On April 16, the State Duma adopted in the second reading the presidential bill on the civil service system in the Russian Federation. 243 deputies voted for the document, 148 were against it, and two more abstained. According to the online publication gazeta.ru , the law was not supported by deputies of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Union of Right Forces , Yabloko and farmers.

138 1 min. ... The total length of the border between Russia and Kazakhstan, according to the south-eastern regional department of the Federal Border Guard Service of Russia, is 7598 km, the length of the land border is 4983 km. The Russian-Kazakh border is considered one of the main channels for the illegal import of narcotic substances, contraband goods and the penetration of illegal migrants into Russia.

In Primorye markets, medical checks of Chinese citizens are beginning to identify people with symptoms of SARS. The inspection teams include doctors, employees of the migration service and law enforcement agencies. During inspections, special attention will be paid to the availability of medical records and compliance with the permitted periods of stay on the territory of the Russian Federation.

or win four times 45 2 minutes. ... Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup winner Detroit Red Wings lost the third match of the first stage of the playoffs of the National Hockey League (NHL) to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. One more defeat and he’s out of the fight. There are no sensations planned in other series. After playing two matches in Detroit, where there was still snow, Detroit and Anaheim flew to hot California. But this circumstance had little effect on the course of the confrontation.

Sauber owner and driver visited Moscow 47 5 minutes. ... interview The owner of the Formula 1 Sauber team, Peter Sauber, and its driver Nick Heidfeld visited Moscow. The German pilot yesterday took part in a karting competition organized by MTS, which has been a sponsor of the Swiss stable since this season. Before PETER SAUBER and NICK HEIDFELD left Russia, Kommersant correspondent ALEXEY DOSPEPHOV spoke with them.

16 4 min. ... Personnel First Deputy Head of the Nefteyugansk District Yuri Chernyshov has been invited to work in the government of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. He was asked to head the district fund “Housing”, the main task of which is the development of housing construction with the help of extra-budgetary sources and the creation of a mortgage lending mechanism.

Basketball 36 1 min. ... NBA Championship Washington--New York 79:93. Atlanta--Orlando 100:84. Detroit--Cleveland 89:88 ( Ilgauskas (Cleveland), 22 points). New Jersey--New Orleans 74:87. Dallas--Seattle 109:106. Utah--San Antonio 83:91 ( Kirilenko (Utah), 18). Golden State--LA Clippers 113:122. Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 66 dated 04/16/2003, p. 23

On April 15, oil prices rose on the London Stock Exchange due to OPEC reports that at the cartel summit in Vienna on April 24, a decision could be made to reduce supplies. After the end of trading on the London International Petroleum Exchange, the price of a barrel of Brent mixture for delivery in May increased by $0.25 to $25.24. May Brent futures were traded on April 15 in London for the last day.

28 5 minutes. ... Well , that’s right, the company’s founder, Michael Robertson, had no business throwing around promises and tempting the computer community. Well, who pulled his tongue when he threatened to pay $100,000 in cash to anyone who could run the Linux operating system on the X-Box game console. Before the news of the fabulous award had time to spread across the Internet, a group of young programmers knocked on the company’s door.

Syria is Spain's best friend... 111 2 minutes. ... Yesterday, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said his country viewed Syria as a friend and not as the target of a possible military attack. According to the prime minister, he is going to call Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and persuade him not to provide asylum to the leaders of the overthrown Iraqi regime.

Russian airlines are reducing passenger flights to the southern provinces of China, where the largest number of people with SARS have been recorded. Stanislav Ovcharenko, head of the department of licensing and regulation of transportation of the State Civil Aviation Service of Russia ( GSCA ) of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, announced this on April 16. In particular, as Mr. Ovcharenko noted, the Dalavia company canceled flights to Guangzhou.

I have several reasons for this point of view. First. Our authors (the so-called creative intelligentsia) obviously fail to comprehend reality. Still would! After all, from the perspective of political institutions, the results of reforms are monstrous. But people go out onto the streets of Moscow and see a miracle - total freedom, which neither Europe nor America has ever dreamed of... The consequence of these inconsistencies is general disorientation.

95 6 min. ...

On April 16, Mexican Interior Minister Santiago Creel ordered an investigation into the illegal collection of information about citizens of this country by American intelligence agencies. According to the Mexican Ministry of Internal Affairs, American intelligence services, through the mediation of the Choice Point company, bought confidential information about more than 65 million Mexican citizens through local election commissions, ITAR-TASS reports.

12 1 min. ... Nikkei-225 7838.83 (+86.73) FTSE-100 3916.8 (+67.4) CAC-40 2921.52 (+46.54) DAX-30* 2848.76 (+71.98) DJIA* 8375.25 (+24.15) NASDAQ Composite* 1391.76 (+6.81) *At 21.00. According to Reuters.