Rajab SAFAROV, general director of the Center for the Study of Modern Iran, told Vremya Novostey about why new Russian-Iranian negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program were needed. Tehran, accustomed to the fact that it can always count on the support of Moscow and Beijing, was extremely alarmed by the statement of Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, that under certain conditions Moscow could support anti-Iranian sanctions. This shocked the Iranians.

Russian aircraft engine manufacturers are diversifying production The united aircraft manufacturing company that is being created today, albeit with difficulty, will also contain in its structure the propulsion sector - an aircraft cannot be built without a “heart”, without an engine. One of the key manufacturers of Russian aircraft engines is the Moscow Machine-Building Production Enterprise (MMPP) Salyut.

A play based on the novel by Mikhail Shishkin was performed at the Fomenko Workshop “The Most Important” - this is how the Fomenko Workshop called the performance based on Mikhail Shishkin’s novel “Venus’s Hair,” a multi-layered and foggy five-hundred-page book that a year ago received the National Bestseller Award. To be honest, The Hair of Venus is the last novel one would imagine being presented in a theater.

The future of consumer lending lies with the credit card The consumer boom continues. Citizens are increasingly given the opportunity to choose: apply for a loan directly in a store, apply for it at a bank, or use a credit card. Banks, competing with each other, simplify the procedure for issuing loans for urgent needs and issue plastic cards. At the same time, most experts believe that the latter are the future.

Gazprom estimates earnings from supplies to Ukraine Representatives of the Ukrainian government and the management of RosUkrEnergo continue to publicly justify themselves regarding the recently concluded contract for gas supplies in 2007. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych once again stated that abandoning the January agreements would lead to an even “greater crisis” than there was last winter.

In order to comply with the letter of the law, the prosecutor's office ordered the eviction of sick children from the boarding home An acute socio-political conflict flared up in Kamchatka. The Kamchatka Regional Prosecutor's Office sent a protest to Governor Mikhail Mashkovtsev with a demand to eliminate a series of violations in the field of protecting the rights of people with disabilities. The governor considers the position of law enforcement agencies mocking.

Igor Sergeev died New Russia lost its first and only marshal - last Friday in the Central Military Hospital named after. Burdenko, former Minister of Defense and assistant to the head of state Igor Sergeev, died. For the last three-plus years he has been terminally ill.

Yuri Luzhkov invites municipal officials to start work earlier than anyone else in Moscow The capital's weather, which with the arrival of winter aggravates the situation on roads already clogged with traffic jams, forces the Moscow authorities to put on iron gloves. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov believes that a new work schedule for officials will also help solve the transport problem in the city during the reconstruction of the main highways.

The future head of Volkswagen promises to reform the concern The largest German automaker, Volkswagen, which will change its leadership on New Year's Eve, is awaiting restructuring. The new chairman of the board of the company, Martin Winterkorn, named stopping the copying of products within the concern as a priority for his future activities in order to get rid of internal competition. Mr. Winterkorn now heads Audi, which is part of Volkswagen.

Negotiations on the status of the Serbian province of Kosovo have been suspended and will resume after the parliamentary elections in Serbia on January 21, 2007. This was stated by the special representative of the UN Secretary General Martti Ahtisaari after consultations with the Contact Group on Kosovo (CG), which includes Russia. He previously promised to present his findings by the end of 2006. The positions of the Serbs and Kosovars are irreconcilable.

Furniture suppliers compete not only in pricing policy, but also in the field of services The ongoing boom in the construction of business centers in Moscow quite logically caused a noticeable rise in the domestic office furniture market. Having increased by 27% in 2005 and reaching, according to official estimates, $444 million, the market for white-collar workplace furnishings continues to grow steadily this year.

A historical event took place before our eyes. After about a decade and a half of discussions, Russian football clubs and football bosses agreed that starting in 2009, the national championship will be held according to the “autumn-spring” system generally accepted in European countries. If this decision is not subsequently canceled for some reason, it could lead to truly revolutionary changes in our football economy.

Putin and Lukashenko spent almost half a day alone in the Kremlin The duration of this meeting in the Kremlin apartments could be the envy of any of Vladimir Putin’s guests. On Friday, November 10, in the Representative Office, Mr. Putin talked for more than four hours with the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. Only occasionally did advisers and assistants come to them on call to give an expert assessment on a particular issue that the heads of state discussed.

The US administration agreed to let Russia into the WTO The United States has given its consent to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). A protocol on the completion of negotiations will be signed during the APEC summit in Hanoi on November 18-19. Friday's announcement that the negotiators had resolved all controversial issues was almost a sensation.

The recent submission by the Russian President to the State Duma of a draft agreement on the division of powers between the federal center and the Republic of Tatarstan seems to be a purely formal step. There is no word “sovereignty” in the agreement, and there is no doubt about the external loyalty of one of the old-timers of the Russian regional political elite, Mintimer Shaimiev, to the Kremlin. And yet this formal procedure at the end of Putin’s legitimate rule is symbolic.