Minsk has created room for maneuver The prospects for Minsk's participation in the Customs Union with Moscow and Astana remain uncertain. The main intrigue revolves around information about the Belarusian parliament considering the customs code behind closed doors. The final meeting of the spring session of parliament took place on June 30. Deputies asked questions to government representatives, after which they considered several bills.

Finland was the first to legislate the right of citizens to high-speed Internet The world's first law guaranteeing citizens access to the Internet at high speed appeared in Finland. The republic's authorities claim that they were prompted to take an unprecedented step by realizing how important the global network is for the average Finn.

Long list of nominees for Novel of the Year Award announced Forty-seven publishing houses, nine magazines, four universities and five libraries nominated ninety-five works for the nineteenth prize for the best novel in Russian (Russian Booker). That is thirteen more opuses than last year. It is very likely that in a year the number of applicants will exceed one hundred.

The 45th International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary begins The Karlovy Vary Film Festival is rightfully considered one of the largest in Eastern Europe. Once upon a time he was a match for Moscow. Then Karlovy Vary took the lead and occupied the niche that the Moscow International Film Festival still claims. For quite a long time there were few of our films in Karlovy Vary programs. Recently the situation has changed. The main competition (12 films) includes Dmitry Mamulia’s film “Another Sky”.

The White House discussed the situation in Leningradka and the Customs Union In addition to the fact that at yesterday’s government presidium, Vladimir Putin personally addressed the problem of traffic jams on Leningradka , the ministers considered amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses establishing penalties for violating the law “On Trade” and technical regulations for pipeline safety.

The US Secretary of State will visit Eastern Europe and the Caucasus Dynamic and not staying long in her Washington office, US Secretary of State 62-year-old Hillary Clinton arrives in Kyiv today. This is the first point of her tour of Eastern Europe and Transcaucasia, designed for five days. After Ukraine, she will visit Poland, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. This is Mrs. Clinton's fourth visit to Kyiv. She visited here twice as first lady, in 1995 and 1997, and came as a senator in 2005.

The II Moscow International Biennale of Young Art opens The debut exhibition of young art that took place two years ago, although it was called a biennale, was still perceived as only a good entry into this venerable genre. The second show in terms of the number of participants and exhibitions is quite comparable to the adult biennale.

Atomic inspector resigns Yesterday it became known that the chief inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 63-year-old Finn Olli Heinonen, submitted his resignation from his post “for personal reasons.” He worked at the IAEA for three decades and was appointed to the post of head of the Safeguards Regime Department in the summer of 2005.

Head of Karelia Sergei Katanandov resigned The decree on the resignation of the next long-lived governor, head of Karelia Sergei Katanandov, was signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday evening. Mr. Katanandov's tenure was supposed to end in March 2011, but he reportedly asked the head of state to relieve him of his position ahead of schedule. Mr. Katanandov himself has so far refrained from commenting, and his press secretary told reporters that the boss is on a business trip.

The Central Bank gets rid of risks Yesterday, the Bank of Russia officially announced the cessation of issuing unsecured loans. According to experts, at present only a few credit institutions are experiencing problems with liquidity, and the withdrawal of this instrument will not affect the market in any way, especially since the conditions for obtaining such loans were unfavorable for most banks.

Russia is losing its leading position in global tank building In the state armament program for 2001-2010 (GPV-2010), due to unsatisfactory funding, a primary role was given to the modernization of existing equipment. At the stage until 2006, it was also envisaged to carry out experimental design developments. Until 2010, it was planned to produce and supply modern weapons of a new generation to the troops.

The Ministry of Energy proposes to legally assign 75% of Transneft to the state In the draft federal law “On the production, processing and transportation of oil and its products through main pipelines” (oil law) prepared by the Ministry of Energy, the minimum size of the state’s share in the authorized capital of the “organization for managing a unified main pipeline system” is set at 75%.

On the last working day of the week, the north-west of European Russia will be in the path of a cyclone coming from Scandinavia. It is he who will shed short rains in places, thunderstorms are not excluded, during the day the temperature will rise to +20...+25оС. On Saturday, the middle zone will be in the zone of an atmospheric front with waves, which means there will be short thunderstorms.

Every second Russian is in favor of returning property that previously belonged to the church to the church. Almost half of Russians approve of the return to the church of temples, icons and other “religious property” that is now owned by the state. This is evidenced by the results of a poll published yesterday by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). 49% of respondents are in favor.

The head of PACE improved the tone of discussions on Russia Today, the two-day visit to Moscow of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, will end with meetings with representatives of political parties and non-governmental organizations of Russia.