The main parameters of the 2011 budget were approved Yesterday at the White House, the Budget Planning Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, approved the main parameters of the federal budget for next year. Revenues are expected to be 8.6 trillion rubles, expenses - 10.4 trillion, the deficit will not exceed 3.6% of GDP.

LUKOIL will buy back 7.6% of its shares from ConocoPhilips for $3.44 billion The largest private Russian oil company LUKOIL announced yesterday that it would buy 7.6% of its shares from the American ConocoPhilips. for $3.44 billion. This step did not come as a surprise to the market: ConocoPhilips had long ago announced its intention to get rid of LUKOIL securities and had been looking for a buyer for about six months. The deal with LUKOIL helped it solve a number of problems.

The plane crash near Smolensk has quarreled Polish politicians The main military prosecutor's office of Poland yesterday invited relatives of the victims of the plane crash near Smolensk so that they could learn first-hand about the progress of the investigation into its causes. Let us recall that on April 10, 96 Polish citizens were killed, including the presidential couple.

There have long been more film festivals in the world than there are days in the year, but they continue to appear, which means someone needs it. But often the organizers, before they have had time to really make themselves known, begin to imitate the Cannes Film Festival as the most famous, luxurious one, where all the best films and the brightest stars gather.

Civil aviation defeats military aviation The international air show in Farnborough, England , which ended this weekend, was marked by the triumph of civil aviation. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates total global airline profits this year at $2.5 billion, up from $9.9 billion losses in 2009. In military aviation, things are not nearly as successful. The defense budgets of the EU and the USA have been reduced (and have the prospect of further cuts).

Israeli and Palestinian leaders meet secretly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have held a secret meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday. Arab media report that the negotiations took place at the insistence of King Abdullah II of Jordan during the visit of the Israeli prime minister to the Jordanian capital Amman. Netanyahu's visit to Jordan was not secret, but it became known only on Tuesday evening.

Relations between Russia and Estonia are far from ideal. Russian politicians constantly accuse Estonians of “rewriting history” regarding the events of the Second World War. The voice of the pro-Kremlin youth movement “Nashi” is especially loud. In the Russian media, the noise about the transfer of the Bronze Soldier from the city center to the military cemetery in Tallinn in 2007 did not subside for a long time.

In Toronto, people are escaping the heat with the help of the authorities. The heat wave that has broken out in central Russia has placed entirely new demands on local authorities. Previously, officials were only responsible for minimizing the effects of cold weather. But now it turns out that even in the summer heat, ordinary people need help. There have already been calls for employers to better organize working conditions in the heat. Some enterprises have announced forced holidays.

The defense of the Khimki forest has ceased to be peaceful It will now be difficult for representatives of the Movement in Defense of the Khimki Forest to present themselves to the public as peaceful victims of a major state project, which is the construction of a new Moscow-St. Petersburg expressway. Yesterday, a third force intervened in the conflict between the “greens”, on the one hand, and the coalition of officials and investors, on the other.

Yesterday at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona (Spain) at a distance of 20 km in walking, Russian athletes Olga Kaniskina, Anisya Kirdyapkina and Vera Sokolova occupied the entire podium. Immediately after the finish, Olympic champion and world champion Olga KANISKINA answered questions from Vremya Novostei correspondent Olga ERMOLINA. — Your coach Viktor Chegin said that initially he planned three medals in this women’s event. Have you thought through team tactics in advance?

The European Commissioner for Energy proposed holding a Russia-Ukraine-EU meeting at the highest level The visit of EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger (pictured) to Ukraine showed that Brussels will continue to demand reform of the gas sector from Kiev, and does not intend to rush with financial assistance. At the same time, EU officials do not want to repeat last year’s mistake and agree on the modernization and development of the Ukrainian gas transportation system in a bilateral format.

The possible tragedy in Duisburg was known in advance In the German city of Duisburg, they are looking for the culprits of the mass panic on July 25, which claimed two dozen lives and caused injuries to hundreds of participants in the “Love Parade” music party.

The IMF praised China's efforts to strengthen the yuan The International Monetary Fund did not use the phrase “substantially undervalued” in relation to the Chinese yuan. In its annual report on China, the fund decided to speak differently about the country's monetary policy. Previously, the American administration also softened its rhetoric.

On Thursday, only the northwestern regions and the far west of the Black Earth Region will experience rain. In the Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod regions, the passage of the cyclone will be accompanied by heavy rains, thunderstorms, wind speed up to 24 m/s, temperature +30...+35оС, in the west of the central regions heavy rains, thunderstorms, hail, squally wind speed up to 23 m /s, in some places up to 28 m/s, during the day +25...+30оС.

World ballet celebrity enters Russian service The previous such case was 160 years ago - Marius Petipa came to St. Petersburg and stayed to work at the Mariinsky Theater. Now Nacho Duato becomes the artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Theater ballet. At a press conference at RIA Novosti, journalists from Moscow and St. Petersburg (with the help of an organized teleconference) asked the world celebrity why he needed this, and theater director Vladimir Kekhman - how he managed it.