Chelsea and Manchester United achieved big home victories The English Premier League has gradually crossed the “equator”. The 25th round has already been played, and the finish line is not far away. The next game day did not bring any big changes, and there couldn’t have been any. Leader Manchester United and main catcher Chelsea played matches at home against opponents who were clearly inferior in class and should have won. And so it happened.

The President of Ukraine is experiencing a political default Today, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who is expected to visit Moscow at the end of February, may lose the remnants of his powers. The official press organs of the parliament and government - "Voice of Ukraine" and "Governmental Courier" - yesterday typed up the law on the Cabinet of Ministers.

IMF seeks livelihood The International Monetary Fund, whose main goal is to prevent financial crises and overcome their consequences, has itself found itself in a difficult position. This is due to the peculiarities of the IMF financial organization. The fund provides anti-crisis financing through credit lines opened for it by the central banks of the shareholder countries.

For the first time, 11 sets of medals will be awarded at the World Championships Tomorrow in the Italian town of Anterselva (called Antolz in German), located in South Tyrol, the main competition of the current season for shooting skiers - the World Championship - starts. The tournament will open with men's and women's sprint races with two shooting ranges at distances of 10 and 7.5 km, respectively.

The US will increase competition between rating agencies The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to increase competition between rating agencies. The chief financial regulator expects to adopt the corresponding law in the near future, AP reports. “S&P and Moody's have enormous influence,” SEC head Christopher Cox commented on the state's position.

Vladimir Putin: Everyone who needs it is already working at their posts Vladimir Putin does not want to launch an open presidential election campaign. Yesterday, during the traditional “big” press conference , he avoided answering all questions about potential presidential candidates and his future . And he even complained that journalists “shut him up” with questions about this.

An increase in oil exports through Primorsk may cause an unreasonable increase in the price of raw materials and protests from environmentalists Vladimir Putin announced at a press conference yesterday that he supports the idea of ​​creating oil and gas export routes that will not pass through the territory of third countries.

Hugo Chavez is building socialism of the 21st century The granting of emergency powers to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has provoked a sharp reaction from his opponents both inside and outside the country. US President George W.

How does Lithuania's entry into the Schengen visa area threaten the Kaliningrad region? Could neighbors, for “friendly” reasons, block the railway in the direction of the westernmost Russian region? Consul General of the Republic of Lithuania in Kaliningrad Viktoras BAUBLIS answered these and other questions from Vremya Novostei's own correspondent Vadim SMIRNOV. — Mr. Baublis, over the past year the Kaliningrad issue has been raised constantly in Lithuanian-Russian relations.

Lukashenko took aim at Russia's defense budget Today in Moscow the joint command and staff game, in which the Russian and Belarusian military took part under the leadership of the defense ministers, ends. The main goal of the exercises is to practice joint actions to ensure the security of the union state.

The Scandinavian cyclone, rushing towards the Lower Volga, left a middle zone on its cold northern outskirts. The cyclone, moving to the south, draws in cold air masses, and next night in the central region the temperature will drop below -20°C; it will be quite cold on Friday and during the day, -11...-17°C. And to the northwestern regions, the new North Atlantic cyclone brings with it a lot of heat and moisture.

In the Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev, there was a presentation of a special issue of the architectural magazine “Tatlin”, dedicated to the activities of the design bureau “Architects Ass”. In relation to modern Russian construction, “Architects Ass” is John Cage in relation to Oleg Gazmanov.

The Vremya Novostey newspaper decided to ask politicians and political scientists about the prospects and consequences of a change of power in the country after the presidential elections, based on what the current president of Russia thinks about this.

Chronicle of sporting events Hockey. NHL. Regular season. “Rangers” – “Toronto” – 1:2, “Anaheim” – “Phoenix” – 2:1, “Edmonton” – “Columbus” – 5:2. Toronto won its fifth win in its last six games. The decisive goal for the Maple Leaves in the seventh minute of the final period was scored by Swede Mats Sundin, who reached the 20-goal mark. He did this throughout his previous 15 seasons in the overseas league.

Due to a sharp increase in energy tariffs, bread in Kamchatka may double in price A protest action by farmers took place in Kamchatka. According to the industry trade union committee, about three thousand people gathered on the main square of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Agricultural workers were brought to the main square of the regional center by a symbolic funeral cortege of buses decorated with black balls and ribbons.