Now in Grozny, 1700 young Chechens are trained to become police officers in the future. After the training course, 400 new policemen from 1700 will serve in Chechnya, and the rest will be sent to other areas of the country. The Vanguardia Catalonia newspaper interviewed Yurup, Chechen, who, among the 1700 residents of the republic, is preparing to become a policeman. For supporters of Moscow, she is a hero, and for rebels is a traitor.

The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation does not plan to cancel gold and silver medals for school graduates during the reform of Russian education. These awards "will remain signs of moral encouragement and stimulation of diligent students." This was announced to reporters on Wednesday First Deputy Minister of Education of Russia Viktor Bolotov.

On Wednesday, in the restaurant of the Beijing Hotel, the midfielder of the Moscow CSKA Sergey Semaku was awarded the title "Gentleman of the Year". The award was organized by the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, which annually awards this title to the most worthy football player and gives him a tailcoat, symbolizing the nobility and honesty of the nominee.

The French government announced today about the intention to sell up to 40% of the third largest Air France. Currently, the state is the main shareholder of the company, in its property - 54% of the shares. “The state will retain its presence in the Air France, but its share will be significantly reduced, and from 30% to 40% of the company’s shares will come to the market,” the Minister of Transport of France, Gilles de Robien, said after the Cabinet of Transport.

The State Duma today adopted a decision on the creation of a special commission in connection with the veto of the President of the Russian Federation, imposed on the bill adopted by the Federal Assembly on amendments to Article 4 of the Law on Mass Media and in Article 15 of the Law on Combating Terrorism. The bill was adopted by the State Duma on November 1, 2002 and approved by the Federation Council on November 13, 2002, but on November 25, the President of Russia rejected it .

The auction for the sale of the state stake in the oil company Slavneft took place. The state -package of 74.95% of the shares took only $ 1.86 billion. The buyer became the Investmentol LLC, which are owned by Sibneft and TNCs. Bidding ended 5 minutes after the auction opened and passed quite sluggishly. Officials have already expressed their displeasure due to the fact that Slavneft left the hammer so cheap.

One police officer died, two were injured as a result of a shootout in the village of Abdurashidaul of the Khasavyurt district of Dagestan. As ITAR-TASS reported in the press service of the Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs, the incident occurred on Wednesday in the morning. According to law enforcement agencies, the police outfit arrived in the village, working out operational information that there are three dangerous criminals, looking for various crimes.

In the UK, more than 1,200 people, including 50 police officers, were arrested by investigators checking 6,500 subscribers of the American website specializing in children's pornography, Daily Telegraph reports. It was also possible to reach 40 children who were recognized as potential victims of pedophiles. On the grounds that they are in danger from sexual rapists, all of them were transferred to social services. He will be provided with comprehensive assistance.

In St. Petersburg, in the city center, a residential building is on fire in the Admiralty district. According to the UGPS of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, a fire signal entered the panel of the “01” at 5:30 in the morning of Wednesday. Currently, all residents of the house are evacuated. Apartments of the third floor on an area of ​​150 sq m and an attic on an area of ​​300 kV m are burning. The fire was assigned a third increased level of complexity.

Meteorologists announced the day before that the outgoing year is the second to heat during systematic observations that began more than 140 years ago. According to climatologists, pollution from the industrial and agricultural activity of a person is guilly in the fact that in 2002 there was a “amazing” (at 0, 49 degrees), an increase in the average temperature value relative to the period of 1961-1990.

The incident occurred in the Novgorod region. According to RIA Novosti in the press service of the regional department of internal affairs, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, several yet established persons penetrated into the premises of the Valdai farm farm in the village of Izhitsa Valdai district, tied the watchman and scored 4 cows vaccinated from the Siberian ulcer. The criminals cut out the carcasses and carried away the meat with them.

The General Prosecutor's Office of Russia extended the investigation in the case of the murder of Galina Starovotova. This was reported on Wednesday by the press service of the FSB department in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. The investigation in this case expired on December 20, 2002.

Al-Qaeda created several camps for the preparation of terrorists in the east of Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. This was announced yesterday by Michael Chandler, head of the UN expert group, who identify al-Qaeda financing sources. According to Chandler, the camps are located near the Cyber ​​pass, but the American official emphasizes that there is no evidence of the resumption of any camps, Independent notes today.

It seems that the current champion of the NBA Los Angeles Lakers is gradually turning into an outsider. On the eve of the team of Phil Jackson, he was again defeated, this time from Minnesota Timberwulves with a score of 96:80. Lakers leaders Shakil O'Neill and Kobi Bryant were not as effective as usual, but this did not prevent them from becoming traditionally the best in their club. Shak’s asset has 17 points, while his partner Brian scored 15 points.

The 27-year-old gendarme Antonio Molina was killed, and his comrade was wounded in a shootout with ETA terrorists, which followed after they tried to check their documents. The Basque militants shot at point blank at Molina when he, on a gas station on the A-6 A-6 highway, asked them to present documents near Madrid. Although Molina quickly provided medical assistance, after 20 minutes he died from a mortal wound in his stomach. Both terrorists tried to run.