A brief look at the stories making headlines in the Russian-language press

Sometimes what the George W. Bush's administration doesn't do is as amazing as what it does do. This week is going to bring a Class A error of omission.

My friends in Odessa are involved in a court case. The gist of the case is as follows: A few years ago, they started renting out the apartment once occupied by their children, who had moved to Moscow. Naturally, they didn't draw up any formal contract -- what kind of idiot would want to pay taxes on rental income when his combined pension with his spouse is $60 per month?

When 170 heads of state and government gather at the United Nations this week, they have a daunting agenda and three fundamental tasks: to overhaul the UN bureaucracy; redirect the organization and make it more capable of tackling the most urgent security threats of the 21st century; and galvanize action to achieve the promised Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty by 2015.

I first heard that the government wanted college students and graduates to be conscripted two years ago. During extremely candid and off-the-record discussions, one very high-ranking official laid out his views in plain language.

With about 175 world leaders headed to a UN summit this week, fears grew that a blueprint on new approaches to global security, human rights and extreme poverty in the 21st century would be negotiated down to pious generalities.

The largest gathering of world leaders in history begins on Wednesday with 191 UN member nations still divided on the issues.

In anticipation of the largest single gathering of world leaders in history this week, local and federal law-enforcement agencies have prepared a huge security plan for New York.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on the United States on Monday to match the EU's spending on the world's poorest countries and back reforms to bolster the role of the United Nations in the years ahead.