Синхронный перевод. Гоголь О.В. - 7 стр.

       • Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday he was opti-              • A Greek anti-terrorism court on Monday convicted 15 mem-
mistic six-way talks to defuse the North Korean nuclear crisis will take   bers of the November 17 terrorist cell, including its leader and chief hit
place soon and denied the process was deadlocked.                          man, for their roles in a nearly 30-year killing spree that claimed US
       • A 24-year-old British man was charged Wednesday with con-         and British diplomats, among others.
spiring in an explosives plot with Richard Reid, the al-Qaida «shoe               • In a setback to Middle East peace efforts, Palestinian militants
bomber» who tried to blow up a US airliner.                                rejected a comprehensive truce offer to Israel despite intense pressure
       • Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday accused the Is-        from Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and Egypt to sign onto a deal.
raeli government of following «the policies of escalation and extrem-             • The Bush administration and its allies revive their bid in the
ism,» making the Middle East a more dangerous place.                       UN General Assembly on Monday to enact a global treaty banning all
       • The party that ruled Mexico for seven decades came close to       forms of human cloning, including research on cloning human cells.
fracture on Wednesday as congressmen loyal to the party's president               • Russia moved closer to obtaining its cheapest rocket yet for
voted to remove their legislative leader – who refused to accept the ac-   commercial satellites after successfully testing on Friday a converted
tion.                                                                      nuclear missile that was decommissioned to meet disarmament treaties.
       • Winding up a North Africa tour, Secretary of State Colin Pow-            • Confusion grew over Russia's position on the Kyoto protocol
ell said Wednesday continued improvement in of US-Algerian relations       on Thursday as the Kremlin and the economy ministry clashed over the
hinges on how Algerian authorities conduct presidential elections next     landmark environmental treaty, which Moscow can effectively veto.
year.                                                                             • The solar wind pries open immense cracks in the Earth's mag-
       • About 1 million urban workers have fallen victim as once cen-     netic field, holding them apart while it gushes through to cause geo-
trally controlled industries have to cut costs and jobs amid free-market   magnetic storms, scientists reported.
pressures, said Masood Hyder, the UN humanitarian coordinator in                  • A landscape painting by nineteenth century American romantic
North Korea.                                                               painter Martin Johnson Heade was sold at auction for just over $1 mil-
       • Maverick lawmaker Mark Latham was elected head of Austra-         lion on Sunday after being stashed away in an attic for over 60 years.
lia's Labor Party on Tuesday as the opposition prepared for next year's           • Joy at the capture of Saddam Hussein gave way to resentment
national elections.                                                        toward Washington Monday as Iraqis confronted afresh the bloodshed,
       • President Bush is signing into law the most far-reaching          shortages and soaring prices of life under US occupation.
changes in Medicare since the program's inception nearly 40 years ago,            • More than a million people filled the streets Monday for the
checking off another priority amid questions about its fiscal wisdom.      funeral of former President Geidar Aliev, streaming into the building
       • The powerful snowstorm that plowed through the Northeast          where he lay in state, then crowding around the cemetery where he was
and piled more than 3 feet of snow in some places over the weekend         buried with a five-gun salute.
had lost some of its strength Monday, though its effects lingered and             • President Alejandro Toledo is scheduled to swear in a replace-
hundreds of school districts announced they would be closed.               ment for Prime Minister Beatriz Merino at noon on Monday, in the
       • Allies of President Vladimir Putin won a sweeping victory in      wake of a gossip-laden political scandal.
parliamentary elections in a race European human rights officials con-            • Nearly 9,000 pounds of illegal ivory is on sale in Nigeria,
demned Monday as having fallen short of international legal require-       Ivory Coast and Senegal, three countries singled out for failing to regu-
ments and representing a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms.         late a trade that's fueling poaching and threatening the survival of ele-
                                                                           phants, wildlife advocacy groups said in a new report.

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