France launched an investigation into an event in Las Vegas in 2016, which was addressed by presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, who then served as economy minister. It is reported by AFP. We are talking about an event within the framework of the CES consumer electronics exhibition, which was organized without a competition by Havas for 400 thousand euros; according to media reports, about 100 thousand euros were spent on hotels. Macron was the main speaker there, reports AFP.

In Kyiv, activists protesting against the dispersal of the railway blockade of Donbass attacked the Alfa-Bank branch on Khreshchatyk. According to Interfax-Ukraine, the protesters began to throw stones at the building through the police cordon and broke the glass in the office. Agency UNN reports that the sign was knocked down from the bank. Before that, writes Interfax-Ukraine, the protesters tried to enter the office of Rinat Akhmetov's company SCM.

The main candidate for the post of Russia's permanent representative to the UN, vacant after the death of Vitaly Churkin, is Alexander Grushko, Russia's permanent representative to NATO. It is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to several sources in the State Duma. Two interlocutors of the agency said that Grushko was considered "among the main ones", two more people confirmed that he was the main candidate for this position. The names of other applicants are not given in the publication.

In Tula, employees of the funeral services offered a man help with organizing the funeral of his wife, who was actually alive and was in the hospital. This was reported by the prosecutor's office of the Tula region. The agency conducted an inspection after the appeal of the man, to whom the employees of the bureau came home. As it turned out, in January 2017, in the department of the city hospital named after Vanykin, where his wife was treated, a woman with the same surname died.

Photo: Richard Gardner / Rex / Vida Press At the beginning of the zero, the British almost stopped drinking Jin: he was considered a rude drink for the older generation; Young people preferred cocktails on vodka. Over the past few years, the situation has changed dramatically. Gin’s consumption increased eight times, and in 2017 an alcoholic drink for the first time in 13 years began to take into account the British consumer basket. According to it, local statistics consider inflation.

The Government Commission on Legislative Activities approved the initiative of former State Duma deputy Dmitry Nosov to ban employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who have access to state secrets from traveling abroad. This was reported by RBC, which had a copy of the review at its disposal. The government recommended listing in the bill specific positions for which police officers should not leave Russia, as well as identifying the countries to which the ban is supposed to be extended.

Boris Rotenberg's Transept Group won a competition to complete the construction of a new stage at the Maly Drama Theater (Theater of Europe) in St. Petersburg. The contract value is 2.08 billion rubles. According to Fontanka , the company was the only participant in the competition. The Maly Drama Theatre, whose artistic director for more than 30 years has been People's Artist of the Russian Federation and laureate of several state awards Lev Dodin, was founded in 1944 in Leningrad.

Photo: Peter Kovalev / TASS / Scanpix / Leta rally against the transfer of the Isaac's Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church. St. Petersburg, February 12, 2017 The election commission of St. Petersburg rejected the application for a referendum on the transfer of the Isaac's Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Photo: Joseph XU / Multimedia Content Produce / University of Michigan Sensors used in the production of smartphones A group of scientists at the University of Michigan and the University of South Carolina found a way to hack a mobile phone (more precisely, its individual functions) with the help of sound - just losing a sound file before the device. “It's like a musical virus,” says one of the authors of the study, professor at the University of Michigan Kevin Fu.

In Vladivostok, an English teacher was given a two-year suspended sentence under an article on extremism. He was found guilty of humiliating the dignity of Russians. The prosecutor's office and the Investigative Committee did not name the convict. A criminal case against him was initiated at the end of 2016.

French presidential candidate Francois Fillon has been charged with embezzlement of public funds, according to Le Figaro, citing his lawyer. An official investigation has begun against the politician, writes Reuters. François Fillon is suspected of appointing his wife, Penélope, as an assistant and paying her a salary when he was a deputy, although she did practically no work. As a senator, he allegedly paid his children in a similar situation.

The Directorate of the RF Investigative Committee for the Leningrad Region opened a criminal case under the article “hooliganism” (part 1 of article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) against a 54-year-old resident of Priozersk, who knocked down a child playing with a toy machine near the roadway in a car and forced him to wait on his knees for arrival police. The incident occurred on March 9, a few days later a video of it hit the Internet.

Alexei Navalny has applied for a march demanding an investigation into corruption among senior government officials and information published by the Anti-Corruption Foundation about Dmitry Medvedev's "secret empire". Navalny wants to hold a march down Tverskaya Street and a rally on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow on March 26. He also called for applications for similar performances in other Russian cities.

The City Election Committee of St. Petersburg refused to accept the application of the initiative group to hold a referendum on the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church. The reason for the refusal was incorrectly executed documents. In particular, writes "Fontanka", not all sheets were stitched properly, and in the protocol of the meeting of the initiative group there were fewer people than in the protocol of voting.

On March 14, at a meeting with members of the government, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had come down with the flu. “The epidemic situation in our country is declining, however, the situation is still serious, so Dmitry Anatolyevich was not saved,” the president said. It was suggested on the Internet that the prime minister fell ill in connection with an investigation published by the Alexei Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation.