On Friday, the State Duma will consider a draft appeal to the leadership of two federal TV channels - Channel One and the Rossiya channel - on the issue of television debates during the election campaign for elections to the State Duma. It is reported by RIA Novosti. The purpose of the appeal is to return the TV debates to the air.

The Supreme Court of Russia upheld the verdict of the Moscow City Court in the first criminal case with the participation of jurors, RIA Novosti reports. On August 14, the Moscow City Court sentenced 25-year-old Igor Bortnikov to 10 years in prison. By the verdict of a jury, a resident of the town of Ramenskoye near Moscow was found guilty of an assault on Muscovite Andrey Shopenkov in October 2001.

The Board of Directors of JSC "Russian Railways" decided to issue shares of JSC "Russian Railways" in the amount of the authorized capital, which is 1 billion 535 million 700 thousand rubles. According to RIA Novosti, such a statement was made on Thursday by Stanislav Naumov, press secretary of Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko, head of the Board of Directors of Russian Railways.

Pope John Pavel II. Photo BBC Exactly a quarter of a century ago, the world shocked the news of the choice of the first pope in the pope of the Roman non-Italian origin and the first Slavic pope in the history.

Governor of the Kaliningrad region Vladimir Yegorov said on Thursday that he plans to double his region's gross domestic product by 2007. According to him, the region is on schedule, fulfilling the government's program to double its GDP for 2010, "however, it plans to complete this task for itself by 2007." "Gross economic product is growing steadily in the Kaliningrad region," he said. Thus, in the first nine months of 2003, the region's GDP grew by 14.5 percent.

Oleg Kuvaev announced that Masyanya would become a radio host at the Energiya FM station. about writes This is what Novye Izvestiya . To date, Kuvaev has no right to show new cartoons either on the Internet or on television. The fight for the return of rights to the artist will go to court for the next couple of months. Energia FM has so far acquired the copyright for Masyanya. Now on "Energia" Masyanya announces the exact time and weather forecast.

India's Vice Prime Minister and Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani on Thursday called "outrageous and shameful" the case of the rape of a Swiss embassy employee in New Delhi. It is reported by the Air Force. The Deputy Prime Minister ordered the governor of the capital, Vijay Kapoor, to take this case under special control, find the criminals as soon as possible and take measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Yoko Ono has signed a contract with the creators of a new musical based on the songs of John Lennon, reports Reuters. The musical will be shown on Broadway in 2004 or 2005. The performance does not yet have a name, while it is being held under the conditional "Project Lennon". The show was produced by Edgar Lansbury and Don Scardino. Scardino will also write and direct the musical. The show will include 30 Lennon songs.

A jury in Paris has extended by two years the prison term of former nurse Christina Malevre, who was accused of killing 7 of her patients. According to Reuters, Malevre was clearly inspired by the success of the mother of a 22-year-old firefighter, who helped her paralyzed, deaf and dumb son to die and was acquitted by the court. The nurse filed an appeal against the verdict of the court of first instance.

Two military planes crashed off the coast of South Carolina. According to the AP, F-18 fighters fell into the Atlantic Ocean, both pilots were rescued by the Coast Guard. So far, the reasons for the incident are unknown.

The two largest Russian publishing companies Independent Media and Prof-Media have announced the creation of a joint venture to publish professional magazines. This is stated in the joint press release of the companies received on Thursday in RIA Novosti. The new company, in which the partners own equal shares, "sets itself the goal of becoming the market leader in business-to-business publications," the press release notes.

During an anti-terrorist operation near the Afghan border, Pakistani troops killed one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda, the country's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told journalists in Islamabad, RIA Novosti reports. State television of Pakistan, quoting the minister, reports that the victim was one of the top ten leaders of this international terrorist organization, on whose head the United States appointed a large monetary reward.

Pope John Pavel II. Photo BBC The 25th anniversary of his pontificate John Pavel the Second meets in an atmosphere of genuine drama. The dad’s life is declining - the hierarchs of the Catholic Church openly speak about this. He is tormented by Parkinson's disease. In September, during a pastoral visit to Slovakia, he first could not complete his speech and for a long time no longer able to move without outside help.

4 people died in the Kursk region as a result of a collision of two cars, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the regional traffic police. Near the village of Tatarenkovo ​​on Thursday, a Nissan car and a VAZ-2107 collided. Incompatible with life injuries were received by two passengers of a foreign car, as well as the driver and passenger of the VAZ-2107. Another woman who was in the Zhiguli salon was hospitalized in a serious condition. The driver of the Nissan suffered a broken rib.

In the first quarter of 2004, a simplified tax return form may be introduced for small businesses that have switched to a simplified taxation system or to paying a single tax on imputed income. According to RIA Novosti, such a statement was made on Thursday by Russian Minister for Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support Ilya Yuzhanov. "This is a further step towards technical simplification of taxation, weakening tax administration," Yuzhanov said.