Yesterday in London, at the fashionable Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 650 representatives of the world elite celebrated the 80th birthday of Margaret Thatcher - the only and so far unique female prime minister in British history. Queen Elizabeth II and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh agreed to attend the reception, although they usually do not attend private celebrations of prime ministers. Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, former US President George W.

Orthodox monasteries are acquiring strange farms Exotic animal husbandry may soon become the specialty of Russian Orthodox monks. The other day, one of the monasteries of the Volgograd diocese began breeding ostriches. As the Blagovest-Info information service reports, for now the inhabitants of the Holy Trinity Kamenno-Brodsky Monastery keep three teenage birds on their farm. However, in the future they are expected to produce up to forty heads per year.

Ukrainian national corporation recognized as a monopoly The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) yesterday banned the merger of the country's leading aircraft manufacturing enterprises into the Antonov state aircraft manufacturing corporation. According to the committee, the emergence of such a corporation would lead to a serious limitation of competition in the market for repair and maintenance of Antonov aircraft.

It remains to determine five participants in the World Cup Europe has practically decided on the representation that it will send to the upcoming World Cup. The hosts - the German national team - will host the winners of the qualifying groups - the teams of Holland, Ukraine, Portugal, France, Italy, England, Croatia and the Poles and Swedes who entered directly into the world football forum from second place.

Terrorists have drawn another Caucasian region into war The capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, Nalchik, was yesterday subjected to a massive attack by militants, similar to what happened in June 2004 in Ingushetia.

With the signing of the agreement on the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP), Gazprom confirmed its position as a leading company in the infrastructure of the European gas market. The main consumers will be not only Germany and the Scandinavian countries, but also Great Britain, which until recently was one of the largest exporters of blue fuel, but is now experiencing a gas shortage.

Due to an error by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, the indigenous residents of the Amur region did not receive permission to fish river fish There is now a calm in the national villages of the Lower Amur. After the end of the salmon run, fishing crews cannot go out to fish for fish. And federal officials are to blame for this. Small species - whitefish, carp, verkhoglyad and other types of fish - occupy one of the main places in the traditional menu of the Amur region aborigines.

Vneshtorgbank moved After almost a year of preparation, Vneshtorgbank, owned by the Russian government, finally officially became a St. Petersburg bank. Yesterday, Vneshtorg President Andrei Kostin said that the bank has been registered in St. Petersburg since October 5. The bank's representative office in Moscow and the Moscow region was opened at the end of September. Together with Mr. Kostin, part of the legal service and accounting department will move from Moscow.

The tenth “Green Look” festival was held in St. Petersburg To be honest, for most of us the phrase “environmental film festival” will cause a preemptive yawn. Because - everyone knows - what is right and healthy is boring and tasteless, like oatmeal. And everything we like, according to a well-known mot, is either illegal, or immoral, or it makes us fat. I’ve never gone to the “Green Look” festival before, even though they invited me there.

British intelligence ahead of SVR The British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6) launched its own website yesterday. This is a new step towards openness. Until 1994, the British government did not at all confirm the very fact of the existence of the SIS, which was created back in 1909. Its current boss, 56-year-old John Scarlett, became only the third leader whose name was officially made public.

FAS filed claims against Eurocement for 1 billion rubles The Federal Antimonopoly Service yesterday acted as a major fiscal agency.

The opposition warns that if there is a change of government, the privatization of Kazakhmys will be contested A week ago, the first largest copper producer in Kazakhstan, the second in the CIS and the tenth in the world - Kazakhmys Corporation - placed 26.2% of its shares on the London Stock Exchange as part of an IPO, which raised $1.17 billion. passed at a price of 5.4 pounds per share, i.e. almost at the upper limit of the price corridor, which was set within 4.6-5.45 pounds.

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, completing her Asian tour, made short visits to Astana and Dushanbe. In both capitals, the head of the State Department met with both the presidents of Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, as well as with representatives of the public and political parties.

Turkmenbashi postponed gas contract with Ukraine indefinitely Ashgabat gave Kyiv another sharp slap in the face. President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov harshly reminded guests from Ukraine about the half a billion dollar debt and finally dispelled their aspirations for extending the gas contract after 2006. Ukrainian officials have lost one of their main trump cards in a difficult bargain with Gazprom.

The President of Venezuela decided to come to Moscow at the wrong time The visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Moscow will not take place these days. “The president will not come,” Omar Echeverria, Venezuela’s charge d’affaires in Moscow, told Vremya Novostey yesterday. A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told us about the same thing: “Such a visit is not and has not been included in the plans”...