US President Barack Obama has a billion problems. On the most important - Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran - Obama spoke with Newsweek editor John Meacham. The interview is printed in abbreviated form . What has been the most difficult lately? Send another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. Such a decision is sobering, because one has to take into account that one of these young people will suffer on the battlefield.

Kristina Sytsko, an 11th grade student at Moscow School No. 1951, wrote an essay specially for Newsweek on the topic: “How we spend our summer” The two main news in our class are the victory of Alexander Rybak at Eurovision and the upcoming exams. And we still don't know what is more interesting for us. Not because we are slobs and do not think about the future, but simply because it is already sickening to think about the exam.

The raiders straightened their shoulders: it is easy to take away business from businessmen who have received loans Details are unknown, but they took a luxurious mansion in a prestigious area of ​​London without noise and dust. “It was then that the British learned about the Russian Raiders,” Moscow raider Mikhail is proud of his colleagues, retelling a story popular in his circles. According to him, this happened four years ago and the building belonged to the royal family.

The date of the presidential elections in Ukraine has not yet been finally determined, and the election campaign is already in full swing. In mid-May, three people announced their desire to participate in the elections - the current prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych.

The picture of the Austrian director Michael Haneke "White Ribbon" received the main prize - the "Golden Palm" - the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, announced the chairman of the jury of the festival Isabelle Huppert at the closing ceremony, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the French TV channel Canal Plus. The White Ribbon is the story of children and teenagers singing in a German village choir on the eve of the First World War.

The Tamil "tigers" are defeated, but it's too early to rejoice. The northeast of Sri Lanka will resemble the Russian North Caucasus for a long time to come They invented the suicide belt, were the first to use kamikaze terrorists on a large scale and recruit women to carry out terrorist attacks.

Scientists are trying to understand whether a person needs aggression. Recent studies show that there are few benefits from it. When the oil companies reached the Huaorani Indians in Ecuador in 1942, they gave them a traditional reception: they killed three Shell employees. Seven years later, the death toll had reached 12, and Shell simply shut down. The Huaorani did not feel any particular hatred for the oil workers - they simply killed everyone who entered their territory.

A beggar has been sitting on the Croisette for several years during the Cannes Film Festival - with a face worthy of some French film about love and death. This person earns by playing the button accordion, painted with gold paint. The golden button accordion is the perfect metaphor for the Cannes atmosphere.

Residents of the US state of California last week voted against budget initiatives proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as emergency anti-crisis measures. Voters agreed with only one initiative of the state administration - a ban on salary increases for elected officials. Proposals to raise taxes, cut spending and use reserve funds did not find understanding among residents.

There are 20 people sitting in a cafe in the center of Moscow. They are very serious and focused. Periodically, a waitress comes up to the table: she pours wine for everyone and insistently offers to eat a bun - French Madeleine cake. After a while, she brings everyone tea: no choice - only linden. As soon as the cups are arranged, one of the women opens the book and begins to read aloud: “And as soon as I again tasted the biscuit soaked in linden tea, which my aunt treated me to ...

During the May holidays, the two main TV channels of the country showed high-profile premieres. The first channel released the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”, the TV channel “Russia” - “Seventeen Moments of Spring”: for the first time in color and a shortened version. Now Muller and Stirlitz look like they've sat out in a solarium, and the film's running time has been significantly reduced. The cost of coloring one minute of the film is from $1500 to $3000.

An equation with many unknowns: Dmitry Medvedev prepares his first approach to the 2010 budget Last Friday, the government was in turmoil: no one understood whether there would be a budget message from the president on Monday or not. In the work schedules of ministers, it was still on the agenda for Monday. But in the afternoon, two government officials said the message would be rescheduled. Allegedly, the Ministry of Finance needs to calculate something.