On May 22, 1939, the Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Chiano, son -in -law Benito Mussolini, and the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop signed an agreement on a military union in Berlin, which went down in history as a “steel pact”. The agreement noted the “internal kinship of worldviews” and the “complete coincidence of the interests” of the two countries. The contract obliged each of the parties to automatically provide assistance to an ally who was at war.

In Sofia, the international tournament of the 20th category has ended. His winner was the current world in the FIDE FIDE Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. In the final, 10th round, he won the Frenchman Etienne Bro. The American Gata Kamsky played the first place with Topalov, tied with the Russian Peter Svidler. The party Ruslan Ponomarev, Ukraine - Vichy Anand, India, also ended in a draw. Topalov scored 6.5 points, Kamsky lagged behind him, 3rd place with 5.5 points, Anand took.

Seven days a week at exactly 12 o’clock - about what happened today and what else should happen. The day is in full swing, we follow the events. In Montenegro, a referendum takes place on independence today marks the 85th anniversary of the birth of Academician Sakharov

Today is World Memory of Memory of AIDS. In Russia, where over the past 20 years, more than 10 thousand people have become victims of this disease, an action under the motto "We all live with HIV." The purpose of the action is to recall the danger of this disease. Last year alone, according to doctors, up to 100 new cases of AIDS was recorded daily in Russia. To date, according to official figures, there are more than 350 thousand HIV-infected people in the country.

In the south of Afghanistan, fierce battles of coalition forces with the Taliban continues. On Saturday, two French and American soldiers died in clashes. Over the past few days, in the provinces of Kandahar, Hilmen and Uruzgan, more than a hundred Taliban were killed in battles. In Afghanistan, 19 thousand coalition servicemen are deployed. In the near future, security operations in Afghanistan should go under the command of NATO.

Three people died in the explosion of a mined car in the capital of Afghanistan Kabul. According to the police, the suicide bomber blew up the car on the road connecting the base of the coalition troops. The driver of another car and a passerby were also killed. In the south of the country, in the province of Hilmen, the day before, 13 Afghan and one French soldier were killed in the battles. It is reported about nine killed Talibians.

The Finnish rock band "Lordi" became the winner of the Eurovision-2006 music contest, which was held in Athens. Russian Dima Bilan took second place, the third was the group from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Representatives of 24 countries participated in the competition. The winner was determined by telephone voting of the audience in 38 countries of Europe. In accordance with the rules next year, the Eurovision final will be held in Finland.

Five missing tourists from Yaroslavl, found on Saturday in the mountains of Adygea, were taken to the base of the Ministry of Emergencies in the nearest village. They will spend the night there, their relatives arrived there from Tuapse. A group of Yaroslavl tourists went on a camp of May 1 and did not return home, as planned, a week later. The search for tourists lasted four days. According to the Ministry of Emergencies, their condition is satisfactory.

In Moscow, at the Sakharov Museum, human rights activists spend the holiday "Sakharovskaya Maevka". Today, an outstanding human rights activist and scientist, academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov would have turned 85 years old. About three hundred people take part in the action, including the leader of the “Union of Right Forces” Nikita Belykh, the head of the United Civil Front Harry Kasparov, director of the Institute of Economics of the Transition period Yegor Gaidar.

In the Greek Republic of Cyprus today there are parliamentary elections. Observers believe that the result of the elections will be the strengthening of the ruling levocentric coalition, led by President Tassos Papadopulos - a convinced opponent of the Republic’s association with the Turkish part of Cyprus. The reunion plan was proposed by the Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan, but the Greek Cypriots rejected it at the referendum in April 2004.

In London, the annual conference of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has opened. The focus of attention is a five -year action plan for the organization, according to which the bank will reduce investments in states that have recently joined the European Union to send these funds to Russia and the countries of Southeast Europe. The conference will last two days.

The program "Freedom at noon" is conducted by Arslan Saidov. The Radio Liberty correspondent Aiya Kuga takes part. Arslan Saidov: A referendum is held in Montenegro on the issue of independence. Almost half a million voters will have to answer the question: do they want Montenegro become independent or continue to remain in alliance with Serbia? From Belgrade is transmitted by Radio Radio Liberty Aiya Kuga.

In the capital of the Indian state, Kashmir is a shootout and explosions. The attack was committed in the very center of Srinagar, where the mass rally is taking place, the Western agencies report. Other details are still unknown.

Emir Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabach dismissed the parliament and scheduled new elections for June 29. A parliamentary crisis erupted in Kuwait because of the disagreements of deputies and the government under the draft new election law. In particular, it provides for a reduction in the number of constituencies. The author’s opinion, this will solve the problem of fraud during the vote.