Bush Takes Desert Storm Lite Seriously The US administration was determined to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The only question is how to do it. President Bush demanded that he be given as many options as possible. And yesterday Newsweek magazine reported that the US Central Command had developed six scenarios for overthrowing the Iraqi leader. These plans are similar to staff maneuvers, but not particularly large.

Nuclear workers and RAO UES of Russia are in conflict again The Rosenergoatom concern and RAO UES of Russia cannot get along peacefully. Over the past two weeks, they almost began to sue: RAO demanded early repayment of an interest-free loan (4.5 billion rubles) issued to nuclear workers at the end of last year as part of a deal to repay the Russian-Czech state debt.

At the European Youth Championships, which ended in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, the Russian girls' team (under 20 years old) won silver medals. At a similar men's tournament, our basketball players were content with fourth place. In the final of the continental championship among girls, the Czech Republic and Russia met again, just like a year ago at the World Championships. And again the victory went to the mobile Czech team - 77:74.

The Russian concern has found a new market Unexpected news came from Pakistan. Yesterday, Islamabad newspapers reported that Pakistan's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources had sent Gazprom's proposal to build the Iran-India gas pipeline to the country's government for approval. As reported by ITAR-TASS, the project involves laying a pipe through the territorial waters of Pakistan.

The former deputy minister heard his first sentence The trial in the scandalous criminal case of former deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations (MFER) Andrei Dogaev ended yesterday in the Moscow City Court with an unusually lenient sentence. The Prosecutor General's Office believed that for a certain bribe he illegally issued licenses to companies to export raw materials abroad, and accused the official of complicity in smuggling, abuse of power and taking bribes.

Russia will not trust Georgia until the militants are in Lefortovo Seven more militants, driven out by the Russian military, surrendered on Monday to Georgian border guards at the Girevi outpost on the Chechen section of the Georgian-Russian border. Like the first group, also numbering seven people and detained on Saturday, they were taken to Tbilisi and handed over to the MGB. Of the 14 militants, at least seven were wounded.

By the end of the month the Japanese will be numbered Yesterday, a nationwide electronic system went into operation in Japan, which will store information about all 127 million residents of the Land of the Rising Sun. The Juki Net network will connect together local computer networks of municipalities and turn them into a huge database in which the name, address, date of birth and gender of every Japanese person will be entered.

An English playwright became interested in Russian rebels More than a thousand people gathered at London's National Theater last weekend for the premiere of Tom Stoppard's new play. The play is called “The Coast of Utopia”. The performance based on it lasted nine hours, and if you count intermissions - twelve. In the finale, tired but satisfied spectators gave the participants a real ovation.

In Siberia, the idea of ​​merging several federal subjects into one is gaining momentum. In any case, the Siberian presidential envoy Leonid Drachevsky, having visited the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, came to the conclusion that “the consolidation of territories is a pressing problem.” Mr. Drachevsky does not see any obstacles to solving the problem, although the Constitution does not say anything about this.

Moscow inspects UK armed forces On Monday, a group of Russian military inspectors arrived in the UK to conduct aerial monitoring of military installations. All twenty people are on the staff of the National Center for Nuclear Risk Reduction of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Until the end of the week, Russian specialists will monitor Britain's compliance with the provisions of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and other similar documents.

Experienced trainers have given up Despite the promise of the President of the Russian Hockey Federation Alexander Steblin to name the coach of our national team on Monday, the main team of the country remains homeless at least until August 7. It was expected that the coach would be approved on the last day of July at the FHR executive committee, but the hockey managers were unable to persuade Boris Mikhailov to sign a new contract.

The most prestigious trophy in world club hockey, the Stanley Cup, arrived in Moscow early in the morning on a flight from Yekaterinburg. He was accompanied by Detroit Red Wings hockey player Maxim Kuznetsov, as well as five special security guards from the National Hockey League. According to NHL traditions, each player on the team that wins the Stanley Cup can use it for 48 hours.

Pakistani President doesn't believe it was Osama Bin Laden The September 11 attacks were not planned by Osama Bin Laden. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made this sensational statement yesterday. In an interview with The New Yorker, the general said: “Osama would not have had the intelligence or ingenuity for an attack of this magnitude. Bin Laden could only finance terrorist activities.

The monetary allowances of Russian military personnel not only arrived at the units on time, but were also handed out to them. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reported this at yesterday's meeting between the president and government leadership. The minister received this information during a conference call with the commanders of military districts and fleets.

Nick Rock and Roll celebrates his birthday Tonight, in the literal sense of the word, the B2 club will host a festive concert dedicated to the next “unscheduled anniversary” of the Russian folk punk and legend of Russian rock music Nikolai Frantsevich Kuntsevich, known to music lovers and supporters of active life positions for two decades under his stage name Nick Rock and Roll.