None of the Russian special services yesterday was able to confirm the rumors that had appeared about the death of one of the most odious Chechen field commanders, Rappani Khalilov, who is accused of organizing a terrorist attack in the Dagestan city of Kaspiysk on May 9, 2002. As a result of that explosion, which occurred during a holiday parade, 45 people were killed, including 17 children, and about 100 were injured.

Even in Stockholm, Washington has a dissenting opinion Today in Stockholm, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will sign the Multilateral Agreement on the Nuclear Economic Program of the Russian Federation (MNEPR) and the protocol to it with an absurdly long title - “Protocol on Claims, Litigation and Release from Liability.” This is intended to solve the problems of managing spent fuel from decommissioned nuclear submarines and other radioactive waste.

The fight against private carriers will begin in a month No sooner had criticism of the Moscow authorities subsided for attempting to use administrative measures to protect the capital's taxi fleets from private competitors, than the Department of Transport and Communications of the mayor's office came up with a new initiative - to crush competitors in the field of cargo transportation.

Yesterday the most popular clothing in the world celebrated its 130th anniversary If you conduct a survey of the population on the topic “America’s main contribution to world civilization,” then jeans will probably appear in a prominent place along with jazz, Edison, Hollywood and fast food. But not everyone will remember the name of the one who came up with these simple pants, although almost everyone has seen his name and surname many times.

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There was no heroic release of the prisoner The Pentagon was very offended by the British broadcaster BBC. The British have made a documentary film debunking the “heroic story” of the liberation of Private Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital by American special forces. According to journalists, a significant part of this “liberation” was a staged reenactment in the Hollywood spirit.

But Moscow continues sanitary cleaning of markets and dormitories Representatives of the World Health Organization announced that the peak of the SARS epidemic in the world has passed. To prove their claim, WHO leaders presented data showing that countries in Southeast Asia have seen a sharp decline in the number of cases of SARS virus infection.

An exhibition in honor of the anniversary of St. Petersburg opens today in Paris Nobody believed that Russia could be not only a recipient, but also a donor in relation to Western Europe. And then it happened. For the first time, a huge Russian-French exhibition in Paris was prepared with Russian money. The sponsor was the Interros Holding Company, the patron of many significant cultural projects and a good friend of the State Hermitage.

Russia will continue to mine expensive Arctic coal The Rostov Institute "Rostovgiproshakht" submitted for state examination a project for the construction of a new mine "Grumant" on the Spitsbergen archipelago. The general director of the institute, Valery Gurin, told the Vremya Novostei newspaper yesterday. “It is not very profitable from an economic point of view to mine coal in Spitsbergen, which is under Norwegian sovereignty,” says Mr. Gurin.

MTS continues its active expansion in the cellular communications market in Russia and the CIS, demonstrating the highest subscriber growth among mobile companies. After capturing the highly profitable segment of the market (services for corporate and wealthy clients), the company switched to the mass user in November last year, offering a new package of Jeans services. The change in strategy led to a decrease in the profitability of the business as a whole in 2002.

By changing the ratio of receipts to ordinary shares The Yukos oil company has decided to increase the liquidity of its ADRs (American Depositary Receipts). By decision of the board of directors, the conversion rate of Yukos shares into ADR will change next Friday. Now one depositary receipt will be equal to four ordinary shares, and not 15, as it was before. In total, the number of ADRs will increase by 2.75 times. They will cost approximately the same as when they were placed in 2001.

The United States will send its special forces units to the Philippines to fight Islamic separatists from the Abu Sayyaf group operating in the south of the country. US President George W. Bush announced this after talks in Washington with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo Macapagal. The number of military personnel sent is not specified. Previously, Americans worked in the troops of the island state of Southeast Asia only as instructors.

New film from the creator of “The Pianist” Yesterday, a new film by Austrian director Michael Haneke, “The Time of the Wolf,” was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. When the festival program was announced, journalists and film fans were surprised. How is it that the famous Haneke, whose “The Pianist” won three prizes at Cannes two years ago, is not invited to the competition?

Minatom and the Ministry of Property entered into an agreement, according to which the departments will create an agency for managing state property in the nuclear industry. The point of its creation, as nuclear scientists say, is to “concentrate the efforts of property sector professionals and nuclear specialists,” which should lead to the efficient use of assets and, as a result, to an increase in state budget revenues.

The Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art takes place every two years and is no less famous among the artistic community than the Venice Film Festival among cinephiles. For the tourism business, the exhibition in the Giardini Gardens is almost as strong a lure as the February carnival. Thousands of artists flock to Venice to show each other the most spectacular finds and leave exhibitions for millions of tourists until November.