The US is preparing for a long war US President George W. Bush proudly announced yesterday during an official visit to Australia that "major progress" was being made in the fight against international terrorism.

The grand program “The Hermitage in Siberia” has begun On October 22, the Novosibirsk Art Gallery hosted a signing ceremony of a general agreement on the implementation of the Hermitage in Siberia program by the director of the St. Petersburg museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky, and the chairman of the board of directors of the Basic Element company, Oleg Deripaska.

Kerch has relieved tension Along the entire more than two-hundred-kilometer route from the capital of Crimea, Simferopol, to the “front-line” city of Kerch, among the fading greenery, the bands of police caps flash every now and then - law enforcement officers guard the path along which motorcades with Kyiv license plates have been flying one after another for many days now. As you approach the city, internal tension increases.

Precious reserves of the Central Bank and Gokhran will be declassified In two or three years, Russia plans to declassify data on stones and reserves of platinum group metals located in Gokhran and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. This was announced yesterday by First Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Ulyukaev.

Investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to the Bashkir oil workers with a search Another scandalous series of searches was carried out yesterday by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow. Representatives of the Investigative Committee and the Federal Service for Economic and Tax Crimes (FSENP) simultaneously visited the offices of several companies associated with the Bashkir oil refineries (refineries) - Ufa, Novoufimsky and the Bashneftekhim holding.

Vladimir Putin's election program is almost ready Against the backdrop of the unfolding struggle for the mandates of State Duma deputies, it was somehow completely forgotten that three months after the parliamentary elections, presidential elections await us. Presidential aide Igor Shuvalov, who was participating in the Russian Forum 2003, which brought together politicians and representatives of business circles, recalled this yesterday in Nizhny Novgorod. Mr.

The city authorities are going to fine animal owners for violating the silence Moscow authorities have once again returned to the idea of ​​introducing administrative liability in the city for inhumane treatment of domestic animals and inability to properly train a pet.

The European Parliament yesterday awarded UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and all his staff the Andrei Sakharov Prize for their services in the field of human rights protection. The decision was taken "in memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello and other UN staff who lost their lives doing their work for world peace." The head of the UN office in Iraq, Brazilian Di Mello, was killed in a terrorist attack in front of the UN office in Baghdad on August 19.

Forecast for the coming days In central Russia, the weather is preparing to change to a winter mode. In the coming days, the center of Russia will be in the cold part of the cyclone, which will be accompanied by precipitation. On weekends, wind gusts can reach 15--18 m/s; during the day in most parts of the region the temperature is 0...-5°C.

Why did India decide to sterilize macaques? Russians who have been to Asian countries know that in some of them one of the local attractions is monkeys. They do not live in cages in zoos, but on the streets and near churches. “Oh, what cute monkeys!” - exclaims the tourist and rushes to photograph the tailed creatures. Stop! It's better not to do this, or at least act carefully. Local residents know well that behind these innocent, stupid faces hides an insidious essence.

The government is trying to build banks for the people's business The White House did not wait for the group led by presidential aide Igor Shuvalov to formulate national interests in the development of mortgages. The government believes that the strategic interest is obvious: mortgages should be developed, but questions of a tactical nature require answers. “The problem is not a lack of financing, since banking institutions have money.

In Kyrgyzstan, the Russian and US military will do men's work together The Russian president spent only eight hours in Bishkek, but during this time he managed to present the Order of Friendship to Kyrgyz cultural figures, open a Russian military base, get acquainted with the life of soldiers and dedicate his participation to the Russian-Kyrgyz investment forum. People in Kyrgyzstan love Russian leaders.

The presidents of Russia and Ukraine found a way to compromise When the excitement around the island of Tuzla, which suddenly darkened Russian-Ukrainian relations, reached its climax, the Ukrainian side backed down somewhat. Official Kyiv did not risk quarreling to the point of outright hostility, in which a conflict over a narrow strip of land in the sea could escalate into armed clashes both on water and on land. President Leonid Kuchma was the first to play the compensatory role.

The opposition accuses President Kuchma In Ukraine, the opposition took advantage of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict over Tuzla to once again present their claims to President Leonid Kuchma and weaken his position.

Sixty-five years ago Venedikt Erofeev was born Any attempt at a meaningful conversation about Venedikt Erofeev is doomed to failure. Either academic melancholy will creep in, or vulgarity will creep in.