Forecast for the coming days Quite warm weather has settled over most of the European territory of Russia. In the coming days, the anticyclone, slowly moving towards Kazakhstan, will again kindly provide the central regions of Russia with its warm western outskirts. It is warm in the central region. At night around 0°C, during the day -1...+5°C. In the capital and the region on November 28, cloudy, light precipitation in places, maximum temperature +1...+3оС, south-east wind, 5--10 m/s.

Israel is offended by the UN Israel yesterday accused the UN of hypocrisy and double standards. Israeli permanent representative Dan Gillerman, faced with opposition from Arab and non-aligned countries, withdrew the draft resolution “The situation of Israeli children and assistance to them” from consideration by the UN General Assembly.

Novosibirsk snake expert is suspected of smuggling poison A criminal case has been opened in Novosibirsk against Vladimir Dudarev, director of the unique Siberian Herpetological Center (SHC), the only snake venom producer in Russia. Mr. Dudarev is suspected of stealing and selling to Estonia about 600 grams of viper venom worth 170 thousand dollars. Mr. Dudarev himself does not admit any guilt and, quite in the spirit of the latest oligarchic cases, declares the “custom” nature of the case.

Being a miracle, Nyakrosius's performance defies critical evaluation There is a wonderful Greek legend about the world's first poetry competition: according to it, Hesiod once challenged Homer to a competition.

Yesterday, US President George W. Bush unexpectedly flew to his soldiers in Iraq. He spent only two and a half hours in this dangerous country, but what a time - yesterday America celebrated the national holiday Thanksgiving Day. This was the first visit of a US president to Iraq in history. "You protect the American people from danger, we are grateful to you," Bush said in Baghdad.

Paxas wants to remain president Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas refused to publicly answer questions from the Sejm commission investigating the case, nicknamed “Paxogate” by newspapermen. We are talking about a scandal that began with the submission of the State Security Department (DSS) of Lithuania.

Former senator from Evenkia recalled that he was put under pressure The general director of the Yukos-Moscow company Vasily Shakhnovsky had barely time to refuse the post of representative of the Evenki Autonomous Okrug in the Federation Council when new facts were revealed in his case. Former Evenk envoy to the Northern Fleet Nikolai Anisimov yesterday convened a press conference in Moscow in order to open the public's eyes to this blatant fact. It turns out that Mr.

The disputed island is melting before our eyes Kyiv is now looking at the “Kerch conflict” in a new way. Previously, Ukrainians believed that the purpose of building a Russian dam was to unite the Taman Peninsula with the Ukrainian Tuzla Spit. This was done by the Russians seemingly in order to force the Ukrainians to finally hold negotiations to resolve controversial issues related to border demarcation in the Kerch Strait.

The German Commerzbank AG and SG Corporate & Investment Banking, the corporate finance division of the French bank Societe Generale, announced the allocation of a six-year loan to Gazprom in the amount of $300 million. The loan is guaranteed by gas exports to Germany, the banks said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg. The two banks fully financed the loan, but intend to attract other banks to participate in it through loan syndication. This is the concern's last loan this year.

The revolutionary troika faced its first problems The Georgian revolutionary troika represented by Mikheil Saakashvili, Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania faced serious problems. Yesterday, the leader of the Union of Traditionalists, third on the list of the Burjanadze-Democrats bloc, Akaki Asatiani, spoke out against Mikheil Saakashvili as the future president.

Rakhimov no longer needs Gazprom As December 7 approaches, when the presidential elections in Bashkiria will be held, more and more facts indicate that the summer cooperation agreement between Gazprom and Bashkiria was a tactical political move by the current head of the republic, Murtaza Rakhimov.

IFMC-2003 takes place in Vitebsk There are festivals that are ahead of their time - such is the Moscow “Workshop”. There are those who try to stretch the frozen past for all times - such is the “Ramp of Moscow”. And then there is the Vitebsk fest, existing here and now, tapping today’s pulse, accurately diagnosing the state of affairs. That's why it's interesting. It originated 16 years ago as an all-Union breakdance festival.

The airline is increasing its fleet and volumes Aeroflot intends to increase its fleet to 140-150 aircraft by 2010. The airline's general director, Valery Okulov, announced this at a press conference yesterday. President of the National Reserve Bank (NRB) Alexander Lebedev, who attended the same event in his new capacity as a member of the board of directors of Aeroflot (to which he was elected on November 22), assessed the company’s future need for aircraft even higher. According to Mr.

20-year-old Brazilian midfielder Nilmar Onorato can join the ranks of CSKA. However, this will only happen if the transfer of a football player owned by Inter from Porto de Alegre is bought by London's Chelsea for 6 million pounds. Nilmar will not be able to play for the English club, as he does not have enough matches for the national team of his country. It is for this reason that the Brazilian will be loaned to CSKA for the 2004 season.

On Wednesday, the Academy of Russian Contemporary Literature (college of literary critics) held readings dedicated to the results of 2003. Those entering the Great Hall of the Central House of Writers were given an elegant booklet with photographs and biographies of ARSS members (published by the Vremya publishing house).