Russia and the EU signed a new agreement on steel quotas Russia and the EU signed a new agreement on trade in steel products at the end of last week. It will be valid until the end of next year or until Russia joins the WTO, if that happens earlier. The previous agreement expired on December 31 last year, and all this time the companies exported steel to Europe under autonomous quotas.

Tbilisi newspapers published a list of mobile and landline telephone numbers of Georgian ministers. This happened after President Mikheil Saakashvili sharply criticized members of the government for lost ties with the people. He said ministers should not turn into “emperors.” And he noted that almost none of the four state ministers and 13 ministers answer calls, sometimes even his own. Not to mention the “voice of the people.” The President promised to fire such ministers.

On the eve of National Unity Day, Vladimir Putin proposed to the State Duma that Sergei Ignatiev remain the country’s chief banker for another four years, thereby putting an end to numerous rumors about the future of the chairman of the Central Bank. Let us note that Putin might not be in a hurry: by law, the president must nominate a candidate for the head of the Central Bank three months before the end of the term of office of the current chairman.

A small stage was built for the musical theater The renovation (more precisely, the restoration from the ashes after two fires) of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater is coming to an end. At the end of last week, workers in a solemn ceremony handed over the second stage of construction to the theater authorities - first of all, the small stage of the theater, on which the premiere - Shostakovich's operetta "Moscow, Cheryomushki" - will be performed in December.

Norsk Hydro carried out a “market sweep” of aluminum smelters in Germany Norsk Hydro, together with the American company Alcoa and the Austrian Amag as owners of aluminum smelters in Hamburg (HAW) and Stade (North Rhine-Westphalia) announced at the end of last week the final closure of production in Germany. In recent weeks, negotiations have been held with Norsk Hydro management about possible models for rescuing HAW.

Vnesheconombank concluded its second loan agreement with China in a year Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's visit to China was very fruitful for Vnesheconombank. VEB entered into an agreement with the State Development Bank of China to allocate a credit line of $300 million. The heads of VEB, Vladimir Dmitriev, and the State Bank of Russia, Chen Yuan, signed the agreement at the end of last week in Beijing, as part of the tenth meeting of the heads of government of Russia and China.

To meet Chinese demand, Russia will have to increase production The results of Mikhail Fradkov's visit to Beijing at the end of last week give no reason to doubt that the course towards strategic partnership proclaimed by Russia and China will not become an empty declaration. Moscow and Beijing already admit that there are no political problems in their bilateral relations. The parties are not inclined to dramatize the presence of difficulties in trade and economic interaction.

With Che Guevara on his shoulder and Fidel on his leg The fourth summit of the countries of the Americas, which ended in the Argentine resort city of Mar del Plata, ended with personal inconvenience for George Bush and the failure of Washington's state plan. George Bush's arrival in Argentina sparked mass protests. And it resulted in an absentee confrontation with former Argentine football star Diego Maradona and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Dutch police believe that a group of Islamic extremists arrested in mid-October intended to shoot down an Israeli El Al airliner at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Among those arrested, as it became known recently, was a citizen of the Netherlands, a 19-year-old from a family of Moroccan immigrants, Samir Azzouz (pictured) . He was first arrested in July 2004.

Moscow authorities will close a number of streets in the center for the celebration of November 7 On the very first working Monday after the Day of National Unity, which was celebrated for the first time in Russia on November 4, Moscow will face a day of national stratification.

What can we expect from the law on free incoming calls? Our newspaper has already written (see Vremya Novostey on November 3) that the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill providing for amendments to the Law “On Communications”. The text of the document takes up less than a page and boils down to the following: if the bill is adopted, six months after the official publication of the amendments, all incoming calls, not excluding calls to cell phones, will become free in Russia.

Last week, an intrigue arose and then died with the transfer of the Russian national football championship to the “autumn-spring” system adopted throughout Europe. The head of the Russian Football Union, Vitaly Mutko, categorically denied the reports that appeared about such intentions of the RFU. The main reason why Russia cannot afford to host national championships like all other European powers is shameful.

October 3 -- November 2 The ratings were calculated using the Medialogy information and analytical system based on materials from 1,500 Russian media. The system processes all categories of central and regional media in Russia - TV, radio, press, news agencies, online publications. The mention rating reflects the total number of posts in which a given person appears.

TENNIS. November 8--13. WTA Championship. Los Angeles (USA). The final women's singles tournament of the year will feature the eight strongest tennis players (excluding injured ones) according to the results of the annual BTA ranking, which takes into account all the results of the season. Among the contenders for the main trophy are three Russians - Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementyeva and Nadezhda Petrova. There are no representatives of ours in the doubles, where four duets will play.

CLUBS Freak show. The annual marathon of amateur creativity of the cultural center “Dom” on November 7. On this day, everyone who has something to say, sing, read, show, etc., will be able to perform on the stage of the “House” and show what they are capable of. Each speaker is given exactly two minutes of everyone's attention. Based on the results of the freak show, the best participant will be awarded the title of “Anti-People’s Artist”. 20.00.