Ankara has diverted NATO's attention away from Moscow Relations between Russia and NATO, frozen last year after the outbreak of the Yugoslav war and which began to “thaw” last spring, have entered a stage of stabilization. This conclusion can be drawn based on the results of the next meeting of the Russia-NATO joint permanent council at the level of foreign ministers, held at the end of last week in Brussels.

The search for the most promising applicants among high school students has long been a tradition at many universities. However, if previously only a few large universities were mainly involved in identifying and selecting promising applicants, now the need for this has become obvious for many institutions. Several state universities - the Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization ISAA at Moscow State University, the Hebrew University in Moscow (EUM), the Academy.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, on behalf of the capital's authorities, signed an agreement with the British company TWR Group, which in the recent past was a co-owner of the Formula 1 team, to begin investment and construction of a multi-purpose motor sports complex in the Nagatinskaya floodplain area. The main element of the complex should be a track for auto racing in the Formula 1 class.

On Saturday evening in Moscow, Novaya Gazeta journalist Oleg Lurie was attacked. Several unknown people ambushed the journalist near the entrance and severely beat him. The victim himself connects the attack with the publication of some materials and a speech in the “Voice of the People” program on December 15. According to him, this is evidenced by the fact that the attackers only beat him, but did not try to take anything from him - neither money, nor a car, nor a mobile phone.

- Why did you decide to play in the new film by Francois Ozon? - I think this is an unusual film. Unusual in the way the director sees the situation. This is not a traditional love story with romantic music, but a minimalist film. It is more of a research, a search for answers to questions. Nevertheless, the viewer feels what is happening very deeply. - What do you think happened to the main character’s husband? -- It doesn't matter.

The three official heirs of the President of the SFRY - sons Zharko and Alexander Misha and widow Jovanka - had virtually nothing to share after his death. The heirs had no problems with royalties from the publication of the marshal’s books (about 3.5 thousand dollars), and everything else - villas, cars, ships and planes - belonged to the state.

Anatoly Chubais does not expect favors from the government In the issue of reforming the electric power industry, which the government considered on Friday, the casuistic formulation proposed by the Kremlin at the beginning of the year “to approve reforms on a market basis” again won.

Lithuanian border guards detained a deserter from the Russian army. While inspecting the Kaliningrad-Moscow train, the squad discovered a young man in civilian clothes under the mail car. Apart from a pack of cigarettes, the border guards found nothing on him. During interrogation, it turned out that the detainee was a spring conscription soldier who had fled from the Kaliningrad region.

Diamond trade is growing, Russia's participation in it is declining De Beers Corporation reported sales of $5,670 million in 2000, up 8% from the previous year and significantly higher than the disastrous 1998 ($3,345 million). The corporation attributes its success to the growth of retail sales around the world, excluding Japan. Traditionally, not a word is said about Russia: the jewelry trade here is completely insignificant and does not make a difference on the world market.

Josip Broz Tito turned the 117-meter beautiful steamship “Galeb” (“Seagull”) with a displacement of 5,100 tons into a symbol of his Balkan empire. The marshal, who preferred sea travel to air travel, spent a total of almost a year and a half on board the ship, circumnavigating the globe four times, visiting India, Indonesia, Egypt, and many European countries.

State and public human rights defenders agreed on cooperation What seemed impossible just recently has come true. At the end of last week, a protocol on interaction was solemnly signed between the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Oleg Mironov. Until some time, non-state rights defenders and the “rights” official were on opposite sides of the human rights fence.

The first book in the Harry Potter series was published in Russian The story of writer Joan Kathleen Rowling is too good to be true. A divorced wife, with a young daughter, without money and work, in short moments of rest sits in a cafe, while the child sleeps in a stroller nearby, and writes a book that is destined to become a bestseller.

Alexander Wilson, President of the Association of Non-State Educational Institutions, talks about the “national characteristics” of Russian private schools. — Calling our non-state schools private would not be entirely correct. The private school is independent. And, by the way, in most developed countries, non-state schools are called exactly that - independent. And non-state schools in Russia are very dependent on the state.

Vladimir Filippov, Minister of Education Many people accuse us of making education less accessible. We offer parents to co-finance education, cancel scholarships based on academic performance, and allegedly reduce budget funding. In fact, already at the first stage of reform, the growth rate of budget funds for education will be faster than the growth rate of the budget as a whole.

Is the chess world close to the emergence of an absolute champion? Indian Viswanathan Anand and Spanish citizen of Russian origin Alexey Shirov will meet in the final of the world chess championship using the so-called “knockout system”. This became known after these two grandmasters, with the same score of 2.5:1.5, defeated their semi-final opponents in the capital of India - the British Michael Adams and the 17-year-old Russian Alexander Grischuk, respectively.