The latest technologies get a start in life at Svyaz-Expocomme The annual telecommunications exhibition Svyaz-Expocomm, which opened yesterday, traditionally pays the greatest attention to demonstrating the latest technologies and equipment. “This exhibition is one of the most authoritative in Russia.

The final of the major women's BTA tournament of the 1st category with a prize fund of 1 million 224 thousand dollars in Berlin turned out to be purely Belgian. In the decisive match, Justine Henin-Hardenne prevailed over her compatriot Kim Clijsters - 6:4, 4:6, 7:5. The winner, who won her third title this year, admitted that she had significantly improved her game after getting married in the off-season.

The Prime Minister formed a commission to prepare the 2004 budget Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov yesterday formed an interdepartmental commission to ensure timely and high-quality formation of the draft federal budget for 2004. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has been appointed its chairman. The Ministry of Finance received the largest representation in the commission, which will, in fact, bear the main burden in developing the country’s main financial document.

There are many versions and gossip surrounding the fate of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. These days, another one has appeared, and Iranian intelligence services may be behind it. In any case, it is spread by Iraqi Shiites who returned from long-term emigration to Iran. Columnist for the Vremya Novostei newspaper Elena SUPONINA spoke in Baghdad with an activist of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, doctor Muslim ASADI.

An attempt was made on the life of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, Major General Magomed Omarov, yesterday morning in Makhachkala. On one of the streets, terrorists planted a controlled bomb on an officer on his way to work. As a result, the general himself was shell-shocked, and his driver and guards were wounded. The city prosecutor's office opened a criminal case for an attempt on the life of a statesman.

The Central Bank achieved outstanding profits last year The profit of the Central Bank of Russia at the end of last year was almost three times higher than the same figure for the year before last. This follows from the annual report of the Central Bank, which, according to the Interfax-AFI agency, was submitted to the State Duma. The country's main bankers did their best.

Ten people were killed and one was seriously injured as a result of a strong fire that broke out yesterday afternoon in the north-west of Moscow in the elite residential complex "Scarlet Sails" under construction on the banks of the Moskva River. The signal about a fire in the three-level underground garage of building No. 4 on Aviatsionnaya Street was received by the fire department at about noon.

The exhibition “Vladimir Izdebsky and his Salons” opens today The Moscow Art Center on Neglinnaya presents an exhibition, excellent in concept and execution, dedicated to the art dealer and artist of the early 20th century, Vladimir Izdebsky. It was prepared jointly with the Russian Museum. All the exhibits were brought from there. Muscovites got the chance to see this joint exhibition before the residents of St. Petersburg.

OPEC expects post-war fall in oil prices The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has begun preparing for the next summit, which will be held on June 11 in Doha. Yesterday, the president of the cartel, the Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, Abdullah Al-Attiya, arrived in Moscow and today will hold a meeting with the Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov.

While the Americans are unsuccessfully trying to discover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, traces of them have been found in the most tragic way in America. Yesterday, two major US cities were simultaneously attacked by terrorists. In Seattle, a nuclear “dirty” bomb was detonated near an old brewery, killing about a hundred people. A biological weapon was sprayed in Chicago; several thousand people were taken to hospitals with symptoms of pulmonary disease.

Vujanovic became President of Montenegro According to the results of the presidential elections in Montenegro announced yesterday, 48-year-old Filip Vujanovic, the nominee of the Democratic Party of Socialists (its leader is the current Prime Minister of Montenegro and its ex-President Milo Djukanovic), will finally receive the presidential standard. He could have received it earlier if the election law had been corrected in time.

Two dangerous repeat offenders escaped from arrest in St. Petersburg yesterday. According to the city police department, the emergency occurred in the Vasileostrovsky court building, where the case of two visitors from Belarus, accused of a series of robberies, was being heard. During the break, the guards took the defendants to the cell, but when their handcuffs were removed, one of the criminals managed to snatch a pistol from the policeman’s holster.

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Jon Snow crashed the dollar on ether US Treasury Secretary John Snow launched another attack on the American currency. In a series of television interviews, Mr. Snow made it clear that radical tax cuts and a weak dollar could lift the American economy out of stagnation. As a result, the US currency exchange rate against the euro at auction in New York reached its minimum level in the last four years of $1.16 per euro. The growth rate of the national economy clearly does not suit the George W.

Economic policy priorities Announcements of the beginning of liberal reforms , the urgency of which is long overdue, appear regularly. However, the knot of contradictions does not allow us to begin implementing either tax or administrative reform. For a country striving to quickly create a model of sustainable development and integrate into the world economy, inertia and excessive conservatism of state policy are unacceptable.