On Wednesday, Sotheby's in London is a Russian day. Items of art and personal items from the collection of the famous Russian singer Fedor Chaliapin are displayed at the auction. Among the most valuable exhibits are the works of famous Russian artists of the turn of the XIX -XX centuries Kustodiev, Nesterov, Korovin. Chaliapin to the 1917 revolution was already the most famous opera singer of the world.

"Foreign terrorists can take advantage of the overall availability of firearms, ammunition and, in some cases, explosives, not only illegal, but also in quite legal ways. Probably, in some cases this has already happened," the US Congress investigation service widespread in Washington.

On the Internet, a virtual hunt for Saddam continues. The new computer game is similar to the famous "soliter" built into the Windows operating system, the main difference is images on the maps. Instead of kings and ladies, photos of Saddam Hussein and his company open. If you click on the card portraits of villains, the program, in addition, gives their names and positions.

Now English football players cannot do triumphant gestures in the direction of the fans and run to the corner flags after the goal is scored. The English football association insisted on this. According to representatives of the organization, the players of the national team must behave more restrained than before, the English Guardian reports. This is one of the measures that should prevent riots, incited by the British fans.

Austria President Thomas Klestil condemns attempts to connect the Muslim religion with terrorism. This was stated in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, excerpts from which are published today in Austria, RIA Novosti reports. "It is impossible to put an equal sign between international terrorism and Islam , which preaches justice, equality, rejection of aggression and the use of force," the Austrian president believes.

The Russians Evgeny Kafelnikov and Mikhail Yuzhny received the "Sowing" numbers in the open championship of France, which starts on Monday. In addition to them, five representatives of Russia turned out to be among the "seeded". Sochi Evgeny Kafelnikov was sown under the 17th number, while Mikhail Yuzhny received the number 27. The first issue of the "sowing" was received by the Australian Llatyon Hughitt.

The famous American financier George Soros announced that he was playing to lower the dollar in relation to other world currencies. According to him, selling an American dollar, he buys Euro, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian dollars, as well as gold. According to Reuters, Soroz said this in a lengthy interview with SNBC . “I have to say that I have a short position in dollars, since I listen to those words of the Minister of Finance (USA) that he tells me,” the financier said.

Three small paintings that once entered the personal collection of Emperor Nicholas II return to Russia. Two of them belong to the brushes of Mikhail Zichi and one - Henry Cumming. The ceremony of the transfer of watercolors to representatives of the State Museum-Reserve Tsarskoye village as their last owner-Ksenia Konstantinovna Grabbe (nee Lichtenberg), took place at the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York.

In Riga on May 23, a rally of protest will be held against the translation of national minorities into the Latvian language.

About 7 million people in Russia do not receive a salary on time. The total total debt for its payment on April 1 exceeded 31 billion rubles. As stated in the report of the Main Control Department of the President of the Russian Federation, there are not so many budgets of all levels - only 4 billion.

In the metropolitan region, warm weather was installed in a summer. This afternoon, according to the forecast of Roshydromet, despite the variable cloudiness, the air in Moscow warms up to plus 23-25 ​​degrees, in the region - to plus 26. Now in the capital and Moscow Region about 10 degrees above zero. According to weather forecasters, the Moscow region today will be on the western periphery of the anticyclone.

Law enforcement agencies of the Krasnodar Territory prevented an attempt to illegally release four especially dangerous prisoners from colonies. The organizers of the escape are detained. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for this, a group of criminals made fake documents in advance on the pardon and release of prisoners. To cover their activities, they used fake certificates of employees of law enforcement agencies.

The scientific observer of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper Yaroslav Golovanov suddenly died on Wednesday morning in one of the Moscow hospitals after a short serious illness, the newspaper was said. He did not live to his 71st birthday ten days. Yaroslav Golovanov was born in 1932 in Moscow, in an acting family. In 1956 he graduated from the Bauman MVTU missile faculty and worked at the Research Institute for two years, the scientific director of which was academician Mstislav Keldysh.

The Belgian has Justein Enin-Ardenn mixed memories of the open championship of France. However, she goes to the current tournament as a favorite, and with much greater expectations than before. However, the Belgian herself says that she has no goal of winning the current championship of France. “I think that I have good chances to win, but if I lose, I won’t be upset,” Enin -Ardenne said in an interview with Reuters.

Millions of the inhabitants of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, are forced to drink water from the pipe this week, in which the teenager's corpse was stuck. Utilities add an unprecedented amount of chlorine to drinking water and claim that it is safe. According to Reuters, it is not possible to get his body due to the large pressure of the water.