They carry St. Petersburg riot police According to information from Irkutsk, the Ilim Pulp Enterprise Corporation organized the delivery of riot police officers from St. Petersburg on a “shift basis” to Bratsk, where the soldiers listed on official leave at their place of main duty serve as security guards for OJSC Bratskcomplexholding.

Putin approved administrative innovations of Mikhail Kasyanov The reform of the state apparatus, after fine-tuning, has entered the stage of a long and protracted process. Yesterday, Vladimir Putin approved the administrative reform project presented by Mikhail Kasyanov, and the Prime Minister decided to personally lead this matter. And he undertook to constantly inform Mr. Putin about the results. So, the reform is designed for two years: 2003-2004.

“Rules of Sex” on Moscow screens Roger Avery was very lucky with the friends of his youth. In the mid-eighties, he worked in the same video store with Quentin Tarantino, watched five films a day and considered the day well spent if a client who stopped by the rental store to rent another melodrama with Meg Ryan for the evening left loaded with Godard and Japanese samurai action films.

28 militants from Aslan Maskhadov’s group voluntarily laid down their arms in Grozny yesterday. The solemn ceremony held on this occasion was attended by the chairman of the government of the republic, Mikhail Babich, his deputy Movsur Khamidov and the heads of local special services.

Gas reform will not start before the elections Apparently, there is no need to harbor any special illusions about the presence of great political will to reform Gazprom. Political restrictions, which already weigh on such an important component of the Russian government and economy as gas supply, are increasing exponentially on the eve of the Duma and presidential elections.

More than a dozen Indian Christians attending an overnight Christmas mass were injured in a bandit raid. The scene of the incident was a temple in the city of Maliapota, West Bengal. The group of attackers (up to fifty people) was armed with knives, pistols and improvised explosive devices. More than a thousand believers attended the mass, but the robbers threatened those who tried to resist with violence.

Reconstruction of Russia's main railway has been completed On Wednesday, work on the electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed on the section between the Ruzhino and Guberovo stations.

In the Persian Gulf, holidays are overshadowed by foreboding The Christmas holidays showed that the “axis of evil” that George W. Bush is building is actually “evil” only in the imagination of the US President. Iraq proved yesterday that at least everything is in order with freedom of religion in this country. Christians in Iraq celebrated Christmas along with much of the Christian world.

An armed attack on a cash-in-transit vehicle took place yesterday in the north of Moscow. The loot of the robbers was 15 million rubles. and 5 thousand dollars intended for the Mir company, the owner of the capital’s largest chain of stores selling household appliances. The collector himself, who was transporting the money, a 31-year-old head of the security service of the Mir company, was not injured.

Top officials will lead the fight against terrorism in the south Yesterday in Rostov-on-Don a district meeting of the heads of anti-terrorist commissions of all regions of southern Russia was held. On behalf of Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy Viktor Kazantsev, regional officials were urgently asked that local terrorism prevention be led exclusively by governors.

Deputies won tax breaks for the media The State Duma spent the last day of the autumn session fruitfully, actively dealing with “unaccepted” laws. Deputies approved six laws in the third reading, one in the second and two in the first. In particular, the draft budget of the Pension Fund for 2003 was adopted immediately in the second and third readings. In the third reading, deputies extended the validity of the law “On the Consumer Basket” for two years. There were some discussions as well.

The Supreme Court of Georgia extended the Christmas holidays for militants The Supreme Court of Georgia on Wednesday returned to the Mtatsmindo-Krtsanisi District Court of Tbilisi the case of three Chechen militants detained at the border in August - Khusein Alkhanov, Rustam Elkhadzhiev and Ruslan Gelogaev. Judge Goderdzi Bojgadze motivated his decision to satisfy the lawyers' appeal by the fact that the defense did not have time to delve into all the details.

The situation is heating up around the transfer of Dynamo Kyiv defender Vladislav Vashchuk to Spartak. As you know, the Moscow club hastened to announce that a five-year contract with Vashchuk had already been signed. However, the people of Kiev stated that the defender’s agreement with Dynamo did not expire on December 31, 2002, but a year and a half later. So the player has no right to move to Spartak. The Ukrainian Professional Football League came to the defense of the Kyiv club.

A Dutch doctor helped a healthy man die Dutch doctor Philip Sutorius was finally found guilty yesterday by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands of abuse of power. The doctor interpreted too broadly the law on euthanasia, which came into force in this country in April last year - the right of a person suffering from an incurable disease to an easy death with the help of medicine. The proceedings lasted several years.

The new House of Music opens today The official opening of the Moscow International House of Music (MIDM) is scheduled for December 26th. This project, better known as the Russian Cultural Center “Red Hills,” was conceived by playwright Mikhail Shatrov.