Disney has officially confirmed that it has stopped developing the action game Star Wars 1313. Lucasfilm spokesman Miles Perkins told BBC News. He stated that development of two Star Wars projects that LucasArts was involved in has now been discontinued. One of these projects was the action game Star Wars 1313, announced in 2012.

154 actors will read William Shakespeare's sonnets on the streets of New York throughout the year as part of the Sonnet Project. this The creators of the project reported on their website. Performances by theater, film and television actors will be recorded on video. Creators will publish three videos per week through SonnetProjectNYC.com and a dedicated mobile app starting April 23. Each video will be accompanied by the full text of the sonnet and comments on it.

Google announced in its blog the Blink engine, which will be used in the Chromium browser and the Chrome OS operating system instead of the WebKit engine. Blink, an open source engine, is based on WebKit and is a fork of it. Blink is currently in its early stages of development. Google primarily intends to refine the “internal architecture” of the engine and simplify the code base: more than 7 thousand files or 4.5 million lines of code have been removed from the project.

President Vladimir Putin received a letter from Boris Berezovsky asking him to allow him to return to Russia from Roman Abramovich, Forbes reports, citing a source close to the billionaire. It is noted that Berezovsky wrote two letters - to Putin and to Abramovich himself. The latter denied the information that the disgraced oligarch asked him for a billion rubles for personal needs, and did not personally comment on the delivery of the letter.

A large shopping and entertainment center with a water park will be built in Pskov. This is stated in a message from the Magazin Magazinov company, which acts as a broker and consultant for the project. The Aquapolis shopping center is being built at the intersection of Kuzbasskaya Diviziya and Yubileinaya streets. The complex will replace the old market-style shopping center located opposite.

The former chairman of the board of an unnamed bank was charged under the article “illegal actions in bankruptcy,” which caused damage to the financial organization in the amount of 5.7 billion rubles. This, as Interfax reports , was stated by the official representative of the Main Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Moscow, Elena Molotilkina.

The Plenum of the Supreme Court intends to reduce the ability of courts of general jurisdiction to refer to the Constitution when making decisions. At one time, with the help of references to the basic law, Moscow courts, for example, were able to acquit citizens who violated the capital’s law “On registration,” which was adopted under former mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Now all questionable laws will be considered only by the Constitutional Court.

An earthquake occurred in the capital of the Philippines, Manila, on April 4. This was reported by AFP with reference to the country's government. There were no reports of casualties or damage. According to the US Geological Survey, an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 occurred at 10:27 local time (06:27 Moscow time). The source of the tremors lay at a depth of 38 kilometers. The epicenter of the earthquake was 158 kilometers northeast of the capital.

American actor Matthew McConaughey will star in the science fiction film Interstellar directed and produced by Christopher Nolan. The actor spoke about this in an interview with The Star Tribune and The Hollywood Reporter. McConaughey confirmed that he accepted Nolan's offer, which arrived at the end of March 2013. In a conversation with both publications, the actor limited himself to the phrase “I confirm,” without providing details of his future role.

On April 4, South Korea recorded on the territory of the DPRK the movement of an object, possibly a Musudan medium-range ballistic missile, to the east coast. According to Reuters , this was reported by the South Korean Yonhap agency, citing numerous government sources. The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun also published a report about North Korea's delivery of a missile to the east coast. There has been no official confirmation of this information.

A boy was born in Cheboksary, whom his parents named Dobrynya. The family itself explained their choice by saying that this name goes well with the child’s patronymic - Nikitich. This was reported on Thursday, April 4, on the official portal of the Chuvash authorities. When exactly Dobrynya Nikitich, named after the hero of the epics, was born is unknown. It is only indicated that he was registered in the civil registry office of the administration of the Kalininsky district of Cheboksary.

Moscow's chief archaeologist Leonid Kondrashev said that the new finds allow us to revise generally accepted estimates of the age of the capital. Kondrashev’s words were quoted on April 4 by RIA Novosti . “Ancient Moscow was not a densely populated city like Western European ones, but was a princely court and a number of settlements,” Kondrashev said, adding that these settlements could have preceded the first mention of the city in chronicles in 1147 by 100-200 years.

On Thursday, April 4, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine organized parallel meetings in two places. As Ukrayinska Pravda reports, the opposition, which previously blocked the presidium, is holding a meeting in the main parliament building. And representatives of the parliamentary majority (deputies from the ruling Party of Regions and their supporters) meet in the building on Bankovaya Street, where parliamentary committees work.

The website of the Odnoklassniki social network, odnoklassniki.ru, stopped opening on the evening of Thursday, April 4. The inaccessibility of the portal is confirmed by specialized services such as Down For Everyone Or Just Me and HostTracker . A banner is currently posted on the main page of the social network informing about the ongoing technical work. Users are encouraged to check back at a later date.

Lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky entered the capital of the Pushkino Bank near Moscow, acquiring 19.1 percent of the shares. reports this RIA Novosti . Pushkino is among the second hundred domestic banks in terms of assets with 27 billion rubles. Dobrovinsky, known for representing the interests of former Federation Council member Vladimir Slutsker and Severstal head Alexei Mordashov, has recently been mentioned as a lawyer and business partner of businessman Sergei Polonsky.