Perfumes were removed from state alcohol control State Duma deputies tried to solve the alcohol problem in at least one of its components yesterday. The Lower House on Wednesday adopted in the first reading a United Russia bill on removing perfumes and cosmetics from the law on state regulation of the production of ethyl alcohol.

The famous wall in Berlin, which became a symbol of the Iron Curtain, was not built right away. For a decade and a half after the Allied victory, the borders of the occupation sectors in the German capital were controlled much less strictly. For some time, people could move relatively freely from the western part of the city to the eastern and vice versa.

At the stage of the Pro Tour series held in St. Petersburg, the most iconic figure among the Europeans was the Belgian Jean-Michel Sav - participant in five Olympics, former first racket of the world, European champion in 1994 and winner of the prestigious continental tournament "Top 12" of this year. same season, silver medalist at the 1993 Planet Championship. His career at the international level has lasted for 23 (!) years.

Confrontation between authorities and opposition in Kyrgyzstan ends with fireworks Yesterday at midnight, Ala-Too Square in Bishkek was lit up with fireworks. Thus, a week-long rally of the Kyrgyz opposition greeted the news that the parliament had adopted a new constitution for Kyrgyzstan. How this process took place will certainly be included in the history and jurisprudence textbooks, at least in this small Central Asian republic itself.

The heads of government of Russia and China will discuss the development of subsoil and the conquest of the Moon Today, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov arrives in Beijing for the next - already the eleventh - meeting of the heads of government of Russia and China, as well as to participate in events within the framework of the Year of Russia in China.

Russia's increase in energy prices caused a political crisis in Georgia The news that Gazprom, in the absence of a contract for the purchase of gas, will stop supplying raw materials to Georgian companies from January 1, 2007, provoked another round of political debates in Tbilisi.

The law on maternity capital can be amended more than once It seems that the haste in which the government prepared the bill on maternity capital and submitted it to the State Duma affected the quality of the document. The draft law “On additional measures of state support for families with children,” which raised a lot of questions even during its run-in at the White House, is stalling in the lower house of parliament - deputies intend to make many amendments to it.

Russian business does not strive for information openness The transparency of Russian business remains at a low level, according to a study published yesterday by the Standard & Poor`s rating agency: the company transparency index (that is, the percentage of information they disclose) increased compared to last year by only three percentage points - from 50 to 53%. And taking into account adjustments for changes in methodology, the increase amounted to 0.9 percentage points.

The representative of the Central Bank proposed to abolish bank secrecy The fight against crime in the banking system can lead to the complete abolition of banking secrecy in Russia. A representative of the Central Bank at yesterday's meeting of the interregional banking council under the Federation Council took the initiative to provide law enforcement agencies with full access to information representing bank secrecy.

Volkswagen's chief executive unexpectedly leaves his post Late on Tuesday evening, the largest European automaker, Volkswagen, made a sensational announcement: the 58-year-old chairman of the board of directors of the company, Bernd Pischetsrieder, will voluntarily leave his post by the end of the year. At the same time, the name of his successor was named - he will be the head of Audi, a company that is part of the VW concern, Martin Winterkorn.

Innovations in electoral legislation have not improved the quality of elections According to experts from the Independent Institute of Elections, who analyzed the results of the regional elections on October 8, if existing political trends continue until the elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament will be at risk of delegitimation. The institute compiled a “rating of the democracy of regional elections” and presented it at a press conference on Wednesday.

Chronicle of sporting events The European Cup, held under the auspices of the continental branch of the International Basketball Federation, has started. This tournament is the third most important for club men's teams on the continent after the Euroleague and the ULEB Cup. At the first stage, participants perform in eight groups - seven quartets and one troika are formed. “Lokomotiv-Rostov” in the four “C” defeated the Hungarian “Atomeroma” on the road - 69:65.

The construction of border walls was widely practiced in a variety of historical periods. Solid wood-earth or even stone fortifications are indeed the most effective and not too complicated technical means of protecting the borders of the state. Perhaps the only thing that has kept governments from building border fences everywhere is their cost. Construction, ongoing repairs, as well as regular patrolling of such fortifications always cost a pretty penny.

The President granted tax preferences to livestock breeding The tacitly established moratorium on the provision of industry tax benefits appears to have been broken. Despite the constant and numerous attempts of deputies to extract tax breaks for some particular sector of the economy, which are usually thwarted, if not in the Federation Council, then when the bill comes to the Kremlin, it seems that the state is ready to make an exception for agricultural producers.

Deputies allowed citizens to pick mushrooms and register enterprises with the word "Russia" Yesterday the State Duma approved in final reading the Forestry Code, amendments to the law on compulsory motor liability insurance on maintaining preferential rates for accident-free driving, as well as the new IV part of the Civil Code on the protection of brand names. The new “anti-piracy” part of the Civil Code promises the harshest punishment for manufacturers of counterfeit products.