Yushchenko celebrated his birthday in Brussels and Strasbourg The visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to Europe, which continued yesterday, did not bring the desired breakthrough for Ukraine into European structures. It is gradually becoming clear: Ukraine is moving towards Europe as long as Europe is afraid of its “capture” by Russia.

The new chief of staff will take charge of the separation from the Palestinians Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has appointed a new Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He became the former commander of the country's Air Force, and now deputy chief of the General Staff, 57-year-old General Dan Halutz. He will take office in July, succeeding Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon.

Georgian MPs threaten Russians Yesterday, a new program of American military assistance was presented in Georgia - approximately $60 million. A solemn ceremony took place to mark the start of construction of barracks at the Krtsanisi training center near Tbilisi. It is planned to train three thousand military personnel. The 18-month training will begin on April 1. In addition, during this year Türkiye will train a brigade of infantrymen, which will be deployed in Gori and Akhaltsikhe.

February 23 is the birthday of Kazimir Malevich. In 2005, the Gileya publishing house and Doctor of Art History Alexandra Shatskikh prepared brilliantly for this significant day. The fifth and final volume of the collected works of the great artist has just been published. The preparation and publication of volumes of Malevich’s epistolary heritage continued for 12 years. The contract with Gileya and its director Sergei Kudryavtsev was concluded by Alexandra Shatskikh in 1993.

Asia is shaking again The death toll from the earthquake that occurred in southeastern Iran on Tuesday was 790 people. The number of wounded goes into the thousands. 30 thousand found themselves homeless. But these figures are hardly final - after all, 40 settlements were affected by tremors of the underground element measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, and 20 of them were practically wiped off the face of the earth. Zarand, in the province of Kerman, suffered the most.

Shares of Dynamo Kyiv arrested Before the important match of the 1/16 UEFA Cup, Dynamo Kiev unexpectedly encountered resistance not on the football field, but on the legal field. According to the verdict of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, 98.7% of the shares of CJSC Dynamo Football Club Kyiv were arrested yesterday. The decision was made based on the claim of the company Pacific International Sport Clubs Ltd, which currently owns 0.1% of the shares of the company.

The business community and the Ministry of Finance are comparing tax innovations On Tuesday, the working group of the Council on Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship met again to discuss proposals for improving the tax system with representatives of the Ministry of Finance. It has not yet been possible to develop a single document. However, all interested business communities must submit their proposals by the end of February.

Forecast for the coming days This February has more than regained its reputation as a winter month. In most of the European territory of Russia, with the arrival of the Siberian anticyclone, the average daily air temperature is 5-7, and in some places even 10 degrees below normal. At night, in the vicinity of the capital, thermometers dropped to -20°C. In the next day or two, atmospheric pressure will remain elevated over most of European Russia.

The Xth Film Festival “Faces of Love” will be held in Moscow At a press conference dedicated to the upcoming anniversary festival “about the eternal theme of love between a man and a woman,” the president of “Faces of Love” Mark Rudinstein first of all told the audience that this year it will not be limited to “Faces” alone - at the end of August in Sochi The next festival will take place, already in a changed format: only the notorious “eternal theme” will remain unchanged.

A group of scouts died under the collapsed roof of a poultry farm Nine servicemen were killed and three more were wounded as a result of a clash with a bandit group in the suburbs of Grozny on Monday. These are the largest losses of federal forces in Chechnya in recent months.

Indians are asked to wait for the end of the Yukos case in Texas The visit of the Indian delegation led by Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar to Moscow did not bring any sensations. Mr. Ayar, as already reported, brought to Russia a proposal to invest “at least $20 billion,” although without specifying in which projects and for how long.

Mikhail Shvydkoy wants to return the “Baldin collection” to Germany, bypassing his boss The masterpieces exported from Germany by Soviet troops during the war once again became a bone of contention between high-ranking Russian officials responsible for the cultural sphere.

Russia is creating favorable conditions for capital outflow Only the lazy don’t talk about the uncomfortable environment for doing business in Russia. Economists and politicians at numerous round tables, seminars and other events of this kind have long found the answer to the question why, given a stable macroeconomic situation, tax cuts, and an investment sovereign credit rating, foreign investors are afraid to invest large sums in the Russian economy.

CLUBS FusedMARK (Lithuania). Electronic trip-hop with a strange guitar sound and very beautiful vocals. "Sixteen tons" , 22.00. "Iva-Nova" (St. Petersburg). Ethnic Slavic punk performed by girls. Hard Rock Cafe , 21.00. Katya Bocharova (vocals). “Chinese pilot Zhao Da” , 23.00. Melville Poupeau. Screening of six short films and a meeting with the author - a famous French director, actor and musician. "Cult" , 19.00.

The government is invited to take note of Gazprom’s financial plan, which involves the takeover of Rosneft. Gazprom's budget and investment program for 2005 will be discussed by the government next week. As a source in the Cabinet of Ministers told Vremya Novostey, the issue was included in the agenda of the meeting on March 3. The government apparatus has some comments on the document, and the Ministry of Economic Development expressed complaints on as many as six pages.