If Russian enterprises stay within budget American successes on Mars forced jealous Europeans to fork out cash. Having failed in its attempt to send its own rover to Mars, the European Space Agency (ESA) has relied on large-scale cooperation with Russia. And without much delay, it approved on Wednesday evening a program to finance the construction of the Russian launch complex for Soyuz launch vehicles at the cosmodrome in Kourou (French Guiana).

Yesterday, Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon regarding the “Greek Island Case.” According to investigators, in the summer of 1998, a major Israeli businessman, David Appel, wished to purchase the Greek island of Petrokoulos for construction projects. With a request to settle formalities with the Greek authorities, he turned to Ariel Sharon, who then held the post of Foreign Minister. And in exchange, he provided financial assistance to Sharon.

Capital flour millers will answer for rising prices in court The Prosecutor General's Office recently approved and transferred the scandalous “bread case” to the Preobrazhensky Court of Moscow. According to the Investigative Committee (IC) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the leaders of JSC Mill Plant in Sokolniki (MKS) and businessmen friendly to them organized a series of scams, including with money allocated to the enterprise from the Moscow budget.

Yesterday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on his first official visit. Russian-Azerbaijani negotiations began at the country residence of the Russian president, Novo-Ogarevo, where Vladimir Putin invited Mr. Aliyev and his wife to an informal dinner.

Lists of the wounded and hotline numbers Hotline numbers List of wounded taken to Moscow hospitals 1. ??? Olga Nikolaevna - Sklif. 23 years old, Mordovia 2. ??? Irina Vladimirovna – City Clinical Hospital No. 1 Hospital 40 (Sushchevsky Val, 60-1-98) 3. Alimov Andrey Mandzhurovich - Sklif. 17 years old 4. Basa*va Laura Konstantinovna – City Clinical Hospital No. 36, 28 years old 5. Boytsova Alina Nikolaevna – City Clinical Hospital No. 36, 57 years old 6. Borovkina Natalya Viktorovna – Sklif.

This is what the Russian Foreign Ministry thinks Yesterday, Secretary General of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha said that negotiations are underway with some Commonwealth countries on expanding the CSTO. “I would not like to name yet these countries with which we had and still have contacts regarding their participation in the work of the CSTO as members of the organization or observers,” said Nikolai Bordyuzha.

The fifth GSM operator appeared in the capital of the Volga region At the end of next week, Tele2 will launch its own GSM network in Nizhny Novgorod. It intends to compete in this region with Nizhny Novgorod Cellular Communications (NSS) and local branches of Bee Line, MTS and Megafon. Thus, as many as five companies will operate in one area and using the same standard. Now the leader in the region is Nizhny Novgorod Cellular Communications.

Before his resignation, Prime Minister Repshe managed to begin a wholesale Latvianization Last night, the Latvian parliament made a decision that will for a long time excite the public not only of this Baltic country, but also of Russia, since the matter concerns the Russian-speaking population of Latvia. From September 1, 2004, teaching in state secondary schools, where predominantly Russian-speaking children study, will mostly be taught in Latvian in the senior classes.

The draw for the Davis Cup match between Belarus and Russia, which starts today, took place in Minsk. The first to take to the court will be Igor Andreev and Vladimir Volchkov, then the meeting between Marat Safin and Maxim Mirny will take place. On Saturday, in a doubles combination, Safin and Mikhail Youzhny will fight the Mirny-Volchkov tandem; the next day, the participants in Friday's fights will exchange opponents.

On television they fear the presidential debates will fail The televised debates of presidential candidates, which are scheduled to begin after February 12, seem to be one of the most boring spectacles on today's domestic TV. Despite the fact that the Central Election Commission has not yet published the full list of registered candidates, the heads of central Russian channels are already worried about a very likely drop in ratings.

Canadian Bema Gold has published a preliminary estimate of the reserves of the Kupol gold-silver deposit in Chukotka, which significantly exceeds similar estimates by Russian specialists. The license to develop Kupol is held by the Chukotka Mining and Geological Company, one of whose shareholders is Bema Gold.

The fight against “totalitarian consciousness” has begun in Brussels Delegates to the 16th Congress of the European People's Party (EPP) held in Brussels called on all other political groups of the European Parliament not to allow former communist officials from socialist countries into the governing bodies of United Europe.

The former head of Yukos-Moscow was found guilty but left free The Moscow Meshchansky Court yesterday sentenced the former head of the Yukos-Moscow company, Vasily Shakhnovsky, who was accused by the Prosecutor General's Office of tax evasion of almost a million dollars and repeated falsification of documents.

An employee of Ivan Rybkin’s headquarters was detained The Moscow prosecutor's office announced yesterday the detention of a certain Viktor Fedoruk, who is suspected of falsifying signatures during the presidential election campaign of Ivan Rybkin. Back on January 25, one of the TV channels showed a story about how a collection of fake signatures from citizens in support of Mr. Rybkin was organized in the Pyramid bar in the building of the Moscow Academy of Fine Fibers.

The head of OMK believes that he will not have serious rivals for two years After the collapse of the USSR, Russia, which has enormous hydrocarbon reserves, was left without its own large-diameter pipes (LDPs), necessary for the construction of main oil and gas pipelines. Designed for the needs of the gas industry, the Khartsyzsk plant is located in Ukraine and is still a major supplier to Gazprom.