By order of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Deputy Minister of Defense for the northern region of the country, General Abdurashid Dostum, will move to the capital and become an adviser to the head of state. He will deal with military affairs and security. Dostum, an ethnic Afghan Uzbek, is one of the key warlords fighting the Taliban regime. While in the north of the country after Karzai came to power, he repeatedly called on Kabul to grant autonomy to the region.

The UEFA Cup was played again with fun and plenty of goals In the UEFA Cup final, which recently included the Cup Winners' Cup in its format, Porto managed to beat Scottish Celtic in extra time. There is also a piece of our, Russian, participation in the success of the Portuguese club. Together with Porto, the winner of the trophy was Dmitry Alenichev, who managed to score a goal in the final. Alenichev turned out to be the first Russian football player to sip champagne from the UEFA Cup.

Transnistria goes into private hands “Bouquet of Moldova” is compared to “Martini” and is consumed in the same way - as an aperitif, with tonic, mineral water and olive. It turns out no worse than the Italians. Some people think it's even better. Chairman of the City Council of the Transnistrian Dubossary, where the famous wine is produced, Alexander Porozhan, says that the domestic brand is three times cheaper than its foreign counterpart and is pure grape wine infused with herbs.

A little-known company promises to reconstruct a block in the center of Moscow for $80 million This week, the Realtex group of companies and Loko-Bank announced a project to reconstruct an entire block of historical buildings (at the junction of Trubnaya Square, Rozhdestvensky Boulevard and Neglinnaya Street).

Orekhovsk investors did not like the deputy head of Zelenograd The capital's special services yesterday announced the arrest of the main organizer of the murder of Deputy Prefect of Zelenograd Leonid Oblonsky, who was shot dead near his home in the summer of 2001.

On Thursday night, nine unknown assailants armed with grenade launchers attacked the headquarters of American troops in the city of Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad. Eyewitnesses heard four explosions and saw an American tank on fire. Two Arabs were killed in the shootout. In response, American armored vehicles fired at residential buildings. In the morning the city was blocked from the ground and air. The occupiers forbade residents to leave their homes and cleared several neighborhoods.

“Asfarma” will not go to the “Neftekhim” group The Neftekhim group, the main shareholder and creditor of the Anzhero-Sudzhen pharmaceutical factory Aspharma (Kemerovo region), has not yet managed to regain control of this enterprise. Yesterday, the Arbitration Court of the Kemerovo Region postponed consideration of the appeal of the former bankruptcy manager of Aspharma, Dmitry Berezin, for at least four months. Mr.

Prime Minister Appointed State Secretary, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Prokhorov as the official representative of the government when the chambers of the Federal Assembly considered the draft federal law “On Amendments and Additions to Appendix II to the Law of the Russian Federation “On International Commercial Arbitration”. Signed an order to dismiss Pavel Ivanov, a member of the Federal Securities Market Commission (FCSM), at his request.

- In terms of the degree of bad taste and persistent stupidity, this reminds me of the celebration of Lenin’s 100th anniversary. Then his cult should have been extrapolated to Brezhnev; now, probably, Smolny should receive all the laurels, although, as you know, the city authorities are resigning. Dull and ridiculous. And is there any need for a holiday more magnificent than one anniversary day, correct and restrained in the St. Petersburg spirit?

The 13-year sanctions have been lifted. The UN Security Council is saved Yesterday in New York the issue of sanctions against Iraq was finally put to rest. The UN Security Council almost unanimously (14 votes in favor, the Syrians did not attend the meeting at all) adopted a resolution that put an end to this relic, which was put into effect after the invasion of Saddam Hussein’s army into Kuwait back in 1990.

Ural Great is dissatisfied with the refereeing The fourth match of the final turned out to be the most intense. Its outcome was not known literally until the last seconds. In the end, the army team won 77:73 and took the lead in the best-of-four series with a score of 3:1. The fifth match will take place in Moscow this Sunday. And again, the spectators, who filled the stands of the Perm UDS “Hammer” to capacity, witnessed an exciting thriller.

One sick cow paralyzes Canada's beef industry Russia yesterday introduced a temporary ban on beef imports from Canada. The reason is the reappearance of the “mad cow” disease in Canada. A decade ago, this infection destroyed almost the entire livestock population in England. Tests showed that one of the cows slaughtered on a farm near the town of Fairview in Alberta had spongiform encephalopathy.

Honoring St. Petersburg has begun Today in St. Petersburg begins a ten-day anniversary dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the founding of the city. But the city was transferred to a special status back in March, when the police began to be on duty in enhanced mode. And since this Monday, patrols of internal troops have appeared on the streets and metro stations, the city is flooded with law enforcement officers.

Vladimir Putin gave an opportune letter to George Bush Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is visiting the United States, met with President George W. Bush and his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. This is Mr. Ivanov's sixth meeting with US political leadership in the past three years.

Hockey. NHL. Stanley Cup. 1/2 finals. “New Jersey” – “Ottawa” – 1:2 (OT) (series score 3-3). The Devils led the series 3-1, but squandered their advantage with their first playoff loss at home. Now everything will be decided in the seventh match, and New Jersey, if, of course, this team wants to get into the final at least on the third try, there is no room for error. Basketball. NBA. Playoffs. 1/2 finals. “San Antonio” – “Dallas” – 119:106 (series score 1-1).