Managers of Russian industrial enterprises do not believe in the innovative path of their development The growth of industrial production in Russia continues to slow down. Including due to the onset of imports caused by the continued strengthening of the ruble and rising inflation expectations . This conclusion can be drawn from the recently published February bulletin of market surveys "Industry", prepared by the laboratory of market surveys of the Institute for the Economy in Transition (IET).

Leaders of a number of parliamentary factions in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) deprived Russia of the right to lead this organization for the next two years. According to the principle of rotation adopted in PACE since the early 1990s, the candidacy of the president is proposed in turn by five main parliamentary groups. At the PACE session opening on January 21, this role was to be played by the European Democrats group.

Kosovo Albanians were asked to wait for the EU mission until spring The problem of Kosovo's status yesterday again became the focus of attention of the UN Security Council. Given the importance of the issue, members of the elite international club discussed it in various formats. First, the subject of discussion was the report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Russians took advantage of the belated reaction of domestic banks to the global crisis Last year, Russians took out twice as many mortgage loans as in 2006. This is evidenced by the Central Bank statistics published yesterday. Experts explain such impressive results by the fact that banks reacted too late to the global liquidity crisis and continued to distribute loans until the end of last year on the same – very liberal – conditions.

France and Germany agreed on a new alliance Yesterday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced at a meeting in Hannover that they had found a compromise on the creation of a Mediterranean Union. This initiative from Paris previously raised concerns in Berlin about the emergence of “infighting” between EU members. However, yesterday Merkel agreed with Sarkozy that this project will become pan-European. “We act hand in hand,” declared Monsieur Sarkozy.

Ukraine hastened to join the North Atlantic Alliance Ukraine, which had barely recovered from the internal political crisis, hurried to join NATO . Yesterday, President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Arseniy Yatsenyuk sent a joint appeal to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, in which they asked to include Ukraine in the action plan for membership in the alliance at the April summit in Bucharest.

The main feature of the past month is the incredible information richness. Serbia and Kosovo, presidential campaigns in Russia and America, President Putin’s unprecedented telethon, the triumphant Biathlon World Championship for Russia, the anniversary Oscar, the anniversary Grammy and the anniversary of Gazprom. The festive picture was slightly spoiled by the unpleasant stories with the defendant Aleksanyan and the journalist Morar.

Russia will supply Belarus with up to 5 billion kilowatt-hours this year By the end of the week, Belarus promises to reach an agreement with Inter RAO UES on the import of Russian electricity this year in the amount of up to 5 billion kWh. The head of Belenergo, Pavel Yakubovich, told reporters about this yesterday. According to him, the parties have already reached a consensus on the volume of supplies and price of electricity. Inter RAO UES confirmed this to Vremya Novostei. Mr.

The head of the Georgian royal house, Prince George (Jorge) Iraklievich Bagration-Mukhransky, died in Tbilisi at the age of 63. He lived almost his entire life in Spain, was friends with King Juan Carlos, and several years ago moved to Georgia. Vremya Novostei sources close to the royal family said that the cause of death was hepatitis. Patriarch Ilya II will officiate the funeral.

February was a month of interesting personal manifestations on television. Starting with Father Tikhon’s film “The Death of an Empire. The Byzantine Lesson,” which the Rossiya channel showed on weekdays and, apparently, at the request of the workers, repeated on the weekend.

The New Opera staged Wagner's opera Lohengrin Of all the Moscow musical theaters, a total of five, the New Opera most zealously strives to live in the European style - just a few years ago it was a unique example of a conductor's theater, where everything happened at the wave of Yevgeny Kolobov's wand, now directors reign here - in in full accordance with the procedures established in most opera houses in Central Europe.

Yesterday, President Alexander Lukashenko, by his decree, abolished the “golden share” institution in Belarus, which allowed the introduction of state management at privatized enterprises. This step may indicate Minsk's readiness to undertake large-scale privatization.

Igor Izmestiev was charged with eight more crimes The Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office (SKP) yesterday filed a new charge against former member of the Federation Council Igor Izmestyev .

I liked it. The undirected reality of live broadcasts in Vesti 24. Professional attention to the Aleksanyan case in the news on REN TV (especially daytime). The program “Progress with Pavel Lobkov” on Channel 5 is an incredibly exciting project. Informative, unexpected, spectacular. It’s been a long time since anyone has conducted experiments right on camera with such passion, explained the insides of a reactor so enthusiastically, or turned a conversation about chemistry into on-screen poetry.

Pakistan's most famous clan saves charisma Benazir Bhutto's husband, Pakistani Senator Asif Ali Zardari, yesterday asked the UN to conduct an independent investigation into the circumstances of the death of his wife , who died on December 27 in a terrible terrorist attack at a rally near Islamabad.