And he promises not to forget about Russia The EU-Brazil summit will take place today in Lisbon. This is how Portugal began its third six-month presidency of the EU . According to the Portuguese Ambassador to Russia, Manuel Marcelo Curto, this is only “the first step towards integration in Latin America.” The Portuguese do not hide the fact that they will still pay more attention to this region than to Russia.

The authorities were unable to protect the witness who testified against the police A loud corruption scandal broke out in Arkhangelsk. Criminal cases have been initiated against a number of high-ranking employees of the local Organized Crime Control Department. The police are accused of extorting regional businessmen and committing fraud. The main witness, who gave sensational testimony against the Organized Crime Control Department officers, has been forced to hide for a year now.

The Duma will still toughen the fight against extremism On Wednesday, July 4, at the penultimate plenary meeting before the holidays, the State Duma will nevertheless consider in the second reading amendments to a number of laws that tighten the fight against extremism . The document caused strong public discontent, so its discussion was postponed twice by deputies.

The French are for an alliance with the United States and dialogue with Russia Francois Fillon, the French prime minister and friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy, spoke yesterday with a detailed government program before the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

Vladimir TARASOV - drummer, composer, member of the legendary new jazz trio GTC (Ganelin-Tarasov-Chekasin) and author of many fascinating performances (including together with Ilya Kabakov, D.A. Prigov and others) - staged a performance on June 29 together with Andrei Bitov, and a few days before, his joint exhibition with the American artist Sarah Jane Flor was to open at the M'ars Center for Contemporary Art. However, the opening of the exhibition had to be postponed.

Chronicle of sporting events Constant postponements of games due to rain forced Wimbledon organizers to start yesterday's playing day unusually early - at 11.00 local time. This day became a day off for Mikhail Youzhny, who on Monday, in short periods of play between the rains, still managed to defeat the Finn Jarko Nieminen - 7:5, 7:6 (7:5), 6:3 and get a place in the fourth round .

Azerbaijan began supplying cheap gas to Turkey for further resale In June, Gazprom and the Italian Eni signed a memorandum on the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline along the bottom of the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further through Greece or the republics of the former Yugoslavia to Italy, and Baku has already announced that it is ready to enter the Balkan market.

The company of the former head of AIG will build an 11-story office center and hotel in the center of Moscow Maurice Greenberg, the former head of the world's largest insurance company AIG, is buying a stake in a Moscow project to build an office center near the Paveletsky railway station. Interfax reported this yesterday. The American Starr Investments Cayman, part of Mr.

Moscow architects cannot keep up with the promises of Yuri Luzhkov The draft Urban Planning Code, which has not yet been approved by the Moscow authorities, is already hopelessly outdated. Yesterday, at a meeting of the capital's government, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov sent the document presented by the head of the Moscow Architecture Committee Alexander Kuzmin for revision.

CLUBS Alexey Skanavi (piano) and Larisa Romanova (dance, castanets). Flamenco. "Apshu" , 22.00. Marshmallow Wednesdays : DJ Reshetilov . Indie pop. "Cult" , 21.00. DJ Osadchy . Funk. "Duma" , 21.00. Anatoly Gerasimov (saxophone), DJ ZigZag . Disco, funk. "Propaganda" , 21.00. CONCERTS "European Masters of Organ Art" . Domenico Severin (organ, France) performs music by J.-S. Bach, Bossy, Manaroi, Vierna, Langlais, Severin, Hakim. Roman Catholic Cathedral , 19.30.

Before US Independence Day, the American currency fell by 16 kopecks Over the past two days, the dollar in Russia has lost about 16 kopecks. Yesterday its rate fell against the ruble by 7.14 kopecks, to 25.65. The official euro exchange rate increased by 10.8 kopecks. and is 34.95 rubles. All this happened against the backdrop of a falling dollar on the world market.

Russia will compile its own blacklist of foreign airlines Russia is going to learn the European experience of compiling blacklists of unsafe foreign airlines. The regulatory framework governing this process should be developed in the coming months. The new deputy head of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation) Gennady Loschenov told reporters about this yesterday. “We can create so-called blacklists, in which we will include the most “distinguished” air carriers.

Non-governmental organizations will themselves choose recipients of presidential grants This year the state will spend 1.25 billion rubles on the needs of civil society, and non-governmental organizations themselves will distribute these funds. The state, by allocating an amount to NGOs that is more than twice as much as last year, only outlined its priorities - most of the funds should go to social support programs for vulnerable segments of the population.

Our clubs will have a chance to announce newcomers before the start of the second round The International Football Federation did not approve of the desire of the Russian Football Premier League (RFPL) to increase the summer pre-entry campaign by opening it a month earlier from August 3. However, yesterday the heads of Russian clubs nevertheless discussed this issue and decided to petition the RFU to shift the start of the transfer period to July 12.

In Dagestan, a fight between villagers escalated into a shootout and a rally More than three hundred military and police officers were sent early yesterday morning to the small Dagestan village of Maraskent, Karabudakhkent district. On Monday evening, on the outskirts of the village, a dispute arose between two groups of local residents, during which one of the conflicting parties was killed.