The flagship of the Russian passenger fleet has not yet suffered losses due to the SARS epidemic, and not a single carrier of this dangerous infection has been found on its flights. Aeroflot Deputy General Director Lev Koshlyakov said yesterday that passenger traffic on the airline's Asian routes has fallen by 36% since mid-March compared to the corresponding period last year.

Saddam Hussein is alive. His sons Uday and Kusey and other family members are also alive. They are all hiding in Iraq. This was reported yesterday by the Bahraini newspaper Akhbar Al-Khalij with reference to the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, one of the candidates for the post of head of the transitional Iraqi government. Talabani allegedly received a letter from Hussein in which he asks to show mercy to his household.

India and Pakistan need reciprocity “We welcome Pakistan's response to our prime minister's initiative,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said yesterday.

Probusinessbank announced the purchase of Ekaterinburg-based VUZ-Bank, one of the active participants in the Visa payment system. According to a press release from Probusinessbank, yesterday the Central Bank of the Russian Federation received the documents necessary to approve the purchase of a 94.5 percent stake in VUZ Bank.

The Main Military Prosecutor's Office (GVP) yesterday announced the completion of the investigation into the criminal case against Lieutenant Colonel Anatoly Kudyakov. Until recently, he commanded a separate helicopter regiment of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, which included the Mi-26 military transport helicopter, which was shot down by militants in August last year near Khankala.

Closing the Far Eastern borders will not affect the import of Chinese goods Alarming reports about the spread of SARS across the planet yesterday were finally diluted with encouraging information. Several Hong Kong newspapers immediately reported on the successful use of serum made from the blood of previously recovered patients in the treatment of patients with acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

With the arrival of Alexander Lyubimov, the face of the channel will completely change It is likely that the name of the new general director of TVS will become known this evening. Most likely, Ruslan Terekbaev will be replaced by the chairman of the board of directors of the VID television company, former first deputy general director of Channel One, Alexander Lyubimov.

A fighter who went home was stopped only by a tractor A real “survival” race was organized in Moscow on Wednesday night by a conscript soldier of the 449th separate salute artillery division of the Russian Ministry of Defense, stationed in Vatutinki near Moscow. About 30 patrol cars took part in the pursuit of him and his arrest with gunfire, which finally took place on Triumfalnaya Square.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has completed an investigation into Chechen advice notes The epic with the largest mechanism for defrauding the state of the early 90s - scams with bank advice notes - recently came to an end.

The Norilsk City Election Commission asks to combine the mayoral elections with the State Duma elections Yesterday, the Norilsk City Election Commission addressed the Central Election Commission with a request to allow them to combine the elections of the mayor of Norilsk with the elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

Despite OPEC's decision to increase quotas After a slight decline in oil prices, the reason for which was the announcement of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase production quotas by 1.5 million barrels per day, the cost of raw materials began to rise steadily again. Yesterday, the price of Brent oil under futures contracts for February this year on the London Stock Exchange rose from $30.2 to $30.75 per barrel.

Nina Alovert shows Vladimir Malakhov There are extremely few ballet publishers - those that understand what they are doing, and not just try to throw something on a tray, grab the money and run away. Explanatory books about ballet are published approximately once a year; even garbage ones - and those are few.

London's Royal Court Theater is famous for discovering new names of playwrights. Anyone can send a play there, receive a response, and if the play is staged, a fee and fame. The theater's literary director, Graham Whybrow, writes up to 90 letters a week to authors and reads a dozen plays a day. In 1999, he came to Moscow for the first time and was horrified by the lack of prospects for young playwrights. Four years later, he visited the Russian capital again.

Reports of the death of Heydar Aliyev “are insinuations of the opposition” Anniversary celebrations and celebrations planned in Baku on May 10 to mark the 80th birthday of Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev have been postponed to a later date. This was announced by the head of the presidential administration Ramiz Mehdiyev. The reason for this is the health status of the eldest of all the heads of state of the CIS.

YUKOS and TNK agreed on the management of Rospan Yesterday, the Tyumen Oil Company and YUKOS issued a joint press release stating that on December 30 last year, TNK was recognized as the winner of the tender to perform the functions of the management company of Rospan International CJSC. As you know, these oil companies own Rospan between them (YUKOS - 56%, TNK - 44%).