The winners of the Vitebsk Festival of Contemporary Choreography have been announced The festival is built on a competitive, pyramidal principle. The first round in absentia - the jury peers at the videotapes sent by the choreographers. The second closed one is already in Vitebsk (journalists are allowed in, but the public is not). Then - the public finale.

The head of one of the largest engineering corporations in the world - United Technologies Corporation - George DAVID gave an exclusive interview to the correspondent of the Vremya Novostei newspaper Mikhail KUKUSHKIN. The Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of the company spoke about how he has been exploring Russia for ten years. -- Mr. David, what was 2003 like for United Technologies?

Burjanadze almost quarreled between Powell and Ivanov Russian-American disagreements over the situation in Georgia and Moldova became the main intrigue at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE Foreign Ministers), which ended yesterday in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Yesterday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was awarded the annual tongue-tied award from the British non-governmental organization Correct English. Since 1979, she has been fighting to save the language from being clogged with clerical jargon, verbosity and confusion. Rumsfeld's victory was brought about by a tirade delivered at a Pentagon briefing in February 2002.

The famous American denim manufacturer Levi Strauss Co. serious financial problems have to be resolved. 150 years after the founding of the company, whose products covered an entire continent, its business began to decline. Due to poor financial performance, your credit rating drops and debts skyrocket. On Monday, Levi Strauss decided to turn over a new leaf, and to restore the brand to its former glory, the company's board of directors hired a new chief financial officer.

Belarusians continue to demand compensation The next Council of Ministers of Russia and Belarus, and this time, did not answer the main question, what is the future fate of the single ruble. Belarusians continue to intrigue and delay the process in every possible way. They want to postpone the entry into force of the agreement on the single currency from 2005 to 2006, but they are not ready to publicly admit this.

The Tretyakov Gallery lives by the principle: the best exhibitions have the worst advertising. “You know, Sergei, it’s not customary for us to publish “countesses.” Why are you asking about the catalog?” - the ladies from the Tretyakov press service sympathetically comment on my request. “Countesses” are employees of the graphics department of the State Tretyakov Gallery. Every year at the end of autumn - beginning of winter they present their richest funds in a special enfilade.

Yoko Ono has been secretly married for the past 23 years Yoko Ono, the last wife of Beatles leader John Lennon, is a lady who seems specially created for scandalous gossip columns. The press loves to wash out the facts of her biography again and again and look for dubious details in her past and present that undermine the decent image of “the main muse of the greatest rock musician.” Another scandal was stirred up by the French newspaper Le Figaro: this publication claims that “Mrs.

Akhmat Kadyrov found a replacement for Anatoly Popov The President of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, yesterday appointed the acting prime minister of the republic - the Minister of Finance, 36-year-old Eli Isaev. He can rightfully be called “a man of Kadyrov’s team”: last winter, due to a personnel scandal in connection with his appointment to a ministerial position, Mikhail Babich had to leave the chair of the Chechen prime minister.

Policemen were taken away from the Vietnamese market Another corruption scandal is breaking out in the capital's police force. This time, representatives of the Main Directorate of Internal Security (GUSB) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs became interested in the friendly relations between law enforcement officers and illegal traders from Southeast Asia.

The US wants to smoke enemies out of caves with atomic weapons In recent years, Washington has tightened its requirements for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. But he himself has no intention of giving up nuclear weapons. On the contrary, the United States will improve them. This is evidenced by the 2004 Energy and Water Supply Act signed by President George W. Bush.

The head of the Ministry of Economic Development proposes to sell RBR and RSHB The head of the Ministry of Economic Development, German Gref, decided to revive the discussion about the fate of government-owned banks. Yesterday he criticized the Russian Development Bank (RDB) and the Russian Agricultural Bank (RSHB) for the fact that they “do not have time to absorb their authorized capital” and called for the total privatization of state banks. According to Mr.

YUKOS has been presented with a new invoice The actions of the authorities in relation to YUKOS continue to refute the words Vladimir Putin said in Rome. Then, commenting on the intentions of the Ministry of Natural Resources to begin the preventive revocation of the company’s licenses, the president said: “It seems that the state is setting a goal to stop the company’s activities.

Candidates for President of Georgia have been identified Yesterday evening, the Georgian Central Election Commission stopped accepting applications for registering presidential candidates for the January 4 elections. The Central Election Commission decided to hold parliamentary elections on January 25. There are 15 candidates vying for the post of head of state, including 13 Georgians, one Russian and one Armenian.

Islamic leaders of Russia missed Muslims Leaders of Russian Muslims believe that Goskomstat underestimates the number of followers of Islam living in our country. The head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin, is confident that during last year’s All-Russian Population Census, statistics seriously miscalculated and did not take into account at least five million Muslims.