South African brewer South African Breweries Plc (SAB) announced yesterday that it has acquired a majority stake in Miller Brewing Co. -- the brewing division of Philip Morris Cos. Inc. This deal makes SAB the second largest beer empire in the world after Anheuser-Busch. It is unlikely that a radical change in the situation will be expected on the Russian market: Miller Brewing's only brand - Miller beer - is bottled by the Kaluga Brewing Company, owned by SAB.

Gazprom is thinking too deeply about the future of the holding The new management of SIBUR seems to have come into conflict with the main creditor and shareholder of this petrochemical holding - Gazprom. The conflict was witnessed yesterday by journalists whom SIBUR invited to the presentation of the company's development program until 2006. The reason for this development of events was Gazprom’s reluctance to rush to end the bankruptcy of SIBUR, which began in February 2002.

The President told Dmitry Kozak to hurry up The commission on the delimitation of powers between all levels of government, under the leadership of the deputy head of the presidential administration Dmitry Kozak, which has been preparing state restructuring for a year, will put its first developments on the president’s desk tomorrow. The main proposals of the commission are known - Mr.

Basketball. NBA. Playoffs. 3rd round. “New Jersey” – “Boston” – 103:92 (series score – 3:2), “Sacramento” – “Los Angeles” – 92:91 (series score – 3:2 ). It seems like in the New Jersey-Boston series, the teams are used to the same scenario: the Nets run away and the Celtics catch up. But this time Boston failed to escape defeat. And in the fifth meeting between the Kings and Lakers, everything was decided again in the last seconds.

The East is cited as an example to the West The sad old tale about the rat catcher from Hamelin, who took all the children from the city to punish its inhabitants for greed, threatens to become an unpleasant reality in Germany in the coming years: the birth rate in the country is steadily falling. On the eve of World Children's Day, the Federal Office of Statistics in Wiesbaden released the latest data.

Musharraf compared to Arafat The prospect of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan has the whole world closely watching news from Kashmir. Nothing encouraging is happening there. Moreover, Pakistan's new ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, "delighted" the international community yesterday with the announcement that Islamabad no longer considered itself bound by its previous promise not to be the first to use nuclear weapons.

“The show begins” on the capital’s screens There are genres in cinema that are already so well developed that you don’t immediately understand whether this is a normal film filled with cliches, or a parody mockery of the same cliches.

Because their mother is a real snake The trainers of the Moscow Revue circus, who came to the regional center on tour, were simply shocked when they noticed a dozen and a half python eggs in a cage with boa constrictors. They were laid by the python Masha, who will now be left in the city until her offspring appear. “We can’t even lift python eggs, much less move them from place to place, because a small snake is just forming there, and we can somehow harm it.

Roger Waters performed in Moscow The concert of the musician, wittily named “Mr. Pink Floyd” on the posters, was sold out, with excitement and sobs.

Small business will be made happy against its will The Tax Code will soon have two entire chapters dedicated to small businesses. Yesterday, the Duma Budget Committee approved a government bill, according to which, from January 1, 2003, the “Simplified taxation system in the form of a single tax on imputed income” and the “Simplified taxation system for small businesses” will begin to operate.

Yesterday, the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 1 to cancel the special procedure for the sale of export foreign currency earnings came into force, since the Cassation Board of the Supreme Court rejected the complaint of the Bank of Russia. Thus, starting yesterday, foreign exchange earnings can be sold anywhere, and not just directly by the Central Bank or through currency exchanges.

Politicians, artists and firefighters will talk to children Russian politicians, businessmen and show business figures traditionally consider it their duty to remember the flowers of life, in other words, about children on their “professional” holiday, June 1. The coming Saturday, when World Children's Day will be celebrated, will not be an exception - the youngest Russians will be invited to take part in a variety of holiday programs.

Russia is one line away from its market status Obtaining market status, which was discussed so much at the Russia-EU summit that ended on Wednesday, does not entail any additional obligations for Russia.

Tomorrow a new channel will appear on the “sixth button” Tomorrow “Media-socium” should start broadcasting on the sixth meter channel. General Director of Media Society Oleg Kiselev believes that nothing can prevent this. However, the Meshchansky Intermunicipal Court of Moscow, following a claim from a TV viewer, yesterday ordered the former broadcaster - the Moscow Independent Broadcasting Corporation - to resume broadcasting on the sixth meter frequency.

The Stavropol Regional Court yesterday acquitted the former head of the regional police department, police lieutenant general Alexander Volkodav, whom the Prosecutor General's Office accused of a number of official crimes. At the request of the defendant, the hearings were held by a jury, which cleared the general of all charges.