A brief look at the stories making headlines in the Russian-language press

To help protect against the threat of bioterrorism, U.S. President George W. Bush's administration on Wednesday will start deploying a national system of environmental monitors that is intended to tell within 24 hours whether anthrax, smallpox and other deadly germs have been released into the air, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

A powerful earthquake ripped through western and central Mexico, killing at least 21 people, destroying dozens of houses and leaving the worst-hit state shrouded in darkness with power outages.

Father Omer lifted his head from the huge vat where his beloved Trappist ale was brewing to address an issue which is vexing producers of Belgium's great beers.

Hungry for foreign capital and keen to reform its bloated state sector, China is tipped to be one of Asia's busiest markets for corporate deals this year.

The private foundation that funds the U.S. accounting standards board voted Tuesday to give it as much as $4 million to keep operating until a new congressionally mandated funding mechanism is implemented.

European Union finance ministers Tuesday backed a long-awaited plan to tax income from cross-border savings that will help cash-strapped member states boost revenues and stem tax evasion.

The White House acknowledged Tuesday night that U.S. Treasury secretary nominee John Snow had a 1982 drunken driving arrest and a 1988 child support dispute with his ex-wife but said it stood by him for the post.

Argentina's peso firmed to nine-month highs Tuesday in razor-thin trade as exporters sold part of their dollar revenues as required by law amid scant demand for the greenback, traders said.