Viktor Sergeev left Lenfilm 37 2 minutes. ... Yesterday it became known that Viktor Sergeev is no longer the director of the Lenfilm film studio - his resignation was granted. The names of the new applicants have not yet been announced, and the studio itself does not see a worthy replacement. Viktor Sergeev, who headed Lenfilm in January 1997, when film production reached its lowest point, was an almost ideal director for the studio.

Except for the North Korean border 27 2 minutes. ... Today, having completed his visit to South Korea, President Bush arrives in Beijing to mark a significant date in the history of US-China relations - exactly 30 years ago, on February 21, 1972, President Nixon's historic visit to China began, which turned the United States and China from adversaries into allies. Early in his presidential career, George W.

The owner of Niva bequeathed everything to a children's foundation 438 2 minutes. ... There is another big scandal on the alcohol market in St. Petersburg. One of the co-owners of the Niva group of factories, Anton Khokhlov, is actively distributing his own will and open appeal, in which he accuses the directors of his enterprises of attempting physical violence against him. The managers themselves claim that they do not understand why Mr. Khokhlov is dissatisfied.

6 3 min. ... Series Redemption Last (% of nominal) Volume (million rubles) YTM (% per annum) MICEX (Lennoblast) 25001 12/20/04 95.08 3,759 21.47 MICEX (Moscow) 24014 06/18/02 100.20 4,009 15.10 24015 09.21.02 100.40 5.321 15.03 24016 12/25/02 100.40 10,040 15.27 25018 02/03/03 99.95 17,993 15.90 25019 06.03.03 99.95 5,996 15.94 25020 04/15/03 99.77 6,529 16.06 SPVB (St.

350 passengers died in the fire 82 2 minutes. ... A fire in Egypt killed 350 passengers on the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan train. Most of the victims of the unprecedented tragedy were heading to their relatives to celebrate Eid al-Adha. The Cairo-Luxor-Aswan passenger train left the Egyptian capital at 11 pm local time on Tuesday and was due to arrive in Aswan at 11 am on Wednesday. However, at about 2 o'clock in the morning a fire broke out in one of the carriages.

Insurers offer their clients 21 4 min. ... St. Petersburg insurance companies have recently been actively developing a relatively new type of service for themselves - liability insurance. However, the level of payments in this area remains extremely low, and compensation can mainly be obtained only through legal proceedings. And clients themselves enter into liability insurance contracts either under duress (if the type is mandatory) or for advertising purposes.

On February 21, the American television company ABCnews reported that Bolivian President Jorge Fernando Ramirez Quiroga declared a state of emergency in the country's capital, La Paz. The decision came after a powerful hurricane that hit the city a day earlier killed at least 36 people. Over 100 people were injured. In addition, according to ABCnews , transport links and power supplies have been disrupted in La Paz.

Joschka Fischer came to shame the Czech Prime Minister 43 3 min. ... Yesterday, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer arrived in Prague. On the eve of the visit of German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to the Czech Republic, Mr. Fischer will try to hush up the scandal in relations between Berlin and Prague, caused by insulting statements by Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman about the Sudeten Germans, whom he called Hitler’s fifth column.

Yesterday, after a difficult and lengthy discussion, the State Duma adopted 67 3 min. ... Yesterday, after a difficult and lengthy discussion, the State Duma adopted the bill “On Citizenship” in the second reading. The fight between supporters and opponents of tightening the rules for accepting Russian citizenship was so intense that the final version of the draft contained many provisions that contradict each other. Report by DMITRY Kommersant-KAMYSHEV.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon denied on February 21 the statement of the Palestinian security service about the arrest of the killers of Israeli Minister Rehavam Zaevi. Only if the two perpetrators and the mastermind of this murder were arrested did Israel promise to allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to leave Ramallah, where he is being held under house arrest.

During a meeting on the evening of February 20 in Rabat, King Mohammed VI of Morocco and US CIA Director George Tenet discussed the course of the international anti-terrorist operation and its impact on the situation in the Middle East region. According to unofficial data, at the negotiations the parties also considered possible ways of a Middle East settlement in connection with the upcoming new Arab initiative to resolve the crisis in this region.

On February 21, the international environmental forum “Dialogue on the Earth” opens in Lyon, France. The purpose of the meeting is to attract the attention of world public opinion to the need for careful treatment of nature. The forum is organized by the International Green Cross, the Earth Council and other international public organizations.

On February 21, it became known that the men's teams of Canada and Norway reached the finals of the curling competition at the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. In the semi-finals, the Canadians beat the Swedish team with a score of 6:4, and the Norwegians defeated the Swiss in the extra end by a minimal margin - 7:6. The final and match for 3rd place will take place on February 22.

and is preparing to lift the first compartment of the Kursk 29 2 minutes. ... A new special-purpose expedition is being created in the Northern Fleet - to recover fragments of the first compartment of the Kursk nuclear submarine. The new commander of the Northern Fleet, Vice Admiral Gennady Suchkov, announced this yesterday at his first meeting with journalists.

On February 21, the press service of the Voronezh Region Internal Affairs Directorate reported that law enforcement agencies managed to detain the second of two prisoners who committed a daring escape on January 28 in front of the guards. The first of the criminals was detained a few days after the escape, the second was in hiding for more than 2 weeks. Mitrofan Novichikhin was detained a few days after the escape.