The governor of St. Petersburg signs agreements on the development of the electric power industry every day Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko and head of RAO UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais are expected to sign an agreement on the development of the city's energy system today. The total amount of investments to be made in the energy sector of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region until 2010 will be about 320 billion rubles.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a directory for tourists with telephone numbers of Russian diplomatic missions In the days when the evacuation of Russians from Lebanon is in full swing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, hastened to present a guide for citizens of our country traveling abroad.

CLUBS "Project Vetrov". A project of musicians from St. Petersburg rock bands. The project is headed by Alexander Vetrov. The group does not have a permanent composition - you never know who else will take the stage.

In Romania, even children helped state security Operational name: Raducu. Age - 15 years. “The student has good school preparation, is disciplined, sociable, and enjoys sports. Has good reviews from the teaching staff, participates in various school and sporting events. Enjoys the trust of his comrades." This is what the profile of a young intelligence agency informant from a secondary school in the city of Bacau looked like in 1985.

World record holder Isinbayeva lost for the first time in two years Leading track and field athletes of the Old World continue their competitive preparations for the European Championships starting on August 7 in Gothenburg (Sweden) at the start of the World Athletic Tour. The Super Grand Prix stage held in Stockholm brought several completely unexpected results.

Russia will not renegotiate contracts with Venezuela Today, on the last day of his three-day visit to Russia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will meet with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They will have to discuss issues of economic cooperation. In Moscow, the guest is going to sign a contract for the purchase of 24 Russian Su-30 fighters and an agreement to build a plant for the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles in Venezuela.

Israeli Ambassador to Russia Arkady MIL-MAN told Vremya Novostei columnist Elena SUPONINA about the operation in Lebanon and the disputes with Russia regarding this war. “Israel is behaving, to put it mildly, stupidly in this war. There are many civilian casualties in Lebanon. Some explain this by the incompetence of your government. The second version - it only looks stupid, but in fact hides a very smart plan by Israel and the United States to create a “new” Middle East.

Forecast for the coming days Warmth did not return to the center of European territory for long. Already today it will become noticeably colder again. The reason for this is the Arctic air, which descends following the atmospheric wave front moving from the Vologda region to the Urals. Here it will join the system of the vast Siberian cyclone and “shift” it from the lower reaches of the Ob to the Urals.

The Georgian authorities staged a small victorious war Yesterday, Georgian authorities reported the completion of a special operation against the rebels of the Kodori Gorge, which began on Tuesday night. According to these reports, units of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs took control of most of the region.

American jazzman of Israeli origin Avishai Cohen is one of the most notable and sought-after bassists of our time. He is invited to play not only by the stars of improvisational music - vocalist Bobby McFerrin, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, pianist Herbie Hancock, but also by r'n'b star Alicia Keys. Cohen rose to fame as a member of pianist Chick Corea's trio Origin.

Tehran is ready to pay well for its ambitions Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's three-day tour of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan ended yesterday. Two rounds of negotiations between the Iranian president and Turkmenbashi, which took place on July 25-26 and began with mutual assurances that “there are no disagreements between the countries,” were held, according to the Turkmen leader, “in a constructive and principled manner.” “Everyone defended their position,” said Saparmurat Niyazov.

Deputies are ready to temporarily return the previous excise tax stamps on alcohol The alcohol series brings new intrigues every day. At the departmental level, working groups of various compositions meet every day; market participants never tire of proving that panic in the market and “orphan” bottles only benefit shadow traders. And the deputies who went on summer vacation are ready to rewrite the legislation. Moreover, in fact, return the market to its “pre-reform” state.

Russia held a rehearsal for war with Georgia Having completed the active phase of the Caucasian Frontier anti-terrorism exercise with live-fire, the units participating in them yesterday began moving to their places of permanent deployment. This is the final stage. As of today, the exercises are considered over. The battle was large-scale - the exercises took place at training grounds in Dagestan, Stavropol and Volgograd regions, North Ossetia and Ingushetia.

For helping the investigation, Barayev's accomplice was deducted three years in prison The Moscow City Court yesterday sentenced one of Shamil Basayev's associates, terrorist Aslanbek Khaskhanov, to 22 years of strict regime. He was found guilty of a series of grave and especially grave crimes - organizing and facilitating a series of terrorist attacks in Moscow and taking hostages at the Dubrovka Theater Center in October 2002.

Ex-candidate for the post of President of Belarus, leader of the united opposition Alexander Milinkevich, his wife Inna Kuley and press secretary Pavel Mozheiko were detained yesterday by Polotsk traffic police officers. Mozheiko managed to report that the passengers were taken to the Polotsk regional police department, but the reasons for the detention are unknown. Milinkevich was detained on the eve of July 27, when the opposition traditionally celebrates Independence Day of Belarus.