In China, 62-year-old former head of the State Food and Drug Administration Zheng Xiaoyu was shot yesterday. A month ago, the country's Supreme Court rejected the ex-minister's appeal, ruling that his actions "caused serious damage to the interests of the state and the people." On May 29, a Beijing court sentenced Zheng to death for accepting 6.5 million yuan ($850,000) in bribes from eight companies.

Harmonization should become a strategic direction for the development of the Russian capital in the coming years Yuri Luzhkov was recently confirmed as mayor of Moscow for another term . During his reign, the Russian capital became a center of entrepreneurship and energy. The number of cars, including the most expensive brands, is constantly growing. Magnificent multi-storey buildings, offices, underground garages and transport interchanges are being built in all areas of Moscow.

North-West Telecom is selling its stake in the company It seems that corporate conflicts at Megafon , one of the three largest mobile operators, will soon come to an end. The state-owned North-West Telecom (NWT), the St. Petersburg regional telecommunications operator, decided to indirectly sell its part of Megafon for $410 million.

Michael BOTCHER, President of Storm International (Shangri-La Casino, Udarnik, Super Slots) answers Vremya Novostey's questions. -- In your opinion, can the creation of gambling zones become a successful business project in Russia? — The concept of gambling zones is not new in world practice, and, apparently, this idea seemed attractive to someone. Someone whose knowledge of the gambling industry is not deep enough.

Moscow and Beijing did not release Albanians from the Security Council The situation around the status of Kosovo has escalated to the limit. The United States, France and Great Britain will submit a new version of the resolution to the UN Security Council in the coming days and will put it to a vote without additional discussions.

Carlos Acosta danced at the Bolshoi Theater Premier of the English Royal Ballet, guest soloist of the American Ballet Theatre, international star, excellent at attracting halls and for his own projects not related to high-profile theaters, Carlos Acosta took a month out of his jam-packed schedule to come learn the part of Spartacus and dance it at the Bolshoi.

Chronicle of sporting events In the fourth round super tournament in Wijk aan Zee, recent candidates for the chess crown did everything to catch up with leader Teimur Radjabov. Veselin Topalov, in a game with Alexey Shirov, went for a sharp version of the Grunfeld Defense with an exchange sacrifice, which came into practice half a century ago, news in which can be expected only around the 25th move.

The final round of the World League starts in Poland The final stage of the largest commercial tournament, the World League, in which six teams participate, begins today at the Spodek Sports Palace in the Polish city of Katowice. Three of them became group winners according to the results of the so-called intercontinental round - the current holder of all major titles in Brazil, Russia and the USA.

In the Royal Races they try to show the minimum possible Formula 1 reminded itself this week with traditional presentations of new cars. Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota and Sauber demonstrated the latest creations of their designers. But the new cars were demonstrated without much detail - spy mania is now in vogue in the current Formula.

The political confrontation between regional and city authorities in the Sverdlovsk region reached the security forces The prosecutor's office and the police in Yekaterinburg found themselves "on opposite sides of the barricades." There are even complaints against the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Ural Federal District, Pyotr Latyshev. And the notorious housing issue, which is used as a method of political struggle, has quarreled the security forces.

Ehud Olmert remembers Lebanon, but thinks about Syria “The Israeli army has two states: either it is ready for war, or it is already at war,” says the head of the Israeli General Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi. Tomorrow marks exactly one year since the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a war in Lebanon against the radical Shiite group Hezbollah, immediately after its militants captured two Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser at the border.

City Hall officials decided to give advice to theater masters In Moscow, even the theater begins with the mayor's office. At yesterday's meeting of the city government, officials, who apparently also want to become famous as patrons of high art, decided to measure the “creative tone” of the city’s repertory theaters and point out to the managers of stage venues the need to more actively attract young people.

The district prosecutor was allowed to prosecute Yesterday, the Tushinsky District Court of the capital allowed the prosecutor of the Tushinsky district, Boris Nersesyan, to be held criminally liable. He is accused of exceeding his official powers, namely the illegal sale of confiscated property. True, Mr. Nersesyan is now considered a former employee of the prosecutor's office - on June 1, he was dismissed from his post.

The European Union is in a hurry to approve Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the new head of the fund EU economics and finance ministers yesterday supported French hegemony in international finance. At the summit in Brussels, the ministers decided to nominate the French politician, one of the leaders of the Socialist Party, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, as a single candidate from the EU for the post of managing director of the International Monetary Fund .

Tax officials accused Ambassador William Burns of interfering in the PricewaterhouseCoopers case The Russian subsidiary of PricewaterhouseCoopers seems to be starting to get rid of the problems caused by the claims of the Federal Tax Service. Yesterday, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court partially reversed the decisions of previous instances to recover 290 million rubles from the company. tax claims for payment of VAT and sent the case for a new consideration.