At the intersection of the equator of the Women's National Basketball Association tournament distance in the US capital of Washington, the league's All-Star Game took place. Unlike last season, when the Russian Elena Baranova from “Miami Sol” took part in the game of the very best, this time our compatriots were not in the “West” and “East” teams.

Russian athletes successfully performed at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in group exercises, held in New Orleans (USA). The team consisting of Olesya Belugina, Ksenia Dzhaganiya, Natalya Lavrova, Nina Lazareva, Elena Murzina and Maria Stolbova won gold in the all-around and silver in the five-ribbon exercise.

Muscovites are not interested in marijuana The transnational radical party yesterday agitated Muscovites for the speedy legalization of hemp and its derivatives - in other words, for permission to sell and smoke the intoxicating herb. A modest picket under the black and white flag of the radicals stood for three hours in the very center of the capital opposite the monument to Pushkin. There was no characteristic smell of marijuana in the surrounding area.

Be like everyone else, otherwise they will crush you The crowd as a psychological phenomenon began to be studied back in the 19th century. Even then, the Frenchman Le Bon formulated the main thing that can be said about it: “The conscious personality disappears... A collective soul is formed... The intellectual abilities of individuals disappear, and unconscious qualities take over. In a crowd, only stupidity can accumulate, not intelligence.” The crowd phenomenon is as old as humanity itself.

The most massive strike of doctors took place in the Krasnoyarsk Territory The Krasnoyarsk Territory was left with virtually no medical care yesterday morning. The warning strike of doctors, scheduled for July 16, was even larger than planned by its organizers - the leaders of the local health workers' union.

The US establishes new penalties for financial fraudsters Top managers of American companies were placed within the strict limits of the law. Now those who commit major economic crimes will be sentenced to long prison terms or huge fines. These and other measures are contained in the new code of responsibility of businessmen for violations of financial reporting rules.

Sergei Ivanov met with the British Minister of Defense Yesterday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov held talks in St. Petersburg in an “informal format” with his British counterpart Geoffrey Hoon, who arrived in Russia at the personal invitation of the head of the Russian military department.

Outsiders were in the spotlight in the 15th round The calendar sometimes makes interesting faces. It is unlikely that its compilers could have imagined that at the junction of two circles in head-to-head matches of one round the teams ranked 15th-16th (Sokol - Alania) and 13th-14th (Anzhi - "Rostselmash") places. All of them face a difficult battle for survival in the Premier League.

There are new appointments at the Mayak radio station. Head of the Directorate channel "Federal Lighthouse" By order of Irina Gerasimova (chairman of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Broadcasting Company "Mayak"), Mikhail Chervakov was appointed yesterday. In the radio market, Mikhail Chervakov is known as an experienced specialist.

American Taliban will be released while still young A young Californian convert who joined the Taliban last year and was awaiting trial for treason has unexpectedly pleaded guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence. John Walker Lindh, nicknamed Johnny Jihad in the tabloids, entered into a so-called plea deal with federal prosecutors, pleading guilty to two of the 11 counts in the indictment.

And the king of the Tour de France is waiting for the mountain stages The ninth stage of the most prestigious road stage race, the Tour de France, a 52 km time trial, contrary to expectations, did not name the new holder of the yellow jersey of the overall leader. Spaniard Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano from the ONCE team retained the championship, although the little-known Colombian Santiago Botero from Kelme covered the distance between the towns of Lanester and Lorien the fastest.

Moscow authorities still hope to participate in the film business Moscow officials tried yesterday to make whatever contribution they could to the development of domestic cinema. However, the concept for the development of the city’s cinematography industry, designed for three years ahead, presented by the capital’s deputy mayor Oleg Tolkachev, did not find support from his colleagues.

The special services of the Kemerovo region were alerted yesterday: they received a signal about the discovery of a mined poster with an anti-Semitic slogan, similar to those that exploded in the Moscow region on the Kiev highway at the end of May and recently in the Tomsk region. On Monday evening, an unknown person called the Yaya district police department and said that near the road in the village of Sudzhenka there was a poster with a bomb attached to it.

According to the prosecution, the pogrom at the Tsaritsyn market was “invented” by a 19-year-old boy The trial of the participants in the pogrom at the Tsaritsyn market in the fall of 2001 - the largest attack of skinheads in modern Russian history - began yesterday in the Moscow City Court. The investigation into the massacre, which killed three people and injured about 30 others, did not look like the most decisive initiative of the authorities from the very beginning.

A car exploded early yesterday morning in the center of Helsinki. A 30-year-old Finn was killed and the driver of a neighboring car was injured. This is an unprecedented event for quiet Finland.