Europe sent a special representative to the South Caucasus 64-year-old Finnish diplomat Heiki Talvitie was presented yesterday in Tbilisi as the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus. At one time, Mr. Talvitie served as co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Conference on Nagorno-Karabakh. From 1984 to 2002, he headed his country's diplomatic missions in Yugoslavia, Russia and Sweden.

Microsoft changes employee rewards policy The world's leading computer software manufacturer Microsoft announced its intention to transfer part of its shares to the company's employees as an incentive and to attract promising employees. At the same time, the company's management is going to abandon the practice of providing employees with stock options, which has allowed many Microsoft employees to get rich over the past decade due to the confident growth of stock prices.

Media registration certificate: EL N ° 77-2909 dated June 26 2000 Any use of materials and illustrations possible only in agreement with the editorship Questions, suggestions and comments are accepted: By the content of publications - info@vremya.ru For advertising issues on the site - volkova@vremya.ru

Media registration certificate: EL N ° 77-2909 dated June 26 2000 Any use of materials and illustrations is possible only in agreement with the editorship Questions, suggestions and comments are accepted: By the content of publications - info@vremya.ru By cooperation and development of the site - web@vremya.ru

Heydar Aliyev is undergoing treatment in Turkey again Late on Tuesday evening, 80-year-old President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev left for Ankara for another examination at the Gulhane Military Medical Academy. Before leaving Baku, Aliyev received the EU delegation led by Margarita Boniver and chaired a meeting of the country's Security Council. In a state television story about a meeting with European guests, the president looked unwell.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry has officially expressed bewilderment at the content of Ion Iliescu’s recent interview with Russian media.

Feminism is in fashion: “Oasis”, “Dolls”, “Secretary”, “Far from Heaven” and “Erotic Story” at the “Faces of Love” festival The heroine has a rug hanging on her wall. On the rug there is an oasis: yellow flowers, a woman in a sari with a jug on her head, a dark-skinned boy playing the trumpet, a baby elephant drinking from a puddle of fresh water... This does not look like an image of heaven, the promised land.

End. Start on page 1 The arrest was preceded by a protracted and scandalous story. As the ex-intelligence officer’s lawyer Vladislav Oganesyan and the lieutenant colonel’s wife Lyudmila told the Vremya Novostei newspaper, at one time acquaintances brought former FSB lieutenant colonel Sergei Gaidukov to Mr. Levitsky. The latter, after his dismissal, together with his friend Sergei Lobarev, created two banks - Intersectoral Industrial Bank and Marketing Bank.

BP increased its estimate of oil reserves in Russia by 23% The British oil company BP Plc, in its annual report on the global energy market, significantly increased its estimate of oil reserves in Russia by 23%. According to the company, proven oil reserves in Russia at the end of 2002 amounted to 60 billion barrels compared to 48.6 billion a year earlier. The estimates contained in BP's annual report are considered among the most authoritative in the world.

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Centralized disinfection of transport has been stopped in the capital Moscow is not at risk of an outbreak of typhoid fever, but the detection of this disease in several market traders is causing serious concern among doctors. The chief state sanitary doctor of the capital, Nikolai Filatov, announced this yesterday at a press conference.

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China is interested in oil and gas projects in Iran The Chinese corporation Sinopec is exploring the possibility of investment participation in large oil and gas projects in Iran. Negotiations on promising cooperation were held in Tehran by the vice-president of the company, Mou Shulin, INTERFAX-CHINA reports. "Vice President Mou met with senior Iranian government officials, including the Minister of Petroleum Industry.

Shell's subsidiary, Shell Gas Station, won the auction for the right to lease land in St. Petersburg for the construction of a gas station. The authorities of St. Petersburg put up for auction a land plot at the intersection of Leninsky Prospect and Marshal Zhukov Avenue with a starting price of 130 thousand dollars. Shell Gas Station won the auction, offering 400 thousand dollars for the land plot.