Metalloinvest is considering options for merging with Kazakhmys The Kazakhmys copper corporation is negotiating with Alisher Usmanov's Metalloinvest about a possible merger deal. The Financial Times reported this yesterday on its Alphaville website without citing the source of such information.

For the first time, a sitting head of state may be arrested The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, 56-year-old Argentine Luis Moreno-Ocampo, yesterday demanded the arrest of 64-year-old Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (pictured) for crimes in Darfur , including the murder of 35 thousand of its inhabitants. The three ICC judges have a month and a half to decide whether to accept the case against al-Bashir.

More and more Russians want to elect their own governors The discussion about a return to direct gubernatorial elections in Russia is gaining momentum . Before the speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov had time to speak out in favor of the election of regional heads, supporting the presidents of Tatarstan and Bashkiria Mintimer Shaimiev and Murtaza Rakhimov, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) published data from a sociological survey on this topic.

Imperial Energy has a new potential buyer British Imperial Energy , which owns oil and gas assets in Russia and Kazakhstan, has begun negotiations on the sale of its shares. As the Indian media learned, an offer to purchase a stake in the company was made by the Indian Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC). Imperial Energy confirmed to Vremya Novostey only that the company could indeed sell part of its shares soon, but refused to say what part and whether it had actually received an offer from ONGC.

Exhibition of Alexander Bogomazov at the Russian Museum Once upon a time, a wit accurately identified the essence of the difference between the creative styles of two great pianists: Gould and Richter. Glenn Gould is a brilliant interpreter, boldly presenting his own, sometimes voluntaristic, interpretation of a musical text that polemicizes against tradition.

Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the property contribution of the Russian Federation to Russian Technologies President Dmitry Medvedev finally signed the long-awaited decree on the formation of the authorized capital of the state corporation Russian Technologies . As a result, this largest military-industrial empire will include 426 enterprises - 180 federal state unitary enterprises and shares in 246 joint-stock companies.

Traffic is restricted in the Olympic capital In Beijing, Olympic organizers continue to work on security issues. A list of items prohibited from being brought into stadiums was published, and additional restrictions were invented for motorists. Forbidden Strip To improve the environmental situation in Beijing and relieve traffic congestion, the city authorities are coming up with new ways.

The Russian aircraft manufacturing corporation calls on the Chinese for help The most ambitious project of the Russian aviation industry, the MS-21 aircraft , may become Russian-Chinese. “We know that China has launched the same project called a large passenger aircraft,” Alexey Fedorov, president of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), said yesterday.

The President authorized a new stage of health care reform A new stage of health care reform , which the Kremlin and the White House have not dared to undertake in recent years, will begin in the first year of Dmitry Medvedev’s rule.

US authorities rescue mortgage agencies US financial authorities are making new attempts to prevent panic in financial markets. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced financial support for mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac . Chairman of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Sheila Baer assured individual depositors of the reliability of the vast majority of American banks.

Last weekend in Nizhny Tagil the 6th international exhibition of weapons, military equipment and ammunition Russian Expo Arms-2008 and the 5th international exhibition “Defense and Security-2008” finished their work . Vremya Novostei military observer Nikolai POROSKOV asked Deputy General Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosoboronexport, head of the state mediator delegation Igor SEVASTYANOV, to share his impressions of these two large-scale events.

A series of hot days continues across most of the European territory of Russia. And only in the north and northwest the weather is more comfortable, warm and with short summer rains. In the north-western region there will be short-term rains in places, thunderstorms will thunder, the wind during a thunderstorm can increase to 15--20 m/s, the air temperature on Tuesday will be +21...+26оС, on Wednesday it will warm up to +23...+28оС .

General Bulbov was again considered unworthy of freedom Yesterday, the Moscow City Court once again recognized the legality of the arrest of General of the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) Alexander Bulbov, whom the Basmanny Court had previously allowed to be kept in prison until mid-September. Both the general himself and his lawyers, as well as the Prosecutor General’s Office, demanded that the decision of the Basmanny Court be overturned. But the court did not listen to their opinion.

US soldiers teach Ukraine NATO standards The naval exercises that began yesterday in Ukraine with the participation of the United States and other NATO countries may become an additional source of tension in Russian-Ukrainian relations and a reason for deepening the split between supporters and opponents of the course towards membership in the North Atlantic Alliance among Ukrainians.

The Russians reached the Euro 2008 podium through the losers' bracket For the first time in the 16-year history of the Old World beach volleyball championships, our men's pair was able to win a place on the podium. Winners of silver medals at last year's World Championship, Igor Kolodinsky, nicknamed Bazooka, and Dmitry Barsuk at Euro 2008 in Hamburg (Germany) added bronze to their collection of awards, although they had a real chance to compete in the finals.