Russian skiers and skaters left without awards Last weekend several stages of the World and European Cup in winter sports took place. Skiers competed in Gallivar, Sweden, speed skaters and figure skaters competed in Moscow, and bobsledders competed in Igls, Austria. The latter were the only ones who managed to get to the medals. At the first stage of the European Cup, Dmitry Abramovich and Philip Egorov won silver. Another Russian duo, Alexander Kasyanov and Andrey Yurkov, finished sixth.

Yulia Tymoshenko sent a delegation of Naftogaz of Ukraine to Moscow Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, having returned from Sweden, sent the head of Naftogaz, Oleg Dubina, to Moscow. As you know, Gazprom and Dmitry Medvedev threatened Ukraine with collecting $2.4 billion in gas debts. And Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko gave the government five days to resolve this issue . Ms.

Barack Obama assembles an anti-crisis team Already in the first days after the new US President Barack Obama takes office on January 20, the American Congress can begin discussing the package of emergency measures he has prepared to save the national economy. It will include a significant increase in budget allocations compared to the estimates of the George W. Bush administration. Obama's economic team will be responsible for preparing a two-year plan to combat the financial crisis.

E.ON does not refuse large investment projects The German energy concern E.ON does not intend to reduce its investment plans, which amount to 63 billion euros until 2010. Chairman of the Board of E.ON Wulf Bernotat said this in an interview with the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. He noted the possibility of further joint projects with Russia, although he did not specify what they were talking about.

Pavlyuchenko scores again Football. English Championship. 14th round. Chelsea - Newcastle - 0:0, Liverpool - Fulham - 0:0, Manchester City - Arsenal - 3:0, Middlesbrough - Bolton " -- 1:3, "Portsmouth" -- "Hull" -- 2:2, "Stoke City" -- "West Bromwich" -- 1:0, "Aston Villa" -- "Manchester United" -- 0 :0, Tottenham - Blackburn - 1:0, Sunderland - West Ham - 0:1. Leading: Chelsea, Manchester United - 33 points each.

The brothers found themselves on opposite sides of the political barricades The movement with the working title "Solidarity", created with the aim of uniting all opposition democratic politicians, held a conference in Moscow and elected delegates to its all-Russian founding congress, which is scheduled for December 13. The Moscow conference took place on the second attempt.

Vladimir Putin prepared a cocktail of foreign policy and milk Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to clearly demonstrate the continuity of power in Russia, and at the same time his readiness to speak out in unison with the president on global foreign policy issues. Yesterday, Mr. Putin delivered a keynote speech in development of Dmitry Medvedev's foreign policy initiatives at a conference on international humanitarian law in St. Petersburg.

Russia's GDP began to decline In Russia, for the first time since the start of the global crisis, a decline in GDP was recorded in one month compared to the previous one. In October, GDP decreased by 0.4% compared to September, although in annual terms, compared to October 2007, it grew by 5.9%. This was reported by a source in one of the departments of the financial and economic bloc, citing calculations of the Ministry of Economic Development.

Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the report of shelling on Sunday from the territory of South Ossetia of a convoy of cars carrying the presidents of Poland and Georgia a provocation. Polish journalists also suspected the Georgian side of provocative actions.

Pharmacies are reviewing their range of related products The financial crisis, which has reached the real sector, may soon leave Russians without expensive toothpaste, dermatological hair care products and pharmaceutical cosmetics, to which many are already accustomed. According to analysts' forecasts, by the middle of next year the growth rate of the parapharmaceutical products market, which now accounts for a third of all pharmacy sales, could be reduced by almost half.

The second airline does not want to merge with the first Shareholders controlling Siberia Airlines have received an offer to sell their shares, Vladislav Filev, CEO of Russia's second largest airline, said yesterday. According to him, the company has not yet made any decision on this matter. At the same time, Mr. Filev spoke out against the transfer to Aeroflot of a blocking stake in Sibir (25.5%), currently owned by the state.

A rehabilitation plan for one of the largest financial corporations has been approved Despite recent statements by Citigroup top management about the financial stability of the credit institution, on Monday night bankers and representatives of the American authorities agreed on an algorithm for its rescue. According to the Wall Street Journal, the once largest US financial institution by assets will be issued a guarantee for troubled assets in the amount of $306 billion.

America, the world and George Bush Today's world is not living up to the hopes that optimists had for the era that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was assumed that the rivalry between the great powers would be replaced by geo-economics, and that the ideological confrontation between democracy and autocracy would end with the “end of history.” Few expected that the challenges to the unprecedented power of the United States would be so numerous.

German agents in Kosovo accused of terrorism A new scandal has erupted around the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND). At the end of last week, as reported by the Hamburg weekly Der Spiegel, three Germans aged 41 to 47 were arrested in the administrative center of Kosovo, Pristina - Robert Z., Andreas B. and Andreas B. Kosovo intelligence services suspect them of complicity in the terrorist attack , committed at the EU mission on November 14.

Last week, a great book decade began in the country. It was launched by the national conference on the support and development of reading, on Tuesday the “Big Book” will name its heroes, on Wednesday the fair of intellectual literature Non/fiction will begin, and on December 3 the “Russian Booker” will sum up its results. After which there will be a break for the crisis. It's time to sort out some problems. At the opening of the reading support conference, a number of figures were announced.