RUSAL may postpone IPO until next year The aluminum holding RUSAL, as expected by the Vremya Novostei newspaper, will most likely postpone its upcoming IPO (initial public offering) in Hong Kong and Paris to next year. Yesterday, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange once again postponed consideration of RUSAL's application for listing, a source in banking circles told Vremya Novostey.

The government intends to introduce new energy security standards Yesterday, immediately after visiting the Vishnevsky Research Institute and an emergency meeting to provide assistance to victims of the fire of the Perm nightclub "Lame Horse" , Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived at the All-Russian Electrotechnical Institute.

The Year of India in Russia ends on a commercial note “We are optimistic about the future,” President Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Monmahan Singh in Moscow yesterday. During the visit, contracts were concluded in the military sphere and in the field of nuclear energy, and the long-standing painful issue with the reconstruction of the Russian aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, “nee” Admiral Gorshkov, for the Indian Air Force was resolved.

The Guardian named those responsible for the financial crisis The blame for the collapse of the global credit system is mainly borne by 24 financiers: 17 Americans, six Englishmen, one Icelander, as well as the American people, according to the British The Guardian. The first places in the ranking are occupied by politicians led by Alan Greenspan, who headed the US Federal Reserve System (FRS) from 1987 to 2006.

US praises Iraqis for progress in democracy Important political decisions are being made in Iraq amid a surge in instability. A terrible explosion occurred yesterday in Baghdad. It happened near a boys' primary school in the capital's Sadr City neighborhood, home to Shiite Muslims who largely supported the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Authorities are investigating whether the tragedy was caused by a terrorist bomb or an explosion at an ammunition depot that may have been located nearby.

Deutsche Telekom is losing subscribers The leader of the German telecommunications market, Deutsche Telekom, expects a sharp drop in demand for traditional telephone services. By 2012, Deutsche Telekom will lose at least 60% of the turnover of wireline telephony, the services of which are used by fewer and fewer Germans. Until recently, the telephone business was, as they said in the concern itself, the “backbone” of Deutsche Telekom.

The Lakers continued their winning streak Basketball. NBA. Regular season . "New York" - "New Jersey" - 106:97, "Milwaukee" - "Cleveland" - 86:101, "Detroit" - "Washington" - 98:94, "Sacramento" - - Miami - 102:115, Lakers - Phoenix - 108:88. Having defeated the guests from Phoenix at home, the Los Angeles Lakers won the ninth match. The guests were not saved by 18 points and eight rebounds from Amar Stoudemire. Kobe Bryant (pictured) scored for the home team with 26 points and seven rebounds.

American diplomat will travel from Pyongyang to Beijing and Moscow Today, an American delegation led by Special Representative for North Korean Affairs Stephen Bosworth will arrive in Pyongyang for a three-day visit. The delegation includes US representative to the six-party talks Sung Kim and a number of officials from the State Department and the National Security Council. Bosworth will meet with Deputy Head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry Kang Sok-ju.

Treatment of survivors of the fire in Perm will require intervention from the Russian government The number of victims of the tragedy in Perm, where the Lame Horse nightclub almost completely burned down on Saturday night, reached 113 people yesterday. This morning, a young woman injured in a fire died in one of the city’s clinics.

Romanian opposition disputes president's victory The current Romanian President Traian Basescu remains in office for a second term after winning the second round of elections last Sunday. Last night, the Romanian Central Election Bureau reported the official results: Basescu, 58, won 50.33% of the vote, while his rival, Senate Speaker and Social Democratic leader Mircea Geoana, 51, won 49.66%. The difference was less than 1%. The losers said they were victims of fraud.

Opel expects profit At the end of this year, German Opel can count on profit for the first time in several years. This was reported by Die Welt with reference to sources in the concern itself. According to the publication, in ten months of this year the company sold a total of 298.630 thousand cars on the German market, which is 34.5% more than in the same period last year.

Sberbank reduced profits nine times and halved bonuses for top managers Sberbank's financial statements according to international standards (IFRS) almost coincided with analysts' expectations. Net profit for the nine months of this year amounted to only 10.3 billion rubles. against the backdrop of growing contributions to reserves. In the medium term, the bank will not receive much profit, but will maintain maximum stability thanks to its conservative policy, experts say.

Sberbank is preparing for a deterioration in its loan portfolio Sberbank yesterday published its operating results for the three quarters of last year under IFRS. The reporting turned out to be slightly worse than expected, but did not disappoint either investors or analysts. Against the background of market growth, Sberbank shares rose by 7% yesterday. Over the nine months of 2008, Sberbank increased its net profit by 29%, to 90.2 billion rubles.

Ten years ago, an agreement was signed on the creation of a Russian-Belarusian union state. The ceremony took place on December 8, 1999 in the St. George Hall of the Kremlin. The signing was attended not only by politicians, but also by cultural figures from Russia and Belarus.

New art books Alexander Terekhin. Travel to Russia. -- M.: Multimedia complex of contemporary arts. Since November, the Moscow House of Photography, the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, the Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage named after D.S. Likhachev opened an online competition “Travel to Russia”. Everyone can share their photos and share the joy of vivid impressions associated with traveling around the country.