Around Russia Translation difficulties February 26, 2006 Anton Oresh A person cannot have many friends. Real friends are a rarity. And if we are talking about the country? And if we are talking about the largest country in the world that borders on many other countries - large and small. I don’t want to say completely banal things, but “tell me who your friend is and I will tell you who you are” ... Russia has few friends. And these friends are truly terrible.

The summit should develop a common position of religious leaders on a number of issues, including the assessment of religious extremism, which often becomes a “breeding ground for terrorism.” Before the meeting, an expert seminar will be held, at which it is planned to develop an appeal to the leaders of the G8 countries. Invitations will be sent to representatives of almost all major faiths.

Over the past six months, there have been no shocks in Central Asia - the “domino effect” after the change of power in Kyrgyzstan did not work. It seems that Russia can feel calm in the region, which it historically considers its sphere of influence. However, there is no need to be complacent. So the director of the US National Intelligence Service warns of the possibility of a crisis.

It is planned to create an inexpensive computer network especially for the ultra-Orthodox. By subscribing to its services for 60 shekels per month, each family will receive a flat-panel monitor, keyboard and USB port, but no CD-ROM. By logging onto the Internet, the user will be able to access only those sites that are approved by the rabbinate. A special news website will also be created where you can read only “kosher” news.

Mikhail Kasyanov and the head of the Our Choice party Irina Khakamada are creating a new social movement. The idea arose after the failure of Kasyanov and Khakamada’s attempt to create a broad democratic opposition on the basis of the Democratic Party of Russia. The new movement will be joined by the former secretary of the political council of the Union of Right Forces, Ivan Starikov, and the founder of the Democratic Party, Nikolai Travkin.

In the city of Ave Maria, designed for 30 thousand people, abortions, the sale of pornography and contraceptives will be prohibited. The central square will be crowned by a 33-meter chapel and a Catholic college. The patron of the project was the creator of an international chain of pizzerias, Thomas Monaghan, who was raised by Catholic monks. The 68-year-old restaurateur intends to invest more than $400 million in the project. The first residents are scheduled to move in in 2007.

“Over the course of six years, I have been to the Chechen Republic many times. The first time I came here was in the fall of 1999, when hostilities were going on. The guns and guns were working. Today there is no sound of guns. The war in the Chechen Republic has effectively ended,” said Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles after a meeting with the President of the Chechen Republic Alu Alkhanov.

In Russia, “the level of awareness and tolerance of society is still extremely low,” their statement says: according to sociologists, about half of Russians still do not know about the abolition of criminal liability for same-sex sex by mutual consent, many confuse homosexuality with pedophilia. Today, what is needed is not loud “shows,” but calm explanatory work, basic education of their fellow citizens and unity to protect their rights and constructive dialogue with society, gays believe.

The delegation of the Hamas party, arriving in Moscow in March, will hold consultations at the Russian Foreign Ministry. This was announced by the special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry for the Middle East settlement, Ambassador at Large Alexander Kalugin.

After the Prosecutor General’s Office promised to check the activities of the acting Prime Minister of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov began to think about the prospects for his political career. The Danish Refugee Council will be able to resume its activities in Chechnya within the next two to three days, Kadyrov said today at a press conference in Grozny.

To Moscow for the Conference of the Interregional Social Movement in Defense of Democratic Freedoms "United Civil Front" (The conference is the highest governing body of the UCF) more than 120 delegates from regions came - from Murmansk to Pskov. The guests of the Conference, who opened its work with their speeches, were representatives of “sympathetic” parties and movements - from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the NBP to the “Republicans” and “Our Choice”.

On Sunday, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow, having satisfied the request of the capital's prosecutor's office, issued an arrest warrant for the director of the Basmanny market, Mark Mishiev. Mishiev is accused of “causing death by negligence of two or more persons.” As it became known today, in the near future the Moscow authorities will create a commission to technically investigate the causes of the collapse of the roof of the Basmanny Market.

The court granted the request of prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin and prohibited the participants in the process from disclosing information about witnesses and information about the progress of their interrogation.

"It would be better if we opened water!" Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani - ex-minister of oil of Saudi Arabia “After 10 years or 20 years, you will see that oil will lead us to collapse " Juan Pablo Peres Alfonso - ex-minister of Oil industry Venezuela In 1985-1986, world oil prices fell several times. Nevertheless, the USSR collapsed not because of the game to lower the oil market. Bulat Okudzhava said well about this at his last concert in Paris on June 23, 1995.

The State Duma excluded the heads of Russian regions from the category of persons eligible for deferment from the army. The corresponding amendments to the law “On Military Duty and Military Service” were adopted in the third final reading on February 26. In order not to disrupt the confident progress of military reform, the deputies readily adopted the law, without being at all embarrassed by its absurdity.