Kuchma will not run for a third term because “Ukraine is not Russia” Leonid Kuchma, who is currently serving his second term as head of state, again stated that he does not intend to participate in the presidential elections (they will be held on October 31 or December). At the same time, the 65-year-old leader emphasized that the decision of the constitutional court allows him to nominate his candidacy. “However, the last word remains with me,” he said.

Bush proposed the most anti-family budget of our time Yesterday, President Bush submitted to the US Congress a draft budget for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins on October 1. Its expenditure portion is equal to $2.4 trillion. In these dry figures, George Bush, who expects to re-occupy the White House in the fall, strives to appear as a leader determined to fight America’s enemies, regardless of any material costs.

General Director of Gazexport Alexander Medvedev officially confirmed yesterday that his company fully meets the gas needs of the Transcaucasian republics. Itera, which under contracts with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan should provide them with about 50% of the required volume this year, was unable to agree with Gazprom on gas transportation.

The magazine review will have to wait. Vasily Aksenov’s novel “The Voltairians and the Voltairians” (beginning - “October” , No. 1) requires a separate discussion. The same is the case with the stories of Yevgeny Shklovsky , who was actively published last year, and has now published new collections in Friendship of Peoples (No. 1) and The New World (No. 2). Most of “Ural” (No. 1) is dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950).

Parmalat was ruined by double-entry bookkeeping and affiliated structures Italian law enforcement agencies discovered schemes through which the largest national food concern Parmalat inflated its assets. As a result of a lengthy investigation, it turned out that the activities of the bankrupt company in recent years involved so-called double accounting, when several invoices were issued for many goods. More than 30 distributors and several hundred supermarkets were involved in this scheme.

Russia celebrated the centenary of Valery Chkalov Valery Chkalov, a great aviator and a man about whom legends were already formed during his lifetime, is perhaps the most unconventional of all the heroes of the Land of the Soviets.

The US is speeding up the creation of a global missile defense system The US military notified the country's public that the first interceptor missiles in the missile defense (ABM) system under construction will be put on combat duty ahead of schedule. As you know, ten interceptor missiles are scheduled to be deployed at Vandenberg bases in California and Fort Greely in Alaska this fall.

The United States is actively promoting President George W. Bush's new initiative in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). If such weapons or their components are suspected of being illegally transported on foreign ships and aircraft, Bush proposes to intercept them. US Senior Deputy Secretary of State John BOLTON, who recently visited Moscow, spoke to the Vremya Novostey newspaper about the prospects for Russia to join the Bush Initiative.

Russia has banned the import of Asian chickens Birds with a cold, like cows with rabies in their time, terrify the whole world. Russia yesterday temporarily banned the import of live poultry, hatching eggs and feed from Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, Hong Kong and China.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday held a closed meeting of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Likud party to discuss a program for the withdrawal of 17 Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

The Rossiya channel promises to show unique footage from the scene of the death of the legendary cruiser Russian documentarians seem to be haunted by the fame of Hollywood director James Cameron, who not only made a three-hour feature film about the sinking of the Titanic, but also recently released the documentary project “Ghosts of the Abyss” - with unique footage of the same sunken English superliner, as well as the German cruiser Bismarck, which sank during the Second World War.

Former heads of State Statistics Committee may become the highest-ranking prisoners The Moscow City Court yesterday handed down a verdict in the most scandalous corruption epic of the late 90s - the so-called “statisticians’ case.” The main defendants in this case were the leaders of the State Statistics Committee themselves - the former head of the committee Yuri Yurkov and the head of the Computer Center (CC) Boris Sahakyan.

A compromise has been found for the withdrawal of Russian bases from Georgia Moscow and Tbilisi are conducting a painful search for a compromise solution to the problem of the Russian military presence in Georgia, and yesterday the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Colonel General Yuri Baluevsky, offered the Georgians, as he put it, “something in between.” Moscow insists that “under all favorable conditions, the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia

The VIII Archival Film Festival has ended The Gosfilmofond festival, held in Belye Stolby near Moscow for eight years in a row, is perhaps the main one, and after moving the Faces of Love festival closer to March 8, perhaps the only winter event intended for true film buffs. And an event that invariably holds its own - the festival programs may be interesting to a greater or lesser extent, but not once has a week spent in White Pillars been wasted.

European clubs are on the verge of bankruptcy European professional football seems to have passed its golden days: in most countries, cash flows are not increasing, and in some they have fallen sharply. It is unknown when the next boom will take place and new injections will begin. Today we are witnessing constantly declining revenues from sales of television rights, as well as the collapse of the transfer market. And this allows us to say that European football is going through a real crisis.