Phosphorus cloud leaves Ukraine Yesterday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said that the fire at the accident site in the Lviv region had been extinguished, and its perpetrators “will be punished.” On Monday, 15 tank cars carrying yellow phosphorus derailed while traveling from Kazakhstan to Poland. Half of the tanks exploded, and a cloud from a phosphorus fire covered a 90-kilometer zone around the accident.

The Italians themselves don’t want to buy their company anymore The last serious contender for the purchase of the state stake in the Alitalia airline, AP Holding, which represents the interests of the second air carrier on the Apennine Peninsula, Air One, yesterday left the competition held by the Italian government. A few hours later, the Italian government closed the competition.

Prosecutor Del Ponte will travel to Argentina The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, will be able to celebrate the New Year in South America. To do this, it is only necessary that her native Switzerland receive the appropriate agrement from Argentina. Carla Del Ponte's second four-year term as prosecutor in The Hague expires in mid-September.

The ongoing crisis in the US mortgage market has a negative impact on investor attitudes towards the US currency. Yesterday, the dollar updated its multi-year low against many currencies, including the ruble. The official exchange rate set by the Central Bank decreased by 0.04%, from 25.45 to 25.44 rubles/dollar. The last time the American currency was this cheap was in September 1999.

Mikhail Zurabov briefed the President on the intricacies of DLO The Supplementary Drug Supply Program (DLO), which has caused so many problems for officials and worries for beneficiaries, will radically change next year. There will be no trace left of the former negative image associated with queues at pharmacies and billions of dollars in debt. And for the remaining six months, DLO will behave quietly and modestly.

Documentary films are in vogue now. This type of art is becoming increasingly in demand primarily thanks to television, which is the main customer and broadcaster of documentary films, but at the same time imposes serious restrictions on it. In August, two new issues of the St. Petersburg cinema magazine “Seance” will go on sale with the general subtitle “Reality is not enough.” Both of them are entirely dedicated to documentary films.

The resolution of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict is postponed again Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak held a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of migration authorities, as well as the administrations of North Ossetia and Ingushetia. The discussion was about resolving the consequences of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict of 1992 .

Russia, despite the suspension of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) , is ready to discuss this topic with the United States. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated this yesterday in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Georgia refuses the “Ossetian side” Yesterday, Georgia demonstrated its determination to unilaterally change the status quo in the frozen South Ossetian conflict . President Mikheil Saakashvili was personally present at the government meeting, where it was announced the creation of a commission to determine the status of the former autonomous region, which declared independence 17 years ago. This commission will be headed by Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli.

Exhibition of Nikita Alekseev at the Museum of Architecture The exhibition, which opened in the Apothecary Prikaz of the Museum of Architecture, continues the important theme for Nikita Alekseev of the humble out-of-placeness of the artist, who does not want to pollute the world space with his large-format and expensive objects-ambitions, but to leave only a sketch plan of memories.

Pyongyang will decommission its nuclear program Today in Beijing, at the six-party talks on the DPRK nuclear issue, a statement agreed upon by their participants on what will be done at the second stage of dismantling North Korean nuclear programs may be announced.

Disappointing results of an inspection of Russian museums by a government commission At a meeting of the commission for coordinating issues of comprehensive verification of the safety of cultural property, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev named the figures for losses identified during the work of the commission for the preservation of cultural property in 500 federal, regional and municipal museums with a total fund of 20 million items of storage (fourth part

British intelligence services revoke the killer's visa Without exaggeration, we can say that London was taken aback yesterday morning. Seasoned political observers admitted that they had not encountered such puzzles for a long time. There are many questions, but there is a clear shortage of answers. What lies behind Boris Berezovsky's unexpected statement about an assassination attempt being prepared on him?

United Russia will test the popularity of its candidates for deputies through intra-party voting in the regions On Tuesday evening, the United Russia party, at a meeting of the Presidium of the General Council, approved its so-called personnel reserve - a list of 1,246 people, which, after holding internal party primaries in the regions, will be reduced to 600. These people, according to the plan of the party in power, will take part in federal parliamentary elections.

Thierry GARRELL has been director of documentary broadcasting of the La SEPT channel since 1986 and the ARTE channel, which was then formed on the basis of La SEPT. -- How was ARTE created on the basis of the La SEPT channel? -- I started working for La SEPT more than twenty years ago, at the very beginning of 1987. The channel was then only eight months old.