20:25
ARGENTINA PLEDGES TO PAY DEBT
President Fernando de la Rua of Argentina promises to take stern measures to reach a budget deficit of zero (currently 132 bn USD) by the end of 2002. More details...

18:27
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY WELCOMES ADOPTION BY THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION OF THE RUSSIAN DRAFT RESOLUTION ON THE ISSUE OF INFORMATION SECURITY
The statement from the Department of information and press of the Russian Foreign Ministry received on Saturday by RIA Novosti declared that the Russian Foreign Ministry welcomed adoption by the First committee of the UN General Assembly of the Russian draft resolution "Achievements in the area of informativeness and telecommunications in the context of international security" More details...

18:22
RUMSFELD: NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE NOT RULED OUT
In an interview with CNN, the US Defence Secretary declared “I do not rule out anything”, when asked about deployment of nuclear weapons in Afghanistan. More details...

18:13
THIRD FORMENTOR FORUM OVER IN PALMA DE MALLORCA
The third Formentor forum taking place at the antique Formentor hotel has ended in Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. Representatives from Mediterranean basin countries and the EU took part in it More details...

18:09
PERFECT PLANNING PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE
In America the majority (70%) of fast food purchases are impulse buys. Few people go out specifically to buy hamburger and the like. This fact points to the importance of restaurant site location. Just as magazines and sweets are strategically placed at the checkout counter in the supermarket, fast food joints are located at a particular place by design and not by accident More details...

14:53
BOTH TALIBS AND RELATIVES OF AFGHANI PUSHTU LEADER HAMID KARZAI DENY REPORTS OF HIS ARREST
Both Talibs and relatives of Afghani Pushtu leader in Pakistan's city of Quetta, Hamed Karzai, denied reports of his arrest that had appeared in local and western mass media More details...

14:00
RUSSIA, US SET TO PRUNE THEIR STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS
Russia and the United States will continue to prune their strategic offensive arms, ensuring open control over this process More details...

14:00
RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER: RUSSIAN MILITARY WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN AFGHAN ANTI-TERROR OPERATION
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has confirmed that Russian servicemen would not participate in the Afghan anti-terrorism operation More details...

12:41
RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL AIDE: RUSSIA, USA HAVE TO GIVE UP COLD WAR STEREOTYPES
One of the most difficult tasks facing Russia and the United States is to give up the outdated Cold War stereotypes, the Russian presidential aide said in a RIA Novosti interview. Sergei Yastrzhembsky attended the fifth annual Russian Investment Symposium in Boston More details...

10:40
GERMAN CHANCELLOR DESCRIBES FORTHCOMING VISIT OF VLADIMIR PUTIN TO THE USA AS LANDMARK EVENT
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder believes that the visit of Vladimir Putin to the United States, which is to take place in November, will be historical More details...

20:07
IVANOV-RUMSFELD TALKS TO PIVOT ON ANTIBALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE
On Saturday, the United States' Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will arrive in Moscow to hold negotiations with his Russian analogue Sergei Ivanov. The Pentagon press service said Friday that in the focus of the upcoming Moscow talks will be antimissile defense and the struggle against international terrorism. More details...

19:55
ICELAND, RUSSIA TO BECOME COMPONENTS OF FUTURE ATLANTIC-PACIFIC SECURITY
Russia is to become a component part of a future security system, spanning from the Atlantic to Pacific. This viewpoint was voiced Friday by Halldor Ausgrimsson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Iceland, appearing at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. More details...

19:50
CNN SAYS FOCUS ON CIVILIAN CASUALTIES WOULD BE "PERVERSE"
According to the Washington Post (10/31/01), CNN Chair Walter Isaacson "has ordered his staff to balance images of civilian devastation in Afghan cities with reminders that the Taliban harbors murderous terrorists, saying it 'seems perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan.'" More details...

19:43
COSMONAUT FEELS MIR WAS MORE COSY THAN ISS
Living conditions were better aboard Russia's Mir orbital space station than they are on the International Space Station, said Viktor Afanasyev, captain of the Expedition Two crew, on Friday. He was speaking to reporters along with his fellow crewmen, Russian test pilot Konstantin Kozeyev and French woman cosmonaut Claudie Haignere, about his impression of work on the ISS. More details...

19:15
PRAVDA.RU APPRECIATES CNN PRESS OFFICE’S WATCHFULNESS AND APOLOGIZES TO ITS READERS
CNN refutes the allegations that can be found in the article by Irina Malenko of October 26th, 2001 titled “ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS OF PALESTINE BLAMES CNN.” More details...

18:25
DMITRY LITVINOVICH: THE COLOMBIAN DEATH SQUADS
The civil war in Colombia has been going on for over 30 years. Thousands of people died during the contradiction between the rebels and rightist armed groups. The Colombian army, by the way, has been actively supporting the latter More details...

17:05
LEBANESE NEWSPAPER NOTES INCREASE OF RUSSIA'S ROLE WORLDWIDE
Russia's role in the international scene is increasing rapidly, especially after the September 11 events in the USA, writes Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal commenting on Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri's stay in Moscow. More details...

16:48
GERMANY BELIEVES ESTONIA, LATVIA AND LITHUANIA CAN JOIN NATO SIMULTANEOUSLY
Germany believes Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can join NATO simultaneously and is in favour of NATO's large-scale expansion, German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping told Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar on Friday. More details...

16:39
ITALIAN AND BRITISH PREMIERS STRESS RUSSIA'S GROWING ROLE IN COMBATING INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
The situation in the Middle East, combating international terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan were in the center of the talks between Italian and British premiers Sylvio Berlusconi and Tony Blair on Friday night on Genoa. More details...

14:20
RUSSIA PROTECTED FROM BIO-ATTACK
Head of the Russian Defence Ministry's radiation, chemical and biological defence forces, Lieutenant-General Viktor Kholstov told journalists on Friday that Russia was protected from possible biological terrorist attacks by means of systems which not only incorporated the armed forces, but other structures including the emergencies and health ministries. More details...

14:14
THE RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER AND THE US SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE WILL DISCUSS INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov will meet in Moscow on November 3 with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, RIA Novosti was told on Friday in the Russian Defence Ministry. More details...

13:49
AGREEMENT ON CONSTRUCTING AN ATOMIC POWER PLANT TO BE SIGNED IN MOSCOW
During the visit to Moscow by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on November 4-6, a framework agreement will be signed on the construction of an atomic power plant in India with the participation of Russia. Minister of Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev told reporters about this on Friday. More details...

13:38
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RAFIQ HARIRI DISCUSS SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri are discussing the situation in the Middle East, Palestine and around Iraq. Their talks have started several minutes ago in the Kremlin's representation cabinet. More details...

13:36
RUSSIA BELIEVES LEBANON IS FRIENDLY COUNTRY
Russia regards Lebanon as a friendly country with which it has been long maintaining good relations, said Russian president Vladimir Putin when opening negotiations with Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in the Kremlin on Friday. More details...

13:28
PAKISTANI MILITANTS TO HELP TALIBAN
Militants from Pakistani regions bordering on Afghanistan are arriving in the country to help the Taliban movement. The fighters come from the Pushtun-inhabited regions, in particular, from the Bajaur district where the positions of radical Muslim groups are quite strong. More details...

13:25
RUSSIA HAS NO BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS - DEFENCE MINISTRY
Russia has no biological weapons, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defence Troops, Lieutenant-General Viktor Kholstov, has said. More details...

13:07
VLADIMIR PUTIN AND LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER DISCUSS SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri are discussing the situation in the Middle East, in Palestine and around Iraq. Their talks have started in the Kremlin's Reception office some minutes ago. More details...

12:52
252 ENVELOPES WITH WHITE POWDER REGISTERED IN RUSSIA
A total of 252 envelopes with white powder have been registered in Russia this week but none of them contained anthrax agents. Chief sanitary doctor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko said that microbiological examination was being conducted in each such case. More details...

12:47
NOT A SINGLE CASE OF ANTHRAX REGISTERED IN RUSSIA
Not a single case of anthrax has been registered in Russia this year, Russia's Chief Sanitary Inspector Gennady Onishchenko told journalists on Friday. He said in some cases physicians suspected anthrax but tests proved negative. More details...

12:00
JOSEPH SOBRAN: PATRIOTISM OR NATIONALISM?
This is a season of patriotism, but also of something that is easily mistaken for patriotism; namely, nationalism. The difference is vital. G.K. Chesterton once observed that Rudyard Kipling, the great poet of British imperialism, suffered from a "lack of patriotism." More details...