Ten percent of road accidents in Russia occur due to poor technical condition of cars Every year on Russian roads there are 140-180 thousand registered large and small traffic accidents, as well as three times as many minor accidents, for the registration of which the traffic police are not involved - car owners try to separate amicably. As a result, over one and a half million cars are sent for repairs every year.

Possible bombing in Iraq drives up oil prices World oil prices have been growing daily over the past week and are already approaching the levels of five months ago. In September, after the terrorist attacks in the United States, there was a sharp rise in prices for several days due to the threat of attacks on Iraq. Now there is a similar situation - the impending overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime is talked about almost every day.

Two shipwrecks of Russian ships occurred on Saturday in the Pacific Ocean near the Kuril Islands. At night, near the island of Simushir, during a storm, the fishing schooner Utesnaya, on which there were 15 crew members, sank. Fortunately, everyone managed to get onto inflatable rafts, and three hours later they were picked up by a transport refrigerator that happened to be nearby. From there yesterday they were transported by another trawler to the mainland.

Today the State Duma will hold parliamentary hearings on the draft of the new Customs Code - a document of fundamental importance for both the government and business. First Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee Yuri AZAROV told Vremya Novostey correspondent Vera BRYCHEVA about the main provisions of the project. — What, in your opinion, are the specifics of the draft Customs Code? - We did it taking into account three main conditions.

The Russian tobacco market is undergoing significant changes. If earlier its largest players were concerned about how to get rid of fakes and counterfeit products, as well as the problem of competition with small manufacturers, now the construction of distribution networks is coming to the fore. President of the Eastern Europe region Andre KALANTZOPOULOS told Vremya Novostey correspondent Anfisa VORONINA about the policy of the transnational company Philip Morris International in this direction.

Airborne Forces must become parts of constant readiness The fate of the Russian “blue berets” should be finally decided by the end of March. On Monday, the General Staff begins an unprecedented inspection of the airborne troops.

The US Vice President himself is arriving in the Middle East The program of “constant military pressure” on the Palestinians, adopted a week ago by the “security cabinet” of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has been disavowed. In a televised speech on Friday evening, Sharon expressed his readiness to negotiate peace with the Palestinians and abandon demands for an end to acts of violence committed by suicidal fanatics.

City Hall calls on citizens to fight the telephone monopoly Employees of JSC Moscow City Telephone Network are having a hard day today. In the afternoon, a crowd of citizens is expected under the windows of their office on Petrovsky Boulevard, dissatisfied with the plans to introduce time-based telephone charges. The rally promises to be not only crowded, but also, importantly, sanctioned - this means that you cannot easily get rid of aggressive citizens with placards.

The Directors Guild of America chose its favorite The pre-Oscar race continues. Two weeks before March 24, the favorite film became known, which, with a high degree of probability, will bring Oscars to its director and producer. This is “A Beautiful Mind” by Ron Howard (“Apollo 13,” “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”), which was awarded the Directors Guild of America (DGA) award last Saturday.

The St. Petersburg Theater captivates the world's ballet elite The international ballet festival that began on Saturday in St. Petersburg is simply called the Mariinsky Festival. The lack of imagination in the name is not accidental. Abroad, the artists of Valery Gergiev still continue to be called Kirov opera, Kirov ballet, although the theater has already returned to its historical name ten years ago.

The scientist is sure that trade union bosses do not like democracy Whether democracy is appropriate in Russian trade unions and to what extent it will become clear today in the Gagarin Intermunicipal Court of the capital.

Kuchma is accused of arms trafficking At the last meeting before the parliamentary elections last Thursday, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine refused to discuss President Kuchma’s involvement in the illegal arms trade and to begin impeachment proceedings, as demanded by the opposition. The issue was submitted to a special commission on the “Gongadze case”.

The Swedes want to compete in St. Petersburg with MTS and Megafon In St. Petersburg, plans were announced to build a third GSM network this year. The investor will be the Swedish holding Tele2 AB, the owner of St. Petersburg Telecom, which provides cellular services in the analog AMPS/NAMPS standard to 43 thousand subscribers under the FORA Communications brand.

Self-defense units are being created in the Gagauz Autonomy On March 7, the head of the autonomous parliament department and its representative in Transnistria, Ivan Burgudzhi, was kidnapped from his office in the building of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia.

According to intelligence services, the criminals were helped out of prison In the Krasnodar Territory over the weekend, the epic search for six dangerous criminals who escaped on March 1 while transporting them from the regional court finally ended. In just three days, local intelligence services managed to track down the fugitives and return them all to jail.