Olmert and Abbas met in Jerusalem Yesterday evening in Jerusalem there was a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the head of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). This was their third meeting in the last four months, this time the negotiations took place face to face. Olmert and Abbas communicated on February 19 and December 23 through the mediation of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .

The first international conference on security in Iraq, organized by the government of this country, was held, according to the Russian Ambassador in Baghdad Vladimir Chamov, “in an oriental way, softly, kindly, and hospitably.” On Saturday, ambassadors of countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council in Iraq, deputy heads of foreign ministries of neighboring states, delegates from the League of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference gathered in Baghdad.

Alexander Morozevich reached second place in Linares The winner of the super tournament of eight grandmasters “Morelia-Linares” was Viswanathan Anand. After winning the third round of the Spanish part of the competition over his main competitor Magnus Carlsen, he could only control the status of the leader and, without taking too much risk, finish the tournament in draws. As for Carlsen, despite his young age, he showed that he can take a punch.

"Golden Mask" will open very soon The official opening of the Golden Mask will take place on March 28, but the touring schedule of musical theaters, as always, makes adjustments to the festival schedule. The Mariinsky Theater has already shown its performances - both opera and ballet; next Monday the Novosibirsk ballet will appear in the capital. At a press conference held before the weekend, the management of the Golden Mask decided to talk in detail about this year’s festival.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the decision of the jury in Manhattan, which on March 7 found 49-year-old Vladimir Kuznetsov guilty of “conspiracy to commit money laundering,” biased. Since 1999, he has headed the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Issues of the UN General Assembly. On Smolenskaya Square, the Russian was promised “all necessary help and support.” The sentencing of the diplomat, who faces up to 20 years in prison, is scheduled for June 25. Mr.

The Moscow City Duma advises colleagues to amend the law on media The capital's deputies decided to remove any national connotation from the criminal columns of the Russian media .

All regional elections took place Yesterday, elections to legislative assemblies were held in 14 regions of Russia (Dagestan, the Komi Republic, Stavropol Territory, Vologda, Leningrad, Moscow, Murmansk, Omsk , Oryol, Pskov, Samara , Tomsk and Tyumen regions, as well as in St. Petersburg). Only four of them still have a minimum turnout threshold - Dagestan, the Komi Republic, Vologda and Moscow regions.

Member of the All-China Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPCC) Li Jingze, at the annual session of the CPPCC in Beijing, made a proposal to publish an all-China newspaper in Russian. Li Jingze is a research fellow at the Institute of Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In his opinion, China should have an influential newspaper in Russian - such as the all-China newspaper in English, China Daily.

The premium for the right to be the largest shareholder of OGK-3 amounted to 26-27% of the market price of shares During the placement, a large block of shares in Wholesale Generating Company No. 3 (OGK-3) will go to Norilsk Nickel, which now owns 13.92% of the shares of this company. Alexander Chikunov, member of the board of RAO UES of Russia and chairman of the board of directors of OGK-3, announced this last Saturday.

Sberbank shareholders did not refuse to buy back shares from the additional issue The collapse in the stock market, which coincided with the payment of applications for Sberbank shares , did not prevent him from raising capital. President and Chairman of the Board of the Bank Andrei Kazmin reported last week that during the placement by preemptive right, Sberbank shareholders paid 99% of applications for 146.3 billion rubles.

The current regional elections , like the upcoming Duma elections in December 2007, are important not so much for you and me, ordinary voters, but for leaders at all levels. When power is built vertically and stands at attention, but the Boss is expected to leave, and the struggle of pro-Kremlin groups does not weaken at all, the bosses inevitably have to place their bets. Decide who to swear allegiance to in order to survive the upcoming redistribution of this “vertical” power.

The government liked how Russia gets rid of migrants in markets The government as a whole is pleased with the way it is establishing order in the areas of labor migration and retail trade in markets. This conclusion can be drawn based on the results of the cabinet meeting held last Friday.

Iran, Pakistan and India will not create a single consortium to build the pipeline There will be no single consortium to implement the largest infrastructure project in Southeast Asia - the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline. As foreign news agencies reported last Friday, citing the Ministry of Oil and Gas of Pakistan, Islamabad will officially start construction on its territory in September 2009.

High inflation and the stock market collapse in February did not dampen investor interest For the second month in a row, bank deposits in foreign and domestic currencies show negative returns due to high inflation. According to the Center for Macroeconomic Research (CMER) of the BDO Unicon company, in February deposits in euros turned out to be the least unprofitable. Mutual funds also did not perform well for their owners due to the stock market decline in late February.

The government divided higher education into two levels The Russian bachelor's degree has finally acquired the legal status of a full-fledged higher education. At the end of last week, the government approved amendments to the Law “On Education”, approving the legitimacy of several models for mastering a higher education course. “This will increase the competitiveness of graduates,” Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko commented on the innovation on Friday.