A small helicopter crashed near the airport of the British city of Bornmut off the coast of La-Channel. Two people on board died. According to Israeli journalists, one of the dead was part of the leadership of the Menatep group. It is possible that we are talking about Stephen Curtis, managing director of Menatep, who was appointed to this position after the arrest of Plato Lebedev. In the Menatep itself, reports of the death of one of the leaders of the group were not confirmed.

The “ YUKOS case ,” which has become a familiar background over the past six months, today once again reminded us that the game is being played in earnest. The real scope is felt not in the billions of claims, but in the penny details. Today, hearings continued in the case of one of the shareholders of the oil company, Platon Lebedev. The Prosecutor General's Office sent a petition to the Basmanny Court to limit the period for his familiarization with the materials of his own criminal case.

At the now meeting of the Rodina faction, most of its members spoke out for the displacement of Sergei Glazyev from the post of leader of the faction. This was announced by the Vice Speaker of the State Duma Dmitry Rogozin, referring to the results of the plot of voting, RIA Novosti reports. According to Rogozin, out of 38 members of the faction 22 spoke out for the resign of Glazyv. Rogozin was appointed the head of the faction.

The commander of the US troops in Iraq, General John Abizaid, at a press conference in Baghdad, said that the American authorities have evidence of the direct involvement of one of the leaders of the Al-Qaeda International Terrorist organization Abu Musab al-Zarkavi in ​​recent terrorist attacks in Baghdad and Kerbel.

**President of the Russian Federation and his administration** President V. Putin met ...with the Governor of the Perm Region Yu. Trutnev and listened to his report on the progress of the unification of his region with the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. ...with the head of Sberbank of the Russian Federation A. Kazmin and listened to his report on the results of the bank’s activities in 2003.

In the Duma faction of the “homeland” a creeping coup was converted. While her leader Sergei Glazyev participated in the election debate on Radio of Russia, the State Duma Vice Speaker Dmitry Rogozin conducted a vote among the members of the faction on the issue of stagnation from the post of the head of the faction. According to Rogozin, out of 38 members of the faction 22 spoke out for the resign of Glazyv. Rogozin was appointed the head of the faction.

According to Interfax, Sergey Glazyev does not agree with his resignation from the post of chairman of the Rodina faction in the Duma. Although the signatures of 22 of the 38 members of the faction were collected for his resignation, he insists on holding tomorrow an extraordinary meeting of the faction in full force. He nominated this requirement after a two -hour meeting with his supporters. If Glazyev’s resignation is confirmed, changes in the Duma are expected tomorrow.

The day before, it became known that the Ministry of the Russian Federation on taxes and fees presented the Sibneft oil company to non -payment of taxes. As it managed to find out the newspaper Kommersant , the amount of taxes that were unpaid in 2000-2001 is not $ 1 billion, as previously reported, but $ 700 million.

I remember the classic phrase of one of the past premiers, either Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin, or in general Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov: “We have no time to think in the government. We only need to have time to sign what we are brought. ” Of course, links to greater employment can slightly cool the pressure of curious, but not for long. Because again it is so interesting what is guided by the head of government, signing a particular document. Or only the sum?

"Gazeta.ru" publishes the data of a telephone survey conducted by an independent analytical center in Moscow and St. Petersburg, regarding the nomination by a candidate for prime minister Mikhail Fradkov. Only 13% of respondents said that, thanks to the nomination of the figure of Fradkov, the future course of the president clarified. The remaining 87% do not understand what this course will be.

Firefighters managed to localize a fire in the building of the Moscow Arbitration Court. According to RIA Novosti, the representative of the operational headquarters to eliminate the fire, the spilling of the building will continue for a long time. Meanwhile, smoke still comes from the attic window of the building. At the scene, work is underway to liquidate the fire. The signal of the fire arrived at the on -duty remote control at about 21:00 Moscow time.

The French railway company SNCF was sent ten thousand people of working personnel in search of bombs after the French authorities received a letter from an unknown AZF terrorist group, which reported 10 bombs laid down the entire network, BBC reports. Railway workers, searches that began on Wednesday, have not found anything so far, said the representative of SNCF Francois Remi reported BBC News Online. “These people are experts.

The Catholic leaders of Germany expressed dissatisfaction with the show of Mel Gibson's film “The Passion of Christ”. They said that it can be used in inciting anti -Semitism, reports Reuters . “We call against the use of the suffering of Christ as an instrument for anti -Semitism,” the signed statement said based on the results of the conference of German bishops. In their opinion, a film, which in detail shows the cruelty of the last hours of Christ's life, is belittled by a biblical message.

The Russian side, in negotiations with the WTO, is ready to increase the quota for foreign banks in the Russian market to 25%, said Vladimir Khrebtov, deputy head of the Central Bank of Russia Department. According to Khretov, it is now proposed to double the size of the quota. He recalled that at present, the quota for foreign banking capital is 12%, RIA Novosti reports.

On March 2, 2004, the efforts of the Chechen and Ingush authorities ceased to exist the largest in Ingushetia, the Camp of the Forced Migrants of Bart, located in the city of Karabulak, the Republic of Ingushetia. A significant part of the refugees was forced to look for housing in the private sector in the territory of the Republic of Ingushetia, reports ROO “Human Rights Office” with reference to the Council of non -governmental organizations.