A guest from Gazprom is expected in Georgia Today, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexander Ryazanov may come to Tbilisi for negotiations with the Minister of Fuel and Energy of Georgia Nikolai Gilauri. The parties will have to discuss the issues of concluding a new contract for the supply of Russian gas at market prices and creating a joint venture, Rosgruzgazprom.

Yesterday, documents were drawn up between the capital's football clubs "Dynamo" and "Torpedo" regarding the transfer of one of the most productive players of the last championship, Igor Semshov, to the "blue and white" camp. In the 2005 Russian Championship, Igor played 29 games and scored 12 goals. Only Moscow forward Dmitry Kirichenko (14) and now Semshov’s Dynamo teammate, Portuguese Derlei (13), have more.

The Bank of Russia will count gold in its own way The Bank of Russia has decided to change the rules for accounting for gold in its gold and foreign exchange reserves. From January 1, the Central Bank will begin to calculate it using its own quotes. The Bank of Russia calls this measure technical, and market participants expect a one-time increase in reserves at the beginning of next year by more than $3 billion.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Lithuania upheld the cassation appeal of ex-president Rolandas Paksas and overturned the decisions of the appeal court, which found him guilty of disclosing state secrets. The decision of the Vilnius District Court, which acquitted the ex-president, was upheld. Paksas was accused of allegedly warning businessman Yuri Borisov about surveillance by state security agencies.

The ex-chancellor of Germany does not yet know what salary he will work for Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder responded to criticism in connection with his appointment as head of the shareholders committee of the North European Gas Pipeline Company (NEGPC), a Russian-German company for the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline. Moreover, Schroeder used the fail-safe formula that the best defense is attack.

The Ministry of Health and Social Development asks regions not to cut costs under the guise of a national project Fears that the regions will not withstand the temptation of priority national projects that promise to shower them with financial and material benefits, and will begin to reduce their obligations to state employees and budgets under the guise of presidential initiatives, turned out to be completely justified.

Governor Schwarzenegger did not pardon the killer Yesterday in California, 51-year-old black man Stanley Tookie Williams was executed at San Quentin Prison. He waited 24 years for execution. Back in 1981, the court sentenced him to death for the murder of four people. In 1979, Williams' gang shot and killed a store clerk. 12 days later they killed a family of three. The bandits' loot amounted to $220. Williams' case caused a huge stir.

62-year-old senior US State Department official Donald Keyser admitted to transferring secret documents to Taiwanese intelligence. He also made an unauthorized trip to Taiwan in August 2003 during an official visit to Japan and China. He also made false official statements “for personal reasons.” Until June 2004, Keyser was assistant assistant secretary of state in charge of American policy in East Asia and the Pacific.

Another “fishing” process begins in Moscow The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow is scheduled to begin today a hearing on the merits of another criminal case against the former leaders of the State Fisheries Committee (GKR). This department, abolished last year (in its place, the Federal Fisheries Agency was created under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food), has been plagued by high-profile criminal scandals almost throughout its existence.

Iran says it has not received uranium offers from Russia The issue of enriching Iranian uranium on Russian territory was not discussed during Russian-Iranian contacts. This was stated yesterday in Moscow by the Chairman of the Iranian Majlis, Golyamali Haddad Adel. “Neither during Igor Ivanov’s visit to Iran, nor during my visit to Moscow, were any specific proposals for uranium enrichment on Russian territory made,” the speaker of the Iranian parliament emphasized at a meeting with journalists.

There is no policy in the field of social responsibility of government and business in Russia Two years ago, at the XIII Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the President of Russia for the first time called on Russian business to become “socially responsible.” This call was taken up mainly by large private capital.

According to investigators, the pilots of the crashed plane “accumulated” too much ice. Specialists of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), as Vremya Novostei learned, have identified the main version of the death of a private Cessna-208 plane on November 19 in the Moscow region. As a result of the plane crash, eight people died, including Igor, the son and assistant of famous businessman and State Duma deputy Nikolai Olshansky.

Russia is trying to break into the ranks of the WTO to the accompaniment of anti-globalists Even a quick glance is enough to understand that opposing the creation of a single world order is much more exciting than advocating for it. The sixth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) began its work yesterday in Hong Kong. And the holiday organized in honor of this event by the anti-globalists turned out to be much more colorful than the official opening ceremony.

Disagreements in ASEAN play into Russia's hands Yesterday, Russia had a real chance to become a full participant in a new influential regional organization - the East Asian Summit. His birth will be official today. The prospect of opening a new window into a dynamically developing region appeared in Moscow following the results of yesterday - also the first in history - summit between Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

ConocoPhillips completes $35 billion deal American ConocoPhillips yesterday completed the largest deal of the year in the global energy sector. It signed an agreement to acquire one of the main independent gas producers in the United States, Burlington Resources. As noted in the companies' joint press release, the transaction amount will be $35.6 billion.