City Hall officials want to make money on land faster than speculators Saving the capital's industry from liquidation by land speculators, city hall officials seem to have decided to get ahead of the resellers and profit from the industrial zones on their own. The topic of hostile takeovers and artificial bankruptcy of Moscow plants and factories for the sake of seizure and resale of land was again brought up at a meeting of the capital's government yesterday.

Russian Green Cross is highly respected for its independence and contribution to developing public understanding of issues relating to the destructive power of chemical weapons.

In preparation for the destruction of chemical weapons, from 1992 to 1997 in Russia, two federal laws were adopted, a federal target program “Destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles in the Russian Federation” was developed and approved, as well as about 20 regulatory legal acts of the president and government.

Regional commissions and the Kremlin are developing common criteria for pardoning convicts The controversial aspects of the policy of state mercy should become more or less clear in the next few days.

Outsider parties will have to pay for election failure The head of the Central Election Commission, Alexander Veshnyakov, partially consoled yesterday several parties that did not enter the State Duma on their party lists. Mr. Veshnyakov recalled that the leaders of the parliamentary elections, in accordance with the new legislation, will receive state funding next year. Moreover, this applies not only to parties that have overcome the fatal five percent barrier.

European police will not let the smoldering spots of Macedonia flare up A new page has been opened in the chronicle of the Common Security and Defense Policy of the European Union (EU). On Monday, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana launched Project Proxima in Macedonia, the second European police mission outside the community's geographical boundaries.

President Ciampi offended Prime Minister Berlusconi The President of Italy dealt a sensitive blow to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - both as head of government and as a media mogul. Yesterday, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, under pressure from the opposition, returned to parliament the “Gasparri law” on reforming the Italian media system, which had already been passed by both houses in early December.

The Kiev woman tops the World Cup standings With a short respite of just a day, two stages of the World Cup in cross-country skiing took place one after another. If in the Italian Val di Fiemme sprint that ended yesterday the Russians were left without awards, then a little earlier on the track in Davos (Switzerland) for the first time in my life, our Nikolai Pankratov rose to the podium of such a high-ranking competition, finishing second at a distance of 15 km in the classical style.

In the case of the Central Bank's billions, there are few living defendants left The latest trial in the grandiose epic of the early 90s about scams with bank advice notes began the other day in the Presnensky Court of Moscow.

SPS and Yabloko are negotiating joint actions in the presidential elections The day before yesterday, late at night, the Union of Right Forces party held a meeting of the political council. It was decided to create a united political council of democratic forces, which would include, first of all, the SPS and Yabloko. It is assumed that the “right” and “Yabloko” members will delegate six of their representatives to it.

The current visit of Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov to Japan once again recalled the uncertainty surrounding plans to build an oil pipeline in the Russian Far East. We are talking about a choice where economics and international politics are closely intertwined with each other - to pull a pipe from Angarsk to the Russian port of Nakhodka or to the border with China, from where oil will flow to Chinese Daqing. Tokyo needs the first option, Beijing needs the second.

The jump in prices for new housing will not affect demand in any way Prices for new buildings in the capital will grow exponentially - this was the conclusion reached yesterday by the participants of the round table "The situation on the market of new buildings in 2003", organized by the Moscow Association - Guild of Realtors. The speech of the head of the department of promising projects of the Department of Construction Investment Programs (DIPS) of Moscow, Evgeniy Leonov, was sensational.

Russian facilities that are in one way or another connected with chemical weapons are subject to international control. Storage arsenals are checked annually. As a rule, an OPCW inspection team arrives in Russia to inspect several storage facilities and works for up to 20 days. During the operation of chemical weapons destruction facilities, inspectors are constantly present, changing every month and a month and a half.

President Signed the federal law “On Amendments and Additions to the Forestry Code”, adopted by the State Duma on November 21 and approved by the Federation Council on November 26, 2003. The law is aimed at clarifying the procedure for transferring forest lands to non-forest lands, including forest lands, as well as regulating the development of forest areas provided for tourism, cultural, recreational and sports purposes.

The leader of the Union of Right Forces, Boris NEMTSOV, who recently wrote a letter of resignation from his post, spoke in an interview with Vremya Novostey correspondent Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA about the prospects of unification with the Yabloko party and the possible fate of the democratic movement in Russia. —You are going to insist on your resignation from the post of leader of the Union of Right Forces. Is this really necessary?