The trial of Slobodan Milosevic, accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, continues at the Hague Tribunal. Decision of the Appeals Chamber the accused was given back the right to conduct his own defense. The lawyers previously appointed by the tribunal against his will, the Englishmen Stephen Kay and Gilliana Higgins, may be removed from the case.

Deutsche Telekom says goodbye to MTS Germany's largest telecommunications concern, Deutsche Telekom, seems to intend to curtail its presence in the Russian communications market. In any case, this is exactly what the Handelsblatt newspaper, published in Düsseldorf, claims, one of the most authoritative publications in the business world of Europe.

Moldova protected itself from Russian television On the territory of Moldova, live broadcasting of three Russian channels is prohibited: REN TV, TNT and Daryal-TV. This decision was made by the Coordination Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting. As its chairman Ion Mihailo explained, these channels show films and programs with “elements of pornography and violence” in prime time in the afternoon, when children can also watch them.

The 12th Commonwealth and Baltic Cup ended with the victory of Dynamo Tbilisi. In the final match of the tournament, the Georgian champion beat Riga's Skonto - 3:1. Thus, the Commonwealth Cup received a new owner - Georgian teams have never won this tournament before. In turn, the old-time cup champion of Latvia, who had not missed a single tournament, missed the chance to win the trophy for the second time. Last year, Skonto lost to the Moldovan Sheriff in the decisive match.

Tony Blair seeks support from George Bush Today, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will go on a blitz visit to the United States, becoming the first foreign leader to visit Washington since George W. Bush won the presidential election. A Downing Street source admitted that the visit was “not planned until after the election results.” What explains the desire of the two leaders to meet even before the new American administration has been formed?

Beneficiaries are promised to be issued tickets for commuter trains without restrictions In 2005, twelve and a half million Russian beneficiaries will use commuter rail transport free of charge and without restrictions. The corresponding agreement was signed yesterday by the President of Russian Railways (RZD), Gennady Fadeev, and the head of the Federal Agency for Health and Social Development (Roszdrav), Vyacheslav Prokhorov.

CLUBS Leonid Fedorov and Volkov-Trio (St. Petersburg). "Apshu" , 22.00. OTK Jam Band. The group includes Andrey Solovyov (trumpet), Dmitry Shumilov (bass), Mikhail Mitin (drums) - musicians of the Polite Refusal group, as well as guitarist Alexander Kostikov. The band plays atonal funk jazz with jazz rock elements. "Project O.G.I." , 22.00. "Luke" (Kharkov). An expressive mixture of acid jazz, dub, soul, funk and other styles. "Sixteen tons" , 22.00. "Iva Nova" (St. Petersburg).

There has probably never been an arms exhibition where problems with intellectual property did not arise. Simply put, our former brothers in arms continue to produce Russian weapons, contrary to international norms, and offer them on the international market. Our newspaper has already written about this (see Vremya Novostey, October 8, 2004) , but this topic is practically inexhaustible.

The Ukrainian Central Election Commission awarded victory to Viktor Yushchenko in the first round The final results of the first round of Ukraine's presidential elections, announced yesterday, gave opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko a lead of just half a percentage point over his namesake, Prime Minister Yanukovych. The ten days remaining before the second round could change the country.

Leonid Shneidman: Russian accounting rules will remain Russian The State Duma adopted in the first reading the bill “On Consolidated Financial Reporting,” which obliges Russian companies to prepare such reporting in accordance with international standards. Leonid SHNEIDMAN, Director of the Department for Regulation of State Financial Control, Auditing and Accounting of the Ministry of Finance, talks about why this law is needed and who it will apply to.

A state mobile operator has appeared in Belarus The third GSM cellular operator with 100 percent state capital has been registered in Belarus, Deputy Chairman of the State Military-Industrial Committee of the Republic Alexander Soloninko told Vremya Novostei. The new cellular operator is called the Belarusian Telecommunications Network, abbreviated as BeST.

Spartak captain caught doping A doping scandal has broken out in Russian football, the likes of which have never been seen before. Midfielder of Spartak and the Russian national team Egor Titov was caught using the prohibited drug bromantane, which was found in the player’s sample taken immediately after the first play-off qualifying match for the Russia-Wales European Championship. By decision of UEFA, Titov was disqualified for a year.

UN experts sent starving Africans to catch beetles and caterpillars The salvation of the starving is in the deft hands of the starving themselves. This conclusion can be drawn from a proposal put forward recently by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The main task of this unit is to fight hunger in developing countries of the world.

The office of the President of Karachay-Cherkessia was removed, but not vacated The “revolutionary” situation in Karachay-Cherkessia remains, although it has become less acute. Yesterday morning, at the entrance to the Government House, which was destroyed the day before, Assistant to the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy in the Southern Federal District Oleg Safonov generally called the situation in the republic stable, but this sounded unconvincing.

The Russian reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open The first quarter-finalists were announced at the Australian Open yesterday. Among those who continue to fight for the title of the first Grand Slam tournament this season is our Marat Safin, who beat James Blake (USA) - 7:6 (7:1), 6:3, 6:7 (6:8), 6:3. The Russian has a very serious test ahead of him; his next opponent will be the first racket of the world, another American, Andy Roddick.