Pop-singer Anita Tsoi won the third round of "Lady-Ace" Moscow Cup – a car-racing rally for female show-biz stars and producer Sergei Knyazev’s brainchild. InterMedia agency reports that it took Anita two minutes to cover the distance of 2,500 meters along Olympiisky Prospekt. Though the result may seem pretty paltry in terms of speed, it definitely merits praise because, due to the negligence of the traffic police, GIBDD, the street was not cleared of its regular traffic and the six rally participants had to maneuver between the cars and trolleybuses. "I like fast driving," Anita said. "It gives me a shot of adrenaline so every time I do it, I get something new out of it. To be frank, I wasn’t afraid for myself so much as for my navigator, poet Simon Osiashvili. When we were getting out of the car, it seemed to me that he had new gray hairs on his head," she added. The rally nearly turned into a traffic accident when the car driven by NTV sports-news-presenter Yulia Bordovskikh and Strelki band producer Igor Seliverstov almost collided with a trolleybus. "I’ll need to buy a new car for the Cup Final scheduled for May," Bordovskikh said. "After one of the wheels hit a pothole, I though we wouldn’t make it to the finish. But we gritted our teeth and did it!" The pop-band Karamelki and Radio Roks PR director Milana Belyaeva brought up the rear, driving a fire-engine that covered the distance in five minutes. "Participation is more important than victory," Karamelki said.

Tantsy-Minus bandleader Vyacheslav Petkun spent part of the night on Jan. 29 in a police precinct. The following is the story he told the InterMedia news agency. While he was driving a car, he was stopped by two uniformed policemen for a document check-up. Having found no Moscow registration in Petkun’s passport (he is a resident of St. Petersburg) the policemen demanded an explanation. The musician promptly explained that he had just returned from Togliatti and by law had the right to stay in Moscow for three days without registering. In reply, the policemen started complaining about their low salaries. Petkun refused to take the hint and said he was ready to go to a police station. As a result, he had to spend some three hours in the Tagansky police precinct where he said he was treated in a very friendly manner. Petkun added that the incident entertained rather than upset him. "Now the Moscow police will be topic number one in my press-conferences," he said. "If they live off bribes, why don’t they pay taxes on them?" The sting in the tail came later when it turned out that they were not policemen but employees of a non-governmental security agency who are not authorized to carry out document checks.

Famous rock musician Yuri Shevchyuk gave a musical present to the "Dom nadezhdy na gore" ("House of Hope on the Hill") — a rehabilitation clinic for alcoholics and drug-addicts located in the Leningrad region, which he has patronized for three years, reports Komsomolskaya Pravda . Together with his fellow musicians Oleg Garkusha and Vladimir Rekshan, Shevchyuk attended a church service asking God to cure and absolve the clinic’s patients and then afterwards gave a concert, driving the "Dom nadezhdy" residents into ecstasy.

Alexander Lykov, the well known St.-Petersburg actor who stars in the popular TV series "Menty" ("Cops") and "Ulitsy zazbitykh fonarei" ("Streets of Broken Lanterns"), won Moscow’s first Karaoke Cup contest held at the Limpopo restaurant Jan. 31. The jury of renowned composers and musicians, including Larisa Rubalskaya, Vladimir Presnyakov and Lora Kvint was presided over by legendary composer Nikita Bogoslovsky, The contestants were all amateurs in the art. "I love crooning, especially in the bathroom," Lykov confessed. "I’ve had some experience in singing from roles I’ve acted in so it was quite easy for me to win." However, to win the sympathy of the jury and the public, a good attitude was more important than singing," he added. Poet Viktor Pelenyagre, although absolutely determined to win, only ranked third for a rather inadequate performance of his song "Kak upoitelny v rossii vechera" (How Nice the Evenings are in Russia). Dramatist Viktor Merezhko scored low points because he sang not a solo but a duet, while Alexander Kurlyandsky, famous for producing the popular animated cartoons "Nu pogodi!", refused to sing at all and was rewarded with a chorus of catcalls.

Rumors alleging that Lenkom theater actor Dmitry Pevtsov has separated from his actress wife Olga Drovzoda are nothing new. They have been flying around for some six months . The gossip has been that the interviews and beautiful photos about their "happy marriage" were nothing other than a PR stunt. Now, with gossip spreading about Drozdova seeing Lyube bandleader Nikolai Rastorguyev, the story has taken a fresh turn, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda. Rumor has it that Olga has become noticeably more cheerful and prettier and is often seen in Nikolai’s company and, in particular, leaving parties together. Once, before getting into the car, Nikolai bought up all the flowers from a flower-woman and presented them to Olga. As for Pevtsov, he has been noticed at other parties, either alone or in the merry company of friends. No information is so far available about whether he has a girlfriend or not. Nevertheless, Pevtsov and Drozdova continue to appear together, hosting various parties and concerts.

Tennis players are paid less than they deserve, TV-Parade quotes Yevgeny Kafelnikov as saying. "Take golf, for example," he complained. "The winner of a minor golf event gets $540,000 while a tennis player is paid only $42,000 for a similar victory." However, tennis stars Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras refused to side with their Russian colleague in his righteous fury. Sampras said tennis players are paid too much and Agassi advised Kafelnikov to have at least some respect for the fans.

Pop-singer Alexander Malinin, 42, gave a concert in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, as part of the celebrations on the occasion of Kamsk Steel Mill acquiring an international quality certificate for its production. Quoting Vecherniye Chelny, Megapolis-Express writes that Malinin was in top form — he sang, danced and joked and received passionate feedback from the audience. A young man climbed the stage several times and presented the singer with flowers, shook his hand and embraced him. Tehn, while performing a sentimental ballad, Malinin forgot the lyrics but the audience supported him by filling the pause with a stormy ovation. The singer was very touched and apologized, saying that only those who lip-synch never forget the words. In the end, the public congratulated Malinin on becoming the father of twins: a boy and a girl. This is the third time Malinin has become a father. His son, Nikita, from his first marriage, is now 19.