The penultimate round of a major international tournament took place in the village of Poikovsky, Nefteyugansk district. He was distinguished by his fantastic performance - not a single draw! Having skillfully taken advantage of the mistakes of their opponents, Peter Svidler from St. Petersburg and Parisian Joël Lautier came out on top (they will meet each other in the last round). The leaders have 5.5 points each.

The Russian defense industry is ready to cooperate with NATO members The international exhibition of weapons and military technologies IDET-2003 continues in the Czech city of Brno. The Russian defense industry, united under the auspices of Rosoboronexport, has its own pavilion, and its representatives do not hide their far-reaching plans. Nikolai POROSKOV, correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper, asked members of our very representative delegation to tell us what they are like.

Prevention of pneumonia in Moscow will begin with traders from Asia Moscow does not want to lag behind the world capitals that have begun the war against the dangerous SARS virus. The authorities have already announced their main goal is to prevent the infection from entering the city from regions already affected by the epidemic, primarily from the countries of Southeast Asia.

On Monday evening, American soldiers shot at a demonstration in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, located 50 km west of Baghdad. 15 people were killed and about 50 were injured. The procession passed by a school where US military personnel are stationed. About two hundred demonstrators, most of them between the ages of 5 and 20, demanded that the soldiers be removed from the school and classes resumed. One of them threw a stone at the soldiers, who responded by opening fire.

The story of one struggle Today, Russian energy workers have a kind of anniversary - five years ago, RAO UES was headed by Anatoly Chubais. His contract expires in June. However, yesterday, commenting on the Yabloko party’s action dedicated to this date, RAO UES finally admitted that the employment contract with the chairman of the company’s board of directors was extended for five years about a month ago.

Recommendations of the “shadow G8” for the Evian summit Declining G8 effectiveness Current geopolitical problems make it necessary to improve the economic performance and economic policies of the G8 countries. This will enhance their capacity and give them confidence in their ability to respond to the unprecedented security challenges they face. In particular, any possible military action can result in such complex economic problems that will need to be solved effectively and jointly.

By 2005, bring product quality into line with quantity The production volume of Russian pipe companies is several times higher than Gazprom's needs for pipes, but does not meet the required level of quality. This was the leitmotif of the meeting between the gas giant and representatives of the country's pipe industry that took place yesterday.

Blair doesn't know where Saddam is Yesterday's guest of Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Anthony Blair became the first leader of the countries of the anti-Iraq coalition who decided to discuss the situation around the post-war settlement in Iraq face to face with the Russian President. However, Mr. Blair began preparing for this meeting in advance. Two weeks ago he held consultations on Iraq with French President Jacques Chirac.

After what happened in Iraq, Russia (although not only it) found itself in a situation that in the near future will require an answer to a whole series of questions and challenges. This can be confirmed by an article by Vladimir Sokor, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Advanced Strategic and Policy Studies, recently published in the Wall Street Journal. He believes that emerging trends, of which the Iraq war is a part, are dictating new goals for American policy.

Berlin on the eve of the May Day riots Tomorrow another pogrom awaits the capital of Germany. This May Day ritual will be enacted by Berlin's many "alternative" extremist groups - from far-left Trotskyists, Maoists and militant anti-fascists to far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis. An additional seven to eight thousand security forces have been deployed to the capital. The “classic” May Day performance in Berlin consists of two parts.

Meteorologists believe that only a couple of holidays will be warm Forecasters advise Muscovites not to put warm clothes away and not to rush into starting sowing work in their dachas. As Roman Vilfand, director of Roshydromet, told a Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent, the weather in the first ten days of May will be changeable and more cool than warm.

Yesterday in Brussels, the leaders of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg decided to combine their military potential and announced plans to create a headquarters for the multinational armed forces of the European Union, capable of conducting operations independently from NATO. It was these four countries that strongly opposed US military plans in Iraq.

Igor Yusufov presented the yet to be adopted Energy Strategy of Russia until 2020 Energy Minister Igor Yusufov yesterday in Paris essentially presented the draft Energy Strategy of Russia until 2020. And although the document has not yet been considered at a government meeting, and battles continue on some of its points, Mr. Yusufov at the conference of the International Energy Agency (IEA) considered it possible to present its main points to the world community.

Mikhail Piotrovsky acted as a talented producer The press conference, which the director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky held at the media center of the Izvestia newspaper, turned into a luxurious advertising video. Excellent direction, wonderful drama, well-timed pauses, rich visuals - the effect on the Moscow journalistic fraternity was calculated to the micron. And it worked.

The rate of decline in MTS's revenue per subscriber by the end of last year, as a result of increased regional expansion and increased competition in the capital market, exceeded analysts' expectations. To restore its leadership in attracting new customers in Moscow, in December 2002, MTS launched a new prepaid package of services “Jeans”, an analogue of “Bi + GSM”, aimed at subscribers with low incomes.