In the battle for the post of OIC Secretary General Yesterday in Istanbul, the session of the foreign ministers of the 57 member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) began three hours later than planned. The ministers were tired - the day before, until two o'clock in the morning, the OIC was choosing a new secretary general. This honorary position has been held since 2000 by the Moroccan Abdel-Wahid Belkaziz.

Rosoboronexport is restructuring the system of military-technical cooperation A decline in the Russian arms trade in the coming years is guaranteed if measures are not taken to overcome the technological stagnation of the military-industrial complex - such gloomy prospects were predicted by the First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Defense and Security of the Federation Council Vasily Klyuchenok, in the recent past a lieutenant general and combat pilot .

Gazprom forgave part of Moldova's debt According to Gazprom's budget, in 2004 the company's management set itself the task of collecting part of the old debts for gas in the amount of $300 million. The concern recently agreed on a significant share of this money with one of the most undisciplined payers - Moldova.

Mikhail Shvydkoy, former Minister of Culture, now head of the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, is his own man on television. His public career began with work as editor-in-chief of the Culture channel. In 1998, he was appointed chairman of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, and while he was Minister Shvydka, he also mastered the profession of a television presenter.

Iran fights IAEA over nuclear rights Yesterday in Vienna, on the sidelines of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Iranian delegation continued to fight against the draft resolution introduced the day before by Great Britain, Germany, France and supported by the United States, Canada, and Australia.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin decided on “its” presidential candidate in Chechnya. As predicted by the Vremya Novostei newspaper , it will be the 46-year-old Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, who is supported by the son of the murdered Chechen President Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov, Ramzan, and the entire current political elite of the republic.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev insist on their release Yesterday, hearings on the merits of the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev began in the Meshchansky District Court. But the essence of the accusation never got to the point. Due to the illness of one of Khodorkovsky's lawyers, Genikh Padva, the meeting was postponed again. And Platon Lebedev was once again denied his request for release from custody. Hearings are held in the open.

Yuri Luzhkov allowed Alexander Weinstein to build a hotel on the site of Moscow News The capital's center has been replenished with a major investment project: the fate of the building on Pushkinskaya Square, in which the editorial office of the Moscow News newspaper was located from 1956 to 2003, has finally been determined. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov yesterday signed an order for the demolition of this building, which is owned by MN-Nedvizhimost LLC, a subsidiary of Moscow News CJSC.

Grandmasters celebrated Tigran Petrosyan's anniversary A magnificent chess festival in honor of the 75th anniversary of the birth of the ninth world champion Tigran Petrosian has ended in Moscow. The team named after the great grandmaster faced the world team. The overall result of the match, which took place in the “six rounds on six boards” format, was 18.5:17.5 in favor of the world team.

The State Duma figured out what to do with the Bank of Russia money Deputies found another option for using 80% of the Central Bank's profits, which it transfers to the budget: the head of the State Duma Banking Committee, Vladislav Reznik, proposed giving this money to the deposit insurance fund next year. According to Mr. Reznik, this will increase the stability of the guarantee system created by the Central Bank, and at the same time solve the problems of sterilization of the money supply.

The Association of Russian Banks (ARB) sent a letter to the Chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergei Ignatiev with a request to resolve the issue of not applying liability measures to commercial banks for violating the new procedure for customs and banking currency control for a period until January 1, 2005, the ARB public relations department reported.

Investigators looked for traces of coal money in MDM Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs recently carried out seizures of documents at the central office of MDM Bank in Moscow. Investigators were interested in materials related to the activities of the Siberian Coal and Energy Company (SUEK). Several years ago, the Krasnoyarsk Coal Company (KUC), which belongs to it, sold shares in three coal mines to companies controlled by the same SUEK.

Telecommunications will be sold Yesterday at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Minister of Information Technologies and Communications Leonid Reiman spoke in favor of the speedy privatization of the national telecommunications monopolists - Svyazinvest and Transtelecom. At the same time, the privatization of traditional mail in our country, according to the minister, is “a matter of the distant future.” Mr.

Olga Sviblova’s two-month festival closed yesterday Finally, one more new exhibition - “Goal” at the House of Photography. There are only men in the photographs. Commentators, fans and, of course, football players. Stars of the past and present. They play, score, and get hit in the nose with the ball. Tragedies - Lev Yashin takes the ball out of the goal net. Workdays - the sweat-covered naked head of Judge Collin. Vigorous gymnastic exercises. Flying balls, floating bodies.

Chelyabinsk and Bashkir police officers argue about the cleanliness of their uniforms In Chelyabinsk, a criminal case regarding the kidnapping of a resident of Ufa received an unexpected continuation. In response to accusations from South Ural police officers voiced from Bashkiria, Chelyabinsk residents presented evidence of corruption in the republican traffic police.