Dmitry Medvedev calls for modernizing the financial model of education and healthcare Traditional meetings of the Presidium of the Council on Priority National Projects and Demographic Policy, chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, are now inevitably viewed through the prism of his future presidency. Yesterday Mr Medvedev held his first such meeting as a presidential candidate .

The British Council in Nizhny Novgorod will be persecuted even after its closure On Saturday, the branch of the British Council will cease its work in Nizhny Novgorod. At the same time, the leadership of the Nizhny Novgorod region intends to seek to recover money for renting premises from the British Council even after the closure of the regional office.

Moscow authorities are again faced with an “unexpected” budget surplus The capital's financiers consistently demonstrate their inability to correctly predict the income of the city treasury. Yesterday, at a meeting of the city government, where the results of 2007 were summed up, even deputies of the Moscow City Duma from United Russia were forced to admit the validity of the statements of the oppositionists accusing the mayor's office of artificially inflating the budget deficit on paper.

He is interested in acquiring another 2% stake in MMC The united company RUSAL does not intend to be content with the 25% plus one share stake in Norilsk Nickel, which it will acquire from Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim group. Yesterday, the aluminum company announced that it intends to buy out another 2% stake in the nickel giant from KM-Invest, the joint fund of Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov.

Alexander Morozevich’s perseverance is bearing fruit At the men's and women's Russian chess championships taking place in Moscow, six of the 11 rounds provided for by the regulations were played. After unsuccessful play in the first two rounds, the tournament race was headed by Alexander Morozevich, who won four victories in a row. The solid rating head start between the experienced 700 players and the rest of the grandmasters seemed to predetermine the fight for leadership.

Of course, the main television event of December is “Liquidation” on the Rossiya TV channel. It’s impossible to tear yourself away; everything captivates you: the plot, the actors, the cinematography. Filmed stylishly, incredibly sophisticated for a television series. A black and white image with splashes of color, like on old post-war postcards where hats and bouquets were painted. The acting is wonderful.

A review of December without the New Year's week seems scanty to me. And in general it turned out to be somewhat unimpressive, this December, with the exception of the first two days. On Saturday the 1st, the “day of silence,” it was funny to watch the analytical programs: what they would show.

Chronicle of sporting events By tradition, at the end of December, the best athletes of the outgoing year are determined all over the world in various categories. In recent days, the names of a number of laureates of the 2007 football season have become known. The best football player in Russia was named midfielder of St. Petersburg “Zenith” and member of the national team, 30-year-old Konstantin Zyryanov.

“Liquidation” by Sergei Ursulyak on the Rossiya channel is one of the most striking television projects of the year. If the plot had not been stretched out over an extra three or four episodes, it would have turned out more dynamic and ringing like a string. And it would be better to borrow less - this is not always beneficial. The brilliant work of Vladimir Mashkov in the role of David Gotsman is the absolute highlight of this film, and indeed of the entire December television broadcast.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has just made his last foreign visit this year to Libya, where Vladimir Putin may visit in 2008 before the presidential elections in March. On the way back from the Libyan capital, Vremya Novostey columnist Elena SUPONINA asked Foreign Minister Sergei LAVROV to sum up the results of the outgoing year and talk about what international issues 2008 will have to begin with.

About the classics. The strong direction of “Liquidation” with excellent acting (Mashkov probably played his best role), with an exciting plot and an elegant, ascetic picture is an absolute highlight of December. The series “Crime and Punishment” is interesting in its own way (Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov are good). But “The Demons” according to Dostoevsky was not lucky. For the first time, serial classics were shown not by the “big” channel, but by the peripheral “Capital”.

Economists comment on the year's results The Russian economy performed generally well in 2007, the final year of Vladimir Putin's second term in office. GDP, investments, personal incomes, etc. grew at a high rate. At first glance, Mr. Putin is leaving a legacy for his successor, Dmitry Medvedev (it is difficult to imagine anyone else will be elected president on March 2), of a relatively trouble-free economy, which is destined for an exceptionally bright future without crises or shocks.

At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured in two terrorist attacks in Iraq yesterday. In the city of Baiji, 200 km north of the Iraqi capital, a suicide bomber attacked a residential complex of the state-owned Northern Oil Company. The weapon was a mined truck carrying household gas cylinders. When security tried to stop the car at the entrance to the complex, the suicide bomber detonated an explosive device. At least 22 people were killed and about 80 were injured.

His star role was played thirty years ago in “Option Omega” by Baron von Schlosser - a major, then an Abwehr colonel, the main opponent of the Soviet intelligence officer Skorin (played by Oleg Dal) sent to Tallinn occupied by the Germans. Schlosser, naturally, lost the fight - not because he was stupider, but because the Russian was capable of greater sacrifices.

Yesterday, Georgian authorities released three Russians who had previously served in the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces (CPKF) in Abkhazia. Georgian police arrested them on Sunday in the western Georgian city of Poti. “We transported them to Russia,” Major General Sergei Chaban, commander of the KSPM, told Vremya Novostey.