Anatoly Serdyukov has been appointed deputy minister for taxes and fees, reports Gazeta with reference to Interfax. The corresponding order was signed on March 2 by the acting director. Russian Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko. Earlier it was reported that Anatoly Serdyukov, the former head of the St. Petersburg department of the Russian Ministry of Taxes and Duties, was appointed acting head of the Moscow tax department at the end of February.

In the west of Baghdad near the building of the local telephone center on Thursday there was a powerful explosion, reports RIA "Novosti" with reference to the data of the Qatari TV channel "Al-Jazeera". The explosion killed at least three people, two were injured, the TV channel notes. Details of the incident are not given.

On March 8, Voronezh may be left without tulips: almost all plantations of local flower growers were invaded by a dangerous parasite - a stem nematode, reports REGNUM news agency with reference to the Voronezh TV and radio company. Small shoots that were taken out of the cellars a month ago, just before the holiday, suddenly began to turn black and break. As a result, city residents will have to buy flowers imported from Holland.

The head of MFO "MENATEP" Platon Lebedev demanded to remove him from the hall of the Basmanny Court, where the application of the Prosecutor General's Office to reduce the time for familiarization with the materials of his criminal case is being considered. It is reported by RIA Novosti.

A newborn girl was found on Wednesday in a dumpster on Marshal Timoshenko Street in Moscow. As was told by a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the girl was taken to Children's Hospital No. 9, and the police began to search for her mother. a REGNUM correspondent

The investigation into the murder case in Voronezh On February 21, a student from Guinea-Bissau is checking the involvement of three suspects in the crime, Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said at a press conference. It is reported by Gazeta.ru with reference to Interfax. According to Chekalin, intensive checks are currently underway in Voronezh. The Deputy Minister did not specify in relation to whom they are being carried out, referring to the investigative secrecy.

Boris Govorin, Governor of the Irkutsk Region, and Viktor Vekselberg, Managing Director for Production and Technology at TNK-BP, signed an agreement on the establishment of East Siberian Gas Company CJSC on a parity basis. It is reported by ITAR-TASS. The authorized capital of CJSC is planned at the level of $30 million of own and borrowed funds. The company will be engaged in the project of gas supply and gasification of the Irkutsk region on the basis of the Kovykta gas condensate field.

In the Orenburg region, a truck carrying explosives took off, ITAR-TASS reports. The tragedy occurred near the mining town of Guy in the east of the region. The driver of the truck and the controller of the security service were killed, the guard was seriously injured. The exploded car followed as part of a convoy of three trucks that carried explosives to the Letnee ore deposit, located 50 km from the city of Gaya. A fire started in the back of one of the cars, causing an explosion.

Nikoil. For the sake of cheap Western money, the financial corporation Nikkil decided to reveal the ownership structure to investors, Vedomosti reports . As it turned out, FC "Nikil", the cost of which exceeds $ 3 billion, belongs to two people - President of the Corporation Nikolai Tsvetkov and the President of Lukoil Vagit Alekperov. FC "Nikil" has been working on the market since 1993.

Sign of the Ukrainian hryvnia. Image from the site Vesti.ru The National Bank of Ukraine approved on Wednesday the official graphic sign of the national currency - hryvnia, according to the website of the Vesti program. In the new graphic symbol, similarities with images of the dollar, pound sterling and euros are visible. The graphic symbol of the hryvnia consists of two elements - the capital letter "G" and two parallel horizontal lines, crossing it in the middle.

Three servicemen of the 136th Buinaksk separate motorized rifle brigade left the Prudboy training ground near Volgograd on Wednesday night, stealing a GAZ-66 truck, Interfax reports. "The servicemen who were at the training camp left the unit between one and two in the morning. They did not have weapons with them," a source in law enforcement agencies of the Volgograd region told Interfax-South on Wednesday. According to him, the disappearance of the servicemen became known only in the morning.

Yury Zolotov, Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia in the Urals Federal District, instructed the Prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk Region to check the circumstances of chemical contamination of the territory of a kindergarten in Yekaterinburg, reports Gazeta with reference to Interfax. "If the guilt of officials who committed violations of the law is confirmed, it is instructed to immediately initiate a criminal case," the press service of the deputy prosecutor general said.

Currently, 90 families with 10 or more children live in Moscow, Lyudmila Shvetsova, the first deputy mayor in the government of the capital, the head of the social sphere complex, told Interfax. Of these, 70 families are registered with district administrations at their place of residence as having many children. According to Shvetsova, the largest number of such families live in the South-Eastern (14) and South-Western (12) administrative districts.

In Primorye, the leaders of some higher and secondary educational institutions are ready to follow the example of the rector of Dalrybvtuz, who declared the day of the presidential election a school day, reports BakuToday. For students of the technical college, failure to appear at the institute on this day with absentee ballots will be equated with absenteeism.

As a result of the conflict between the tenants of the premises of one of the factories in St. Petersburg, several people were hospitalized, reports Gazeta with reference to Interfax. The agency refers to the deputy head of the 10th police department, Alexei Fedorov.