The European Commission has decided to once again tighten requirements for the computer giant Microsoft . Not happy with the way the American company is complying with antitrust regulations , EU authorities intend to increase daily penalties from 2 million to 5 million euros.

One of the main historians of the 20th century has died On the last day of February, at the age of 90, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., one of the most famous historians of the 20th century, died of a heart attack. However, calling this extraordinary American only a historian is the same as calling, for example, Mikhail Lomonosov a chemist.

Russia agreed to the invitation of the Iraqi government to take part in the international conference in Baghdad. It is scheduled for the first half of March and is dedicated to resolving the situation in Iraq and restoring its economy. Participants will include diplomats from countries neighboring Iraq, including Iran and Syria, and representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, the United States, China, France and the United Kingdom).

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia approved changes to regulation No. 215, allowing banks not to exclude investments of up to 1% in the capital of other credit institutions from the calculation of their own capital. The document is currently being registered with the Ministry of Justice. Thus, banks will now be able to purchase shares of other credit institutions without damaging their own capitalization.

Russia may reconsider its position on Iran Yesterday, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Mikhail Margelov was the first leading Russian politician to publicly suggest that Tehran, under the guise of a peaceful nuclear program, is creating an atomic bomb .

Chronicle of sporting events In the 1/8 finals of the ATP tournament with a prize fund of $1.4 million, Igor Andreev almost knocked out the second racket of the competition, Rafael Nadal. The match, which lasted more than two and a half hours, ended with a difficult victory for the Spaniard in the tiebreaker of the third set - 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (7:2). The 12th game in the deciding set turned out to be especially stubborn.

"It's more like panic" The ongoing correction in the stock market caused Russian stock prices to fall by 3-8% yesterday. At the end of the day, the RTS Index fell by 3.29% - from 1858 to 1797 points. Analysts and traders admit that they did not expect such panic from investors yesterday, and now they fear that the market decline will be more significant than they previously expected. “In the morning, nothing foreshadowed a market collapse,” says Renaissance Capital analyst Avanes Aganesyan.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said yesterday to the Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera about his readiness to continue building an alliance with Moscow: “We are not the root cause of what happened in relations with the Russian Federation. If they want to build an alliance with us on an equal, friendly, fraternal basis, we are ready for this.” “Whatever relations we have with the Russian leadership today, we will not betray the Russians,” the president is confident.

Georgia wants to expel Russian peacekeepers The day after tomorrow, unrecognized Abkhazia will elect a parliament. Up to 130 thousand voters will vote at 189 polling stations in 35 districts. Elections are held only according to the majoritarian system - in order to receive a mandate for a period of five years, a candidate (according to the latest data, there are 113 of them) must receive 50% plus one vote.

The government has canceled the project to build a branch bypassing Belarus The Russian government seems to be thinking about the feasibility of a rash decision to build an oil pipeline bypassing Belarus . As it became known yesterday, it sent for revision a draft of the relevant order, the preparation of which was carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Energy.

Renters of cheap housing have lost the price war to tight-fisted owners. As an alternative to the capital's residential areas, rooms in communal apartments and apartments in the near Moscow region are being considered. The average cost of renting apartments in Moscow has remained virtually unchanged over the past month.

Moscow is getting rid of excessive liberalization of the funeral services market Even on their last journey, Muscovites will go under the strict control of the authorities. Deputies of the Moscow City Duma decided that excessive liberalization in the ritual sphere does not meet the interests of their voters, and took the first step so that city residents who have lost loved ones do not have to be torn between “bezenchuk” and “nymphs”.

No one controls the capital of Karachay-Cherkessia Preparations for the March 11 elections in the Caucasus fully reflect the diversity of local color. In Dagestan, the election chronicle has already been enriched with disappearances and assassination attempts , which indicate that this republic, after all the improvements in the electoral system, has not moved so far from the hot 90s of the last century. A no less acute situation has developed in Karachay-Cherkessia.

Bankers, officials and deputies argue about consumer loans A round table was held in the State Duma, at which deputies, representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and large Russian banks discussed bills on consumer credit and bankruptcy of individuals. According to the director of the financial policy department of the Ministry of Finance, Alexei Savatyugin, the government plans to consider the first bill in March.

Vladimir Putin entrusted Chechnya to Ramzan Kadyrov Today the parliament of Chechnya will approve the candidacy of the new president of the republic, officially submitted on March 1 by the head of state. Last week, Russian Presidential Envoy to the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak presented three candidates to Vladimir Putin: acting.