UBS Bank begins selling Norilsk Nickel ADRs The European investment bank UBS AG announced yesterday the start of the sale of bonds exchangeable for ADR of MMC Norilsk Nickel. The company said in a statement that the issue, organized by a unit of UBS AG Jersey, has an approximate value of $250 million, based on the value of Norilsk Nickel's ADR. At the same time, approximately another $250 million worth of Norilsk Nickel ADRs will also be placed among institutional investors.

International swindlers hide behind the name of Russian machine builders The Hungarian authorities turned to Russian law enforcement agencies with a request to assist in uncovering a scam involving counterfeit US and Russian securities worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This is one of the episodes of a large-scale investigation by the intelligence services of 20 countries into a whole network of fraudsters who have entangled the world in transactions with unsecured bills.

Group B: France, England, Croatia, Switzerland By the will of the lot, the current European champion French team, the permanent favorite England team, the Croatian team that has experienced a generational change, and Switzerland, which is well known to Russians, gathered in the group under the letter “B”. At first glance, everything is clear here: the French and the English advance to the quarterfinals. But first glance is often deceiving.

Tbilisi offered Moscow a “zero option” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and acting Georgian President Nino Burjanadze “exchanged smiles and friendly handshakes.” This is the message about their meeting from the Interfax agency, transmitted yesterday from Maastricht, where a two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the 55 OSCE member states ends today.

Forecast for the coming days Most of the European territory of Russia remains under the supervision of a vast anticyclone. No significant precipitation is expected in the central region today; only in the north, with the approach of the atmospheric front, light precipitation, mainly in the form of snow, cannot be ruled out in some places. Air temperature -3...+2оС.

The festival “Vladimir Spivakov invites” has opened The second Moscow music festival under the artistic direction of the head of the Moscow House of Music, the new National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and the Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra Vladimir Spivakov opened with a concert with the almost sensational participation of the black prima donna Jessie Norman.

Six months left until the start of the European Football Championship The lottery chose the teams of Portugal, Italy and Greece as the opponents of the Russian national team at the European Championship. Six months before the start of the continental championship, it is hardly possible to objectively assess the strength of Group A, in which the Russians will compete. However, at first glance, the company that Russia has found itself in is no worse than others. Although not better.

The bank itself spoke about financial fraud in its branch Alfa Bank had to fire the heads of its branches for the second time in a month due to financial irregularities. Less than a month ago, Vitaly Ryabov, the head of the St. Petersburg branch, which was being investigated by the local FSB department for participation in illegal VAT refund schemes in favor of clients, was dismissed.

Colonel Budanov was replaced by intelligence officers The North Caucasus District Military Court postponed until January 29 hearings in the criminal case of four GRU special forces who shot six civilians in the Shatoi district of Chechnya.

Kazan UNICS beat a competitor from the “Big Three” Last game weekend of the Russian basketball championship among men's teams, the centerpiece was the match between teams from the so-called “Big Three”. In the meeting between Kazan UNICS and Perm Ural Great, which was directly witnessed by seven thousand spectators gathered in the stands of the Basket Hall in the capital of Tatarstan, the Volga residents celebrated the victory - 87:72.

At the Finnish stage of the World Cup, Russia has only one award In the international calendar, the ski tournament, held at the end of November in the Finnish subpolar town of Kuusamo, is designated as the opening of the winter season. This prestigious status is only partially true. The racing skiers gathered in Finland for the third meeting of the 2003/04 World Cup program, and the combined skiers and ski jumpers really opened up the scoring.

Ministry of Internal Affairs refuses to accept USSR passports No document will be as valuable this coming Sunday as a passport. After all, without presenting this document, it is impossible to receive a ballot.

The ex-president of Georgia is now going to write memoirs and participate in the Middle East settlement. He was visited by his own correspondent of the newspaper “Vremya Novostey” in Tbilisi, Mikhail VIGNANSKY. “Do I regret that I once brought these three into big politics? - ex-President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze asked me in surprise. -- No. The focus had to be on the young, on those who did not work under the totalitarian regime.

Microsoft has improved core programs Microsoft Corporation presented its new product in Russia - the Russian version of the Microsoft Office System software package. According to the developers, the program offers modern ways of organizing work and radically new opportunities in the field of corporate governance.

DaimlerChrysler shareholder demands $1.2 billion from the concern In Wilmington, a small city on the East Coast of the United States, one of the most exciting trials in world economic history has opened. Kirk Kerkorian, a wealthy Armenian-American investor, is seeking $1.2 billion in damages from German automaker DaimlerChrysler in US federal court for “doing bad business” in the stock swap during the 1998 takeover of Chrysler by Germany's Daimler. Benz, headed by Jürgen Schrempp.