The creation of a unified Compulsory Medical and Social Insurance Fund (MHIF), planned for the beginning of 2003, is already causing unrest among practicing doctors and health care managers. Doctors fear that after the merger of the now independent medical and social funds, the share of funds that will be allocated from the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund to the healthcare sector will decrease. And even today it is small.

Discipline in the SPS party will be strict The meeting of the leaders of the Union of Right Forces with President Vladimir Putin, in addition to the officially stated legislative agenda, also had purely party implications. SPS is being transformed into a party. The founding congress will take place in a month.

The exquisitely designed Bibliotheca Stylorum series of the St. Petersburg "ABC" unexpectedly continued with the new novel by Milorad Pavich "Starry Mantle" (2000). Of course, it was known that the Serbian master was writing something new, but Larisa Savelyeva’s work on the Russian translation of this “astrological reference book for the uninitiated” was carried out in secret from Foreign Literature, the publication of which previously, as a rule, preceded Pavich’s book publications.

Japan's new prime minister loves unconventional approaches Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's 59-year-old health minister, will be formally appointed as the country's prime minister tomorrow. In the fight for the post of leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, he easily beat his rivals - ex-Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Minister of Economy and Finance Taro Aso.

The FBI has brought the case of two Russian hackers accused of numerous computer crimes to a Seattle court. Chelyabinsk residents - 20-year-old Alexey Ivanov and 25-year-old Vasily Gorshkov, using “holes” in the Windows NT program, stole credit card numbers from banks and electronic stores for a long time. In particular, the FBI believes that they are responsible for the notorious theft of 15 thousand credit card numbers from Western Union Bank in Denver, committed in September last year.

Georgian military is ready to replace the Russians in Vaziani Yesterday, the final stage of the withdrawal of military equipment from the 137th Russian Vaziani base near Tbilisi began. Although it will be officially closed by July 1, as stipulated by OSCE decisions, the Georgian authorities are already figuring out what to do with the vacated facility.

Dmitry Dibrov published a letter on his website in which he informed his online fans about his decision to accept Konstantin Ernst’s offer to come work for ORT.

The Board of Directors of Gazprom yesterday approved in principle the company's participation in the purchase of shares in the new issue of Sibur in order to maintain control over this petrochemical holding.

Today, as part of the qualifying round for the 2002 World Cup, a match between the national teams of Yugoslavia and Russia will take place, which, due to its postponement for six months, retains a tinge of scandal. Until now, the Russian Football Union is looking for those responsible for the fact that the match did not take place as scheduled on a neutral field, but only at the end of April in Belgrade.

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A unique robbery of its kind, committed under the guise of a wedding, occurred the other day in Khabarovsk. A wedding cortege drove into one of the residential areas of the city. The festively dressed young people and the bride and groom got out of the car. In front of dozens of residents, they solemnly walked into the entrance of a multi-story building.

Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson slightly overshadowed the stay of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov in Stockholm. Mr Persson, as the Presidency of the European Union, could not help but express concern about the situation in Chechnya and freedom of the media in Russia. Mikhail Kasyanov reacted calmly, saying that the commercial dispute between Gazprom and NTV had nothing to do with the infringement of the rights of journalists. However, Mr.

The 5th Art Moscow fair opened Last year's Art Moscow fair is memorable for the purchases that Zurab Tsereteli made there, against all logic. The current one, which opened yesterday at the Central House of Artists on Krymsky Val, will probably also be commercially successful (we'll wait until April 29, when the fair closes). But even now something else is clear: a real exhibition of contemporary art has opened in Moscow. Maybe just for a few days.

Italian intelligence services discovered a “KGB trace” in Yugoslavia The Italian authorities recently began the largest investigation in recent years into the illegal supply of weapons to Yugoslavia and Turkey by the “Russian mafia” and large entrepreneurs. It is already clear that this case will be one of the most high-profile - for the first time in such a scandal the names of specific people who did business in the Yugoslav war are heard.

For two more days The acute political confrontation in Ukraine, in the center of which is Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, reached its climax yesterday. The Verkhovna Rada never dismissed the government, although everything was moving towards that, and passions ran high. 268 deputies - members of the communist and oligarch factions - spoke in favor of immediately passing a vote of no confidence.