Switzerland closes doors to workers from other countries By a majority of more than two-thirds, the Swiss voted in a referendum on Sunday in favor of amendments to the asylum law and a new law on foreigners. These laws are intended to restrict the entry of immigrants into the country. They have already been adopted by parliament, and they were submitted to a popular vote by the Social Democrats, “greens” and human rights organizations.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations banned the private rescue service in Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg lost its own rescue service. The Sverdlovsk Regional Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations prohibited employees of the SOVA company from engaging in life saving activities. For a city with a population of one million, what happened is a real sensation, because this particular service was perceived by the majority of Yekaterinburg residents as a direct analogue of the American “911”.

Yanukovych visiting Fradkov and Miller The prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Mikhail Fradkov and Viktor Yanukovych, are trying with all their might to make up for the “failure” in bilateral relations. Having met on Friday at the White House on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, the heads of the two governments in unison complained about lost time. “When coordination was interrupted, negativity immediately appeared,” noted Mr. Fradkov.

“Alive” by Alexander Veledinsky on Moscow screens The film begins in war, but all the battleism of the first scenes is limited to choking excerpts of off-screen radio interception and unclean mountain snow, through which two people are dragging a third. They drag him to save his life, but to die themselves.

The State Duma approved the 2007 budget in the first reading The State Duma on Friday adopted the draft federal budget for 2007 in the first reading. As expected, the deputies had virtually no questions regarding macroeconomic indicators. Regions, national projects and security have become priority areas for funding. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin even promised to return to Russia the economic potential of the Soviet Union by the end of next year.

A paradoxical phenomenon has been happening in world football over the past ten years. On the one hand, clubs are bought by millionaires and turned into world teams, often surpassing the strongest national teams in composition. On the other hand, despite huge investments and frantic migration flows of football players, new great clubs practically do not appear.

The humanitarian disaster in the Sudanese province of Darfur remained the focus of the September ministerial meetings of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly in New York. During it, the leaders of the African Union announced the extension of the mandate of their peacekeepers in Darfur until December 31, 2006. Will UN peacekeepers replace them, as provided for by UN Security Council Resolution No. 1706 of August 31, 2006, unrecognized by Khartoum?

August 22 -- September 22, 2006 “Politicians Through the Eyes of the Media,” a joint project of Vremya Novostei and the Medialogia company, are ratings of the political figures most actively discussed in the Russian media.

Two Moscow exhibitions are dedicated to Empress Maria Feodorovna and her family The upcoming reburial of the ashes of Empress Maria Feodorovna gave occasion to remember her. They are already saying that Russia is discovering a forgotten great woman. Great is a strong word. However, Maria Feodorovna herself is worthy of attention, and, more importantly, the era of Alexander III comes to light with her. And he is not the most famous of the autocrats. What about Alexander III?

“We have reached a level of relations with China that has probably never existed before,” Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Western political scientists this month. According to the president, there is “no double bottom” in these relations; they are “pragmatic and good-neighborly in nature” and “can last quite a long time.” Putin also recalled the joint interest in military-technical cooperation. What Russian weapons will the Chinese military need?

The government approved the separation of two generating companies from RAO UES The Board of Directors of RAO UES of Russia last Friday voted in absentia to convene an extraordinary meeting of shareholders on December 6, also in absentia, at which it is planned to make a decision on the separation of Wholesale Generating Company No. 5 (OGK-5) and Territorial Generating Company No. 5 (OGK-5) from the energy holding. TGC-5).

The Americans invited the Venezuelan Foreign Minister to spread his legs Last Saturday, American authorities frayed the nerves of Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, who was returning home from New York from the 61st session of the UN General Assembly: the authorities at the American John F. Kennedy International Airport did not allow the diplomat to land, suspecting him of terrorism.

Russians attribute all government successes to the president, and all failures to the Duma. Although the Duma is elected by the population, it is clearly not one of the government bodies that enjoys their love and trust. And recently, the already low levels of Russians’ trust in the lower house of the federal parliament have noticeably worsened.

Attempts by the Russian authorities not to acknowledge the politicization of some of their own economic decisions, coupled with accusations of the politicization of those economic decisions of counterparties that our authorities do not like, put an end to Russia’s desire to become an energy superpower. Superpowers don't behave like that. They openly use all political and economic tools to defend their interests and are not offended by their opponents for the same retaliatory actions.

The Spanish Prime Minister promised E.ON a quick happy ending The battle for the Spanish energy company Endesa, which unfolded between the German concern E.ON and patriotic officials of the government of socialist José Luis Zapatero, is approaching its finale. The Spanish Prime Minister himself announced last week that he was ending his opposition to the deal and was committed to a happy ending.