#5
ORT Review
www.ortv.ru
Compiled by Luba Schwartzman (luba7@bu.edu)
Research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy
at Boston University
HEADLINES,
Thursday, October 25, 2001
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today to discuss the fight against international terrorism, international security measures, the situation in the Balkans, and Russia's cooperation with the European Union.
- The Uzbek government has allowed the UN (United Nations) to use the Termez river port and airport for humanitarian transport. A UN delegation has flown out to inspect the sites.
- Aleksandr Yakovlenko, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, praised Sinn Fein's disarmament appeal to the Irish Republican Army.
- According to Russia's Defense Ministry, two terrorist attempts to conduct surveillance of army ammunition storehouses have been intercepted.
- Dmitry Kozak, the deputy head of the presidential administration has cautioned State Duma deputies to avoid oversimplifying (and misconstruing) the law "On the Status of Judges" when it comes up for discussion.
- The Russian State Duma has approved the presidential draft on pension reform.
- A passenger bus overturned on a bridge in Karachaevo-Cherkessia after skidding on black ice. Four passengers died and 16 were injured.
- The modernization of the Russian education system was discussed at today's cabinet meeting. Education Minister Vladimir Filipov announced that Russian schools will switch to the 12-year system in six years and that a uniform exit exam will be instituted in 2004.
- In Kosovo, the body of a Russian peacekeeper was found near his division. The soldier died from a gunshot to the head. An investigation into the circumstances around his death has been initiated.
- A group of Yakutian deputies has appealed to the Central Electoral Commission to cancel the registration of the republic's incumbent president, Mikhail Nikolaev. By rule of the Constitutional Court, Nikolaev is not allowed to run for a third term. Elections are scheduled for 23 December; 12 candidates have already been registered.
- Russia's Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref announced that a railroad bridge will be built between the island of Sakhalin and the mainland. This project will cost over 8 billion dollars.
- Civil defense exercises were conducted in the Balakovskaya nuclear station in the Saratov oblast.
- The Kursk nuclear submarine has been raised to sea level. Tests show that radiation levels on the boat are normal.
- Moscow police forces have confiscated a large batch of precious metals at the Kazan' railroad station. The intended destination of the contraband has not been revealed.
- The governmental commission for the economic and social reconstruction of Chechnya met today. The return of refugees was at the top of the agenda; 60,000 Chechen refugees are staying in the republic of Ingushetia alone.
- A powerful typhoon has hit Kamchatka. Schools in the region have been closed.
- Final preparations are underway at the Rossiya concert hall in Moscow for Russia's seventh annual Television Awards.
- President Putin congratulated Russian customs officers on the ten-year anniversary of their service and noted that their primary task is bolstering the fight against drug trafficking.
- The harvest in Omsk is so bountiful that there isn't enough machinery and storage space to collect it all.
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