President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko confirmed in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin that Minsk is ready to switch to market relations with Russian natural gas suppliers, RIA Novosti reports . “I spoke with Lukashenko twice on the gas issue. He confirmed his readiness to switch to market relations with Russian gas suppliers,” Putin said, speaking at a meeting in the Cabinet of Ministers. “We have no problems with supplies to Belarus.

The Iranian Council of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution has rejected a project that would include inclusion in the country's electoral legislation and allow simplified participation of candidates from the reformist party in parliamentary elections, the BBC News website reports. The draft amendments to the law were agreed upon by deputies of the current parliament on January 25.

British record company Wall of Sound celebrated its tenth anniversary on Sunday at Moscow's Propaganda club. At the same time, it was considered a cause for celebration that the Russian capital appeared on the MTV MASH TOUR LIVE route. All this was generally intended for fans of electronic dance music. For them, DJs Visitor, Themroc, Jacques Lu Conte (Les Rhythmes Digitales), Young Drills (a side project of the Tetris group) and Midnight Mashers gathered in one place.

Ballerina Anastasia Volochkova intends to receive compensation for moral damage in the amount of one million US dollars from the General Director of the Bolshoi Theater Anatoly Iksanov, Interfax reports . “Today I met with my lawyer and looked at the lawsuit. It will be filed with the Tverskoy Municipal Court of Moscow on February 2. The amount that I intend to recover from Mr.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has completed the preliminary investigation into the case of Yukos security officer Alexei Pichugin, Interfax reports .

At least 16 people were killed in road accidents caused by a cyclone that brought freezing rain and snow to the US East Coast from the central regions of the country on Sunday, the Associated Press reported. About 10 domestic flights have been delayed or cancelled, and there are reports of power outages.

Moscow authorities promise not to fine car owners who did not manage to pay the transport tax before January 20. This was reported by the daily newspaper " Gazeta " in a material published on Monday. According to the publication, to date only 20 percent of motorists have received notifications to pay the fee. The rest will have to make the payment within a month after receiving a registered letter from the tax authorities.

At the negotiations between Colin Powell and President Putin that ended on Monday in the Kremlin, the US Secretary of State said that America does not intend to deploy its military bases in Georgia, Interfax reports .

Michael Schumacher, together with Ferrari teammates Rubens Barrichello and Luca Badoer, presented a new car that should lead the Italian team to another championship title in 2004, reports BBC News. During the presentation, the six-time world champion said that this year the fight for the championship title will be tougher than ever. “This season will be similar to the previous one. The fight between Ferrari, Williams and McLaren will be very tough.

The former head of the American commission on weapons in Iraq, David Kay, suggested that part of Iraq's stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction were taken to neighboring Syria before the outbreak of hostilities. As reported by BBC News, on Sunday the Syrian leadership issued a refutation of Kay's statements, calling them "baseless lies" spread as an excuse for the failed search for weapons of mass destruction carried out in Iraq.

American Indian tribes living in the United States intend to seek amendments to the national security law and gain the right to criminally prosecute non-Indian people. Thus, the indigenous inhabitants of the American continent are going to confront the terrorist threat on their lands, reports the website of The Washington Times newspaper.

The Carmen film company, in collaboration with the English tea Ahmad, continues to release on video the legendary English series Jeeves and Wooster. A cassette with the seventh and eighth episodes of the film has been released. As in previous episodes, the rich dunce Worcester has to get out of numerous sticky situations. And the brilliant valet - the standard of the English servant - Jeeves helps him in this.

Intel Corporation is going to locate part of its production in Russia, RIA Novosti reports . Acting Minister of Industry, Science and Technology of the Russian Federation Andrei Fursenko and President of the Russian representative office of Intel Corporation Steve Chase discussed this issue at the negotiations. Intel products manufactured at Russian enterprises will go not only to the domestic market, but will also be exported.

The first chess super tournament of the year in the Dutch Wijk aan Zee was won by world rapid chess champion Viswanathan Anand from India. World champion in classical chess, Russian Vladimir Kramnik, took only sixth place. Two other Russian participants in the tournament, Evgeny Bareev and Peter Svidler, remained in eighth and ninth places. Before the last round, Anand and Hungarian Peter Leko and Englishman Michael Adams, who were 0.5 points behind him, claimed victory.

Portuguese Benfica and Hungarian national team striker Miklas Fehér died of a heart attack during his team's away match in the Portuguese Championship against Vitoria Guimarães. The 24-year-old football player fell on the field shortly before the end of the match. The medical personnel who served the match immediately called an ambulance, but the efforts of the doctors were in vain, reports Reuters.