A couple of swindlers were let down by their love for Moscow A major international entrepreneur, owner of a number of companies in the former USSR, Dmitry Sharin was arrested on Sunday evening as a result of a special operation by several units of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. As it turned out, the businessman has been wanted by the Lithuanian authorities for several years now for creating one of the largest financial pyramids in this country.

The killers of the deputy prefect of Zelenograd were arrested Employees of the capital's prosecutor's office have come close to solving the murder of the deputy prefect of Zelenograd (the city has the status of a Moscow district) Leonid Oblonsky. As the Vremya Novostei newspaper learned, investigators recently arrested four alleged perpetrators of this crime. Representatives of law enforcement agencies expect to soon handcuff those who ordered the assassination attempt.

Three tennis tournaments (one ATP and two WTA), which ended last week, named their heroes. Among them is the name of 17-year-old Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who won the Nordea Nordic Light Open tournament in Helsinki in two categories at once.

Americans are making peace with the Sudanese for the sake of oil These days, negotiations are underway in Kenya that are designed to change the fate of the entire northeast of Africa, ending a twenty-year civil conflict in which two million people died. A key round of negotiations to end the civil war in Sudan has begun in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. South Sudanese separatists and their government are being reconciled by all states in northern and eastern Africa.

“Military-industrial complex generals” are not so optimistic Yesterday, on his first working day after a short vacation, Mikhail Kasyanov chaired a meeting of the government commission on military-industrial issues, at which the draft main indicators of the state defense order for 2003 were discussed.

Tanker from the Persian Gulf hijacked by pirates Off the coast of Somalia, pirates hijacked a British tanker with six Ukrainian sailors. The Russian Foreign Ministry told the Vremya Novostey newspaper that they are finding out whether there are Russians among the crew members; there are doubts about this. In exchange for the release of the ship and crew, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of $1 million. The tanker was heading with a cargo of fuel from the Emirates to South Africa.

Investigators are looking for those responsible for the deaths Throughout yesterday, restoration work continued in Novorossiysk and its suburbs, which were hit by tornadoes and flooding last week. Thousands of military personnel and rescuers cleared the rubble from the city streets and continued to search for the bodies of the dead.

The two-day festival “Invasion” has ended “Invasion” continues to hold the palm among Russian rock festivals in terms of the number of participants and spectators. This year there were 48 of the former, from 80 to 150 thousand of the latter (the difference in numbers is explained by the position of those counting: 80 thousand were counted in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 150 in “Our Radio”).

“Master Rally” finished in Novorossiysk On Sunday, in Novorossiysk, which is putting itself in order after a natural disaster, the eighth “Master Rally” ended - the 6th stage of the FIA ​​World Cup and the third stage of the FIM World Cup - which started on August 2 from St. Petersburg.

Spartak's impressive unbeaten streak in the Russian football championship almost ended in Saratov. The local Sokol, hopelessly at the bottom of the standings, had an excellent opportunity to defeat the national champion. After the first half, the hosts were leading 2:0, and only with heroic efforts did the Muscovites manage to first reduce the gap in the score, and two minutes before the final whistle, even it out completely.

There are almost no Georgian citizens left in Abkhazia On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the start of the bloody Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, which will be celebrated tomorrow, August 14, an extremely important change has occurred in this self-proclaimed and so far unrecognized republic: almost the entire adult population of Abkhazia has received Russian citizenship.

Director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia Roman VILFAND answers questions from a correspondent of the Vremya Novostei newspaper. - What do you think is happening - a global flood or just a series of local disasters? - Or a worldwide drought? - you can still ask. After all, the European territory of Russia has experienced a very strong precipitation deficit since March. There is no doubt that there is drought in temperate latitudes.

More than 30 children fell ill with viral meningitis In Khabarovsk, meningitis closed the swimming season ahead of schedule. Now in the Children's Infectious Diseases Hospital named after. There are about 30 children suffering from serous viral meningitis in Piatrovich. In all cases, the cause of the disease was the infectious agent Coxsackie 3B, which got into the river water.

Delta-Credit begins operations in the Moscow region The pioneer of Russian mortgages, commercial bank Delta-Credit, has decided to enter the Moscow region. Until now, he has been issuing loans for the purchase of apartments mainly in Moscow, and recently began lending secured by real estate (including land) for the purchase, construction and finishing of a country house. True, the loan will cost more than with the standard program (18-22% per annum in foreign currency versus 15%).

Robert Mugabe dispossessed the heirs of colonialism Yesterday, in a televised address to the nation, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe confirmed that white farmers would have to give up their estates. The president named August as the deadline for fulfilling this requirement. Thus, from 1600 to 2900 white farmers are now definitely forced to leave Zimbabwe. The president's ultimatum on this matter expired on August 8.