The feds will not give up historic properties to be desecrated by City Hall. Contradictions between the federal and Moscow authorities regarding historical and cultural monuments are intensifying. Yesterday, representatives of the Ministry of Property and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the State Duma and the public gave a press conference, during which they actually accused the Moscow executive power of illegally implementing the General Plan for the Development of Moscow.

The disastrous performance at the men's basketball world championship in Indianapolis was not only the performance of the American Dream Team, which took only sixth place. The efforts of the Indiana Sports Corporation, which organized the world forum, to make a profit also ended in failure. Two weeks after the end of the World Cup, its president, Dale Nyberger, announced that, according to preliminary estimates, financial losses amounted to $2.69 million.

Lithuania is looking for those responsible for collaborating with the Americans Yesterday, the Russian company YUKOS became the owner of a controlling stake (53.7%) in the Lithuanian oil concern Mazeikiu nafta. Having purchased an additional 26.85% stake in Mazeikiu nafta from the American Williams International Company for $85 million, the Russians doubled their share. The Lithuanian government retained 40.66% of the shares.

Chisinau is preparing for the CIS summit Victor Stepaniuc is the second most important figure after President Vladimir Voronin in the ruling Communist Party of Moldova, the leader of the majority faction in parliament. In a parliamentary republic, such as Moldova, the faction, which has two-thirds of the parliamentary mandates, can practically do everything - it elects the president, appoints the prime minister, determines the country's foreign policy course, and controls internal affairs.

The foundation of the Russian economy is becoming cheaper before our eyes Presidential Adviser on Economics Andrei Illarionov yesterday launched new accusations against the management of RAO UES of Russia. Speaking in Irkutsk, he said that the activities of Anatoly Chubais and his team over the past year and a half have led to a drop in the market value of the energy monopoly shares by 60%, and since the spring of 2000, three times (decrease in capitalization by more than $6 billion). ).

President Parvanov wants to be friends with Russia Yesterday afternoon, President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov flew to Sochi from Sofia. After negotiations with Vladimir Putin at his Sochi residence “Bocharov Ruchey”, the President of Bulgaria will go to Moscow, where he will meet with Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, representatives of both chambers of the Federal Assembly, regional leaders and major businessmen.

The Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City announced the final figure for profits from the Games. According to the president of the organizing committee, Fraser Bullock, it amounted to $100 million (after the closing of the Games, the organizers expected to receive $56 million). The largest portion of the income will be transferred to the Utah Athletic Foundation - 76.5 million, while 40 million was guaranteed.

A film about the Armenian genocide is being released The director of "Ararat", Canadian Atom Egoyan, and his wife Arsine Khanjyan, who played one of the main roles in the film, are real smart people.

The largest fire this year occurred yesterday morning in the center of Moscow. At 4.30 security of the Electromechanical Plant named after. Lenina (Ilyich plant), located on Dubninskaya Street, reported to remote control “01” that the warehouse of electric lamps had caught fire. When the first fire crews arrived at the plant, the fire from the one-story warehouse had already spread to the electric motor assembly workshop with an area of ​​more than 2 thousand square meters. meters.

Yesterday, in the key match of Group F of the second stage of the Women's World Championship in China, the Russian team prevailed over the French - 74:59. The two strongest teams on the continent met. At last year's European Championship in France, the hostesses became gold medal winners, beating our girls in the main match of the tournament. In the relationship between the two teams in the past three seasons, the French clearly had the advantage.

The inhabitants of the main Astrakhan prison - the pre-trial detention center of the regional police department, popularly known as the "White Stork" - announced yesterday the start of an indefinite hunger strike. In the morning, the prisoners categorically refused to eat, putting forward a number of conditions to the administration of the detention center. In the pre-trial detention center itself, yesterday the fact of the hunger strike was confirmed, but they did not comment.

And protect your citizens in the Strasbourg court Russia does not miss the opportunity to remind civilized Europeans about discrimination against ethnic minorities in Latvia. Our country is taking part in the process “Sysoev Family v. Latvia,” which the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights began to consider on its merits yesterday. Svetlana and Arkady Sysoev complain about the refusal to issue them and their children a residence permit. The family has lived in Latvia since the late 60s.

The first match of the 1/64 UEFA Cup between the capital's CSKA and the Italian Parma ended in a 1:1 fighting draw. But on the field of the stadium near Moscow in Ramenskoye, the Italians did not feel like guests at all and for most of the match they had an advantage, which resulted in a goal by Romanian legionnaire Adrian Mutu in the 52nd minute.

Moscow region is looking for jobs on Mars The leaders of the smoke-choked peat bogs of the Moscow region have recently begun to look with interest in the direction of Mars. In the Moscow region, where the flagships of the domestic space industry are located, they do not give up on the dream of becoming pioneers in the exploration of the Red Planet.

The European Union will not defend itself against Russian steel The message about the European Union's intention to introduce protective duties on imported steel in the amount of 17.5% to 26%, which appeared yesterday on Bloomberg, made Russian metallurgists fear new losses. Moreover, analysts have long predicted the outbreak of a trade war due to an oversupply on the global steel market. However, as it turned out, Russian exporters are not too worried.