Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Leonovich Gasparov, a world-famous philologist, author, translator and editor of dozens of books and hundreds of articles, died at the seventy-first year of his life. The subject of his interests and research were theoretical poetry and ancient culture, Western European and Russian poetry. Every book and article, every lecture and report by Gasparov became an event in philological science.

Russian business was told how to conduct G8 summits In a month and a half, Russia will take over the chairmanship of almost the most influential and closed political club in the world - the so-called G8. The G8 summit is scheduled for late May - early June in St. Petersburg.

Poisoned children caused serious damage to the image of the main resort in the Krasnodar region On Monday, three days after an outbreak of acute food toxic infection among participants of the festival “In the World of Arts”, as a result of which 226 people were hospitalized, Kuban Governor Alexander Tkachev held a meeting in Krasnodar of an emergency commission created by the regional authorities to clarify all the circumstances of the emergency.

In France, it is allowed to disrupt performances and close night bars Yesterday, at an emergency meeting of the French Council of Ministers, chaired by President Jacques Chirac, it was decided to introduce the 1955 state of emergency law into force from zero today. The specificity of French legislation is such that the enactment of the law on emergency situations does not mean its automatic and immediate establishment throughout the country.

Canadians included Valery Kharlamov in the Hockey Hall of Fame The legendary Soviet player, forward of the national team and CSKA Valery Kharlamov, who tragically died in a car accident in 1981, is included in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The fact that Kharlamov, albeit with a certain delay, was immortalized in North America is worth a lot. The founders of hockey are very selective about including foreigners in their Hall of Fame.

Phosagro is trying to oust SUAL The agrochemical holding Phosagro seems to be tired of supplying SUAL plants with raw materials for the production of alumina necessary for the production of aluminum. The group decided to become an independent player in a market where there is a shortage, which is why RUSAL, for example, has to import alumina. Phosagro is going to build a plant in the Leningrad region, which could become one of the largest producers of metallurgical alumina in Russia.

The Rosneft Board of Directors will discuss the company's consolidation plan Today there will be a meeting of the board of directors of Rosneft, at which the parameters of the company’s consolidation will be considered. Previously, Rosneft announced that it would switch to a single share with its 12 main subsidiaries.

Liberia fought a war and elected a president The second and decisive round of the presidential election took place in Liberia. Yesterday, the famous football player George Weah and the famous financier Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was previously a member of the leadership of the World Bank, competed for the post of head of the three-million-strong West African state.

New editor-in-chief of Izvestia appointed The new owners of Izvestia from Gazprom-Media have completed the change of top management in one of the most famous Russian newspapers. Yesterday, the publication's staff was introduced to the new editor-in-chief - 52-year-old Vladimir Mamontov, who previously held the position of chief editor of Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Bank of Moscow is one of the few Russian credit institutions that has published interim audited financial statements in accordance with IFRS. As the bank's press service reported, the Bank of Moscow's own funds at the end of June reached 21.3 billion rubles, assets - 218.6 billion rubles. (both indicators increased by more than 55% compared to the same period last year).

The Ministry of Economic Development met the steelmakers halfway An anti-dumping investigation into supplies of stainless steel products to Russia from Europe, which lasted more than a year, was preliminary completed in favor of Russian manufacturers. The Ministry of Economic Development has prepared a resolution on the need to introduce prohibitive import duties on stainless steel products.

Stanislav Tsygankov headed the department of foreign economic activity of Gazprom Gazprom yesterday announced the completion of the restructuring of the company's foreign trade block. According to the new model, a department of foreign economic activity has been created, which will receive the functions of the abolished department of foreign relations, as well as some powers of Zarubezhneftegaz CJSC and Gazpromexport LLC.

The Latvian government wants to establish the extent of financial, economic and moral damage allegedly inflicted on this former USSR republic by Soviet power. The material benchmark was determined by the Sejm - last summer one of the deputies demanded from Russia a billion dollars for each year of “occupation” from 1940 to 1990.

Property of the Kaliningrad region in Vilnius can be sold for debts Kaliningrad Governor Georgy Boos told reporters yesterday that the region will not repay the Dresdner Bank loan in 2006. According to him, “next year’s budget does not provide for any repayment of this loan. We haven’t formalized it in the established order at all, we are now double-checking everything.” At the same time, he emphasized that he is opposed to any hype regarding this already sensational loan case.

Gazprom, together with Tatneft, received a controlling stake in the capital's oil refinery The struggle for control over the Moscow Oil Refinery (MNPZ) between Sibneft and the Moscow Oil and Gas Company (controlled by the capital government and businessman Shalva Chigirinsky) continues. Yesterday, the appellate instance of the Moscow Arbitration Court invalidated the decision made by the meeting of shareholders of the Moscow Refinery to pay dividends on preferred shares.