Alexander Veshnyakov promised journalists a difficult life The head of the Central Election Commission, Alexander Veshnyakov, at the “Media on the Eve of the Elections” conference that opened yesterday, explained to the journalistic community the essence of the presidential amendments to a number of laws regulating the work of the media during the election campaign. According to journalists themselves, these amendments make it very difficult for the media to cover the elections.

An unidentified shipwrecked schooner was discovered off the coast of one of the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge by Russian border guards. The overturned ship was found under the rocky coast of Cape Yuzhny by a border patrol patrolling the island. According to the main version, this could be the fishing schooner RSKH-2316, which belonged to Ostrov Zeleny LLC from the Yuzhno-Kurilsky region. It turns out that nothing has been known about her fate for more than a week.

The government and the Central Bank are arguing about issuers of mortgage-backed securities Before April, the Russian government intends to introduce amendments to the bill “On Mortgage-Equity Securities” (passed the first reading last year) to the State Duma. The amendments apply to organizations that issue mortgage-backed securities. The government relies mainly on specialized design organizations (SPC). The issues of these SPCs will then be registered with the Federal Securities Commission.

The Israeli Embassy confirmed to the Vremya Novostey newspaper that the visit of the Israeli Minister for Relations with the Jewish Diaspora and Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky to Moscow came as a surprise even to Israeli diplomats. The Russian Foreign Ministry also knew nothing about Mr. Sharansky’s arrival. Nevertheless, the visitor visited the Kremlin, where he was received by the head of its administration, Alexander Voloshin.

The Russian airbase in Kyrgyzstan will be located next to the American one Tomorrow the Minister of Defense of Kyrgyzstan Esen Topoev will arrive in Moscow. He intends to agree with his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov on a draft agreement on the deployment of a Russian military base at the Kant airfield of the Kyrgyz army, 20 km from Bishkek. Three days earlier, Colonel General Vladimir Mikhailov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, visited Kyrgyzstan for similar purposes.

Jewish communities around the world are alarmed by an unusual event that took place in the town of New Square, New York, whose population consists primarily of members of the Hasidic sect "Square". Not long ago, Luis Nivelo, an employee of the local fish store Fish Market, was about to gut a 9-pound carp when suddenly the fish spoke.

Former airport workers are seeking huge severance pay in court The Sheremetyevo administration decided to sue the associates of the previous general director of the airport, Sergei Belyaev, for the severance pay they were entitled to. The benefit prescribed by Mr. Belyaev is considered illegal by the current management of Sheremetyevo. The first lawsuit in this regard was supposed to be filed last night in the Dorogomilovsky Court of Moscow.

On Sunday, 23-year-old American Rachel Corey was killed under the tracks of an Israeli army bulldozer in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. Together with colleagues from the International Solidarity Movement, she tried to stop soldiers from demolishing a Palestinian house. The Israelis expressed condolences to Corey's family, while accusing the pacifists of illegally entering the war zone. Tel Aviv activated them on the eve of Purim.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair convened an emergency meeting of the country's cabinet last night on the Iraq crisis. Before the start of the meeting, after a one-on-one conversation with Blair, the Speaker of the House of Commons, leader of the ruling Labor Party, Robin Cook, resigned. "I cannot share collective responsibility for the decision to involve Britain in the military campaign in Iraq without international approval and domestic support," he said.

Departments The Ministry of Finance will make proposals for the formation of a stabilization fund by April 5 of this year. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin noted that this issue is currently being finalized in all interested ministries and departments in order to determine the financing mechanism for this fund.

A group of swindlers who stole $124 thousand from the foreign currency accounts of Sberbank clients was detained by MUR officers. Among the detainees are two employees of the Tsaritsyn branch of the Moscow Sberbank, controller-operator Alexander Donitsky, cashier Olga Solovyova and unemployed Vyacheslav Prokopenko. They are still looking for the organizer of the scam, a certain previously convicted Muscovite nicknamed “Freza” (detectives do not disclose his last name).

Liechtenstein is moving towards an absolute monarchy An unprecedented event happened in Europe - the 58-year-old Prince of Liechtenstein Hans Adam II became an almost absolute monarch. In a referendum on Sunday, two-thirds voted to give him the power to dissolve the government, veto bills and appoint judges.

Yesterday, Danish police announced the disappearance of the famous opposition Iraqi general Nizar Khazraji, whose name is on the list of possible contenders for leadership in the new Iraq. The 64-year-old general went for a walk in the town of Sore near Copenhagen, where he lived as a refugee, and disappeared.

The real Real Madrid came to Moscow We are already accustomed to the fact that Real Madrid flies to Moscow with a semi-reserve squad for Champions League matches, having solved all its tournament problems by that time. This time everything will be different: being in danger of being left out of the 1/4 finals, the Madrid club called for help all of its “royal army”, which has one single goal - to win at all costs. In the Spanish Championship, Real is churning out victories one after another.

Last weekend, the latest ready-to-wear collection from the Louis Ferro Fashion House was stolen on Paradise Street in Paris. It was she who enjoyed enormous success at the traditional Prêt-à-Porter Week of the autumn-winter season 2003/2004, which recently took place in the French capital. “The consequences of this tragedy are unpredictable, the damage is incalculable!” - complains François-Quassier de Monts, general director of the famous Parisian Fashion House.