The Belarusian independent newspaper Svobodnye Novosti was closed on the initiative of one of the founders of the publication - the head of the Serge underwear company Sergei Atroshchenko. The Ministry of Information satisfied Mr. Atroshchenko's request to close the newspaper on the day the letter was received.

During Mikhail Kasyanov's visit to China, the difficulties experienced by the government in the ongoing process of reorganizing the largest state-owned banks - Vnesheconombank and Vneshtorgbank - suddenly became public knowledge. Apparently, already in the course of implementing the plans, the authorities have to adjust them.

Yesterday, after a long time-out, negotiations resumed in Chisinau between the special commissions of Moldova and Transnistria on the issue of the future status of the “unrecognized Transnistrian republic.” The landmark meeting took place in the building of the OSCE mission, the main mediator in resolving the conflict between Chisinau and Tiraspol. Earlier, the OSCE mission proposed to the parties a reconciliation project based on the formation of a federation.

You've never seen a movie like this before In August, OJSC Roskinoprokat begins its real activities - a state organization created to revive what was destroyed a decade and a half ago. Over the past year, officials from the Ministry of Culture spoke beautifully about how a network of comfortable multiplex cinemas with cheap tickets would be formed throughout Russia, where they would be shown - and most importantly, pay for themselves at the box office! - domestic paintings.

The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, signed an order “On measures to restore the current solvency and stabilize the production activities of the SIBUR group of companies.” According to the concern's press service, Mr. Miller approved the document after a meeting with his deputy Alexander Ryazanov, who is also the chairman of the board of directors of SIBUR, and the president of the petrochemical holding Dmitry Mazepin.

32 million women are missing in India World sex distribution statistics show that for every 1050 women there are 1000 men. In India, where the patriarchal tradition favors male heirs, the ratio is reversed, approximately 933 to 1000.

The inhabitants of the main stronghold of national state security - the building of the FSB of the Russian Federation at Lubyanka Square, 2, were forced to evacuate from their offices yesterday. A man in a truck drove up to the counterintelligence headquarters and announced that he would detonate 1.5 tons of explosives if he was not allowed to talk to President Putin.

The new trial in the Kotlyakovsky explosion case will take place with only one defendant The trial in the case of one of the first major terrorist attacks in modern Russian history - the explosion at the Kotlyakovsky cemetery in November 1996 - is due to begin anew today in the Moscow City Court. This explosion was a real shock for all of Russia. Never before had there been such a large-scale terrorist attack - a detonated bomb killed 14 people on the spot and injured 16.

The Bosnia-Yugoslavia match ended in an ethnic brawl The day before yesterday, for the first time in seven years after the end of the Bosnian war, a friendly match between the football teams of Bosnia and Yugoslavia took place in Sarajevo.

Moscow does not want to quarrel with China Russian Buddhists do not agree with the authorities who denied the Dalai Lama a visa. On Thursday, their indignation spilled out onto the streets of Moscow - they staged an unauthorized rally in front of the Foreign Ministry building. Opposite the protesters stood the police, who apparently did not want to disperse the peacefully indignant Buddhists.

The German economy is showing signs of long-awaited growth after a long period of sluggish recession at the end of 2001. According to official data, the AP reports, the German economy grew by 0.3% in the second quarter. This figure was largely achieved due to growth in the private consumer sector and increased foreign trade. According to the Federal Statistics Office, domestic consumption growth increased by 0.5% (compared to the same period last year).

In the new television season, a number of fundamental changes will occur on the state channel RTR. First of all, they will affect morning broadcasting. From August 26, Russian television will begin broadcasting the daily three-hour information channel “Good Morning, Russia”, which will be broadcast live from 5.45 to 9 am.

Eight people died as a result of a gas explosion in a residential building that occurred yesterday in the city of Kogalym, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. The emergency occurred almost a day after a similar tragedy in Moscow, where a gas explosion also destroyed the entrance to a five-story residential building on Akademika Korolev Street, 32.

Yesterday, the “patriarch of Serbian democracy,” the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, was registered as a candidate for the presidency of Serbia. According to the constitution, in order to register as a candidate for presidential elections, one must submit 10 thousand signatures of citizens certified by the court in their support. Draskovic, supported by 14 thousand of his supporters, became fourth on the list of registered candidates.

The checkpoint that separated the two republics with barbed wire and machine gun barrels, which in the republics received the name “Chermensky Circle,” will not live long enough to see the decade of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict. The decision to dismantle it was made at the beginning of the week at a joint board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Ossetia and Ingushetia.