The main economic forum of Russia starts The XI St. Petersburg Economic Forum begins today in St. Petersburg. This event, according to the ambitious plans of its organizers, will eclipse both the Russian Economic Forum in London and the forum in Davos, and in general become the number one event in the economic life of the country. Most likely this will happen.

Oleg Mitvol declared war on Rosneft Deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvol yesterday accused the state oil company Rosneft of deliberately covering up the accident at the Malobalykskoye field, which resulted in a serious oil spill. As the ministry's press service said yesterday, he sent a letter to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, in which he pointed out these violations of environmental legislation.

The ISS awaits the visit of the space shuttle Atlantis Last night, the American shuttle Atlantis was expected to take off from the Cape Canaveral launch site. The shuttle's launch was scheduled for 19.38 minutes local time (3 hours 38 minutes Saturday Moscow time). 80% is the meteorological forecast that NASA had yesterday.

The Union of Right Forces is currently the only liberal party that, according to opinion polls, has a definite chance of getting into the next State Duma . Party leader Nikita BELYKH spoke about the election strategy, the possibilities of SPS participation in the presidential election campaign, and his attitude towards the “Successor” project in an interview with Vremya Novostei correspondent Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA.

The drug purchased for HIV-infected people turned out to be defective For the second time in the last six months, Russians infected with the human immunodeficiency virus are sounding the alarm. Yesterday, the Association of People Living with HIV distributed a letter saying that some patients risk being left without the necessary treatment, since one of the main antiretroviral drugs is being withdrawn from the market by the manufacturing company. Pharmaceutical company F.Hoffman-La Roche Ltd.

Exchange trading of Russian export oil will be transferred to St. Petersburg The Ministry of Economic Development signed an agreement yesterday with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and the government of St. Petersburg on the organization of the first International Commodity Exchange in Russia on the site of this city, to which futures trading in Russian oil REBCO (Russian export blend) is planned to be transferred in the future crude oil).

It will not be easy for Russia and the United States to begin joint use of the Gabala radar station Political and technological difficulties may arise in the implementation of President Vladimir Putin's proposal to US President George W. Bush, voiced at the G8 summit in Germany, to jointly use the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan in the missile defense system. Experts make such conclusions when commenting on this initiative.

Italy greets Bush with trial US President George W. Bush's visit to Italy today is overshadowed by the trial that began on Friday in the kidnapping and smuggling of Egyptian Imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Umar, from Italy . In February 2003, he was captured in Milan and transported to Egypt, where he was tortured into confessing his ties to al-Qaeda. He was released from prison earlier this year.

The dollar rose in price for a short time Positive economic statistics yesterday allowed the US dollar to significantly rise in price against major world currencies and reach a two-month high. Even before noon, quotes on the international Forex market broke through the level of $1.34 per euro, whereas the day before they remained above the level of $1.35. The official dollar-ruble exchange rate rose by 8.19 kopecks. , up to 25.92 rub.

Arnaldo Otegui, one of the leaders and chief ideologist of the Basque Batasuna (Unity) party, was arrested yesterday in the city of San Sebastian in northern Spain. Now the 48-year-old politician, who has verbally denied violence, will begin serving a 15-month prison sentence to which he was sentenced in April 2006 for “promoting terrorism” (he had previously been released on bail).

Alexey Balabanov’s film “Cargo 200” was shown at Kinotavr on June 8, that is, just last night, so it is not yet known how the cinematic community concentrated in Sochi reacted to this extraordinary, tough and controversial film.

Tomorrow expires the deadline by which the Lebanese Parliament had to approve the decision of the UN Security Council adopted on May 30 to create an International Tribunal to investigate the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and punish those responsible. But it is already clear that in the current Lebanese conditions this is not feasible and the UN will have to form this judicial body without the sanction of the Lebanese deputies.

The Russian national team has fulfilled the minimum plan for the next two games of the 2008 European Championship qualifying round. In the games against Andorra and Croatia, the Russians scored four points and retain a real chance of qualifying from the group. Head coach Guus Hiddink is optimistic about Russia's third place in the standings and continues to build a new team.

Chronicle of sporting events Basketball. NBA. Final. “San Antonio” – “Cleveland” – 85:76 (series score 1:0). By the end of the third quarter, the fate of the match was practically already decided - the hosts were in the lead by 15 points (64:49). The winners' highest scorers were black Frenchman Tony Parker (27 points) and Tim Duncan (24). Argentine Manu Zhinobili managed three accurate long-range shots.

Two Israeli politicians go to their last stand Israel is once again preparing for elections. So far we are talking about elections in the second largest party in the Knesset - Labor (Workers' Party) and about the presidential elections that will take place next week - on June 12 and 13, respectively. Moreover, the results of both elections may well affect the political fate of the leader of the centrist Kadima party, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert .