St. Petersburg vice-governors are being prepared for trial The investigation of the criminal case against the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Valery Malyshev, who is accused of bribery, was completed by the Office of the Prosecutor General for the Northwestern Federal District. The official began to familiarize himself with the materials of “his” investigation, after which they will go to court.

Authorities fear a repeat of the 1999 tragedy A powerful earthquake occurred yesterday in Afyon province, in western Turkey. According to initial unofficial information, about 35 people were killed and over 150 were injured, dozens of whom are in serious condition. The city of Bolvadin suffered more than others. The first strike of the elements with a force of 6 on the Richter scale was followed by almost sixty more (!).

Valentin Moiseev remains in prison The Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Moscow City Court on August 14 last year against the former head of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Valentin Moiseev, and rejected the complaint of his lawyers. Valentin Moiseev was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. This decision did not satisfy either side.

A large batch of rare earth metal of the platinum group - the isotope osmium-187 - worth more than a million dollars was recently seized from underground dealers by employees of the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District. The detectives' catch amounted to only six grams of this substance, however, according to experts, this is almost gigantic in size for the Russian illegal market.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin RAMADAN told Vremya Novostei special correspondent Elena SUPONINA what the Iraqi leadership thinks about the US threats. -- The US President named Iraq among the states that threaten global stability. Are you ready for the counter-terrorism operation to fall on you? - This is not the first time Bush has said this.

Khabibullin stood out even among the stars Last weekend, almost the entire NHL gathered in Los Angeles. For another stellar weekend was held in this sunny Californian city, the crown of which was the 52nd All Stars match. If we sum up all the events of the holiday, we will find that an unconditional victory was achieved by representatives of the “Rest of the World” (that is, Europe), who for the fifth year in a row had been sorting out their fundamental relations with the North Americans.

The clarification of relations in the courts between military registration and enlistment offices and young people demanding the replacement of military service with an alternative one began soon after such a legal norm appeared in state documents. The right to alternative civil service was enshrined in the Russian Declaration of Human and Civil Rights in November 1991.

The legality of experiments in the regions still needs to be proven While the discussion of the pros and cons of bills on ACS continues, in some regions experiments are already underway on the real implementation of an alternative service. In Perm, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod, politicians increase their popularity by showing this kind of concern for conscripts. In Perm there are only ten alternative artists, in Vladimir there are also about a dozen.

A year before the start of the elections, candidates for the post of governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory were determined The three largest Russian corporations operating in the Krasnoyarsk Territory seem to have decided on their political preferences. RAO Norilsk Nickel is represented in the political elite of the region by the head of Taimyr, Alexander Khloponin. RAO UES of Russia has been actively friends with the current governor of the region, Alexander Lebed, for the last year.

Saparmurat Niyazov was proud of Russia for half an hour Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, who is going to Moscow on a working visit on January 21, hopes to sign here “a document that will determine the legal basis for relations between the two countries.” The Turkmen leader stated this yesterday in Ashgabat before the start of a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

The First Comics Festival is taking place in Moscow Of all the genres of Western mass culture that so easily entered into Russian post-perestroika usage, the worst situation was with comics. In the West, many periodicals traditionally have their own artists, and this kind of relaxation for the eyes is valued by readers no less than crossword puzzles and astrological forecasts.

Personnel changes have occurred in the Accounts Chamber. By order of the chairman of the joint venture, Sergei Stepashin, Mstislav Afanasyev was appointed head of the apparatus of the joint venture. In addition, the head of the secretariat, Mr. Stepashin himself, was replaced: instead of Vladimir Engelsberg, this position was taken by his former deputy Sergei Fateev. Mr. Afanasyev is a well-known figure in government circles.

The other day, employees of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs detained a high-ranking (formerly) official of the government of Yakutia (last name not given) and a planner for the Swiss International Labor Organization, a resident of Geneva, Adel Gromov. They tried to sell bills of exchange from the government of the Republic of Yakutia with a face value of $100 million, which, as detectives found out, should have been destroyed two years ago.

The Badaling Safari Animal World park outside Beijing has announced that it plans to donate one of its young lions to the Kabul Zoo, where the legendary lion Marjan, given to the Afghans by Germany 38 years ago, recently died of old age. “People need peace, and animals need peace even more,” said Wang Wei, deputy general manager of the park, when asked about the symbolic meaning planned for this gift. "TIME FOR NEWS"

An exhibition of defense radio electronics will be held in Nizhny Novgorod The Russian authorities are seriously concerned about the development of domestic defense radio electronics. To attract investors and potential partners, defense companies will hold an international exhibition and conference of military and dual technologies “New technologies in radio electronics and control systems” in early April in Nizhny Novgorod. This will be the second Russian exhibition for defense industry.