The 2005 World Athletics Championships will be held in Helsinki. These results were brought by a secret vote of 27 members of the Council of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the meeting of which was held in the capital of Kenya. In addition to Helsinki, Moscow, Berlin, Brussels and Budapest also applied for the right to host the championship. To the surprise of many, Moscow dropped out of the race after the first round of voting.

Russian trawlers return to Africa Two years after the cessation of fishing off the coast of Africa, Russian vessels are once again setting off to fish in the economic zone of Angola. The corresponding agreement was signed at the end of last week by representatives of the Ministry of Fisheries of this African republic, the Angolan company Pelicanus & Associados and the Vladivostok JSC Dalcomkholod.

Several years ago, in the spacious hall of the residence of the President of Croatia on Zagreb's Pantovčak hill, busts of prominent characters in the national history were lined up - from the medieval King Tomislav to the creator of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, a Croat by nationality. It was clear who the next small monument should be erected, but after the death of the first president of independent Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, his bust never appeared in the Zagorka Villa.

East Timor is one step away from independence The presidential elections in East Timor symbolized the completion of the formation of the power structure of a new state with a population of 740 thousand people, the official appearance of which on the political map of the world is scheduled for May 20. Although the official results of the vote will be known tomorrow, popular independence leader Jose Alejandra Gusmão, 55, is expected to win.

Lokomotiv-Belogorye is one step away from winning the Russian Championship The final series of the Russian Volleyball Championship has started in Belgorod. So far the fight for gold medals in the national championship is not working out - Lokomotiv-Belogorye twice defeated the capital's MSTU-Luzhniki - 3:0 (25:19, 25:21, 26:24), 3:0 (25:15 , 25:17, 25:20).

How to sell at a low price and buy at a low price Anyone who wants to buy or sell a car resorts to the opinion of experts. They can be friends, acquaintances, specialized media. Most of all, as statistics show, they trust the opinion of “their” good auto mechanic. Many people first find out the approximate price of the desired model, ranging from $300 to $400, from advertisements in newspapers, car markets, or on the Internet.

Senators are trying to gain independence from their regions Senators dream of strengthening their position. Given that the governors who previously met in the building on Malaya Dmitrovka were replaced by no less respected people - ex-ministers, businessmen and even an oligarch, each of them could lose their seat at any moment. Therefore, members of the upper house are going to take a legislative initiative to forever rid themselves of such a risk.

PricewaterhouseCoopers again accused of lying in the name of Gazprom The relationship between the former management of Gazprom and Itera has once again become the subject of loud discussions. Yesterday, representatives of the Hermitage fund, calling themselves shareholders of the concern, filed a number of claims in the Moscow Arbitration Court against the auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers, which, in their opinion, prepared a false conclusion based on the results of the Gazprom audit.

Discussion of everyday problems of railway transport rose to the highest level. Vladimir Putin, during yesterday’s meeting with the Minister of Railways Gennady Fadeev, paid special attention to the disastrous state of fixed assets and recommended that Mr.

Customs united Gokhran and the Assay Office under one roof. At the “Specialized” customs post of the Central Excise Customs, the Center for customs control and clearance of precious metals, precious stones and products made from them was opened yesterday. As reported by the State Customs Committee, when planning the opening of this center, customs officers took into account the experience of countries that are world leaders in the trade of precious metals and stones, such as Belgium and Israel.

Concerns about the activity of Russian skinheads on the eve of Hitler's upcoming birthday finally reached presidential levels yesterday. On Monday morning, Vladimir Putin specifically discussed the topic of the activities of extremist groups with the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Boris Gryzlov. Quite possibly, the reason for this was the concern of foreign embassies about attacks by metropolitan skinheads, expressed in a series of official statements.

So far only legislative For the head of Yekaterinburg Arkady Chernetsky, yesterday became doubly black. Firstly, the “United Russia” bloc, on which the mayor placed his bets and included officials and businessmen close to him on the lists, lost first place to Eduard Rossel’s “For the Native Urals” bloc by a large margin.

Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexey Miller signed an order on structural changes and personnel appointments in the concern. On the basis of the department for production and processing of gas, gas condensate and oil, as well as the department for drilling wells and development of offshore fields, a department for the production of gas, gas condensate, oil was created, including the department of geology, development and licensing of fields.

State defender of human rights in Chechnya may resign The post of special presidential representative for human rights in Chechnya will be vacant by the end of this week. Vladimir Kalamanov, who currently holds this position, has been invited to represent Russia at UNESCO with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Mr. Kalamanov himself has not yet submitted his resignation and has not shared his plans for the future.

Tens of thousands of smuggled diamonds passed through customs using special passes The trial of smuggling into Russia an unprecedented batch of precious stones - almost 40 thousand sapphires, diamonds, emeralds and rubies - ended recently in the Golovinsky Court of Moscow.