The Dalai Lama expressed his readiness to come to Russia again The spiritual leader of Buddhists in Tibet, Mongolia, Buryatia and Kalmykia, the 16th Dalai Lama, announced his readiness to visit Russia on a pastoral visit.

President Medvedev seems to have launched a new reform in the army. “Next year, special attention must be paid to strengthening the country’s aerospace defense, combining existing air and missile defense systems, missile attack warning and space control. They must operate under the unified control of the strategic command,” the head of state said. As such, aerospace defense has not yet been created in Russia at all.

Insurance premiums for small businesses will increase in two stages Insurance premium rates for small businesses operating in the industrial and social spheres will be increased not simultaneously, but in two stages: from 2011 they will amount to 26% of the wage fund and only from 2013 they will reach 34%. This decision was made by President Dmitry Medvedev, as he announced yesterday in his annual address to the Federal Assembly.

The agreement to create a ruling coalition was signed yesterday at noon in Bishkek by Kyrgyz politicians - the leaders of the Social Democrats Almazbek Atambaev, the Ata-Meken (Fatherland) parties Omurbek Tekebaev and the Republic party Omurbek Babanov. They will occupy the posts of prime minister, speaker and deputy prime minister, respectively. Mr. Atambayev was tasked with creating such a coalition following the general elections on October 10 by President Roza Otunbayeva.

Georgian opposition expects a surge of discontent Starting Monday, December 6, Tbilisi will increase prices for public transport, from 40 tetri to 50 (from about 23 cents to 28). The opposition in the city parliament, which has 11 seats against the ruling National Movement's 39, was unable to block this decision, which came as an unpleasant surprise for Tbilisi residents.

In the northwestern regions, in the first days of winter, light snow is possible in places, during the day -11...-16oC. In the Central region on Wednesday, light snow is possible, -16...-23оС, in the south -11...-17оС. In the Black Earth Region on Wednesday and Thursday there will be mostly no precipitation, -12...-17оС. On the Upper Volga there is light snow in places, on December 1 -13...-20°C, in the northeast up to -24°C, on December 2 already -16...-23°C.

Vnesheconombank proposes to increase the capital of the Russian Development Bank Vnesheconombank intends to increase the scale of support for small and medium-sized businesses. To this end, the state corporation will raise with the government the issue of increasing the capital of VEB’s subsidiary, the Russian Development Bank (RusBD), using funds from the National Welfare Fund (NWF), Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev said yesterday at the “Small Determines the Big” forum.

It was possible to bring John Demjanjuk to trial thanks to the efforts of employees of the German Central Service of Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes, created in 1958. Its head, 61-year-old Chief Prosecutor Kurt SCHRIMM, told Vremya Novostei about the work of this organization. Why is the trial of Demjanjuk taking so long? It seems the court has doubts about the validity of the charges... - Our department does not have permanent observers at the trial.

The President promised to soften the law for citizens and tighten it for officials President Medvedev yesterday, in a message to parliament, stated the need to improve criminal legislation. He proposed, on the one hand, to tighten it in the area of ​​official crimes, and on the other, on the contrary, to soften it for crimes of minor gravity. Yesterday, the next Council of Judges opened in Moscow, where both these innovations and other problems of the community were discussed. As Mr.

Relatives of Nazi victims hope for German justice For exactly a year, the trial of one of the last surviving Nazi criminals, 90-year-old US citizen John Demjanjuk (pictured), continues in a Munich court. A native of Ukraine, former Red Army soldier Ivan Demjanjuk, finding himself in German captivity, voluntarily joined the SS. He is accused of aiding and abetting the gas chamber murder of 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor concentration camp in 1943 in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The ruble is supported by internal reasons Against the background of expectations of growth in money market rates and tax payments, the ruble rose in price yesterday against the bi-currency basket. Thanks to the lack of liquidity in the domestic market and the favorable level of oil prices, the ruble will be in a stable position in the medium term, analysts believe. The official euro/ruble exchange rate dropped by 49 kopecks yesterday to 41.08 rubles.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday signed a law passed by both houses of parliament on the return of religious property to religious organizations. The head of state, having read out his annual message to the Federal Assembly, held a meeting with Patriarch Kirill in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the Grand Kremlin Palace (this temple, in accordance with the new law, should be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church). “This is a special place.

Pensioners will be provided with the first benefit on behalf of the new mayor City officials are rushing to convince pensioners that even under the new mayor, the authorities will be able to provide them with the usual benefits. Currently, the mayor’s office is preparing amendments to the Moscow government decree “On the monetary equivalent of measures of social support for non-working pensioners”, providing for an increase in the size of the discount when paying for utilities.

The festival “Butoh - the Great Soul” was held in Moscow The question of what butoh dance is invariably hangs in the air. Even the venerable participants of the festival that just took place on the stage of the “School of Dramatic Art”, employees of Japanese research centers and Japanese critics talk about butoh exclusively using the words “this”, “that” and other demonstrative pronouns, preferring to direct the attention of listeners to personalities and historical information .

And complains to the Americans about Pyongyang Russia favors resolving disputes between North and South Korea through “peaceful political and diplomatic means,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin told US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg at a meeting in Moscow. It took place yesterday following North Korea's confirmation of the opening this year of a uranium enrichment plant "equipped with several thousand centrifuges" at its Yongbyon nuclear center.