The Kazakh government threatens to revoke Eni's license to develop the Kashagan field Kazakhstan seems ready to apply the Russian Sakhalin-2 scenario to the Kashagan oil field. Yesterday Astana held a government meeting on the development of this project, at which it harshly criticized the activities of the project operator, the Italian company Eni.

There is a personnel storm in the management of German energy concerns In the German energy industry, a situation called power paralysis is increasingly brewing. Today, three of the country's four leading concerns are affected by the disease - RWE, EnBW (Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg), as well as the Swedish Vattenfall, which is actively operating in the German market. And only E.ON, the largest diversified energy concern in Germany, demonstrates stability and continuity of leadership.

The Ryazan and Vladimir fires blew onto Moscow Moscow woke up yesterday morning in a light gray haze, through which the sun shone palely. Rumors immediately spread that, due to the intense heat that had settled in, the peat bogs in Shatura near Moscow caught fire again, like five years ago.

Chronicle of sporting events At the tennis tournament in New Haven, America, which can be considered as a rehearsal for the prestigious US Open, starting next week, three Russian athletes dropped out of the fight. The first losers were Evgeny Korolev and Teimuraz Gabashvili, who made it into the main draw of the men's competition with a prize fund of $650 thousand through qualification. In the first round, Anna Kournikova's cousin lost to court owner Vince Spady - 2:6, 7:5, 5:7.

Vladimir Putin opened MAKS-2007 Yesterday the eighth International Aerospace Salon MAKS-2007 opened in Zhukovsky near Moscow. What the current salon has in common with the previous one, two years ago, is the endless lines of cars in the city of aviators, traffic jams, the futile search for a place to park the car, sweaty and angry policemen who immediately turn to “you” people.

The Constitutional Court returned VIP pensions to retired government officials The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared illegal the deprivation of additional pension payments to former civil servants of the Kaliningrad region . The corresponding definition was published yesterday in the Kaliningradskaya Pravda newspaper. It comes into force in six months. It is curious that although the definition was adopted on April 3, it was made public only now.

Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have a competitor in the fight for the position of managing director of the International Monetary Fund. According to Vremya Novostey, the new contender is the Czech Josef Toshovsky, and the initiative to nominate him belongs to Moscow. Tosovski headed the State Bank of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and after the collapse of the country he became the head of the Czech Central Bank.

The state is ousting private companies from the market for preferential medicines In the Russian corridors of power, more and more new projects are brewing to create state holdings and corporations in more and more new industries and market sectors. After oil production, aircraft, helicopter, machine tool, ship, automobile, engine construction, housing and communal services and special metallurgy, it seems that it is the turn of the pharmaceutical market.

From the history of the ballet tutu During the Bolshoi Theater's recent tour in London, the British press attracted close attention to the ballet novelty "The Corsair".

Rosstat calculated the difference between rich and poor by profession and region Highly paid Russians earn 22 times more than their less fortunate compatriots, and the country's total workforce is 33.4 million people, including temporary and seasonal workers. Such data was released on Monday by Rosstat, publishing the results of a study on the distribution of the number of employees and the amount of accrued wages.

Returning from orbit after a 13-day mission, the Endeavor shuttle made a safe landing yesterday at 20.32 Moscow time at the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in Florida. Due to Hurricane Dean, the space shuttle returned a day early. A streak of technical failures began to plague the Endeavor even before the flight.

Polish state oil companies are trying to unite Poland has decided to merge two state-controlled oil companies. Yesterday, the head of PKN Orlen, Piotr Kownacki, said that he supports the proposal of the Polish Ministry of Finance to merge his company with another oil refining state-owned enterprise in Poland - the Lotos Group company. “I’m surprised that this hasn’t happened yet,” he was quoted as saying by the Polish newspaper Puls Biznesu.

The Czech Republic is ready to postpone the decision on the deployment of American missile defense until the end of the year Today marks the end of a two-day visit to Moscow by a delegation of the Czech Ministry of Defense led by First Deputy Minister Martin Bartak.

US financial authorities are puzzling over the problem of the credit crisis The problems of American mortgages and the liquidity crisis they provoked in global financial markets are increasingly attracting the attention of politicians. Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on this topic for the first time. In his opinion, these events will not become critical for Russia. For the United States, the crisis has become a serious threat to the economy.

The first deals were concluded at the air show As part of the MAKS-2007 air show that opened yesterday, the Sukhoi company signed a contract to supply Indonesia with three Su-30MK2 and three Su-27SKS, as well as some aviation equipment. Delivery dates are 2008-2010, the estimated amount of the agreement is $330-350 million. However, the Commander-in-Chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces, Marshal Joko Suyanto, says that his country ideally needs one squadron of Su aircraft.