Warsaw fears energy blackmail There are rumors in Poland about the possible resignation of the chairman of the board of the Polish oil company Orlen, Igor Chalupets. This may affect the company's acquisition of the Mazeikiai Nafta refinery located in Lithuania. For a long time, this enterprise was the object of interests of Russian oil companies, and in recent years it was managed by Yukos.

The deputy head of the Politburo of the Palestinian radical movement Hamas, Musa Abu Marzuk, said yesterday in Damascus that a Palestinian government of national unity will be formed by the end of November, and it will be headed by Muhammad Shabir. He is a compromise figure for Hamas and moderate Fatah, although many in the autonomy consider him a person close to Hamas. Shabir, 60, trained as a microbiologist in the United States and headed the Islamic University in Gaza until 2005.

Leningrad NPP became a record holder for emergency shutdowns Power units at domestic nuclear power plants shut down five times in October 2006. The corresponding data was published by Rostekhnadzor specialists on November 13. Deviations from operating standards were recorded at the Kalinin and Leningrad nuclear power plants. Moreover, in four out of five cases, power units stopped at the Leningrad NPP.

Germany is ready to invest money in Russian cinema The fourth festival of Russian cinema “Kinoblik” was held in Stuttgart and Berlin, and within its framework the film exchange “Platform” was held with the presentation of projects by both the Russian and German sides - in search of co-producers. The main official event was the signing of a protocol of intent between the German Cinematography Support Committee and the cinematography department of the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography.

United Russia decided not to cancel mayoral elections until 2009 Yesterday, the United Russia party once again demonstrated its democratic essence. At a meeting with the participation of United Russia mayors and the leadership of United Russia, which took place on Monday in Moscow, it was decided that the election of mayors cannot be abolished.

The just released issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski is dedicated to charity. Even in our country, where the philanthropic tradition was interrupted for a long time, the amount of donations today amounts to billions of dollars a year. In other words, charity is an entire industry with its own specific problems, which employs thousands of people and has its own structure and institutions.

US invites Iran and Syria to Iraq Democratic Senators Carl Levin (the future head of the Senate Armed Services Committee) and Joe Biden (one of the likely presidential candidates in the 2008 elections) yesterday declared “the most urgent US priority is a change in policy towards Iraq.” The impasse in this country led to the Republican defeat in the November 7 elections and the subsequent resignation of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld.

Domestic entrepreneurs are testing the strength of the British property market The British property market is prepared to withstand the new Russian financial flow. The Times newspaper states that recent market research indicates a powerful increase in the purchasing activity of Russian businessmen. Moreover, they are increasingly attracted to the suburbs of London.

European countries are becoming increasingly Islamized. The influx of Turkish guest workers in the first post-war decades, as well as the decline in the birth rate among the indigenous population in recent years, increased the share of the Muslim part of the population in German society. This forces the German authorities to look for effective ways of interaction between the state and Muslims.

The global terrorist network, the core of which is Al-Qaeda, covers at least half a thousand groups. It is clear that this whole crowd of people must eat, dress, buy weapons and explosives, set up combat and ideological training camps, engage in propaganda and agitation, etc. And this requires money, money and money. According to CIA estimates, “in recent years” (the period is not specified), Saudi Arabia alone has allocated more than $70 billion to the needs of this global network.

The Poles put the European Union in an awkward position because of Russia Problems have arisen again in relations between Russia and Poland. Yesterday in Brussels, at a meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the member countries of the European Union, the Poles confirmed their intention to block the start of negotiations on a basic agreement between the EU and Russia.

Chronicle of sporting events Football. Spanish Championship. 10th round. Betis - Levante - 2:1, Celta - Recreativo - 1:2, Getafe - Mallorca - 1:0, Gimnastic - Deportivo -- 0:0, "Racing" -- "Sevilla" -- 0:0, "Real Sociedad" -- "Espanyol" -- 1:1, "Osasuna" -- "Real" -- 1:4, " Barcelona - Zaragoza - 3:1, Atletico - Villarreal - 3:1, Valencia - Athletic - 1:1. Leading: Barcelona - 23 points, Sevilla - 22, Real Madrid - 20.

The largest Russian brewing company is going to build two new plants Yesterday it finally became clear how the Baltika brewing company intends to keep its promise made 2.5 years ago - to control more than 40% of the Russian beer market. In order to increase its already significant lead over its competitors, the concern wants to increase its capacity by approximately 20-25% by building new plants in Samara and Novosibirsk in 2007-2008. The cost of these projects is estimated at 200 million euros.

The conflict between security forces continues in Chechnya In the Chechen village of Pobedinskoye, a paradoxical conflict has been going on for more than six months: police officers subordinate to Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov are blocking hundreds of their compatriots who say that they also want to become police officers, but do not want to obey Kadyrov. In the role of besieged there are about a hundred fighters of the Highlander operational combat group.

At least every fifth trader in Russian markets will be “local” The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade fulfilled an important order of the president and the government by preparing a bill regulating the activities of retail markets. The main innovation of the bill is the provision of preferences to local producers at the expense of migrants.