The former head of the Tax Code of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, made a statement about the information that appeared in a number of media outlets about the connections of the main shareholders of the Menatep group with ethnic gangs. Note that on the NTV channel an announcement of the Sunday program called "The Terrorist Taken with Prepayment" appeared.

The wizards of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball have intended to do what the US team in Athens failed to beat the Argentine national team, the Olympics champion. The prize to the winner is 1 million dollars, which is planned to be paid thanks to the funds received from paid cable channels, reports Soviet Sport with reference to AFP.

The law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation suppressed the criminal activity of a group of employees of the Moscow police, exposed in an attempt to organize the so -called "roof" of drug sales. This was reported on Friday "Interfax" in the group of information and public relations of the Office of the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Control of Drug Control in the Moscow Region.

The ruble strengthened to the dollar over 8 months of this year by 5.3%, although in August the first time since the beginning of the year was slightly cheaper, the economy’s monitoring published by the Ministry of Economic Development said. The real exchange rate of the ruble to the dollar decreased by 0.2%in August.

Russian Maria Sharapova entered the semifinals of the tournament of the second category of the women's tennis association in Beijing, whose prize fund is 585 thousand dollars. A 17-year-old Russian woman in a quarter-finals sown under the third number won Elena Yankovich from Serbia and Montenegro. Sharapova did not even have to play the match to the end: with a score of 5: 2 in favor of the Russian athlete Yankovich, she refused to further struggle.

In the starting match of the match Russia - Thailand Igor Andreev, on the courts of the Luzhniki Sports Palace, in three sets, outplayed the most titled tennis player as part of the rivals Paradorne Sicapan - 7: 5, 6: 2, 6: 4. The male team of Russia in tennis led in the account in the confrontation with Thailand in the Davis Play-Off Cup match for the right to stay in the world group.

The Moscow Football Club "Lokomotiv" continues to pursue a policy of "point selection" and now intends to acquire the forward of the youth team of Russia and Moscow "Torpedo" Igor Lebedenko. According to the press service of Lokomotiv , on the eve of the club officially notified Torpedo that he was negotiating with Lebedenko. The contract of the player of the youth team of Russia with Torpedo expires at the end of 2004.

On the eve of Moscow, the second meeting of the joint working group to resolve the problems between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches ended. As part of the meeting, the negotiation participants visited the Rodnichok Catholic shelter in the village of Rybakov Dmitrovsky District of the Moscow Region.

The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the first reading amendments to the Federal Law "On Physical Education and Sports in the Russian Federation", prohibiting amateur athletes to use doping. This bill provides for the clarification of the text of the law.

The Mufti of the Chechen Republic Akhmed Shamaev called for introducing the death penalty for terrorists and taking under state control of the mosque in the Russian Federation, Interfax reports. “We need the death penalty so that he feels what a bullet is,” said A. Shamayev, speaking on the eve of the State Duma at a meeting of a round table dedicated to the improvement of anti -terrorism legislation.

The Moscow City Court on Friday, September 24, will take away the jury in the case of an employee of the Security Service of Yukos Alexei Pichugin, said the lawyer of the defendant Georgy Kaganer. "In total, 60 candidates will be invited for the selection, from which 12 jury and spare will be selected," the lawyer said. He recalled that the selection of jury in this case, for various reasons, was postponed four times already.

Alexander Kuzmuk was again appointed Minister of Defense of Ukraine. The Decree was signed by the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, the press service of the head of the Ukrainian state said. Kuzmuk has already headed the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from July 1996 to October 2001. Since March 2002, a 50-year-old Army General has been a People’s Deputy of Ukraine, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense.

The leaders of the Christians of the Indian state of Oriss condemn the recently held ceremony of “returning Christians” to Hinduism and criticize the state authorities for the inability to apply the law that restricts the freedom of appeal from one faith to another, Blagovet-Info reports. “The government did nothing to stop this,” said Pastor Parinch, president of the Oris branch of the All -Indian Christian Council.

At least three people were killed and 14 were injured as a result of a powerful explosion, which thundered on Friday in the center of Baghdad on Palestina Street. This was reported with reference to the capital's medical sources. The causes of the explosion are not yet known. It is possible that a reactive or mortar shell exploded on the street, ITAR-TASS reports.

The capital of Peru Lima for several days has become a place of concentration of the priestesses of love. On Thursday, the congress of representatives of the ancient profession from leading Latin American countries opened here, RIA Novosti reports. The purpose of the meeting is to achieve the official recognition of prostitutes' right to work and suppress persecution against priestesses of love. The official name of the meeting is the international congress of leaders of sex workers.