In Khabarovsk, 12 TV channels will be turned off until August Residents of Khabarovsk will be left without television broadcasting for almost a month. Yesterday, the city administration announced that from July 10 to August 4, from 9.30 to 18 hours local time, 12 major television channels will be switched off.

Russian metallurgists again oppose Ukrainian The largest Russian metallurgical companies have joined forces in the fight against the low prices of their Ukrainian colleagues. The Ministry of Economic Development yesterday announced the start of an anti-dumping investigation into flat cold-rolled steel produced in Ukraine.

The parliamentary majority began the fight for morality on television A group of deputies from the United Russia faction is preparing to fight eroticism and sex on television. Corresponding amendments to the laws “On Advertising” and “On Mass Media” have been submitted for consideration by the chamber.

The structure of "Basel" won the tender for the purchase of the Pljevlja thermal power plant The newly created structural division of Basic Element, the En+ company, which manages the holding’s assets in the aluminum, energy and oil businesses, as it became known yesterday, won the competition for the purchase of the Pljevlja thermal power plant in Montenegro (208 MW of installed capacity), offering for an asset of 45 million euros and 31.1% of the shares of the nearby coal mine “Rudnik Ugol”

The President held a mega-meeting with non-governmental organizations Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday reassured the participants of the international forum of non-governmental organizations “Civil Eight-2006”, which finished its work in Moscow: everything they say “in essence” will be conveyed to the leaders of the “Big Eight” in St. Petersburg.

European authorities are ready to fine Microsoft 2 million euros daily The European Commission yesterday preliminary approved the implementation of its decision to levy a fine of 2 million euros per day from Microsoft. The ruling was made back in December last year (due to the fact that the corporation ignored the requirements of European antitrust authorities), and therefore Bill Gates’ company will have to pay more than 400 million euros.

Exhibition of Igor Shelkovsky at the ERA Foundation “The publisher is an artist” is not such an extravagant figure in Russian history. The Silver Age gave us a wonderful drawing art critic and journalist Alexander Nikolaevich Benois, whose works are best able to illustrate the materials of the leading publications of the turn of the century: “Old Years”, “World of Art”, “Capital and Estate”... His work sublimates the universal language and images era.

Shareholders of the North European Gas Pipeline have not prepared a general agreement The second meeting of the committee of shareholders of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) Company, which is implementing the project to build the North European Gas Pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, held yesterday in the Swiss city of Zug, showed that Gazprom, BASF and E.ON agree on key issues there is no interaction.

The governor of the Irkutsk region is at war with the regional parliament Opposition regional parliaments are still possible in Russia. Governor Alexander Tishanin refused to sign the law “On Amendments to the Charter of the Irkutsk Region,” which strengthens the control functions of the region’s legislative assembly. The initiative to strengthen the control of the regional parliament over the regional administration was made by 17 deputies.

Yesterday, the Central Election Commission of Belarus issued the first official warnings to the initiative groups of two presidential contenders - the leader of the united opposition Alexander Milinkevich and the former leader of the Belarusian Popular Front Zenon Poznyak. New warnings could result in their removal from the elections.

The Tour de France visits the Benelux countries The third stage of the prestigious multi-day race “Tour de France” turned out to be unique. His route passed through the territory of three countries at once. Starting in the town of Esch-sur-Alzette in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the peloton traveled through Belgium and finished in Holland. The popularity of the race in Europe is so high that the organizers have recently been trying to lay part of the Tour route in countries neighboring France.

It was decided to launch the Discovery shuttle with a crack in the thermal insulation of the fuel tank NASA decided to take a chance. Despite the discovery of a crack in the insulating lining of the space shuttle Discovery's fuel tank on Monday, the spacecraft's takeoff from Cape Canaveral will not be delayed. The US National Aerospace Agency confirmed that the risky launch should take place on July 4 at 2:38 p.m. Eastern Coast time (10:38 p.m. Moscow time).

The scandal that broke out in Italian football is nearing its end. Yesterday, the prosecutor of the Italian sports tribunal Stefano Palazzi demanded that the leaders of four leading clubs - Juventus, Lazio, Milan and Fiorentina - be found guilty of organizing match-fixing and fraud and be excluded from Serie A. Juventus, at the request of the prosecutor, can be sent to Serie C1 (third division) and deprived of the last two championship titles won in the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons.

Will prepare for the “democratization” of Kazakhstan Yesterday, the Kazakh parliament approved Danial Akhmetov as the country's prime minister, agreeing with the proposal of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Danial Akhmetov, 52, led Kazakhstan's previous government, which resigned as Mr. Nazarbayev took office on Jan. 11 for another seven-year presidential term. All key ministers also retained their posts.

Yesterday, restoration work continued in the metro tunnel of the Spanish city of Valencia on the stretch between the central stations “Jesus” and “Plaza de España”. The day before, the largest disaster in the history of the Spanish subway occurred here. 41 people were killed and more than fifty were injured. Among the dead are 30 women. The possibility of a terrorist attack has already been ruled out. According to authorities, the lead car derailed due to excessive speed.