Muscovites were offered to choose an electricity supplier The struggle between two large energy supply companies for capital consumers seems to have entered a decisive phase.

The exchange rate cannot be curbed No actions or exhortations of the Russian financial authorities can yet cool the situation on the foreign exchange market - yesterday speculators continued their attacks on the ruble. The upper limit of the currency corridor established by the Central Bank was not broken, but the players came close to it. The Central Bank yesterday set the official dollar exchange rate at 36.17 rubles, increasing it by 76 kopecks.

Lithuanians cancel protests The anti-government demonstration scheduled for today in Vilnius will not take place. Its organizers, including the Association of Small and Medium Businesses of Lithuania, threatened to bring 20 thousand people to the Seimas (parliament) building on Independence Square. But the authorities learned lessons from the last protest on January 16, when the population of Lithuanian cities violently expressed their disagreement with the economic policies in the country.

Pension managers showed negative returns in 2008 Management companies are gradually disclosing data on the profitability of managing pension savings in the past year. So far, in the imaginary rating of successful management companies, only one of the 58 companies that entered into an agreement with the Russian Pension Fund has shown positive profitability.

On the European territory of Russia, frosts will gradually weaken due to the fact that the anticyclone, the culprit of the current cold weather, is retreating to the southern borders of the country. On Tuesday, the warming effect of the cyclones will also affect the northwest. There will be snow in places, and the temperature during the day will rise to -2...-7°C.

Hoffenheim opened their stadium with a victory The German championship returned from the winter holidays and immediately presented several surprises. The main one is Bayern's defeat from Hamburg. Hoffenheim immediately took advantage of Jurgen Klinsmann's team's misfire. Bayern entered 2009 confidently, smashing everyone and everything in friendly matches.

The investigation cannot find those responsible for the nursing home that burned down in Komi. Komi authorities and rescuers yesterday summed up the first results of the investigation into the tragedy in the village of Pod'elsk, where a veterans' house burned down on Sunday night. As a result of the fire, 23 old people died. Experts have already found out where and how the fire started and why it engulfed the entire building so quickly.

Russians and Belarusians are reviving old projects Today in Moscow, at a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Russian-Belarusian union state, joint measures to overcome the financial crisis will be discussed. The crisis pushed the parties to return to projects that experts had little hope of implementing. We are talking about the prospects for creating a monetary union and a full-fledged customs union.

CLUBS Ash. The repertoire of song arrangements by A.-K. Jobima, Brazilian classics, as well as works by the group organizer Igor Nadezhdin in Portuguese. "Forte" , 21.00. Haleo (Cuba). Latin American rhythms, youthful enthusiasm and tropical temperament at Cool Train Club , 21.00. CONCERTS Contemporary Jazz Music . Steve Kershaw (double bass, UK), Peter Swerd (drums), Leonid Vintskevich (piano), Nikolai Vintskevich (saxophone).

The hockey union develops the rules of the game An extraordinary congress of the hockey players' trade union took place in Moscow. Representatives of 19 teams were trying to figure out how to resist owners who were planning to cut contracts. The head of the players' organization, Andrei Kovalenko, boasted that he managed to prevent the decision to unilaterally reduce contracts by 30% from January 1.

£12 million for number 13 Zenit never found the strength to peacefully part with the highest paid football player in Russia, Andrei Arshavin. Yesterday, until the last moment, it was not known whether the player’s transfer to London’s Arsenal took place. Arshavin had already discussed all the details of the agreement with the Gunners, chose the 13th number in the new team, but for a long time could not come to an agreement with the leaders of Gazprom, on whom this transfer largely depended.

A way to fight locusts has been found British and Australian researchers have made an important discovery that will help fight the hordes of locusts devastating fields. Scientists have found that changes in the level of the hormone serotonin in the body of insects affects their behavior. People have been fighting locusts for a long time. Back in Old Testament times, God threatened to send the eighth plague—locusts—on the Egyptians who did not want to release the Jews from captivity.

A new version of Diaghilev’s ballet was presented at the Kremlin Palace Armida's Pavilion has been improved. How is it customary to improve architecture in today's Moscow - the Manege or the Tsaritsyn Grand Palace, for example. There was no need to burn it to the ground for this - from the ballet that opened the first Diaghilev ballet season in Paris in 1909, there was no actual dance text left, that is, the original was destroyed by time itself.

In the UK, they remembered heavy snowfalls The transport infrastructure of Western Europe could not cope with the heavy snowfalls that hit the UK, France, Spain, Belgium and Italy at the beginning of the week. Yesterday, news agencies, describing the situation on the roads in these countries, preferred to use the expression “transport collapse.” Snow jams paralyzed not only highways, but also disrupted railway communications.

Humans are increasingly influencing tectonic processes on the planet An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale that occurred on May 12, 2008 in the Chinese province of Sichuan, killed 80 thousand people and left over 5 million people homeless. Seismological scientists, studying the complex processes in the earth's crust that led to such a catastrophic earthquake, came to the conclusion that perhaps the tragedy did not occur without human participation.