Yesterday in Indonesia, the 68-year-old spiritual leader of the Islamic extremist organization Jamaah Islamiyah, Abu Bakar Bashir, was released from prison. He was imprisoned for 26 months for his indirect involvement in the October 2002 Bali bombings. At least 202 people died, mostly young foreign tourists, including 88 Australians. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said millions of his countrymen were alarmed by Bashir's release.

State capitalism declared the source of the Russian economic miracle Previous sources of economic growth in Russia have practically exhausted their potential. The growth in the most profitable raw materials sector for the country is only 1.5-2% per year. The second day of the St. Petersburg economic forum was devoted to the search for the path that will lead the country to an economic miracle.

During the negotiations with Vladimir Putin, the most important thing for his Georgian colleague Mikheil Saakashvili was the issue of restoring the territorial integrity of Georgia. But the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia believe that they have no less rights to independence than Montenegro or Kosovo. The leaders of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria held consultations in Sukhumi these days.

CLUBS Noise festival "Sound and Fury". On the first evening of the noise music festival, the St. Petersburg groups DaDaZu and Monopolka , as well as the Moscow Gosplan Trio , consisting of Alexey Borisov (electronics), Sergey Letov (saxophone) and Lana Aksenova (theremin) were on stage. "Home" , 20.00. Festival of contemporary Swedish cinema Sweden: Upgrade. Today, at the opening of the festival, the film “As in Heaven” (2004) will be shown. Directed by Kai Pollack.

The Investment Commission did not refuse any of the applicants for government money Yesterday, the investment commission at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum reviewed four projects applying for financing from the investment fund. And all four earned her approval. The final choice will be made by a government commission, but it is not yet known when. Initially, 46 projects applied for money from the investment fund. After the preliminary selection, 12 of them remained.

Arkady Dvorkovich and Alexey Kudrin disagreed on additional taxation of Gazprom Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, despite the government’s refusal to even think about withdrawing Gazprom’s windfall profits from high world gas prices, does not seem to have abandoned this fiscal idea. On the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he told reporters yesterday that he would make proposals to increase taxation of the gas industry on his own initiative. Mr.

Germany prevents early repayment of Russian debt due to “budgetary absurdity” Today in the French capital, negotiations will continue on Russia's early repayment of the former USSR's debt to the Paris Club of creditors. It appears that it will never be possible to fully pay off the remaining $22 billion debt, although the club said in May that it “welcomes” Moscow’s offer for full payment.

Results of the World Symphony Orchestras Festival The last two concerts of the Festival of Symphony Orchestras of the World, which so suddenly and with such pomp emerged from oblivion, with the London Academy of St. Martin in the Fields on the first evening and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France on the second, became the culmination of the program and its semantic core.

An alleged base of suspected militants was destroyed in Ingushetia A large-scale special operation to eliminate a large group of militants took place yesterday in the Nazran region of Ingushetia.

Rosneft shares are offered to the public for no less than 20 thousand rubles As Rosneft President Sergei Bogdanchikov promised Vladimir Putin in April, almost all citizens will be able to buy Rosneft shares at Sberbank as part of the upcoming initial offering in July.

The top 20 best enterprises of the military-industrial complex have been compiled The latest rating of enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex was compiled by the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) and the magazine “Arms Export” published by it.

Sverdlovsk parliamentarians announced a competition for the regional anthem Having given real political power to Moscow, the authorities of the Sverdlovsk region began to create for themselves at least symbols of this very power. From July 1, Russian poets and composers will be able to take part in a competition to write an anthem for the Middle Urals. With his appearance, Sverdlovsk Governor Eduard Rossel will have all the same symbols that the country's president now has.

German intelligence takes revenge on employees for agents from the USSR The President of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Ernst Urlau, has finally assessed the scandal surrounding the surveillance of journalists with the help of their colleagues. With the help of elementary snitching by some journalists on others, the internal security structures of the BND tried to establish the sources of information leaks.

Spain and Ukraine. This is the choice. Two teams that I care about started the World Cup with a head-to-head meeting. But it’s great that two teams advance from the group to the playoffs. This means that yesterday I could remain neutral. There is no point in specifically rooting for Spain or Ukraine in the fight for first place in Group H. I will decide who is closer to me as the tournament progresses. But it will be a difficult choice. I lived in Spain for eight years.

The revolutionary troika in Ukraine disintegrated The two months that it took to form a parliamentary coalition in Ukraine were wasted. Yesterday, the "orange" forces - the Socialist Party, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuL) and President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine - finally fell out.