Kim Clijsters received four annual trophies In Miami, on the eve of a major tennis tournament, a solemn ceremony for presenting prizes based on the results of 2005, called “Stars with Stars,” took place. It was carried out jointly by the ATP and the BTA. Belgian Kim Clijsters won in four categories at once - “Player of the Year”, “Return of the Season”, for her nobility and sportsmanship on the court and as the main favorite of the fans.

Microsoft has delayed the launch of a new version of the Windows operating system Computer giant Microsoft Corp. again decided to postpone the launch of sales of the new Windows Vista operating system. According to plans announced yesterday, the program will appear on the market no earlier than January 2007, and not in the second half of 2006, as Microsoft promised.

Chinese authorities have found an inexhaustible source of income On World Fool's Day, celebrated on April 1, more than a billion Chinese will not be laughing at all. The Chinese authorities seem to have found a new and practically inexhaustible source of income for the state treasury. As the BBC reported yesterday, citing the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, the next revision of taxes on consumer goods will also affect such mass products as chopsticks.

This spring marks the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. But few people know that Chernobyl has its own specific continuation. And in Russia. About a year ago, the metal structures of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, despite the protest of environmentalists and radiation experts, began to be dismantled and sent for melting. From the remains of the station, beams, pipes, and fittings are cast at metallurgical enterprises.

South Ossetia wants to go back to 1774 South Ossetia has found a new way to realize its long-held dream of joining Russia. The president of the unrecognized republic, Eduard Kokoity, yesterday in Vladikavkaz, during a joint meeting of the governments of North and South Ossetia, said that he was going to appeal to the Russian Constitutional Court on the issue of recognizing South Ossetia as part of Russia on the basis of historical documents.

Alisa Gallyamova and Xu Yuhua will play in the final of the Women's World Chess Championship in Yekaterinburg. The Russian-Chinese final did not come as a surprise to most experts in the women's game. This is a reflection of both the class of rivals and the laws of the knockout system - if you don’t realize your whites, prepare for the worst.

Young choreography at the Mariinsky Festival “New Names” is the name of the evening of young choreographers at the Mariinsky Festival. Meanwhile, none of the three choreographers who composed the one-act pieces in this program can be called completely “new” people for ballet.

The United States has revealed the name of a person close to Saddam Hussein who provided their intelligence services with information about weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The mole, according to the American television company NBC, citing former high-ranking CIA officials, turned out to be 58-year-old Naji Sabri. He served as Minister of State for International Affairs in the Iraqi government from April 2001 until the overthrow of Saddam in March 2003.

The government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan has decided to overcome inter-ethnic hostility through education and cultural cooperation. The Afghan government turned to Russian ethnographers with a request to develop the concept of a historical and ethnographic museum, which would be formed according to the “family of nations” principle. The proposal was accepted. An expedition of Russian scientists - employees of the St.

The Russian President's visit to China turned out to be pragmatic Russian President Vladimir Putin was pleased with the results of his two-day stay in China that ended yesterday. “This visit looks very solid, it is not only full of specific documents, it is highly pragmatic and aimed at strengthening political relations,” he said at a meeting with Speaker of the Chinese Parliament Wu Bangguo.

Russian tourists have become trendsetters in resorts in the Arab world - from Tunisia to the UAE. But our compatriots have not yet indulged Jordan too much in their attention. The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Munir NASSAR, spoke to Vremya Novostei about the prospects for cooperation in this area. -- Russia has been present on the Jordanian tourism market for only three years. And last year there were only 18 thousand tourists from your country.

RUSAL was accused of colluding with the President of Nigeria RUSAL, as it became known yesterday, received a claim for $2.8 billion from the American company BFI Group, whose founder is the Nigerian native Ruben Jaja. The plaintiff accuses the Russian company of colluding with senior Nigerian officials during the privatization of a 77.5% stake in the Nigerian aluminum smelter Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (Alscon). The lawsuit was filed late last week in a New York court.

The Ministry of Finance wrote a scenario of not doubling GDP by 2010 The scenario conditions for the socio-economic development of the domestic economy, developed by the Ministry of Economic Development for 2007-2009, do not imply any significant tax innovations. This finally became clear yesterday at a meeting of the budget commission chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

Gazprom management is trying to postpone the appearance of a German shareholder in Gazprombank The hidden confrontation between the financial and economic department of Gazprom and the management of Gazprombank seems ready to spill over into an open conflict, and on an international scale. The management of the gas concern plans to present a strategy for its core bank at the next meeting of the board of directors on March 29.

The chairman of the Belarusian Central Election Commission, Lidiya YERMOSHYNA, told Vremya Novostei about the results of the presidential elections in Belarus. - The election campaign went smoothly. These were the most well-organized elections in the entire period that I have been working (since 1996 - Ed. ). The professionalism of election commissions has grown; they worked accurately, making virtually no mistakes. There were no problems in relations between observers and election commissions.