A new round of personnel changes has begun in the Ministry of Internal Affairs After a long lull in the top leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, a new series of personnel changes began. According to Vremya Novostei, the head of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GUBOP), Alexander Ovchinnikov, resigned, which has already been accepted.

Experts discuss the prospects for the Russian economy At yesterday's meeting with the head of the Central Bank Sergei Ignatiev, Vladimir Putin, among other questions, asked about the inflation forecast. The country's chief banker assured that inflation in 2003 will be no more than 12%, and not 15% as this year. Mr. Ignatiev promised the president to make certain adjustments to monetary policy in order to reduce inflation to below 12%.

Football. Spanish Championship. 14th round. Real Sociedad - Mallorca - 2:1, Betis - Rayo Vallecano - 0:1, Deportivo - Malaga - 1:0, Valladolid - " Athletic - 2:0, Osasuna - Espanyol - 1:0, Racing - Celta - 3:0, Real Madrid - Recreativo - 4:2, “Barcelona” – “Sevilla” – 0:3, “Alaves” – “Atlético” – 2:0, “Villareal” – “Valencia” – 0:2. The leaders are: Real Sociedad - 32 points, Valencia - 28, Real Madrid, Celta - 24 each. Barcelona suffered their third defeat in a row in the championship.

"Liberal Russia" gets rid of supporters of the disgraced oligarch The co-chairs of the Liberal Russia party struck back at supporters of Boris Berezovsky. At yesterday's meeting of the party's political council, it was decided to deprive 18 leaders of regional branches of party cards who took part in the Liberal Russia congress, held in St. Petersburg on December 7. This congress brought together those party members who supported Berezovsky in his conflict with the leadership of Liberal Russia.

Rosbank acquired promissory notes of the Trust and Investment Bank in the amount of $350 million, reports the AZIPI information disclosure server. In this regard, according to Rosbank, there was a one-time increase in the value of its assets (as of July 1, 2002 - 72 billion rubles) by more than 10%. "TIME FOR NEWS"

The investigation into the disruption of the Georgia-Russia football match is being completed Today, at the Lokomotiv stadium in Tbilisi, a Turkish-made generator will be disassembled and subjected to a thorough, detailed examination. By the end of the week, an answer to a difficult question should be received: why on October 12, during the Georgia-Russia match as part of the qualifying round for the 2004 European Football Championship, the emergency lighting system did not work?

The Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf today can make a final, from its point of view, decision regarding the legitimacy of the merger of two German energy concerns - E.on and Ruhrgas. It was previously assumed that the fateful meeting for the alliance would take place at the end of last week. However, a court representative said last Thursday that “no decision will be made until Tuesday next week (December 17 - Ed.

From American justice and the Kazakh opposition Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is one of the main defendants in the so-called Kazakhgate case being investigated in the United States, is ready to cooperate with the American Themis in exchange for an “official assurance” that he “will not be charged.” This is stated in a letter from American lawyer Reid Weingarten, defending the interests of the Kazakh government, recently sent to US Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.

The French group Auchan is opening its second hypermarket in Russia tomorrow. New store with an area of ​​16 thousand square meters. m is located in the Mega shopping and entertainment complex and is no different from the store in Mytishchi. The management of Auchan behaves very secretly and does not give out any information about investments and trade turnover. However, analysts have no doubt about the company's financial success.

Volgograd “fighters for racial purity” received prison terms In Volgograd, a sentence was passed on seven shaven-headed thugs who attacked a camp of nomadic gypsies last summer and beat to death two of the four men in the camp - Batu Kuznetsov and Ballu Cherepovsky, citizens of Ukraine.

Details of the program of the Golden Mask drama competition This year, the Golden Mask will be held in St. Petersburg, which will intensify the usual jealousy of the two theater capitals. The situation will be aggravated by the strong Moscow part of the program: the past year was bright, especially for “small form” performances. The country's main theater festival, as always, demonstrates the mainstream.

The question of the participation of the Chinese China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in tomorrow's auction for the sale of the state block of shares in Slavneft was discussed yesterday on the sidelines by government officials of various ranks. News agencies even reported that the Chinese may refuse to participate in the auction.

The story of the beating of Russian Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Bazaley by police officers last Saturday at the Leningradsky railway station in the capital received an unexpected continuation yesterday. According to the military, the police officers who beat the officer are threatening him with violence. Fearing for the life of his employee, Air Force Commander General Mikhailov ordered yesterday to post armed guards at the room of Yuri Bazaley, who is in the hospital named after.

Housing and communal services are being reformed in the Krasnoyarsk Territory According to the decision of the Legislative Assembly of the region, the owner of a standard two-room Khrushchev apartment will, from January 1 next year, pay monthly for their housing from 1,200 to 1,500 rubles. Formally, fees for housing and communal services increased only two and a half times - from 40 to 90% of their real cost.

Two weeks ago, talking about No. 11 of The New World , I promised to finish reading Roman Senchin’s story “Nubuk” (which had already irritated me quite a bit) - “in the hope of a miracle.” The December book of the magazine was published on time, I finished reading the story, no miracle happened. I should have stopped here (how many mediocre works are published?), but something is in the way. And it’s clear.