A unique uniform has been developed overseas for the new season The NBA regular season starts quite late this season - November 1st. Four matches were supposed to be played last night, after which the months-long basketball marathon would pick up speed. This season in overseas basketball is special for us: there are more Russians on the clubs' rosters than ever before - five people at once. First, about what preceded the season.

Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor KHRISTENKO, speaking yesterday at the opening of the All-Russian Oil and Gas Week, said that oil production in Russia by 2015 will reach 530 million tons, and gas production - 740 billion cubic meters. According to him, oil exports will amount to 330 million tons by 2015, gas exports - 290 billion cubic meters. Mr.

Premier Koizumi formed a cabinet of successors Emperor Akihito approved yesterday the new composition of the Japanese government. It is obvious that 63-year-old Junichiro Koizumi is looking for a successor. He became prime minister in April 2001 and in September 2006 intends to leave the post of leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Russia risks becoming a raw material appendage of China The week that has begun can safely be called the week of Russian-Chinese cooperation. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov has been in Beijing since Sunday, and Mikhail Fradkov will arrive in the Chinese capital late on Wednesday evening. Mr. Zhukov, in fact, is preparing the prime minister’s visit, clarifying the details of the upcoming intergovernmental negotiations.

The Ministry of Transport wants to raise air navigation fees Russia intends to double the rate of charges for air navigation services for foreign aircraft in its airspace over the next few years. Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin announced this yesterday in Zurich, at a meeting with the Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Giovanni Bisignani.

The Union of Right Forces and the Constitutional Court are preparing trump cards for the process on the constitutionality of the appointment of governors The case on the constitutionality of presidential initiatives on a new procedure for electing regional heads, which have long since become law, will be considered on November 15.

Industrial policy will help distract small businesses from primitive retail trade Discussions about the benefits and harms of industrial policy for economic growth are still ongoing, but the shoots of government support for business are stubbornly making their way towards the sun. From January 1, 2006, special economic zones will begin to appear in Russia.

Basel turns into an investment fund Controlled by Oleg Deripaska, Basic Element, which manages assets in many sectors of the economy, will turn into a closed private investment fund in 2006. The general director of the company, Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Mr. Deripaska’s ally and right-hand man since the days of Sibal, announced this yesterday in an interview with Interfax.

The Moscow City Election Commission refused to register half of the candidates The election campaign for the election of deputies to the Moscow City Duma, having not yet begun, risks smoothly moving to the courts. For various reasons, the Moscow City Election Commission removed from the election race more than a hundred opposition candidates nominated in single-mandate constituencies.

The Belarusian opposition is looking for lovers of change The Belarusian opposition has developed a plan for the 2006 presidential campaign for its single candidate, Alexander Milinkevich. Deputy head of his staff Alexander Dobrovolsky told Vremya Novostei: “The main part of the strategy is to make a single candidate the candidate of more than half of the citizens of Belarus.

CLUBS Boris Kovac & La Campanella (Serbia and Montenegro). The project of a unique musician, one of the greatest composers born in Yugoslavia over the past 50 years, capable of creating serious, holistic works from a mosaic of many Balkan musical styles. November 1 at Apshu , 21.00. November 3 at the Vertinsky restaurant, 21.00. November 4 at the Central House of Artists , 19.00. November 5 at the “House” , 19.30. Kurt Rosenwinkel (USA).

Forecast for the coming days The anticyclone over the European territory of Russia feels very confident. It will not give up its positions in the next two days; there is still no precipitation everywhere except the Southern Federal District. In the north-west the temperature at night is down to -6°C, during the day +2...+7°C. In the central region and in the Chernozem region at night -2...-7оС, during the day +4...+9оС.

Alexey Kudrin calls on state-owned companies to look for money in Russia The activity of Russian state corporations in foreign capital markets worried Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who yesterday suggested that companies borrow money within the country. Analysts support the head of the Ministry of Finance, but doubt that large government agencies will soon abandon external borrowing in favor of placements in Russia. As Mr.

In the Kurgan region there were too many people wanting to get into the Public Chamber The Public Chamber, one of whose tasks is the consolidation of Russians and the ability to control laws adopted in the country, has become the cause of a serious conflict in the Kurgan region. True, the cause of the problems was not the new institute itself, but the vacancies in it.

The simplest explanation has been found for the mass poisoning of children in Volgograd Volgograd doctors yesterday finally decided on what mysterious disease caused the mass hospitalization of students at the Leader Lyceum.