Restorers from Veliky Novgorod gave a new life to the unique Old Russian icon "Vision of Strandor Tarasia." According to RIA Novosti agency in the Novgorod State Museum-Reserve, at the final stage of restoration, the icon was successfully tinted, after which it was covered with a protective layer of varnish. For almost 15 years, the work on this monument of icon painting has been engaged in leading Novgorod artists-restorers Nadezhda Mednikov and Yuri Alexandrov.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will visit the United States on a state visit in July. Initially, the visit was scheduled for September, but Sharon received an invitation from American President George Bush, and in July he will negotiate with him in the White House, AFP reports. "The White House asked us to reconsider the visits, so as not to violate the plans of the US president," one of the high -ranking Israeli officials said on the condition of anonymity.

More than 3 thousand abducted and exported abroad of cultural values ​​have been returned to Russia over the past six years. This was stated on Thursday by the head of the Department for the Preservation of the Cultural Values ​​of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Anatoly Vilkov on the air of the Echo of Moscow radio station. A preliminary cash estimate of the returned values ​​is approximately 20 million rubles.

After failures in the quarterfinals, Russian boxers achieved a 100 percent result in semifinal fights on the World Cup passing in the capital of Thailand. Five Russians reached the final: Gennady Kovalev (weight category 54 kg), Alexander Maletin (64 kg), Evgeny Makarenko (81 kg), Alexander Alekseev (91 kg) and Alexander Povetkin (over 91 kg), ITAR-TASS reports.

The fighter-bomber "Tornado" Air Force of the Federal Republic of Germany suffered a disaster near the South German city of Buhel on Thursday. According to the representative of the Luftwaffe headquarters, the incident occurred during training flights. When landing, one of the aircraft for an unknown reason lost control, rolled out at high speed from the runway and overturned. Two pilots were able to catapult and escaped with easy injuries.

The player of the baseball club Pittsburgh Pairets was arrested by Randall Simon for hitting a woman dressed in an Italian sausage costume. However, after it became clear that nothing happened to the woman, Simon was released, forcing him to pay $ 432. This happened when in the match between Pittsburgh and Miluoi Bruyers there was the seventh Inning. The talismans of the team from Miluoka, and it was there the meeting was held, arranged a game of stags near the bench of the spare Pittsburgh.

Scene from a low -budget horror film: you are sitting in a strange kind of chair that suddenly grabs you for your forearm and reads them to crush them like a butter. Relax. This is not a nightmare. This Inada D.1 is the last word in the massage seats industry, Time reports today (translation on the website inopressa.ru ). Typically, automatic massage devices only shake you until you are noteworthy. However, this cannot be said about the chair D.1 (price 4900 dollars).

Every third musical CD sold in the world in 2002 was a pirate. This is stated in the "Report on commercial piracy" published by the World Federation of the Phonographic Industry. According to the report, only 1.1 million pirate CDs was sold over the past year, which is 14% more than in 2001. And since 1999, the volumes of pirate sales of audio products have doubled in the world.

For the first time in the last 500 years, a new mosque has opened in the Spanish Granad. Its construction is estimated at $ 4.5 million, RIA Novosti reports. According to the Church and Scientific Center of the Moscow Patriarchate "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , in the 15th century the troops of King Ferdinand were expelled from the city of Arabs and completely restored the control of Christians over the peninsula. Since then, not a single Islamic temple has been built in Granad.

Dushanbinsky City Court today sentenced to 9 years in prison of one of the activists of the religious and extremist party “Hizb Ut-Tahrir” Kasima Saidov, prohibited in the Republic, ITAR-TASS reports. According to the representative of the Ministry of Security of the Republic, during a search in the house of Saidov, several dozen copies of "methodological literature" and leaflets, anti -government and anti -constitutional content were seized.

Parents of a 12-year-old teenager suspected of killing 4-year-old Xun Tannamo in Nagasaki must first with a shame on the streets of the city, and then publicly execute, said a member of the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan Jositad Konoika on Friday.

A powerful bomb exploded on Friday in the Crown Plaza office building in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The press secretary of the private rescue organization EDHI WELFARE FOUNDATION RISEVAN EDHA said that two people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack and slightly received minor injuries. Police representatives said that the explosive device was laid at the main entrance to the building located on the highway leading to the international airport.

Representatives of the US Armed Forces made a proposal to conclude oil contracts in Iraq. Washington abandoned the initial deal with Halliburton, which from 1995 to 2000 was headed by the current US Vice-President Richard Cheney. This happened due to the fact that the engineering corps of the ground forces proposed a deal with Halliburton subsidiaries on March 8 without a bidding contract. One of the current contracts to touch the oil fields in the north of Iraq, the second in the south.

The governor of the Kiev -Pechersk Lavra, Archbishop of Vyshgorodsky Pavel ( Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate - UOC MP) said that the exhibits of the Lavra museum could be sold or replaced by fakes, Interfax reports. At the press conference in Kyiv today, he stated that fakes were made in an underground workshop in the territory of the Lavra.

The head of the Ministry of Economic Development German Gref told reporters that the Russian economy was gaining momentum. According to its department, the growth of industrial production in Russia in the first half of 2003 amounted to 6.8%. At the same time, the growth of industrial production in June 2003 in relation to June 2002 was 7%. In addition, the minister reported that inflation in Russia in July would be less than 1%.