Mexico has promised to file lawsuits in American courts if the US National Guard takes part in operations to detain illegal immigrants on the border of the two countries, AP reports. “If there is a real wave of human rights violations, if we see the National Guard becoming directly involved in detaining people, we will immediately begin filing lawsuits through our consulates,” Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said. US President George W.

Bulgaria is counting on an increase in wine imports to Russia after the import of wines from Georgia and Moldova was banned, ITAR-TASS reports . As Sergei Naryshkin, Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation, said during the economic forum “Day of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Regions and Business in Russia,” Russian entrepreneurs currently have the opportunity to establish cooperation with suppliers of Bulgarian wine.

At least 24 people were injured to varying degrees when two trams collided in Leipzig in eastern Germany, AFP reported. According to local authorities, the incident occurred late Tuesday evening. One of the trams, for reasons still unknown, crashed into the side of another. 24 people were injured; doctors assess the condition of three victims as serious. Representatives of the transport company that owned the trams estimate the damage from the incident to be at least 500 thousand euros.

The editor of the Bashkir opposition newspaper Provincial News, Viktor Shmakov, will be released no earlier than in a few days. As Shmakov’s wife Lyudmila told Kommersant , there was no “immediate” release because the court decision was sent to the pre-trial detention center by mail. “I think he will have to sit for another day or two, waiting for the court’s decision to arrive,” said Lyudmila Shmakova.

One of the alleged perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Nazran, which killed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia Dzhabrail Kostoev, was previously officially declared dead during the storming of a school in Beslan, Ekho Moskvy reports . Security forces named on Wednesday the names of two suspects in the terrorist attack - Ali Taziev and Adam Nalgiev. Both of them allegedly belong to Basayev’s group and took part in the attack on Ingushetia in the summer of 2004.

Antimonopoly authorities of the European Union inspected 20 energy companies. They are suspected of abusing a dominant position in the market and limiting competition, the BBC reports, citing a message from the press service of the European Commission. According to Bloomberg, companies from Germany, Italy, France, Italy and Belgium are being inspected. Earlier, inspections began at energy facilities in Hungary.

Toshiba has released a new Satellite series laptop. The machine, based on the Core Duo/Solo processor, is equipped with a user fingerprint recognition system, which will maximize the protection of access to confidential information, reports the Reg Hardware website . The Satellite Pro U200 laptop, depending on the configuration, will be equipped with Core Duo T2400 or Core Solo T1300 processors with 512 megabytes of DDR2 RAM.

The oldest football club in the country, Dynamo Moscow, may come under the control of Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich, Novye Izvestia claims . The owner of Chelsea, who stopped financial assistance to CSKA after the sale of Sibneft, is interested in acquiring one of the most popular national football brands. Dynamo owner Alexey Fedorychev is considering the possibility of selling the club.

Today, May 17, 2006, is the first World Information Society Day. The editors of Lenta.ru congratulate all programmers, system administrators, Internet providers, web designers, editors of online publications and all other people working in the field of information technology on their professional holiday.

A violin by Antonio Stradivari sold at Christie's in New York on Tuesday for $3.5 million, AP reports. A collector who wished to remain anonymous paid $3,544,000, including Christie's commission, for a Hammer violin made by Stradivarius in 1707. Previously, no musical instrument had ever sold at auction for such a high price. The previous record price for musical instruments was also set by a Stradivarius violin.

The Moscow government plans to submit six capital projects to the competition, applying for funds from the Investment Fund. This was stated by the first deputy mayor in the government of the capital, Yuri Roslyak, Interfax reports . “We have submitted a preliminary application and are currently preparing the justification and necessary documentation for six projects,” the official said.

The Moscow government is unhappy with the rise in housing prices, but cannot influence the situation on the market. This was stated by the first deputy mayor in the government of the capital, Yuri Roslyak, Interfax reports . “According to our assessment, prices are rising beyond the limit in relation to the rate of inflation and the rate of real appreciation of construction products,” the official said.

The Microsoft Xbox 360 console, complete with an external HD-DVD drive, will cost less than the main competitor of the Microsoft PlayStation 3 gaming system, equipped with a Blu-ray drive. Considering the current price of the Xbox 360 and the announced price of the PS3, the cost of the HD-DVD drive itself should be no more than $250, reports the Gamesindustry website .

Famous tennis player Boris Becker will have to pay all the costs of the failed Internet project Sportgate. The German athlete signed the corresponding contract back in 1999, after retiring from his career. Becker assumed five percent of all project costs, but then refused to fulfill his obligations. This decision was made by the Karlsruhe court, which found the arguments of the tennis player’s lawyers unconvincing.

Chinese blogger Yang Tianshui was sentenced on May 16, 2006 to 12 years in prison for undermining state power, Reuters reports. The basis for the accusation was a publication on the Internet by a Chinese blogger, in which he spoke out in support of the Chinese Velvet Revolution movement and the holding of free elections in China. Yang Tianshui was also accused of illegally receiving funds from the Democratic Party of China.