Tomorrow, the Moscow City Court is scheduled to consider the cassation appeal of a subsidiary of the Media-Most holding - the Gibraltar company Media Most Capital and Management Ltd - on the cancellation of the decision of the Cheryomushkinsky court to transfer ownership of a subsidiary of Gazprom-Media - Leadville Investment Ltd - 19% of shares television company NTV and 25% plus one share of other holding companies.

A Swedish hostage is freed by Mai-Mai rebels aligned with anti-government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to RIA Novosti , yesterday 33-year-old Bjorn Rungsten was released in exchange for a used Volvo truck. He was held captive by the rebels for a month and a half. Soon Rungsten will be transported to Uganda, where his wife and two sons are waiting for him. There are 18 more hostages in captivity of the Mai-Mai tribe.

In the coming winter, road salt will no longer be used as an anti-icing agent in Moscow. The mayor of the city, Yuri Luzhkov, announced this today at a meeting of the capital’s government. According to him, “this decision is final and will not be subject to any doubts,” he added. As the mayor noted, this decision is a logical continuation of the ban on dumping dirty snow into the Moscow River and Yauza, as well as the creation of special snow melters in the capital, Interfax reports.

The former number one on the planet, German Boris Becker, faces trial on charges of tax evasion. As a result, the fortune of the famous tennis player may decrease by 40 million marks. This was reported by Der Spiegel magazine. The multiple Grand Slam winner faces charges of tax evasion amounting to 25 million marks between 1990 and 1993, plus interest, costs and attorneys' fees. During these years, Monaco remained the official residence of the tennis player.

Based on the results of the second quarter of this year, Russia became one of the world leaders in terms of growth of stock exchange indicators, taking second place in the global list. This was announced by one of the leading international investment banks Merrill Lynch. As noted in the corporation's report, the number of "securities markets around the world showing positive growth" has generally increased compared to the previous quarter.

Muslim terrorists have freed two of the 23 hostages held in the jungles of the Philippine island of Basilan. As RIA Novosti reports, citing unofficial sources, a ransom was paid for the released hostages, the amount of which was not disclosed. The captives were discovered on the outskirts of the town of Lamitan by government troops during an operation against extremists that has been ongoing for two weeks. Terrorists are hiding in the mountains covered with impenetrable tropical forests.

The airport in the British city of Liverpool will soon change its name - in less than a year it will become known as John Lennon Airport. The decision to change the name was made relatively recently and not without the participation of the widow of the legendary musician. The day before, Yoko Ono took part in the presentation of the airport’s new logo. The image is a self-portrait of Lennon with the caption “Only the sky above us” - this is a line from the famous song by The Beatles - Imagine.

The leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine Pyotr Symonenko believes that Leonid Kuchma used the visit of Pope John Paul II to the country for his own political purposes, GazetaSNG.Ru reports. In his opinion, this visit helped the Ukrainian president strengthen his image, which was seriously damaged by the scandal surrounding the disappearance of opposition journalist Georgy Gongadze and audio recordings made by the former presidential bodyguard.

This became possible after the director of the regional radio and television transmission center, Konstantin Sokolov, and the general director of Kamchatskenergo, Yuri Delnov, reached an agreement to restore the center’s power supply. The management of VGTRK promised to fully repay the 400,000-dollar debt of ORTPS to Kamchatskenergo by July 6 for the energy consumed in May-June of this year, RIA Novosti reports.

According to the leadership of the federal forces in Chechnya, the operation in the Sharo-Argun Gorge is ending. Evidence of this is the beginning of the transfer of leadership from the border guards to the command of the United Group of Federal Forces in the North Caucasus.

French President Jacques Chirac spoke live on the Echo of Moscow radio station. The interview took place at the Metropol Hotel. In a conversation with the editor-in-chief of the radio station, Alexey Venediktov, several topics were raised that concern both the Russian and world communities in recent days. In particular, the conversation turned to the threat to freedom of speech in Russia.

In Rostov-on-Don, hearings continue in the case of Colonel Yuri Budanov, accused of murdering the Chechen girl Elza Kungaeva. The officer's interrogations are being held closed to the press. At the same time, new information about this sensational case appeared. According to the wife of Colonel Yuri Budanov, the Chechen girl Elsa Kungaeva, whose murder her husband is accused of, confessed during interrogation that she shot at the feds.

The leadership of the Islamic Salvation Front (IFS) of Algeria called for an end to the repression against the leader of this Islamist party, Sheikh Abbasi Madani, who is under house arrest, and his deputy, Sheikh Ali Benhadj, who is serving a sentence in a military prison in the city of Blida.

In the coming days, the issue of the extradition to Russia of Alexei Kornilov, suspected of murdering the Polish Catholic preacher Jan Fratskevich in the village of Yartsevo, Krasnoyarsk Territory, will be resolved. He was detained in one of the cities of Kazakhstan, the chief of police of the city of Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Roman Genitulov, reported to RIA Novosti on Monday.

The Pope shared his thoughts on his just completed visit to Ukraine, which, in his opinion, became part of God's plan for the new evangelization of Europe, the Blagovest-info agency reports. “A visit to Ukraine - a historical bridge between East and West - has long been my task, the fulfillment of which I have been waiting for and for which I have prayerfully prepared,” said John Paul II, addressing pilgrims gathered in St. Square from the window of the Apostolic Palace. Petra.