On May 6, Vladimir Etush turns 80 years old. On his birthday, he will appear on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theater in the play "Uncle's Dream", in which he plays with his students. Vladimir Abramovich Etush was born on May 6, 1923 in Moscow. He interrupted his studies at Shchukinsky in 1941. Despite the reservation, Etush, having completed the courses of military translators, went to the front.

Four foreigners who lost their relatives during the terrorist attack on Dubrovka are going to sue the Russian government. This was reported to Interfax by the lawyer of the victims, Igor Trunov. Claims on behalf of two US citizens, a citizen of Kazakhstan and a citizen of Ukraine, will be filed with the Basmanny Court of the capital this Thursday. The plaintiffs intend to demand that the Russian authorities compensate for the damage caused by the attack.

On May 7, 2003, a rather rare and interesting celestial phenomenon will occur - the passage of Mercury across the disk of the Sun. From beginning to end, it will be possible to observe it throughout Russia, and only in the Far East will the Sun set below the horizon before it ends. Mercury's upcoming transit across the solar disk will be the first in the 21st century and the fiftieth since the first observed transit on November 7, 1631, the Astronet website reports .

A resident of Saransk discovered a human corpse in his summer cottage in the horticultural society "Hunter". The remains rested on a bed of strawberries. Currently, forensic experts are trying to establish the identity of the deceased and the cause of death, according to IMA-Press.

A patient with suspected SARS has been hospitalized in Irkutsk, a source at the regional Center for Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision told Interfax. The day before, the 22-year-old young man returned from China. He had a cold, but he did not pay attention to it, and on Tuesday he had a sharp rise in temperature. The young man's mother, a medical professional herself, called the doctors and informed them that her son had just returned from China.

US President George W. Bush will name the new head of Iraq's civil administration. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer has announced that former chief of staff Jay Garner will step down. According to Reuters, Fleischer declined to comment on rumors that Garner will be replaced by former State Department counterterrorism chief Paul Bremer.

Moscow is taking additional measures to combat SARS. In the capital will now examine all the homeless. In addition, all metro workers will have to regularly treat escalators and rolling stock with disinfectant solutions. Lyudmila Rodina, an employee of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision Center, told Ekho Moskvy radio station about this.

In Moscow, a collection of proposals began on the project and site for the erection of a monument to front-line horses and service dogs. Proposals should be sent to the City Duma, Moscow City Duma deputy Yevgeny Balashov said at a press conference on Tuesday. He noted that the idea of ​​erecting a similar sculptural composition on Poklonnaya Hill was put forward two years ago by an initiative group of veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

The new composition of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Electoral Commission at a meeting on Tuesday elected Konstantin Bocharov, who previously worked at Norilsk Nickel, as chairman of the commission. It is reported by RIA "Novosti" with reference to a source in the election committee. Bocharov's candidacy was proposed for the post of head of the regional election commission by the Central Election Commission of Russia on April 29.

On Tuesday, at the Central House of Actors (Arbat, 35, corner of Kaloshin Lane), a farewell ceremony will be held for the Yezhedelny Zhurnal correspondents Galina Kovalskaya and Ruslan Yamalov, who died in a Mi-26 helicopter crash near Chita. According to Ekho Moskvy, the ceremony will begin at noon sharp. A total of 12 people were killed - seven crew members, a forestry worker and four journalists, including the film crew of the Rossiya TV channel.

On Tuesday, the Electoral Committee of Norilsk at its meeting decided to abandon the previously chosen date for the repeated elections of the mayor - October 19th. "The date of October 19 does not comply with the law," said Viktor Sadchikov, chairman of the city election commission, explaining the reasons for changing the commission's decision. At the same time, a new date for the voting has not yet been set. Interfax

The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia has sent telegrams of instructions to the territorial bodies and to the bases of the aviation protection of forests of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, which propose a set of measures to ensure the safety of flights of aircraft that extinguish forest fires.

On Monday, 22 prisoners were released from the Guantanamo camp, among whom there may be minors, AP reports. Their names and countries where they come from are not mentioned. Where they will be sent is also not reported. Previously, on similar occasions, those released had been airlifted to Pakistan or Afghanistan and simply released. According to Reuters, the prisoners have not yet been released, and there are only about a dozen of them.

Sergey Ivanov. Photo from the site www.lenta.ru Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Tuesday that a reduction in a military group in Chechnya would continue. This is reported by Interfax. "In the future, if the situation is allowed, it is planned to further reduce the excess units of the Ministry of Defense in Chechnya," the minister said.

The price level in the candidate countries is still lower than in the EU, but after their entry into the union it will rise. According to RIA Novosti, this conclusion is made by the European Commission on the basis of data published on Monday on the market in the states joining the EU. On average, prices for goods and services in the ten future EU members are about half that of the current 15. And the prices for services are even lower.