Railway life is getting better The long-suffering package of bills on the reform of the Ministry of Railways will finally be considered at a government meeting on Friday. Transport Minister Gennady Fadeev is confident that the laws will no longer encounter any obstacles. According to his estimates, the Duma has every chance to begin considering them at the spring session.

Spaniard Carlos Moya failed to break into fifth position in the ATP Championship Race, as he lost the final match of the Masters tournament in Monte Carlo to his compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero - 5:7, 3:6, 4:6. In addition, the more experienced Moya was not able to completely collect a unique collection of “scalps of the favorites.” Before the final, Moya successively removed the first racket from the tournament - Lleyton Hewitt, third-seeded Marat Safin and fourth-seeded Tim Henman.

The next round of negotiations on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization began yesterday in Geneva. On April 24-25, at a meeting of the working group, the first reading of the draft final report prepared by the WTO secretariat will take place. Based on the results of this meeting, it will be possible to judge the successes achieved by the Russian side in the negotiations and how long they will continue.

Moscow decided to disarm unilaterally Last weekend, Moscow unilaterally came up with unprecedented peace-loving initiatives. Russia voluntarily gives up one of its main atomic trump cards - the world's largest arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons (TNW).

They want to turn from “pocket” to universal Since the beginning of spring, at least four banks from the category of the most active players in the financial market - Avtobank, Guta-Bank, Gazprombank and Petrokommerts - have announced a radical change in their development strategy and their intention to join the fight for the retail sector. According to analysts, this is the beginning of the global expansion of “pocket” banks to private clients.

Governors have come to terms with the purchase and sale of farmland The governors who gathered yesterday for a meeting of the State Council seemed to capitulate to the onslaught of the president and the government. With the exception of the six most stubborn regions, the heads of all other subjects of the federation declared their support for the draft “Law on the Turnover of Agricultural Land” proposed by the government.

People's Artist Accused of Drug Trafficking The head of the famous gypsy vocal and instrumental dance ensemble (VITA) "Romen", People's Artist of Russia Anatoly Savelyev, was detained over the weekend by employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Basketball. NBA. Playoffs. First round. “Boston” – “Philadelphia” – 92:82 (series score 1-0), “Detroit” – “Toronto” – 85:63 (1-0), “Dallas” – “Minnesota” - - 101:94 (1-0), Los Angeles Lakers - Portland - 95:87 (1-0). For seven long years, the most titled NBA club, the Boston Celtics, did not win a playoff game. I didn’t win for one simple reason - I couldn’t make it to the cup stage.

Energy workers are at war with RAO Norilsk Nickel JSC Taimyrenergo demands that the management of the mining and metallurgical company (MMC) Norilsk Nickel either sit down with the power engineers of the Arctic at the negotiating table, or protest their actions in an arbitration court. Otherwise, it threatens to turn off the switch for metallurgists again.

The Ashgabat summit was not convened to solve the Caspian problem Today is a big holiday in Ashgabat. The presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia came to visit Turkmenbashi. They all make up the five leaders of the Caspian states, which will gather together for the first time to “exchange views” on how they can “live, work and be friends” in the Caspian region.

State Duma deputy, member of the budget committee and the People's Deputy group Alexander Vereteno, as it became known yesterday, died tragically on Saturday in Omsk. Together with the director of the Osha distillery Yuri Rekalo, his assistant Natalya Starovoytova and the foreman of the private security department of the Leninsky district police department Oleg Zaulitsky, he set off on a boat of the Amur type to hunt along the Irtysh to the southern regions of the region.

The government promises to create a unified database of vacancies The Russian government is preparing in advance for a surge in unemployment that could happen in a few years. A concept will soon be developed that will define the long-term tasks of planning and developing the labor market in Russia. The head of the Ministry of Labor, Alexander Pochinok, recently introduced journalists to the results of a government meeting devoted to this issue.

There will be no one to oppose Anatoly Chubais Anatoly Chubais may lose his main opponent on the board of directors of RAO UES of Russia - Deputy Minister of Energy Viktor Kudryavy. As the Department of Government Information reported yesterday, Mikhail Kasyanov signed an order according to which, before the meeting of shareholders of the Ministry of Property, it was ordered “in the prescribed manner” to replace Mr. Kudryavy on the board of directors with his ministry colleague Anatoly Yanovsky.

The powers of the TNK President have been reduced Viktor Vekselberg, president of the Siberian-Ural Aluminum Company (SUAL) and vice-president of the Tyumen Oil Company, has been promoted. The other day, as he himself told news agencies yesterday, the board of TNK approved his candidacy for the post of chairman of the board of the oil company. This position was still held (i.e., combined) by the president of TNK, Semyon Kukes.

Our girls won almost all the gold Russian gymnasts won three more golds and two silvers at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships taking place in the Greek city of Patras. Competitions in certain types of women's all-around ended on Sunday. In addition to floor exercises, our athletes were first on vault, uneven bars and beam. True, the day did not start very well for the Russians.