Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry again advised compatriots to refrain from traveling to Iraq, and those who really need to go there were advised to register consularly at the Russian Embassy in Baghdad on time. In a crisis situation, Russians will receive help from our diplomats faster.

America's Cup pleases with results The main football tournament of the Western Hemisphere, the Copa America, continues in Venezuela, the motto of which can be formulated as follows: “More goals, beautiful and different.” South American football has always been famous for its pursuit of beauty and was alien to prudence and pragmatism. The 42nd America's Cup was no exception, where in addition to ten national teams from South America, Mexico and the USA also compete.

The Russians were left without awards in men's foil and women's epee Russian fencers were left without medals on the second day of the Old World Championships taking place in the Belgian city of Ghent. Awards were awarded in individual competitions among epee fencers and foil fencers. The best results among our compatriots were shown by two-time Olympic champion Tatyana Logunova, Andrey Deev and Renal Ganeev, who reached the quarterfinal stage.

Regional legislators exchanged experiences of persecution of the gambling business Despite the unprecedented legal persecution to which the gambling business in Russia is subjected (from January 1, 2009, it will be “imprisoned” in four special gambling “reservations”, banned in all other places), this seems to be not enough for some legislators.

Gazprom likes to spend more than it earns The results of Gazprom's activities in 2006, in addition to a lot of successes associated with record conditions on the European hydrocarbon market, as well as an increase in sales revenues in Russia and neighboring countries, testified to one of the main negative trends in the financial position of the concern during the leadership of Alexey Miller. Namely, the largest corporation in Russia prefers to spend more than it earns .

The European Commission has published the final list of unreliable airlines The European Commission yesterday approved the updated, fourth version of the blacklist of foreign airlines that are prohibited (or restricted) from flying through EU airspace due to non-compliance with current aviation safety standards. The innovations included in the list are fully consistent with those announced in the draft decision of the European Commission, published in the middle of last month.

Russia is the focus of Germany's dual presidency Yesterday, at the most respectable Berlin hotel, the Adlon, high-ranking experts from Russia and Germany analyzed “new chances and challenges” for strengthening the strategic partnership of both countries in the coming year.

Yanukovych's ally was shot by mistake On Friday the funeral of 55-year-old Yevgeny Kushnarev , one of the leaders of the ruling Party of Regions and deputy chairman of the party faction in the Rada, will take place. To say goodbye to his comrade-in-arms, the leader of the Party of Regions, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, interrupted his visit to Turkey and flew to Ukraine.

Hilton hotel chain to be sold for $26 billion Hilton Hotels Corporation announced the sale of its hotel empire to the Blackstone Group investment fund. The deal, worth approximately $26 billion, is in its final stages and promises to be one of the largest in the hotel business.

TV critics sum up the season The past season continued a long-established trend: in the struggle for ratings, that is, ultimately for the cost of advertising time, channels are trying in every possible way to attract mass viewers, to be interesting to as many people as possible, and thereby lowering the bar more and more.

On July 4, the State Duma finally adopted the law “On the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation.” Nanotechnology for Russia today is like a fairy-tale password “Open Sesame!”, which will become the key to the door to a post-industrial society, where “everything will happen.” These breakthrough technologies are predicted to play the role of the “locomotive” of a new scientific and technological revolution, which will transform the world and make it qualitatively completely different.

The obvious trend of the current television season is the desire for sameness, even to the point of mixing brands. The same clone programs fight with each other on different channels, and as a result, there is less and less genre diversity. The desire for standardization and unification is obvious. This applies to both news and analytical programs, as well as talk shows and TV series. It is difficult to single out leading programs.

He led the party and removed his daughter from leadership President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev yesterday headed the people's democratic party "Nur Otan" ("Shine of the Fatherland"). This extraordinary event took place at the extraordinary XI Party Congress, convened in connection with the early parliamentary elections scheduled for August 18. Everything was furnished casually and simply.

Moscow still has claims against its Polish colleagues The problem of Polish meat, banned for supplies to Russia in November 2005, yesterday, contrary to expectations, was not resolved at the negotiations in Berlin, and consultations on this matter will continue. Poland, supported by other EU members, claims that it no longer violates phytosanitary and veterinary standards for meat supplies.

The State Duma approved the strategy of the Central Bank in 2008 The State Duma yesterday reviewed and took into account the main directions of the Bank of Russia's monetary policy for 2008. In the current document, as in all previous ones, the Central Bank outlined the fight against inflation as its main goal . According to the regulator, next year price growth should remain in the range of 6-7%.