Israeli commandos on Tuesday boarded a ship flying the Liberian flag, the crew of which is suspected by authorities of smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported, citing the military press service. Israeli commandos encountered no resistance when they intercepted the vessel, the spokeswoman said, the agency said. The press service also clarified that, according to the military, the ship was heading to an Israeli port.

A court in Khakassia sentenced Alexander Pogonyaychenko, deputy chief engineer of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, to a fine of about 3.3 million rubles, the republic’s prosecutor’s office reports. The court found that Pogonaychenko, while holding the position of deputy chief engineer of the station, was at the same time the general director of the Gidroenergoremont company.

March 15, 2011, 06:04 News A hydrogen explosion occurred at the fourth reactor of Fukushima-1 A hydrogen explosion occurred at the fourth reactor of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, an ITAR-TASS correspondent reported . Earlier, a fire started in the power unit building .

March 15, 2011, 12:03 p.m. Sport Capello: Terry was always my first choice for England captaincy Head coach of the England national football team Fabio Capello commented on the information about the possible return of the captain's armband to Chelsea defender John Terry . “It seems to me that Terry has already been punished enough for his mistake,” The Sun reports Capello as saying . “In the near future, I will need to make a final decision on returning the captain’s armband to him.

— 15.03.2011 14:00 — Four balconies of a residential building collapsed in Moscow; no casualties On Tuesday night, four balconies of a residential building collapsed in the north of Moscow, but no one was injured. The incident occurred at 01.30 in house number 4 on Oktyabrskaya Street. According to preliminary data, a fifth-floor balcony slab collapsed in the old house, after which the lower balconies collapsed under its weight.

March 15, 2011, 02:48 a.m. Sport Ozolins may become general manager of the Latvian national team The Latvian hockey team will soon have a new general manager. The leadership of the LHF has already held negotiations with the captain of Dynamo Riga Sandis Ozolins. A draft agreement is currently being prepared, according to which the defender will work in his new role until 2014.

— 15.03.2011 22:20 — Apple has announced that it will postpone sales of the iPad 2 in Japan due to the earthquake and tsunami. Sales were planned to begin on March 25, a new date has not yet been determined. “We are delaying the launch of iPad 2 in Japan until the country recovers from the recent natural disaster,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Curris.

15 March 2011, 13:15 Culture High primitive The exhibition “Paintings by Pavel Leonov from the collection of Ksenia Bohemskaya” opened at the Museum of Personal Collections Velimir Moist The exhibition “Paintings by Pavel Leonov from the collection of Ksenia Bohemskaya”, which opened at the Museum of Personal Collections, features dozens of paintings that are difficult for an unprepared viewer to connect with the museum context.

15 March 2011, 06:47 Sport Utah beat Philadelphia in overtime, Kirilenko scored 16 points Another match of the NBA regular season has ended. “Utah” beat Philadelphia in overtime at home with a score of 112:107 OT (28:23, 32:19, 22:27, 21:34, 9:4) U: Jefferson (30+17 rebounds), Harris (19), Miles (19) F: Iguodala (23), Williams (22), Brand (19) Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko spent 38:00 minutes on the court, scored 16 points, made 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 blocked shot.

15 March 2011, 03:01 Sport Boschker extended his contract with Twente Goalkeeper Sander Boschker has extended his Twente contract until the summer of 2012. “I am glad that I will spend the next season with my home club,” 40-year-old Boschker told the official UEFA website . “Twente and I know that we can count on each other.”

First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov met with 17 representatives of student communities at leading US universities, reports the website of Rosmolodezh . Surkov spoke about the need to create a new, “creative class” of people in Russia and explained that President Dmitry Medvedev is trying to make the political system more open. “It was under Putin that a new middle class emerged, which did not exist in the 90s.

15 March 2011, 13:41 Culture Return courtesy of Kanye West Return courtesy of Kanye West "Park of Culture" Rapper Kanye West invited model Kate Moss to accompany him during a performance at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film, music and interactive technology festival. The concert is due to take place this week, but there is no word yet on Moss's reaction to such an unexpected invitation. The rapper may have to perform alone, as usual. However, one could expect something similar from West.

On Wednesday morning, a number of oppositionists and human rights activists, led by the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alekseeva, will submit an application to the Moscow City Hall to hold a march and rally on March 31 in defense of Article 31 of the Constitution. “We are changing the location of the rally. We expect that there will be more participants at the rally on Pushkin Square,” she said.

Hot water in some residential buildings in Moscow will begin to be turned off for preventive maintenance on May 12 for a period of 10 days instead of the previous 14, a representative of the public relations department of Moscow Heating Network Company OJSC said on Tuesday. The transition to a shortened shutdown schedule is carried out in accordance with the order of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin .

Libyan government troops occupied the town of Ajdabiya on Tuesday, the last rebel stronghold on the way of the advance of Muammar Gaddafi's army towards the eastern capital of Benghazi, Libyan state television reported. “Ajdabiya has been completely cleared of mercenaries and terrorists associated with Al-Qaeda (an organization banned in Russia),” it reports. The fighting for this small town lasted almost a week. Aircraft carried out daily strikes on rebel positions.