Deputies abandoned the idea of ​​a radical increase in excise taxes on tobacco The annual traditional indexation of excise taxes seems to be losing its purpose as an instant tool for attracting additional revenue to the budget. The new excise tax rates for 2008-2010, recommended yesterday by deputies of the State Duma tax subcommittee for adoption, turned out to be very lenient. And excise tax rates on petroleum products will remain at the current level.

Lukashenko followed the path of Tito Yesterday Alexander Lukashenko completed his visit to Oman and India. In Asia, the Belarusian leader was looking for new opportunities for economic cooperation . “India is not just a priority partner, but also the pride of Belarus’ foreign policy,” Mr. Lukashenko said in Delhi. “India’s time is coming.

"Hare. Love story" at the Sovremennik Theater The main joke in the play (and this is a comedy, at least that’s how the genre is designated in the program) is this: an elderly actress, moonlighting as a toastmaster at corporate parties, tells her ex-husband about her favorite toast.

Transneft announced details of the takeover of Transnefteproduct The heads of Transneft and Transnefteprodukt Semyon Vainshtok and Sergei Maslov, as well as officials from the Ministry of Industry and Energy yesterday at the Pipeline Transport 2007 forum announced details of the upcoming merger of two state-owned pipeline companies . They noted only the benefits of unification. “There is no politics in this matter at all,” said Mr. Weinstock.

A new information product will help parties and politicians better know what the media say and write about them On Tuesday, the Medialogia company, which readers of Vremya Novostey know well from the weekly ratings published by our newspaper, presented in Moscow the information and analytical system “Medialogia. Elections 2007". The system is designed to create an information picture in the media for the next federal elections.

The list of drug-resistant diseases is expanding. US epidemiological authorities have warned that common gonorrhea has now become a difficult-to-treat infection. A bad disease, which until recently was easily treated with traditional antibiotics, has learned to successfully resist doctors. According to the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention, now in the United States already 7% of cases of gonorrhea are considered drug-resistant, that is, difficult to treat.

In the north-west of European Russia in the next 24 hours, the collision of two contrasting air masses will provoke the formation of a huge cyclonic vortex. Therefore, the weather in the region will change dramatically - warmth and sun will be replaced by coolness and rain. The air also warmed up to +20°C in the northwestern region. But in the next 24 hours the temperature will drop on Wednesday afternoon to +4...+9оС. The cold snap will be accompanied by rain and gusty winds.

Russia has started implementing the first investment fund project The signing of the first investment agreement, which will be financed from the investment fund, marked the beginning of the largest industrial construction in Russia over the past 20 years.

Chronicle of sporting events The first coaching resignation has occurred in the Russian football Premier League. The now former coach of Krasnodar “Kuban” Pavel Yakovenko has been relieved of his position. In the first five rounds, his players earned only three points without winning a single victory. The team is now in last, 16th place. Yakovenko was replaced in Kuban by Leonid Nazarenko, who last season headed Dynamo Makhachkala.

American scientists who studied ticks found that these primitive arthropods, over millions of years of evolution, managed to change the type of sexual behavior at least twice. One of the species of the superfamily of crotonioid mites once abandoned sexual reproduction in favor of parthenogenesis, but then, for an unknown reason, decided to return to an active sexual life.

In connection with the shooting at an American university, mourning has been declared in the United States US President George W. Bush yesterday decided to travel to Blacksburg to personally take part in a memorial service for the victims of the unprecedented tragedy that claimed the lives of 33 people - students and teachers of Virginia Tech University. There have never been such bloody shootings in American educational institutions.

Vremya Novostei correspondent Daria GUSEVA asked political scientists whether it is worth changing the Constitution for presidents in accordance with the wishes of the workers. "The mood of the people is changing at great speed" Valery KHOMYAKOV, Chairman of the National Strategy Council: - I believe that the Constitution cannot be changed; the mood of our people is changing at great speed. In the 80s, everyone built socialism, then everyone became anti-communists.

Someday Russian citizens will be able to travel to the United States without visas In the future, Russian citizens will be able to travel to the United States without visas, American Consul General in Russia James Pettit said yesterday. “An important factor that determines whether a visa exception program can be extended to a particular country is the low percentage of refusals of American visas to citizens of that country. Russia is definitely moving in this direction,” the diplomat noted.

Regions have different attitudes towards the use of potentially dangerous Ukrainian metal In March, Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk announced that the Prostal project to build a scrap metal processing plant in the Shatursky district with a capacity of 2.5 million tons of rolled steel per year was frozen. Investors were allegedly not satisfied with the final payback period for the project, the financing of which required at least $800 million.

84-year-old general will be responsible for martial law Yesterday, the Katowice branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (INR) of Poland, which for two and a half years conducted an investigation into the involvement of government officials in the introduction of martial law in the country, handed over the indictment to the Central District Court of Warsaw.