British citizen 48-year-old Ricks Life Michael was expelled from Volgograd last week, first to St. Petersburg, and then from Russian territory altogether for illegal stay in the country. Upon arrival from the city on the Volga to the city on the Neva, the Englishman was transferred to a train bound for Sweden, where Ricks Life Michael and his brother had lived for the last five years, under the control of the local police.

Iraqis propose to resolve the dispute in a duel between Saddam and Bush The use of force "will be inevitable" if Baghdad "chooses to continue to violate international agreements" - these words became the leitmotif of President George W. Bush's Saturday radio address to the nation, who declared a "serious and growing" threat to the United States from the Hussein regime.

The interests of Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance increasingly coincide In November 2002, at the NATO summit in Prague, seven new members are expected to be admitted to the Alliance, including the three Baltic states. This will mean a new wave of expansion of the military-political bloc, bringing it closer to our borders.

The centrists suffered a crushing defeat The Latvian centrists ruling in Riga for the last decade (the Latvian Way party) lost the elections miserably. The right-wing party “New Time” and the “red” bloc “For Human Rights in a United Latvia” (“ZAPCHEL”) took the lead. The New Time party celebrated the victory all night in a mansion rented for the party headquarters in the Old Town. Almost 24% of the votes and 26 seats in the Sejm are a good result for a recently created political organization.

Vladimir Putin signed on Friday a decree “On invalidating Decree of the President of the RSFSR of August 27, 1991 No.

Chelyabinsk hacker will spend three years in an American prison The first stage of the exemplary trial of Russian computer scammers has ended in a Seattle court. 25-year-old Chelyabinsk hacker Vasily Gorshkov was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 690 thousand dollars. The case of his partner Alexey Ivanov will be considered later. This trial was the first case in which the FBI tried out its new techniques.

Wintershall came to Russia again Gazprom and the German oil and gas company Wintershall AG decided to join forces to develop hard-to-reach gas fields in Western Siberia and, as ITAR-TASS learned yesterday, to create a joint venture in which the partners will have equal shares. This statement was made by the Chairman of the Board of Wintershall, Rainer Switserloot.

The Central Election Commission appointed Alexander Khloponin as governor On Friday, at an extraordinary meeting, the Russian Central Election Commission decided to recognize the elections in the Krasnoyarsk Territory as valid, the regional commission as insolvent, and Alexander Khloponin as governor. The reason for the extraordinary meeting was a complaint from four members of the Krasnoyarsk regional commission, who cast their votes against declaring the elections invalid.

Social partnership did not arouse interest in Alexander Pochinok Representatives of private business, trade union leaders and heads of regional labor commissions came from all over the country to the St. Petersburg forum “Social Partnership: New Development,” which took place at the end of last week. The purpose of the forum was stated as follows: to determine further steps in the interaction of the triple commission, which includes representatives of employers, trade unions and the government.

Austin Powers and Co. are back on screens Over the past five years, superspy Austin Powers, created and played by American comedian Mike Myers, has transformed from an international man of mystery to an equally large star and cult hero. So the third series of his adventures, called “Goldmember,” if it kept you waiting, it didn’t last long: strike, as they say, iron. However, the last thing the creators of the new film wanted was to be suspected of greed.

The Don harvest goes to the West via the Internet Over the past month, two large Western buyers have entered the Rostov grain market - the German cooperative union Raiffeisenverband (annual turnover exceeds $90 billion) and the Belgian-Bulgarian holding Niva-96. They came to the Don through GrainEx, a recently established online platform for electronic grain trading in Rostov. Previously, foreigners bought Don and Kuban bread from leading Russian exporters like Yug Rusi or Aston.

Rexam Group, a world leader in the production of aluminum beverage cans, recently decided to invest more than $30 million in the development of its Russian production. This amount will amount to 50% of the company's annual investments in different countries. The Russian market for aluminum beverage containers is divided equally by two companies - Rexam and Rostar.

The authorities of the northern capital cannot cope with the funds allocated for the 300th anniversary of the city The program for preparing St. Petersburg for the anniversary celebrations, which are scheduled for May next year, may be overwhelmed. This threat arises due to the low rate of disbursement of money allocated mainly from the federal budget.

Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vladimir GUDEV answered questions from his own correspondent for the Vremya Novostey newspaper, Mikhail VIGNANSKY. - Mr. Ambassador, are you going to the Georgia-Russia football match on October 12? -- Going to. - And your forecast? - You know, I didn’t think about what the score would be.

Rostselmash resumes supplies of agricultural equipment to Iraq. The first batch of Rostov Niva combines in the last 25 years was sent in transit through Syria. The cargo is accompanied by three specialists from the Rostselmash service department. Rostselmash's marketing services estimate Iraq's needs for new grain harvesting equipment in the amount of at least 3 thousand combines and expect to sell several hundred machines there next year. Igor BURAKOV, Rostov-on-Don