We are publishing a summary of the regular Tuesday Polit.ru Open Seminar, created to discuss the position and content of our expert circle and community. The Open Seminar on May 16 was busy criticizing the concept of “civil society” as applied to Russia. The discussion began with an article by Simon Kordonsky “State, civil society and corruption" . Participants in the discussion (except for Polit.ru itself) are historian and sociologist (European University in St.

The former head of the Stavropol branch of Menatep Igor Babenko was deprived of political asylum in Lithuania, the Echo of Moscow radio station reports. In Russia, a case was opened against Babenko on charges of financial fraud. Last summer, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, he was detained in Vilnius.

President Viktor Yushchenko announces the creation of a free trade zone within the framework of the GUAM. He stated this at today's press conference in Kiev after a meeting of the heads of the State Party State, Ukrainian Pravda reports. According to the President of Ukraine, from today we can talk about the liberalization of relations between these states in the movement of goods, services, labor and capital.

The lower house of the Italian parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, has issued a vote of trust in the new government, led by Romano Prodi, RIA Novosti reports. "For" 344 deputies spoke, "Against" - 268. The upper house of the parliament - the Senate voted on Friday as follows: 165 senators spoke out for the cabinet, against 155. In particular, all seven lifelong senators spoke for. Now the Cabinet of Prodi will be able to start work in full force.

As a result of the collapse of the roof of the plant in the east of Pakistan on Monday, May 22, 7 people were killed, RBC reports with reference to AR. The incident occurred in the city of Guzranwal (Province of Punjab). According to rescuers, the number of victims can increase, since people can still remain under the rubble. The police do not have data about how many people were in the building at the time of the collapse of the roof.

The French government approved the bill on ratification of the agreement on Romania and Bulgaria in the EU, reports Reuters . The document was signed on April 25, 2005, it should ratify all 25 EU member states. Meanwhile, the adoption of the final decision on the readiness of Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union from January 1, 2007 postponed the European Commission until October.

The NASA Mars Global Surveyor space unmanned probe, which is now in the near -Marcian orbit, handed the pictures taken on board the Mars Orbiter Camera. In the first picture, sand dunes are visible in the northern polar region of Mars, covered with dry ice. The light falls on the dunes from the lower left corner of the picture, the width of the picture is 3 km . The second picture captured light cliffs in the Candor Chasma area resembling sedimentary rocks.

Representatives of BYUT left the meeting of the deputy working group to prepare the session of the parliament of the new convocation, suspecting that the faction of our Ukraine and the Party of Regions have united, said one of the leaders of BYUT, Alexander Turchinov.

** President of the Russian Federation and his administration ** President V.

In Bashkiria, the Constituent Conference of the socio-political movement "New Bashkortostan" was held. The main goal of the movement, the chairman of his organizing committee, the nephew of the prime minister of the republic, Ramil Khisametdinov, called the resignation of Murtaza Rakhimov with the post of president of Bashkiria. Prime Minister Rafael Baydavletov said to Kommersant that “he does not have a nephew named Ramil Hisametdinov,” Kommersant writes today.

Gopniks displace informals? And who, in fact, are both? In the name of “gopniks”, those who consider themselves informals call a variety of groups of youth, who are distinguished by the narrowness of interests, striving to find out all life problems with the help of power. On the websites of informals, the value world of gopniks is described as follows.

The play “The History Boys” (“The History Boys”) of the playwright Alan Bennett in the production of the British director and the artistic director of the National Theater of London Nicholas Hitner received the five main awards of the prestigious American Drama Desk award, organized by the “Drama editors” - the international organization of theater critics and journalists.

The new maximum magnetic field was calculated by Dr. Anatoly Shabad from Fian them. Lebedeva and Dr. Vladimir Usov from the Weismann Institute of Science in Israel, reports Physics Web . It is 10 in the 42nd degree of the GS , which is 9 orders of magnitude less than the previously predicted limit, which is 10 in the 51st GS , calculated based on the hypothesis of the monopoly of Dirac. Researchers got their results based on quantum electrodynamics.

Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitnol is preparing letters to the Department of Own Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation in connection with the failure to fulfill the decision of the Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow on the liberation of the land on the territory of the Silver Bor, the press service of the ICR reports.

On Tuesday night, May 23, it became known about the death of Russian climber Igor Plyushkin when descending from Everest, Everest News reports. On May 21, 16 team members managed to reach the top of Everest, after which the descent began to the foot of all participants in the rise. May, 22th, at 12 am breakfast, ”says Alexander Abramov, head of the Russian Himalayan expedition. The team is ready to describe from the camp at an altitude of 7800 meters.