Valentina Matvienko is being lured into the list of St. Petersburg United Russia with a lifelong social package St. Petersburg parliamentarians decided to make life easier for retired governors. On the eve of the start of the political struggle for seats in the future city parliament, deputies of the United Russia faction came up with a legislative initiative guaranteeing lifelong benefits to city leaders at the end of their term of office.

The head of E.ON Ruhrgas Burkhard Bergmann became honorary consul of Russia The head of the largest German gas company E.ON Ruhrgas and member of the board of the E.ON concern Burkhard Bergmann yesterday became the first honorary consul of Russia in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Presenting him with a consular patent at Jägerhof Castle in Düsseldorf, where Napoleon stayed, Russian Ambassador to Germany Vladimir Kotenev said: “I am glad that Mr.

Canadian resident accused of spying for Russia Yesterday, the trial of Paul William Hampel, suspected of espionage, began in Montreal.

They want to overcome the alcohol crisis in Russia with the help of bureaucratic bodies and “people's vodka” The alcohol crisis, provoked by the authorities’ attempts to control the entire circulation of alcohol in the country , is forcing the state to look for new measures that could alleviate the severity of the situation.

The death of another minister will bury the Lebanese government Lebanon, a war-weary small country with a population of 4 million, has once again become a victim of big politics. The increasing frequency of political murders, the inevitability of which was predicted by the Vremya Novostey newspaper, brought this once rich state, this Switzerland of the Middle East, to the brink of a new civil war, similar to the one that lasted from 1975 to 1990.

Vladimir Putin addressed Europeans through the press Today Vladimir Putin will arrive on a two-day visit to Helsinki, where the next Russia-European Union summit will take place tomorrow. And yesterday, the British newspaper Financial Times and several other European newspapers published an article by the Russian president, written in anticipation of this event. Let us note that this is Putin’s second speech in the world press in the past week.

Windshield wipers and antiseptics are not the only liquids that poison unfortunate Russians. Ordinary tap water can also be life-threatening. Yesterday, the Chairman of the State Duma, leader of the United Russia party, Boris Gryzlov, proposed approving another national project - "Clean Water". As checks have shown, “only 12% of the water coming through the pipes can be drunk, up to 15% cannot be drunk, in fact, this water is poison and poisons our citizens for 5-7 years,” Mr.

More than 50 Chechen police officers came to Moscow to eliminate Movladi Baysarov The story of the murder of the former commander of the FSB operational combat group “Highlander” Movladi Baysarov, who publicly went over to the opposition to Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and was shot last Saturday in the center of Moscow, according to the official version, during an attempt to arrest, is becoming increasingly scandalous.

The financing scheme for the construction of the Nizhnekamsk petrochemical complex is still opaque Tatneft yesterday spoke about plans to implement the construction project of the Nizhnekamsk petrochemical complex, but did not present a scheme for its financing. According to the company, the total cost of the project will reach 130.3 billion rubles, of which 16.5 billion, intended for infrastructure development, is expected to be received from the Russian investment fund.

The head of Verkhovna Rada, Lord John Brown, again failed to solve key problems in Russia The head of British BP, Lord John Brown, arrived in Moscow yesterday to once again pay visits to the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller, the president of Rosneft Sergei Bogdanchikov and the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Fradkov. However, the meeting with the head of government scheduled for today will not take place. As an Interfax source noted, the main reason was Mikhail Fradkov’s workload.

Forecast for the coming days A powerful cyclonic vortex centered in the Atlantic continues to supply warm and humid air to most areas of European Russia. Today and tomorrow there will be light rain in the north-west, during the day +1...+6оС. In the Central region, cloudy weather with light rain will prevail; fog will thicken in the humid air at night and in the morning, impairing visibility on the roads to 300-500 meters; air temperature from -1 to +6оС.

The cause of the plane crash in Irkutsk, according to experts, was crew error Experts from the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) yesterday officially reported to members of the government commission headed by Transport Minister Igor Levitin their conclusions about the causes of the crash of the S7 (formerly Siberia) airline A310 plane at Irkutsk airport last summer.

The second anniversary of the “Orange Revolution” passed routinely Yesterday, the Kiev Maidan of Independence did not see the official celebrations dedicated to Freedom Day. Only about a thousand people, mostly pensioners, celebrated the second anniversary of the “Orange Revolution” in the capital’s square. The contrast between today's everyday Maidan and the bright orange crowds of two years ago is striking.

Disinfectants are the main source of alcohol poisoning Yesterday, the Volgograd branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Rosspirtprom" launched the production of so- called "folk vodka" ; 53 rub. for half a liter. Meanwhile, the number of people poisoned by alcohol substitutes in the region in a calendar month is approaching half a thousand people.

Chronicle of sporting events Basketball. NBA. Regular season. “Indiana” – “Milwaukee” – 93:88, “Philadelphia” – “Detroit” – 87:97, “Cleveland” – “Memphis” – 97:94, “New Orleans” – “ Miami - 101:86, Dallas - Washington - 107:80, Denver - Chicago - 113:109, Lakers - Clippers - 105:101. Lakers leader Kobe Bryant scored 40 points for the first time this season, and his scoring performance determined the Lakers' victory over their neighbors the Clippers.