In the first rounds of the football championship, the teams themselves do not win, and they do not allow others to Before the start of the second round of the Russian championship, the College of Football Referees (CFA) issued an interesting recommendation. From now on, referees need to be more careful to ensure that players do not touch them, much less exert physical force on them. Those referees who allow players to come into direct contact with themselves will be severely punished by the KFA.

President On Saturday I held a traditional meeting with the leadership of the government, the presidential administration and the heads of law enforcement agencies.

Today, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) must decide whether it will challenge UEFA's decision regarding the result of the European Championship play-off match with the Russian national team at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. On Friday, the UEFA Appeals Committee rejected another complaint from the Welsh. Both sides were heard at the meeting, which lasted four hours.

Lokomotiv resigns as champion Last weekend, the third and fourth matches of the opening round of the Russian Championship playoffs took place. However, in two duels everything finally became clear on Saturday. Yaroslavl Lokomotiv resigned as champions, losing the series to Tolyatti Lada with a score of 0:3. The capital's Dynamo team was unable to oppose Avangard with anything, losing for the third time in a row.

Lovers of Irish holidays were allowed to go out strictly according to schedule The most favorite foreign holiday of those that have easily taken root in Russia in recent years for the capital's mayor's office seems to be St. Patrick's Day. In any case, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov personally signed an order to hold a parade on the occasion of the day of remembrance of this Irish saint on New Arbat last Sunday and even agreed to close all adjacent streets to vehicle traffic for several hours.

The regional elections that began yesterday in France are called “a problem with many unknowns.” Taking place in two rounds, on March 21 and 28, they are the first test for French politicians since the 2002 presidential and parliamentary elections, triumphantly won by Jacques Chirac and his Union for a Presidential Majority. In this election, the left will try to prove that it has recovered from that fiasco. The situation is not favorable for the ruling party yet.

More than a thousand Russian tourists were unable to obtain a French visa on Friday A “visa scandal” of an unprecedented scale in the Russian tourism market broke out last Friday. The French consulate did not issue visas to about a thousand Russian tourists planning to travel to Moliere's homeland this weekend. Travel agencies whose clients suffered are at a loss as to the reasons for what happened and cannot yet estimate the extent of their financial losses.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Stephen PIFER will hold talks in the Russian capital today. But before meeting with officials, he spoke with the Vremya Novostei newspaper. — I came to Moscow from Minsk. Belarus found itself in self-isolation as a result of the policies of President Lukashenko. This worries us. We are ready to work on this together.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was left under arrest for another two months The Basmanny Court of Moscow on Friday extended for another two months - until May 25 - the detention period of the former head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. His lawyers seemed to expect nothing less, and some of them left the courthouse before the final decision was announced. For the first time during Mr.

New luxury housing centers are being formed in the capital Capital realtors unanimously declare the “relocation” of elite development areas from Arbat, Ostozhenka and Tverskaya. Land in these areas has already run out, apartment prices have stabilized, and demand has finally settled. Builders began to develop Zamoskvorechye, Plyushchikha and Patriarch's Ponds - it is there that new “prestigious quarters” of Moscow will be formed.

The know-how of tax reform was the idea of ​​voluntary taxation Tax reform looks set to gradually change direction in the coming years. This will be a reform not so much for “corporate users” as for ordinary Russians.

Moscow is seriously concerned that Ukraine will henceforth, if necessary, make its territory available for NATO operations, without the consent of the Russian side. Let us recall that on March 17, the Ukrainian parliament (Rada) ratified a memorandum of understanding between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and NATO headquarters on support for Alliance operations. This weekend, the Ukrainians' decision received a harsh reaction from Moscow.

Russian Railways is preparing a new transportation scheme JSC Russian Railways announced its new goal: to bring passenger transportation to a break-even level. According to the pessimistic scenario, this will happen by 2010, said company vice-president Sergei Kozyrev last Friday; according to the optimistic scenario, if the state finds a mechanism to compensate for the shortfall in Russian Railways' income from transporting beneficiaries, by 2006.

Americans expect sales of America Online The management of the Time Warner media empire is ready to sell its Internet division America Online (AOL) to Microsoft, the New York Times reported. According to the publication, over the past few months, the management of both companies has been conducting relevant negotiations, and lawyers are discussing ways to approve this transaction by US antitrust authorities.

Former Prime Minister of the Republic Anatoly Popov has been appointed the main plunderer of Chechen money. The exposure of the embezzlers of funds allocated for the restoration of Chechnya, announced recently by the President of the Republic Akhmat Kadyrov, took place on Friday at a special press conference in the Accounts Chamber: auditor Sergei Ryabukhin reported that in 2003 “misuse” amounted to more than 2 billion rubles.