North Korea begins conversation with US Next week, on April 23, consultations on Pyongyang's nuclear program with the participation of North Korea, the United States and China are due to open in Beijing. This event and President Bush's approval of the negotiation plan were reported by the American administration. The US delegation will be headed by Deputy Secretary of State James Kelly - the same one after whose visit to Pyongyang in October last year the escalation of the Korean crisis began.

The largest Russian oil company has not approved a development program for the next ten years LUKOIL almost disrupted the development of the Russian Energy Strategy until 2020. At yesterday's meeting of the board of directors, the company presented a development program until 2013, according to which oil production should increase to 110 million tons per year. It turns out, experts believe, that almost LUKOIL alone will be able to ensure an increase in all-Russian oil production.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov failed to reach the third round of the Masters Series tournament taking place on the courts of Monte Carlo with a prize fund of $2.45 million. In the opening match, the Russian achieved victory over the 11th seed Younes El-Ainaoui (Morocco) - 6:2, 6:7 (4:7), 6:1, and yesterday in the second round Evgeniy lost in three sets Finn Jarkko Nieminen - 6:3, 2:6, 2:6.

Reports that appeared yesterday in news agencies about the end of the protracted conflict between the owners of the two largest Tula metallurgical enterprises - Tulachermet OJSC and Vanadium-Tula OJSC - should be considered premature.

Deputies will not allow Yuri Luzhkov to change the color of the city flag At yesterday's meeting of the Moscow City Duma, the capital's legislators decided to postpone all pressing city problems in order to finally take care of government affairs. Or rather, state symbols.

British Prime Minister asked to put in a word for Germany During the Iraqi crisis, personal relations between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Schröder cooled. The distinguished guest from London, who arrived on Tuesday evening at the invitation of the German side for blitz negotiations in Hanover (this is the homeland of the Bundeschancellor), chose to meet Schröder at the airport. And not in his private home, as was planned by German protocol.

Shareholders will announce the creation of a management company Already today, at a meeting of the board of directors and the board of shareholders of TVS, a decision may be made on new personnel changes at the TV channel. Two opposing groups of shareholders - Oleg Deripaska and Roman Abramovich, on the one hand, and Anatoly Chubais and Oleg Kiselev, on the other, managed to agree on a new strategy for managing the channel.

The apotheosis of the summer athletics season starting in the coming days will, of course, be the IX World Championships in Paris. At previous similar competitions in Edmonton, the Russian team won 17 medals, losing only one top award to the American athletes who won the team competition. The current championship will take place on the European continent, and our coaches expect to give battle to their eternal rivals.

The State Duma will adopt the Customs Code in the second reading On Friday, the lower house will consider the new Customs Code in the second reading. Almost none of the deputies doubt that the code will be adopted in the form in which the budget committee recommended it to the chamber. The compromises reached in previous months finally satisfied the Duma members, the government, and business.

A strong fire, accompanied by a series of explosions, occurred yesterday at the Pigment paint and varnish materials plant on Oktyabrskaya Embankment in St. Petersburg. Fortunately, there were no casualties; all 70 workers from the duty shift were evacuated. According to eyewitnesses, the plant caught fire at about 5 p.m. after an explosion in the boiler room, then the roof of the three-story building collapsed and the column of fire shot up almost 100 meters.

Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov approved the list of enterprises that should be privatized in 2003. According to a source close to the government, the corresponding decree has been signed, but has not yet been assigned a number. The list of enterprises has hardly changed compared to the list considered by the government in February of this year.

Latvian Prime Minister Einar Repse, as well as Ventspils Mayor Aivar Lembergs, received a proposal to build a large oil refinery on the territory of the Ventspils port. The cost of the project is estimated at $1 billion. The design capacity is 175 thousand barrels of oil per day. The product range includes AI-98, AI-95 and AI-93 gasolines, jet fuel and diesel fuel.

World auto giants are ready to create alternative races Last week a business meeting was held in Munich, attended by Wolfgang Reitzel (Jaguar), Burkhard Goetschel (BMW), Jurgen Hubbert (Mercedes), Paolo Cantarella (FIAT), Patrick Fore (Renault). , Luca di Montenzemola (Ferrari). Not all the names are known to readers, but these are all people who directly influence the activities of the leading Formula 1 teams.

Hockey. NHL. Stanley Cup. First round. "Washington" -- "Tampa" -- 3:4 (OT) (series score 2-1) -- Berezin "V" (0+1), Gonchar "V" (0+1), "Boston" - - "New Jersey" -- 5:1 (1-3) -- Samsonov "B" (0+1), "Edmonton" -- "Dallas" 1:3 (2-2) -- Zubov "D" (1+0). New Jersey failed to beat Boston. In the fourth match of the series, the Devils' defense cracked, and one of the league's most reliable goalkeepers, Martin Brodeur, who allowed in five goals, was seated on the bench.

Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Gryzlov yesterday carried out a large-scale purge of the police forces of St. Petersburg. The head of the North-Western Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the heads of local police departments of the St. Petersburg districts and the head of the Vyborg Internal Affairs Directorate left their positions. An internal investigation is underway against another district chief.