The European Volleyball Confederation (ECV) has announced the regulations and composition of the groups for the preliminary stage of the new continental tournament for men's teams. In the Euroleague, the Russians were in the same group with the Czech Republic, Croatia and Turkey. The second quartet consisted of Holland, Germany, Finland and Slovakia. The tournament involves teams that, for various reasons, were left out of the 2004 World League.

Yesterday, Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas admitted that “he could have made a big mistake - accepting his former sponsor Yuri Borisov as an adviser.” Entrepreneur Borisov is one of the main characters in the political scandal, because of which the presidential impeachment procedure began on March 8 this year.

Prime Minister Blair shook hands with Colonel Gaddafi Yesterday, the Libyans rolled out the red carpet for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who arrived in Tripoli. The handshake between Blair and Gaddafi was the culmination of Libya's rapprochement with the West. The negotiations took place in a tent against the backdrop of the desert in the vicinity of the capital. The previous visit of this rank took place in 1943, when Winston Churchill visited Libya.

Forecast for the coming days The temperature regime in central Russia will be two to three weeks ahead of the calendar. We owe this warmth to the March sun, but it won’t have long to shine in full force. The Central Federal District will be in the precipitation zone of the Mediterranean cyclone. At the same time, southerly winds will prevail in most areas. The weather will remain very warm.

Reform is not the enemy of budget revenues First Deputy Head of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation Leonid LOZBENKO is confident that the reorganization of customs will not lead to a weakening of its law enforcement functions, as well as to a reduction in payments to the budget. He spoke about this in an interview with the Vremya Novostei newspaper.

Arkhangelsk and Ryazan elect governors On Sunday, the second round of gubernatorial elections will be held in the Ryazan and Arkhangelsk regions. To win, candidates only need a simple majority of votes. Moreover, in both regions, it is quite possible that there will be a change of power, which will confirm the emerging trend of voters becoming “tired” of the current regional leaders who have been in office for a long time.

Tomsk criminal frightened American diplomats with anthrax Representatives of the FSB yesterday announced the detention of a citizen who, back in early 2002, sent letters threatening terrorist attacks to US and Canadian embassies around the world. The attacker sprinkled some white powder into his messages.

Stanislav Ilyasov headed the fishery department Another unexpected appointment took place in the new system of federal executive bodies: yesterday the former Minister of Chechen Affairs Stanislav Ilyasov became the head of the federal fisheries agency. The ex-minister himself is not too surprised by such a sharp turn in his career. “Everything was unexpected: the resignation of the government, and the whole new scheme of executive power,” Mr.

Chelsea once again failed to break the Arsenal curse After the first quarter-final matches of the Champions League, three clubs can already feel quite confident. Real Madrid, who beat Monaco with a score of 4:2, joined Milan and Porto, who won the day before. And only the last quarterfinal has not yet lost its intrigue. In the first round of the principled battle between the two London clubs Chelsea and Arsenal, a draw was recorded - 1:1.

CLUBS "Ska-reggae-dub festival of sunny sound." The arrival of real warmth in Moscow will be celebrated for two nights in a row at the largest club in Moscow - “Tochka” , which recently opened on Leninsky Prospekt. Participating are "Jah Division", "Skalpel", DubTV, "VPR and the Festival of Everything in the World", "Boniface's Vacation", I-shen Sound System , residents of the St. Petersburg club "Griboyedov", DJs and MC Roots Music Sound System and many others. March 26 and 27 from 19.00.

FIRST MARCH 29 , MONDAY 6.00 Good morning 9.00, 12.00, 15.00, 18.00 News 9.20 "INSOMNIA". Thriller 11.30 "Cat and mouse". Animated series 11.40 Kolobkov conducts the investigation 12.20 “ABOUT FRIENDS AND COMRADES.” Hood. movie 13.40 “Flight of the boomerang.” Doc. detective 14.10 City of Women 15.20 “SHORE OF A DREAM”. TV series 16.20 Guess the melody (S) 16.50 Big wash 18.25 Joke after joke 19.00 “CLONE”.

Rent in St. Petersburg will increase by 1.5 times Less than six months had passed after the heated election debates in St. Petersburg, all of whose participants promised stability and prosperity to the citizens, when the new city government was faced with the need to sharply increase rents. Otherwise, officials argue, local utilities simply will not be able to cope with the maintenance of residential buildings, and the already poor housing and communal services system will completely collapse.

The operator's revenue per subscriber continues to fall Yesterday, VimpelCom shared with journalists the results of its work last year. Like MTS and Megafon, its profits grew over the past year, while average revenue per subscriber fell. The company was actively moving beyond Moscow, but management does not yet know how to continue further territorial development.

The US will not comply with the Moscow Treaty Disarmament is over. The United States will not reduce its nuclear weapons, as required by the agreement with Russia. Yesterday, at a hearing in the US Senate, US Deputy Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security Linton Brooks said that the US nuclear arsenal would be reduced by “about two-thirds” by 2012, but “this reduction will not reach the level of 1.7-2.2 thousand.

Kremlin officials were lined up on three floors After the shockingly unexpected appearance of Mikhail Fradkov at the head of the government, all forecasts regarding the pre-announced reorganization of the presidential administration did not look very convincing. It seemed that this metamorphosis would take place in a special operation mode and with an unpredictable ending.