The WTO may fundamentally change before Russia joins it Negotiations on the Doha Round on global trade under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will resume next week in Geneva. According to the London-based American newspaper Wall Street Journal Europe, the first meeting will begin on September 14.

The holiday season in the republic gives way to political In Abkhazia, the end of summer and the beginning of autumn this year coincided with three important dates. On August 26, the republic celebrated the first anniversary of recognition of its independence by Russia. On September 30, it will mark the 16th anniversary of its victory in the war of independence against Georgia. And somewhere in the interim, the parliament of the republic will have to decide on calling presidential elections.

Putin came to the aid of Norilsk Nickel Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday signed a decree abolishing export duties on unalloyed nickel and copper cathodes, but kept the rate for refined copper and copper alloys at 10%. This decision supported the shares of the world's largest producer and Russian exporter of these metals, MMC Norilsk Nickel: on the MICEX they rose by 3.2% compared to Tuesday's level, on the RTS by 2.8%.

The troupe gathered in Maly The oldest theater in Russia will begin the season with a tour in Kazan, and the capital's audience will see its troupe only in a month - on October 7 they will once again play "Woe from Wit". Maly will have a lot of tours this season, especially at the end of the season - mainly in his native country, but a Finnish voyage is also expected. The fact is that the theater must close for renovations in late spring.

Markets evaluate the results of the G20 financials The results of the meeting of finance ministers and heads of central banks of the G20 countries, held at the end of last week in London, convinced investors of the intention of regulators not to rush to curtail anti-crisis measures. Against this background, stock markets and oil prices began to rise again, and the dollar lost ground to higher-yielding currencies.

The court again took up the Arbat Prestige case In the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow yesterday, hearings began again on the scandalous case of the former owner of the Arbat Prestige company, Vladimir Nekrasov, and businessman Sergei Schneider, better known as Semyon Mogilevich. Several months ago, the Tushino court had already begun to consider this case, but soon returned it back to the prosecutor's office to eliminate violations in the indictment.

CONCERTS Combo Jazz Project . Jazz sensation from Siberia. Igor Butman Club , 20.30. Ensemble of Oleg Kireev. Union of Composers , 20.30. CLASSIC “The Magic Flute” V.-A. Mozart . Soloists L. Crowe (soprano, Great Britain), T. Lihdi (tenor, Germany), T. Murfin (bass, Great Britain), S. Kermes (soprano, Germany), S. Genz (baritone, Germany). Chamber choir of the Moscow Conservatory under the direction of B. Tevlin. Russian National Orchestra. Conductor M. Pletnev.

The conflict over gas agreements with Moscow is escalating in Kyiv The gas crisis is over, but the political crisis is flaring up again in Kyiv. The signing of gas agreements between Gazprom and Naftogaz returned the Ukrainian elite to a state of war of all against all. People around President Viktor Yushchenko openly call the agreements reached in Moscow with the direct participation of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko unfavorable for Ukraine and not agreed upon with the head of state.

Grants for NGOs were allocated for anti-crisis projects Five non-profit organizations, which the state entrusted with distributing grants to the most worthy and needy “brothers” in civil society, will distribute 1 billion 200 million rubles allocated this year from the budget. Moreover, as the heads of the “operating funds” themselves assure, the lion’s share of public money will go to projects related to supporting citizens affected by the crisis.

August 4 -- September 4, 2009 “Politicians Through the Eyes of the Media,” a joint project of “Vremya Novostei” and the “Medialogia” company, are ratings of political figures who are most actively discussed in the federal press and on central TV channels.

Israel will build new houses in the Palestinian Authority Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday signed permission to build 455 housing units on land in the West Bank where a Palestinian state is expected to emerge in the future. New buildings are scattered across different settlements. 149 housing units will be built in Ar-Gilo, 84 in Modiin Ilit, 76 in Agan Ayalot, 25 in Keidar, 20 in Mishhiyot, 12 in Alon Shvut.

More than a thousand Muscovites will get married on the day of three nines The coincidence of numbers in tomorrow's date will cause another outbreak of “marriage fever”. On the day of three nines, despite the increase in queues and prices for wedding services, more than a thousand Muscovites will receive a stamp in their passport, the head of the Moscow Civil Registry Office, Irina Muravyova, said yesterday. Wednesday, a weekday, would seem to be not the best time for a wedding.

AIG gets rid of sponsorship projects in sports Insurance group AIG, which was hit hard by the credit crisis and was forced to accept financial assistance from the US authorities, continues to optimize its costs. According to Reuters, the company will not renew its sponsorship contract with one of the strongest brands in the world of sports - the British football club Manchester United.

The security officer was assigned to the detective The Office of the Investigative Committee for the Samara Region has put the former deputy head of the regional FSB Directorate on the wanted list. His name has not yet been disclosed, but it is known that the security officer is involved in a case of major fraud, one of the accused in which is the former head of the criminal investigation department of the Samara Region Central Internal Affairs Directorate, Vyacheslav Efremov.

Zvonareva completed her performances at the US Open The unpleasant forecast of the captain of the Russian national tennis team, Shamil Tarpishchev, seems to be starting to come true. On the seventh day of play, one of the three Russians remaining at the US Open, Vera Zvonareva, finished her performances. The Muscovite lost to Italian Flavia Pennetta - 6:3, 6:7 (6:8), 0:6. And after the match she explained that the reason for this was injuries.