Israel's Homeland Security Minister resigns The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) yesterday blocked the Palestinian city of Hebron, where it is conducting an operation to neutralize members of the radical organization Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in the Israeli city of Beersheba. The day before yesterday, Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses there. 16 people died.

Russia convened the UN Security Council Last night a special meeting of the UN Security Council was supposed to take place in New York. Moscow asked the Security Council to express its attitude towards a series of terrorist attacks on Russian territory. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Russian Eurobonds react nervously to terror A significant increase in the second half of August in the value of Russian Eurobonds gave way to a fall on the first day of September. Whether this becomes a trend depends on how effective the Russian government's response to the new hostage crisis is. Quotes of the most liquid Russian Eurobonds maturing in 2030 yesterday at 16:00 Moscow time fell by 0.250 basis points, to 95.690% of par, with a yield of 7.316% per annum, Reuters reported.

In two months, Europeans will have to make a fundamental decision, which will largely determine what the Old World will become over the next decades and where its border will lie in the future. The European Commission is to announce whether negotiations on Turkey's accession to the European Union will begin.

The Moscow prosecutor's office is studying the connection between the explosion on Rizhskaya and other terrorist attacks. The capital's special services yesterday announced the first results of the investigation into the explosion that occurred on Tuesday evening near the Rizhskaya metro station. It has been reliably established that the terrorist attack was carried out by a female suicide bomber.

A war of terrorism has been declared on Russia Holiday. Day of Knowledge. Lesson of peace. And infants are among hundreds of hostages in secondary school No. 1 in the North Ossetian city of Beslan on the border with Ingushetia, captured by yet another martyrs. Tragedy. Day of pain. Lesson of war. There is no counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya. There is a terrorist war in Russia. And we need to understand why we - the government and society - are losing this war.

In Latvia, Knowledge Day became a day of political demonstrations In Latvia, the Day of Knowledge passed in the expected anxieties and demonstrated the depth of the split in Latvian society. Society, and along ethnic lines, was split by the school education reform that came into force. Representatives of the Russian-speaking minority, fighting to preserve their cultural identity, gathered in Riga on the left bank of the Daugava at the monument to Soviet soldiers.

The events that marked the beginning of the era of Islamist and Chechen terror in Russia can be considered the bombings of residential buildings in Moscow, Buinaksk and Volgodonsk in September 1999. Then terrorist attacks directed against civilians came as a shock to the country; now a series of loud explosions occur at least once every three to four months, and have long become the norm of modern Russian life.

The memory of Paul I was honored in St. Petersburg The exhibition entitled “Emperor Paul I”, opened in the dilapidated Central Exhibition Hall - Manege - St. Petersburg and dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the birth of the monarch, cannot be considered a major event in cultural life. Despite the fact that the Manege is the most unbiased place, free from the ideological cliches of a traditional museum.

Moscow judges refuse to change metro rules Customers of the capital's metro failed to contribute to the protection of the rights of consumers of subway services. The Meshchansky Court of Moscow yesterday refused to cancel the fixed validity period of travel tickets, considering the claim of passenger-lawyer Alexander Simanchev to be unfounded.

Young Russians are the center of attention of Americans On Wednesday early morning Moscow time, the first round matches in women's singles ended at the US Open Tennis Championships. For men, according to a pre-drawn schedule, the opening round fights turned out to be extended over three game days. Of the dozen and a half of our girls whose names appear in the main draw of the competition, 11 continue to fight on the Flushing Meadow courts.

Russia may lose the right to export sturgeon caviar The United Nations intends to ban the export of black caviar next year. The corresponding decision was signed recently by the UN Agency for International Trade in Endangered Species of Animals and Plants (CITES).

Government It is intended to abolish mandatory control over the quality of grain during its purchase and sale. The corresponding decision was made at a meeting of the government commission on administrative reform. The commission recognized the functions of 76 Roskhlebinspectoriya, which carry out this control, as redundant.

Responsibility for the latest suicide attacks in Russia - the explosions of two planes and near the Rizhskaya metro station - was claimed by a previously unknown group, the Khalid al-Islambuli Brigade. Whether these “Brigades” really exist or another group hides behind their name is a question for the intelligence services. Another interesting thing is that terrorists operating in Russia named their group after an Arab who was executed 22 years ago in Egypt.

The family of the US President told everything about him Today in New York, George Bush will agree to become a second candidate for the post of American President. He will do this at the US Republican Party convention, which is ending in New York. As Mr. Bush announced in advance, he will talk about how, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a “fundamental shift occurred” in the United States, since previously global threats had not directly affected America.