Yesterday, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten took the oath of office as the 22nd US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, at a closed ceremony. Then President George W. Bush, as Supreme Commander of the US Armed Forces, publicly took the oath of office from Gates at the Pentagon . Gates, a 63-year-old intelligence veteran, succeeds Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, whom President Bush fired on November 8 after the Republicans lost the congressional elections.

Andrey Melnichenko and Sergey Popov announced the division of property Business partners Andrey Melnichenko and Sergey Popov , who for many years controlled several companies in various sectors of the economy on a parity basis, intend to divide their assets. Yesterday it became known that the founder of MDM Bank Andrei Melnichenko decided to leave this business by selling his share to Sergei Popov. He, in turn, sold Mr.

Military reveals large-scale maps In Russia, anyone will soon be able to legally buy large-scale topographic and navigation maps. This became possible after the Ministry of Defense lifted restrictions on the receipt and use of geospatial information. The economic bloc of the government has been asking the military to lift the ban for several years. And yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reported to the president about the final positive decision.

Gazprom hopes to limit the growth of domestic gas consumption Today will be the last in-person meeting of the Gazprom Board of Directors this year. Council members will hear two strategic reports from Valery Golubev, recently appointed deputy chairman of the board, on activities in the domestic market and pricing policy in the countries of the former USSR.

Chronicle of sporting events Basketball. NBA. Regular season. “Toronto” – “Golden State” – 120:115, “Clippers” – “Houston” – 103:108, “Lakers” – “Washington” – 141:147 (OT), “Indiana” - - “Utah” – 94:104, “Detroit” – “Seattle” – 97:93. Washington's attacking defender Gilbert Arenas, in the most productive match of the championship, set a sniper record for the season and in the history of the club, as well as a personal achievement in his entire career - 60 points scored.

Maniac from Ipswich killed drug-addicted prostitutes Early yesterday morning, residents of the town of Trimley in Suffolk, south-east England, were awakened by sirens and the clatter of dozens of heavily armed police. The object of their interest was a house on one of the quiet streets where 37-year-old bachelor Tom Stevens lives. During the day he works in a supermarket, and in the evenings he sometimes works as a taxi driver.

The play “Polar Truth” offers the author’s version of the AIDS problem This Theater.doc performance was preceded by the authors' trip to Norilsk and collection of material - acquaintance and conversations with HIV-infected people at the charity foundation "Crisis Center for Socio-Psychological Assistance "69th Parallel" (assistance in preparing the play was provided by the Institute of Cultural Policy as part of the international program “Cultural aspects of preventing and combating the spread

North Korea's nuclear status will have to be accepted Six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue opened yesterday in Beijing with the participation of delegations from the two Koreas, China, Russia, the United States and Japan. The current meeting on the North Korean nuclear program is officially called the “second session of the fifth round of negotiations.” The first session ended in failure in November 2005.

Yesterday, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said that the status of military personnel at the American Manas military base at Bishkek airport “should be cancelled.” “I have already given instructions to the Foreign Ministry, and I think a new text will be ready in the coming days,” Bakiyev said live on Kyrgyz television.

There are no more victims in the case of trade in special documents The Prosecutor General's Office opened a new criminal case as part of a sensational story about the trade in so-called instructions - special documents prohibiting the inspection of a car and the people in it. As Vremya Novostey learned, charges of fraud were brought against three formally unemployed Muscovites - Alexander Zolotykh, Sergei Kuzmin and Andrei Domrachev.

The Accounts Chamber accuses Inter RAO UES of illegal activities The Accounts Chamber yesterday published the results of an audit of the activities of RAO UES of Russia for 2004-2005 and came to a sensational conclusion: the energy holding allegedly illegally carries out export-import activities. As is known, the operator of foreign economic activity in the electric power industry is the company Inter RAO UES , which is 60% owned by RAO, 40% owned by the state concern Rosenergoatom.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei KUDRIN, in an interview with Vremya Novostei columnist Vera KUZNETSOVA, summed up the results of the outgoing year and spoke about the key problems of the Russian economy. -- Alexey Leonidovich, 2006 is ending. What did the Ministry of Finance and you as minister succeed and what did not work? - The year, I think, turned out to be successful. According to all main economic indicators, it was a success .

Ministries and departments of Tajikistan agreed to give Norilsk Nickel the right to develop the largest silver deposit in the republic, Bolshoi Konimansur. Officials reviewed the Russian company's proposal to implement this project and issued a positive conclusion on it, Interfax reports.

Gazprom and Sakhalin Energy shareholders decide the future of the Sakhalin-2 project Having approached the resolution of the main issue of Gazprom’s entry into the Sakhalin-2 project, Sakhalin Energy (the project operator) and the gas monopolist moved on to the details of the agreement.

Rising gas prices will push up inflation more than expected The government is inclined to abandon its intention to reduce inflation in the next three years to the levels recorded in the previously approved socio-economic development forecast for 2007 and the forecast parameters for the period until 2009. This was acknowledged by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, giving a lecture to students at the Academy of Budget and Treasury of the Ministry of Finance.