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.

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.

General Franks and diplomat Bremer will ensure prosperity for Iraq US President George W. Bush has appointed a new civilian ruler for Iraq. It was the American career diplomat, crisis manager and counter-terrorism specialist Paul Bremer. In Washington they just call him Jerry. President Bush announced the new appointment after a private lunch with Jerry. “I am sending one of our best citizens to Iraq,” said the head of the White House.

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.

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%).

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.

Light aircraft certified Yesterday, the Chairman of the Aviation Register, Anatoly Kruglov, solemnly presented the General Designer of the Machine-Building Plant. Myasishchev Valery Novikov type certificate for the light turboprop aircraft M-101T "Gzhel". This document certifies that the Gzhel aircraft has successfully completed state tests and from now on it can be used without restrictions in Russian airspace, as well as sold abroad.

The Polish Army requires German soldiers to guard Iraq Yesterday, German Defense Minister Peter Struck arrived in Copenhagen, where he intends to discuss the unexpected Polish initiative with his Danish counterpart. The other day in Washington, Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski, who arrived at a meeting of the informal NATO-Ukraine council, made a serious geopolitical statement: the Polish command in the sector entrusted to him in Iraq is not averse to receiving reinforcements.

Rising unemployment in Germany forces Gerhard Schröder to take drastic measures German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is approaching the upcoming G8 summit in Evian in three weeks with very unpleasant results in the development of the national economy. As you know, for the first time in the last decade, the agenda of the meeting of leaders of industrialized powers includes a discussion of their own economic policies .

Sibneft sold shares of Orenburg oil enterprises to TNK TNK completed the purchase from Sibneft of 1% of the shares of ONAKO and 38% of the shares of its subsidiary Orenburgneft and announced the transaction amount - $ 825 million (as is known, in 2000, TNK acquired 85% of the shares of ONAKO at a privatization auction for 1 .08 billion dollars).

The Russian diamond mining monopolist ALROSA has placed 5-year coupon Eurobonds worth $500 million. The placement price was 98.996% of the nominal value. The coupon income should be 8.1% per annum. ALROSA Eurobonds were purchased by 161 investment companies, a third of them Russian. The volume of applications from investors amounted to $1.850 billion.

Following France and Germany, it was Turkey’s turn to feel American rancor. Yesterday, First Deputy Defense Minister Paul Wolfowitz, speaking on CNN, accused the leadership of the Turkish armed forces of inaction when making the decision in February of this year to deploy a 62,000-strong American corps in Turkey to open a “northern front” in Northern Iraq. Washington, according to Wolfowitz, expected Ankara to offer the Pentagon the use of its Air Force base in Incirlik.

General Electric workers go on strike In the coming days, the management of one of the oldest American companies, General Electric, will have to solve the serious problem of absenteeism of a significant part of its workforce across the country. According to the Washington Post, a nationwide strike by the company's employees began yesterday. Representatives of the concern's trade union are currently talking about a two-day cessation of work at 48 branches of the concern in 23 states.