Iraq has been waiting for humanitarian aid from Russia A strange situation is developing with the provision of humanitarian aid to Iraq from Russia. The war has been going on for the thirteenth day now, and the Iraqis, who still see the Russians as friends, have not received at least such human support from Moscow.

The organizers of the 2004 European Championship in Portugal presented the tournament's mascot, called Kinash. This is the name of the historical emblem on the coat of arms of Portugal, which consists of five shields and symbolizes the five victories of the first king of the state, Alfon Gerich, over the Moors. The mascot image was developed by Warner Brothers. According to the designers, this is a cheerful boy who loves to play football and who has his own idols - Eusebio and Figo.

Incorporation of the gas transportation concern is postponed By April 1, the Belarusian concern Beltransgaz will not be corporatized, although this particular period was agreed upon in advance with the Russian side. According to the union agreement, a joint gas transportation enterprise with the participation of Gazprom should be created by July 1. According to the newspaper Vremya Novostey, all the documents necessary for corporatization will most likely be prepared in two weeks.

The Taliban decided to help Saddam Iraq is not the only place where foreign troops have been subject to surprise attacks. The day before yesterday three rockets exploded in Kabul. One was aimed at the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF), the second rocket fell near the US Embassy and a warehouse with military equipment located in the same area, and the third exploded in the south-eastern part of Kabul.

JSCB "Avtobank" changed its name to "Avtobank-NIKoil" in accordance with the decision of the extraordinary meeting of the bank's shareholders, which took place yesterday. As noted in the Avtobank press release, the new name reflects the development of the process of its integration with the NIKoil financial corporation.

Hockey. NHL. Regular season. “New Jersey” – “Islanders” – 6:0, “Chicago” – “Edmonton” – 4:4 – Karpovtsev “Ch” (1+1), Radulov “Ch” (1+0) , Zhamnov “Ch” (0+1) , “Anaheim” – “Vancouver” – 3:1. Igor Radulov, recently called up by Chicago from the farm club, has become a real wild card. In the last five matches, the 20-year-old winger scored four goals. True, Radulov’s next effective shot did not bring victory to the “hawks,” and they added to the bleak statistics of performances at home.

Dmitry Rogozin became disillusioned with United Russia Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Dmitry Rogozin will probably one of these days return to the People's Party, which he recently left to join United Russia. According to the Vremya Novostey newspaper, the deputy discussed this issue with the leader of the People's Party Gennady Raikov on Saturday. Apparently, there are many more reasons for Mr. Rogozin’s separation from United Russia than for the alliance.

Seoul will buy security from Pyongyang along with Russian fuel Yesterday, Na Jong Il, Secretary of the President of the Republic of Korea for Security and Diplomacy, arrived in Moscow for a two-day visit. After discussing the situation on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia in Moscow, the South Korean emissary will go to Beijing.

Both the US and Iraq say they are satisfied with the progress of the campaign The protracted campaign in Iraq has sparked debate within the US administration and the US media. Disagreements over the Pentagon's military strategy forced American generals to make excuses.

And Mikhail Dmitriev is against unnecessary approvals of pension reform Chairman of the Pension Fund Mikhail Zurabov told reporters yesterday that from April 1, the insurance part of the pension, depending on length of service and earnings, will increase by 12.6%, or an average of 135 rubles. During this year, pensions should be increased twice more - in August and October. Mr. Zurabov also noted that he is against increasing the retirement period for citizens in Russia.

Romanian defector persuades Iraqi military to commit treason The former head of Romanian foreign intelligence, General Mihai Pacepa, made a passionate appeal to the Iraqi military to break with the regime of Saddam Hussein and turn their guns against it. In 1978, he fled to America, where he still lives, having changed his appearance.

On March 30, at the age of 65, former Minister of Finance and Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Pavlov died after a serious short illness. He served as head of the financial department since 1989, and on January 14, 1991, he was appointed head of government. Pavlov’s first and most famous act as prime minister was the monetary reform, later called “Pavlov’s”: on January 24, 1991, it was announced that 1961 banknotes of 50 and 100 rubles would be exchanged for new banknotes.

Foreign journalists called the performance of Russian Elena Sokolova the main sensation of the World Figure Skating Championships. The athlete, who has enormous potential, had not shown herself in any way until yesterday. Experts said that during training Sokolova performs almost “quadruple” jumps. But as soon as she stepped on the ice, it was as if the athlete had been replaced. All we had to do was be patient and wait for the quantity to turn into quality sooner or later.

Entrepreneurs are not ready to buy land plots for industrial buildings Entrepreneurs once again set out to lobby for changes to land legislation. According to the new Land Code and the law “On the implementation of the Land Code of the Russian Federation”, with the advent of 2004, land users in Russia are required to become either tenants or owners (for now they use the plots for free and indefinitely).

State inspectorate discovered hundreds of UFOs The Transport Inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport discovered several hundred unregistered aircraft in Russia. The current regulations do not have a clear answer to the question of how the authorities should treat this air armada.