PetroChina will build a trans-China gas pipeline without Gazprom, Shell and ExxonMobil China's cooperation with foreign companies on the West-East strategic gas project, which was hanging by a thread, finally broke down yesterday. As the Vremya Novostei newspaper learned, the state-owned PetroChina company officially notified its consortium partners - Gazprom, Shell and ExxonMobil - of the termination of the framework agreement for the joint venture.

Grigory Lerner claims that he suffered due to the problems of the oil company An unexpected turn has emerged in the scandalous criminal case of businessman Grigory Lerner, accused by the Israeli authorities of fraud. As the police suspect, he took $1 million from several business partners on a promise to supply oil products and gas condensate at dumping prices, but never fulfilled his obligations. Yesterday, the Petah Tikva court extended Lerner's house arrest until the end of August.

Vremya Novostei has obtained a report from a German commission on the investigation into the collision of a Tu-154 Bashkir Airlines aircraft and a Boeing 757 on the night of July 2, 2002 over Lake Constance in Germany. In that crash, 71 people died - both crews and all the passengers of the Russian airliner, most of whom were children. As it turned out, the document is replete with inaccuracies and contradictions.

How deputies weaned journalists off custom publications The State Duma Committee on Information Policy yesterday tried to cleanse the journalistic community of filth - in particular, of lies and ordered materials. To this end, he held a round table meeting on the topic of professional, corporate ethics and the responsibility of journalists for materials published in the media.

Our Olympians are preparing for the Greek heat On the eve of the Olympics in Athens, where extremely hot weather is expected in the second half of August, Russian teams are deliberately conducting the final stage of competitive preparation in conditions as close as possible to combat conditions. They play either on the site of upcoming battles or in countries with a similar hot climate.

Communists and Limonovites actively provoked the police yesterday The capital met the approach of the second reading of the bill on the monetization of benefits in the State Duma with increased rally activity. Yesterday, in a “protest” place favored by opponents of replacing benefits with cash, a rally took place near the monument to Karl Marx, organized by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Al Qaeda wants to strike at the heart of the Western economy The threats of number one terrorist Osama Bin Laden have once again rocked America. This time, the leader and founder of the international terrorist network Al-Qaeda intended to strike financial and economic centers of global importance. US Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge announced this at a press conference.

Deutsche Bank may be accused of fraud in the Parmalat case Parmalat bankruptcy manager Enrico Bondi continues his attack on the banks, which, in his opinion, contributed to the ruin of the Italian company. Last week, he filed a $10 billion lawsuit in US courts against the world's largest bank, Citigroup. But this, as it turned out yesterday, is not all.

Moscow survived another day of the Airborne Forces Yesterday the country was experiencing a planned riot - August 2 was traditionally celebrated as Airborne Forces Day throughout Russia. For respectable residents and for the authorities responsible for maintaining public order, this professional holiday of paratroopers has long turned into an annual emergency.

The Russian leisure industry has waited for a major investor Europe's largest tourism holding TUI AG announced yesterday the creation of a joint venture with Mostravel CJSC. Previously, reports about the German giant’s entry into the Russian market appeared so many times that not only other major players in the domestic tourism industry, but also TUI’s new partners from Mostravel did not dare to comment on yesterday’s news.

Paper architecture in Russia celebrated its twentieth anniversary Strictly speaking, this anniversary is the same hoax as the very concept of “paper architecture” (hereinafter referred to as BA). BA has always been there. And in the Middle Ages, and in the Renaissance, and in the Age of Enlightenment, talented people appreciated what in music is called “invention” - ingenuity, invention, the quality of thought itself.

Five years ago the second Chechen war began Russia heard the first reports from the second Chechen war exactly five years ago. From Dagestan. On the night of August 3, 1999, religious extremists from the local Wahhabi community attacked the village of Agvali, the regional center of the high-mountainous Tsumadinsky district.

Forecast for the coming days The nature of atmospheric processes over the European territory of Russia is changing. The northern anticyclone will begin to slowly settle into more southern regions and by the end of the week will finally win back the central regions of Russia, the Volga-Vyatka region, and the Middle Volga region from rains and thunderstorms. The rains will also stop in the north-west of the territory.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of composer Leoš Janáček The anniversary of the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, who revolutionized many ideas about musical tradition at the beginning of the 20th century, is more significant for Western artistic life than for local ones.

The Tax Ministry began an inspection of YUKOS for 2002 YUKOS is beginning another audit of the completeness of tax payments - this time for 2002. Reports of this appeared yesterday evening - a couple of hours after the company won a claim against the bailiff service in the Moscow Arbitration Court, as a result of which YUKOS achieved the cancellation of the enforcement fee in the amount of almost 7 billion rubles.