information about themselves. Bankers themselves agree with analysts' assessments, but see no reason to become more open. According to the “Study on Information Transparency of Russian Banks” published yesterday, Russian banks look unattractive compared not only to their foreign colleagues, but also to domestic companies.

CSKA suffered its first failure in the Super League By the will of the men's super league calendar, which for objective reasons does not have any order or system, yesterday all three winners of the previous championship met on the road with teams that had not yet won a single victory in the championship. Finally, a sensation has arrived! The current champion CSKA on the banks of the Neva failed to cope with Spartak - 75:84.

Moscow imposed a double tax on “one-armed bandits” Slot machines, which have filled all public places in the capital, have long irritated many Muscovites. It was assumed that the problem of gambling would be triumphantly resolved by the United Russia faction on the eve of the December elections to the Moscow City Duma. However, the party in power, accustomed to acting exclusively by administrative methods, did not seem to cope with the task.

Debate over economic policy continues to divide government Yesterday, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin warned that further growth in budget spending could cause serious harm to the Russian economy. “Increasing government spending today due to high oil prices is absolutely harmful for the economy.

CLUBS Tres Muchachos & Companieros (St. Petersburg). Latin American and Cuban music, including a Latin version of Mark Bernes's "Dark Night". “Chinese pilot Zhao Da” , 23.00. Mike Ellis (saxophone). The free jazz musician, a second-generation Russian emigrant who came to Russia seven years ago, will perform a new program today at the OGI Project club, 10 p.m. CONCERTS Leonid Desyatnikov Music Festival “Love and Life of a Poet” .

The Kaczynski Party took power into its own hands Yesterday, the candidate from the Law and Justice (PiS) party, 45-year-old historian Marek Jurek, who became involved in opposition activities in the late 70s, became the Marshal of the Polish Sejm. Now the nominees of PiS, which won the parliamentary elections, have occupied all the key posts in the state - president, prime minister and speaker. Since the Senate is also controlled by PiS, it can be argued that all power will belong to one party.

TNK-BP is losing ground in Irkutsk State-owned companies continue to strengthen their presence in Eastern Siberia, displacing TNK-BP. Yesterday, the new governor of the Irkutsk region, Alexander Tishanin, said that the regional administration intends to sell its 11.3% stake in Verkhnechonskneftegaz to Rosneft, which recently bought a blocking stake in the company (the remaining 62.42% belongs to TNK-BP).

Relocation of US military base will damage Okinawa's ecology The United States has met Japanese demands for the relocation of the American Futema helicopter base in Okinawa. This was announced by Japanese Defense Minister Yoshinori Ono after yesterday's talks in Tokyo with US Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless. In early October, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld pointedly canceled a visit to Japan due to disagreements on this issue.

Mikhail Zharov was born 105 years ago When people complimented him on his acting skills, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Zharov preferred to laugh it off: “I actually don’t play that well. It’s just that others often make it worse.” While paying tribute to the artist’s wit, it was still quite difficult to agree with him. Others are different, but Zharov himself played excellently from the very beginning.

The recent purchase of the Ukrainian bank Aval for $1.028 billion by the Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB) group, apparently, may not be the last large-scale investment by the Austrians in the CIS. Yesterday, the head of RZB, Walter Rothensteiner, said that “we will invest a lot of money in Russia,” without, however, specifying the volume of the proposed investment.