Japanese Prime Minister angered neighbors Yesterday, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which prompted an immediate rebuke from China and South Korea. Japan's neighbors consider these campaigns by the Japanese leadership a symbol of Tokyo's return to an aggressive foreign policy.

Recently, the exhibition “Imposed Paths” opened in the center of Berlin, dedicated to forced relocations, genocide and expulsion of European peoples in the twentieth century. The victims were 100 million people of more than 30 nationalities. The exhibition aroused a protest from Warsaw, which saw this as an attempt to present the Germans who were evicted after the war from lands that were transferred to Poland as the injured party.

Forbes placed ZIL on the list of authorities Forbes magazine, which specializes in compiling ratings and lists of the very best for the richest, presented an unusual selection of luxury, even for itself, that is available not just to the wealthy, but also to very erudite people. The magazine's website included a list of "unknown" car brands - cars whose brands are unfamiliar to most of the world's inhabitants.

Garegin Tosunyan is against transferring information about borrowers to the tax authorities President of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunyan yesterday continued the discussion about whether information about borrowers should be received by the tax authorities from credit history bureaus. As you know, the Federal Tax Service wants to receive information from banks about what loans citizens take out and how they are repaid.

Muscovites still couldn’t get used to night buses The unitary enterprise Mosgortrans, owned by the wealthiest city in Russia, considered it unprofitable to maintain night public transport routes. Despite the fact that the cost of travel on night buses was significantly higher than on daytime ones, transport for night owls only brought losses. And starting from yesterday, late-arriving Muscovites will have to shell out money for a taxi or catch private taxi drivers.

Russia ends its history of debts to the Paris Club Russia has begun practical steps to pay the debts of the former USSR to the Paris Club of creditors ahead of schedule. In recent days, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak has been putting one signature after another on the agreements necessary to begin the physical transfer of payments.

The net profit of Gazprom and NOVATEK in the first half of the year was with different signs The quarterly reports of the largest producers of Russian gas, Gazprom and NOVATEK, published yesterday, demonstrated diametrically opposed results from the companies. If the gas monopolist in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2005, exactly doubled its net profit by Russian standards, the “leader” of independent producers showed a decrease of 17%.

Moscow mayor fears WTO and demands innovation While federal authorities have been making a lot of efforts for years to finally join the World Trade Organization, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said that he is grateful to America for refusing to agree on Russia's entry into the WTO. “The longer we do not join the WTO, the better for the real sector of the economy, for industry, for agriculture,” said the mayor.

The need to expand energy cooperation in the eastern direction is becoming increasingly obvious for Russia. Nowadays, over 70% of Russian exports come from oil and gas. All oil and gas pipelines from Western Siberia are directed to the west. This irrational distribution of productive forces contributes to hypertrophied economic development in the European part of Russia and a further lag in the economic development of the eastern regions.

"Hermitage" opened the season The chief director of the Hermitage Theater Mikhail Levitin has big plans - three premieres are expected in the new season. The first (tentatively October-November) will be the play “On the Essence of Love”, staged by Mayakovsky - lyrics, poems, tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky”.

Watch from August 17 on Moscow screens “He, Me and His Friends” (USA, 2006, Anthony and Joe Russo). A newlywed couple, Carl (Matt Dillon - "Wild Things", "Crash", "Factotum") and Molly (Kate Hudson - "Divorce", "Fashionable Mommy", "The Key to All Doors"), enjoy life and work and each other...

Europe is jealous of the achievements of the Russians at the championship in Gothenburg As soon as the triumphant European Championships in Gothenburg for Russia ended, where our athletes won 12 gold medals and a total of 34 medals of various denominations, the President of the Spanish Athletics Federation, Jose Maria Odriozola, immediately questioned this success. He stated that he has information confirming the fact that Russians are using illegal drugs.

Saakashvili will build a city and an airfield there The operation against the rebels in the Kodori Gorge, carried out back in July, is now being used by Georgia as cover for the redeployment of a large military group closer to the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia. This was stated yesterday by the Deputy Commander of the Russian Ground Forces for Peacekeeping Forces, Lieutenant General Valery Evnevich.

Alexandrinsky and Maly celebrate the 250th anniversary of the state theater in Russia The theater season, which traditionally begins at the turn of summer and autumn, will open with two celebrations this year. The two oldest theaters in Russia, Alexandrinsky and Maly, will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the decree on the establishment of the first professional theater, signed by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1756, as their birthday.

Lawyers quarreled at new trial in Koptsev's case The scandal began yesterday with the re-examination in the Moscow City Court of the criminal case of Alexander Koptsev, who carried out a massacre in the synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya on January 11 of this year. In court, to everyone's surprise, he behaved quietly - he did not utter anti-Semitic slogans and pretentious speeches, as he had done at the first trial. But this time the lawyers distinguished themselves.