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Our team failed at the World League finals The Russian national team completed the final tournament of the World League ahead of schedule, and in last place in the group. After losing to the Brazilian national team - 1:3 (19:25, 26:24, 17:25, 15:25), yesterday morning ours weakly lost to the Bulgarians, who were clearly inferior to them in class - 1:3 (25:18, 23: 25, 18:25, 22:25).

A great performance was born in Moscow The words “greatness” and “genius” have been devalued so much that their former dignity will never return. Calling pop stars, businessmen and bandits great has long been no longer shameful, but the coup de grace (“blow of mercy” with which the vanquished are finished off) was delivered by advertising: recently I came across a poster praising something that “brilliantly washes your laundry” .

The Prosecutor General's Office talks with the president of Sibneft Having recently expressed outrage at the purchase of the Chelsea club by Sibneft owner Roman Abramovich, the head of the Accounts Chamber, Sergei Stepashin, now began to suspect oil workers of tax evasion.

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Only Zhidkova sheathed her racket yesterday At the Australian Open in Melbourne, after the completion of the second round matches, the number of candidates for the main trophies in men's and women's singles was reduced to exactly four times the original number of participants. 32 players continue to fight. It is gratifying that among them are six of our athletes - Marat Safin, Mikhail Yuzhny, Nadezhda Petrova, Tatyana Panova, Anastasia Myskina and Elena Bovina.

Russia has become even closer to Belgium Yesterday in Brussels, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his Belgian counterpart Louis Michel signed a Joint Program of Action between the two countries for 2003-2004. The document has no legal force, but the specific list of activities contained in it morally obliges the parties to act. Trade turnover between Belgium and Russia, currently equal to $1.6 billion, should continue to grow.

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

Belarusian Prime Minister lost his position due to rural problems Yesterday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko dismissed Prime Minister Gennady Novitsky, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Popkov and Minister of Agriculture Mikhail Rusy. The president promised that during July the government would be renewed “by about a third.” The duties of the prime minister will be temporarily performed by First Deputy Head of Government Sergei Sidorsky.

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In four years, the Russian army will become semi-professional Yesterday the government approved a federal target program for transferring the army to contract recruitment, designed for 2004-2007. If it is implemented, then by the beginning of 2008, 147.5 thousand people will become contract soldiers. With the 130 thousand contract soldiers already available today, half of the armed forces will become professionals by the end of the program.

The leadership of Chechnya requested 57 million rubles for the elections As soon as Vladimir Putin set the date for the presidential elections in Chechnya, the candidates and their supporters began to launch propaganda artillery preparations. True, so far it is mainly supporters of the acting head of the republic, Akhmat Kadyrov, who are speaking out. In particular, Senator from Chechnya Akhmar Zavgaev openly stated yesterday that he sees no alternative to the current leader.

Black Widow Bag Ending. Start on page 1 As for the identity of the terrorist, during the first interrogations she named different names and different places from which she came - either Grozny or Bamut. Judging by the passport and air ticket found on her (Nazran-Moscow flight), the person detained, as investigators assumed yesterday, most likely turned out to be a 22-year-old resident of the village of Asinovskaya, Sunzhensky district of Chechnya, Zarema Muzhikhoeva.

There will be a president here In three years, the first president will be elected in Dagestan. For now, Russia’s southernmost and most multiethnic republic is governed by a “collective” head of state in the form of the State Council, which includes representatives of the largest ethnic groups. But yesterday, the constitutional assembly of the republic unanimously approved a new basic law, which, according to its authors, is more consistent with the Russian Constitution.

Europe's largest theater festival falls victim to trade union activists The 57th Avignon International Theater Festival will not take place after all. Its director, Bernard Febvre d'Arcier, announced this yesterday.