The Baikal protection program did not work out - this is the result of a showdown between officials Excursions to the bottom of Lake Baikal have become fashionable. This summer, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin and Avatar director James Cameron also visited. For them, it's entertainment. But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin a year ago sank to the bottom with a check. Putin came to the conclusion that the water in the lake, though cloudy—"plankton soup"—is clean.

As a result of an explosion at the Leninskaya electrical substation in Kazan, about 80,000 people were left without electricity, RIA Novosti reports citing Andrey Rodygin, head of the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation for Tatarstan. The accident occurred at night from Monday to Tuesday at about 2.20 Moscow time. Arriving fire departments found a partially destroyed three-story building of the substation.

The Russian crew members of the Badr Airlines Mi-8 helicopter abducted in Sudan are alive, Mikhail Margelov, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Sudan, told RIA Novosti. The commander of the aircraft V.V.Malay, co-pilot K.V.Pelikaev, flight engineer G.N.Filevchenko were captured on August 29 during a humanitarian mission to deliver products for the UN and the African Union in Darfur (UNAMID).

Interview with Margarita Simonyan The Russia Today TV channel, launched in 2005 to create a favorable image of Russia in the West, was among the finalists of the Emmy International television award. The channel was presented in the News category for coverage of US President Barack Obama's visit to Russia. The channel's rivals were Al Jazeera English, Sky News and TV Globo. The winner will be announced on September 27th.

18 mushroom pickers died in the forests and mountains of Italy as a result of accidents, the newspaper la Repubblica writes. In nine days, 17 people died in Italy. Rescue services are sure that mushroom lovers disregard safety rules and look for mushrooms even at night. The most common cause of death was falling from cliffs, which are common in northern Italy. Thunderstorms and hot weather led to a real mushroom harvest in Italy in August.

Tale of the White Bull: Direct talks between Israel and Palestine may break off as soon as they start When journalists pester the US Presidential Envoy to the Middle East with skeptical questions about peace between Israelis and Palestinians, George Mitchell always makes the same argument. He talks about his peacekeeping successes in Northern Ireland, which eventually led to the signing of the Good Friday Accords in April 1998.

The released Russian pilots will be delivered to the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, today. This was stated by the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Sudan, Mikhail Margelov, on the air of the radio "Echo of Moscow". “Tonight, the pilots will be transferred to the capital of Sudan, Khartoum. I was informed about this by the Russian Ambassador to Sudan, who was informed about this by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry,” Margelov said.

Unknown people threw two Molotov cocktails at the Russian Embassy in the territory of the Republic of Belarus. There were no injuries, it is reported that one service car burned down. The attack happened at about 23.50 Moscow time. The help of firemen was not required. Law enforcement agencies decide whether to initiate a criminal case. The attackers are being identified.

The abducted Russian pilots - crew members of the Mi-8 helicopter - have been released, Reuters reports. This was announced by the Governor of South Darfur. The conditions for the release and the whereabouts of the Russians are unknown. Recall that the pilots were abducted in Nyala while carrying out a UN humanitarian mission to transport food and medicine last Sunday.

Police in Amsterdam removed from the United Airlines flight Chicago - Amsterdam and arrested two passengers on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. During a search, they found a dummy bomb - three mobile phones and a watch that were glued to the bottle. US citizen Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Sufi and Yemeni citizen Hezem Mourisi were arrested at the request of the US authorities. Authorities say the detainees did not have explosives. In addition, passengers were found to have $7,000 in cash.

Scientific racism survived the collapse of the Third Reich. There are few researchers who do this, but there are more and more those who listen to them. Michael Kundu's career was ruined by a single email. In early June, the education committee of the US city of Marysville, where he worked, discussed academic performance. Officials sounded the alarm: there were a lot of losers among schoolchildren from poor African-American families. Kundu quickly found an explanation.

Transport police detained three teenagers who threw stones at the Sapsan high-speed train and broke a window, RIA Novosti reports. A criminal case was initiated against one of them under the article “Vandalism”, which provides for corrective labor for a period of six months to one year, or arrest for up to three months. According to the laws, damage to property on public transport must be reimbursed by the parents of a minor living in the Likhoslavl district of the Tver region.

Three unidentified masked men broke into the office of the Investigation Department at the Prosecutor's Office for the Moscow Region and opened four safes. At the same time, material evidence and criminal cases did not disappear. But the robbers took out the TV and video camera. According to preliminary data, the attack occurred at about 4.00.

Caviar, UBOP, prosecutors and criminal gangs: Newsweek looked into the unprecedented case of the head of the Astrakhan UBOP Rinat Salekhov “IMN, get out!” Colonel Rinat Salekhov, 47, the former head of the Astrakhan Organized Crime Control Department, has not been called differently for a long time. IMN is “an exceptional measure of punishment”, as in the zone they refer to “suicide bombers”, that is, those sentenced to life imprisonment.

Four people were injured as a result of a partial collapse of the rock in the Capital mine in the city of Osinniki. The accident occurred during work on the analysis of the old waste heap by employees of the Kemerovospetsstroy company. Coal dust broke out - four specialists of the enterprise received burns of varying severity. An excavator operator, a bulldozer operator, a driver and a worker were hospitalized in the burn department of the Novokuznetsk City Hospital No. 1.