Moscow and Washington are arguing again about “absolute weapons” Yesterday, the domestic military-industrial complex celebrated an anniversary, which, moreover, turned out to be very relevant: March 4 marked exactly 40 years since the day when the B-1000 anti-missile missile launched from the Soviet Sary-Shagan test site was the first in the world to intercept and destroy the warhead of a ballistic missile .

The wreckage of Villeneuve's car killed the track marshal Michael Schumacher stood on the podium of the Melbourne circuit and listened to his country's anthem without a hint of joy. Victory at the Australian Grand Prix, which, by the way, everyone predicted for Shummi, seemed to come easily to the three-time world champion. However, the incident, during which the track marshal was killed by a piece of Villeneuve's crashed car, spoiled the opening celebration of the season.

The fight for NkAZ continues Tomorrow there will be a meeting of creditors following the results of external management at the Novokuznetsk Aluminum Smelter (NkAZ), which ends on March 20. Creditors will have to listen to the report of external manager Sergei Chernyshev and decide what to do next with the plant. The external manager has not yet proposed any specific proposal based on the results of the bankruptcy procedure. It is possible that he will do this at the meeting.

In Great Britain, special units have been created to identify and prosecute illegal teams of workers, in our words - covens. Customs officers, the country's tax department, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries have acquired such units. Tax evasion, practiced by English covens, costs the UK budget 100 million pounds sterling annually. Officials estimate there are up to 400 underground employers in the country, charging clients £3 per hour per worker and paying workers £1 per hour.

Sales tax deemed somewhat constitutional The Russian Constitutional Court recognized the existence of a sales tax as lawful. However, many provisions of the law “On the Fundamentals of the Tax System”, which establishes this tax, have been recognized as unconstitutional. In order to save regional budgets, the Constitutional Court made a paradoxical decision - it kept the illegal law in force, granting a deferment for its correction until January 1, 2002.

It took less than a day to inspect the airborne regiment and the Chechen village The results of the Caucasus trip of the President's Special Representative for Human Rights in Chechnya, Vladimir Kalamanov, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, were summed up at the end of last week. Vladimir Kalamanov, as expected, spoke about his inspection of the 45th Airborne Regiment in the village of Khatuni, Vedeno region, where he managed to fly for several hours.

Lobbyists retreat, but don't give up The government has taken the first step in freeing business from administrative supervision. On Friday, at an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, part of the first package of “deregulatory” bills prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development was approved. The first pancake almost went wrong: the government meeting did not end in a scandal only thanks to the efforts of Mikhail Kasyanov.

The Metropolitan Administration defends the legality of the sales tax The January 25, 2001 issue of Decent Money published an interview with Anna Pichkur, a specialist at the UNICON/MS consulting group, under the title “Sales tax is illegal.” It argued that the increase in sales tax in the city of Moscow to 5% from January 1, 2001 is illegal. The Moscow City Duma demanded that a refutation of this information be published.

“Swan Lake” by Yuri Grigorovich was revived at the Bolshoi This “Swan” is not a new performance. Staged in 1969, it went down in history as an innovation, scandal and sensation. Innovation - because Yuri Grigorovich was one of the first to decide to make a ballet with a tragic ending, as Tchaikovsky intended. The sensation was that for the first time on the Soviet ballet stage, a positive hero did not look so positive.

The Chechen government demands maximum powers Prime Minister Stanislav ILYASOV told Vremya Novostey correspondent Natalya GORODETSKAYA about the work of the new government of Chechnya. — How do you like working with Akhmad Kadyrov? He seems quite ambitious... - We solve all economic issues together. As for ambitions, maybe once before he was like that.

The President appeared in the dock of the Hague Tribunal The Hague International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia can finally boast that a president has appeared in the cells of a special block of the Schevinengin penitentiary complex. Biljana Plavsic, 70, who voluntarily surrendered to international justice on Wednesday morning, became the highest-ranking politician from a country involved in the Balkan wars to face the law.

Unfinished military-technical cooperation reform hinders arms exports Russian arms dealers are once again plagued by bureaucratic confusion and bureaucratic conflicts. Disagreements between the Rosoboronexport company and the Committee on Military-Technical Cooperation with Foreign States under the Ministry of Defense have led to serious problems for military-industrial complex enterprises that have the right to independently enter the foreign market.

You need to know how to take advantage of discounted home insurance Muscovites have already become accustomed to the column “home insurance”, placed on a par with rent and utilities in their housing books. Insurance is not required, but many people pay it - the rates are very attractive. Meanwhile, in the event of a flood or fire, getting money from insurance companies is not so easy: you need to clearly know the rules for paying for insurance and behavior in the event of an insured event.

A serious fire occurred yesterday in an underground tunnel under the Moscow River in the southern district of the capital. At 9.10 am, the duty department of the State Police Department received a message that thick smoke was pouring out of the collector running under the river. Firefighters who arrived at the metro station determined that pipe windings were burning in the underground tunnel of the heating network and high-voltage power cables.

The once glorious fighter lost again What happened on Saturday in the ring at the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas can be called a real sensation. Four-time world champion American Evander Holyfield lost his WBA championship belt to his compatriot with Puerto Rican roots, John Ruiz. The knockdown that Holyfield suffered in the 11th round played a decisive role in the judges’ verdict. The fight turned out to be stubborn, but at first it looked quite sticky - the boxers clinched too often.