A controlling stake in the most famous Russian producer of sparkling wines, CJSC Agrofirma Abrau-Durso (Krasnodar Territory), which belonged to the state, was transferred to trust management for a period of 49 years to the Chelyabinsk company Ariant. In addition, reports appeared in the local press that Ariant bought a fairly large number of shares from the former shareholders of Abrau-Durso and established almost complete control over the agricultural company.

The Directorate for the Russian Basketball Championship among men's teams, having considered the incident that arose during the match of the semi-final series CSKA - "Khimki" between the army forward Sergei Monya and the center of the Moscow region club Vitaly Nosov, imposed severe penalties on both players.

"Riken" - a truncated version of "Ameriquen" - is the disdainful way the French call Americans. On the banks of the Seine and Rhone, they are not very respected - as, indeed, are the “Boches” (Germans), “Bamboula” (Africans), “Rital” (Italians), “Popoffs” (Russians) and the rest of the “beefsteaks” (English) ). The French love only themselves. In this permanent narcissism, the descendants of the Gauls are probably akin to the Americans. Opposites meet.

Colombian rebels understood the philosophy of nonviolence in their own way An attempt by the Colombian authorities to free a group of hostages from the hands of left-wing rebels ended tragically. The captives were shot by the captors. Among the ten dead were the governor of the department of Antioquia, Mr. Guillermo Gaviria Correa, his assistant, the former Minister of Defense Gilberto Echeverri Mejia, plus eight captured government soldiers.

In Baghdad, the Americans arrested Dr. Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, nicknamed Lady Anthrax, during a special operation. The 49-year-old microbiologist, one of the leading developers of Iraqi bacteriological weapons, was part of Saddam Hussein's inner circle. She was the only woman among the 18 members of Saddam's "politburo" of the president - the Supreme Council of the Revolutionary Command (HRC) of Iraq. Ms. Ammash graduated from Baghdad University.

Soon there will be no militants left at all In April, 32 militants surrendered to the authorities - this information was released yesterday by the regional operational headquarters of the counter-terrorism operation. According to Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, everyone who confesses will be thoroughly checked and everyone who is not involved in serious crimes will be given an amnesty. In fact, the amnesty is only planned by the State Duma.

If we take as a working hypothesis that ideology is a more or less integral system of views and values, a certain idea of ​​the goals and paths of social development, then most of our parties are ideologicalless. Let's start with the oldest party - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. It just doesn’t have an ideology, like any kind of integral system of views, ideas and values.

Fuel crisis grows in Iraq In Iraq, which ranks second in the world after Saudi Arabia in terms of proven oil reserves, a gasoline crisis has broken out. Kilometer-long queues line up outside gas stations, creating traffic jams. Drivers spend hours baking under the scorching sun. American tanks appeared at gas stations in Baghdad to maintain order. There were cases when armed people tried to get gasoline without waiting in line, and at the same time for free.

A new government has been formed in Abkhazia Yesterday a new cabinet of ministers was created in Abkhazia. This happened a month after the resignation of the government of Gennady Gagulia, which lasted only four months and came under criticism from the influential movement of veterans of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict “Amtsakhara” (“Ancestral Lights”).

Hockey. NHL. Stanley Cup. Second round. Philadelphia - Ottawa - 1:5 (series score 2-4), Vancouver - Minnesota - 2:7 (3-2), Anaheim - Dallas - - 4:3 (4-2). Anaheim continues to produce one sensation after another. Following Detroit, the Mighty Ducks sent another Stanley Cup favorite, Dallas, to rest. Now Anaheim will have to fight for the title of the best team in the conference with either Vancouver or Minnesota.

Deputy Demin was suspected of assault State Duma deputy, member of the LDPR faction Vladislav Demin yesterday got into another scandalous story. At one time, he managed to be one of the heroes of the sensational investigation against the former head of the Krasnoyarsk aluminum plant, Anatoly Bykov, who was accused of organizing the murder of his partner Vilor Struganov.

The government is preparing an offensive against audio and video pirates A government commission headed by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov yesterday determined measures that will make it possible to give a real fight to the hitherto invincible producers and sellers of pirated audio and video products. It was decided to create a commission back in October last year, when a discussion at a government meeting showed that the situation in this area was unacceptable. Mr.

Due to the spread of the SARS virus in the Southeast Asian region, international sports federations continue to cancel major competitions scheduled for 2003. The World Track Cycling Championships, which were supposed to take place from July 30 to August 3 in Shanghai, the largest city in China, have been postponed indefinitely and will most likely be held either in the British Manchester or on a track in Bordeaux, France.

Andre Agassi leaves the Masters Series tournament The first loud sensation at the next Masters Series tournament currently taking place in Rome with a prize fund of 2.45 million euros was not long in coming. Already in the opening round, the best tennis player on the planet, last year’s winner of these competitions, American Andre Agassi lost to number 60 in the ATP auxiliary ranking, 21-year-old Spaniard David Ferrer - 6:0, 6:7 (3:7), 4:6.

One hundred years ago Nikolai Zabolotsky was born In the terrible year of 1937, just shortly before the lawless and ruthless arrest that destroyed his life, Nikolai Zabolotsky recalled an old spiritual verse about the “Dove Book,” which did not save the world from ferocious falsehood. Only far away on the ocean-sea, / On a white stone in the middle of the waters, / A book in a golden headdress shines, / Reaching into the sky with its rays.