Retired Latvian leader Einar Repse decided to try his hand at painting Former Latvian Prime Minister Einar Repse, who claimed that his government would last at least four years, but lasted in power for only a little over a year, took up his brush. A month after the resignation of his cabinet, an exhibition of works by the retired prime minister of the republic opened. True, not in the capital of Latvia, but in the small port city of Liepaja.

Khodorkovsky is again looking for a way out Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who outlined a seven-point program for saving liberal values ​​in his now famous article “The Crisis of Liberalism in Russia,” began implementing the plan. In accordance with points No. 1 (“comprehend a new strategy for interaction with the state”), No. 2 (“learn to look for the truth in Russia, and not in the West”) and No.

CLUBS Zbigniew Namyslovsky (saxophone), Joachim Menzel (piano), Arkady Ovrutsky (bass) and Dmitry Sevastyanov (drums). Tour of the legendary Polish saxophonist and composer, who has been personifying Polish jazz for thirty years. Namyslovsky's original style was usually distinguished by a combination of Slavic folklore motifs and modern chamber jazz, but recently Namyslovsky's music has increasingly gravitated towards the mainstream. April 15 and 16 at Le Club , 20.00.

The Prosecutor General's Office has completed the investigation into the case of "werewolves in uniform" Lawyers for the country's main "werewolves" - MUR officers Yuri Samolkin, Igor Ostrovsky, Evgeniy Taratorin, Nikolai Demin, Alexander Breshchanov and Vadim Vladimirov - have already received the final versions of the decisions to bring their clients as defendants.

Yesterday South Africa held its third general election since the end of the racist apartheid regime in 1994. 20.6 million voters were supposed to vote for 400 members of parliament, who would then elect the country's president. This will apparently be the current head of state, Thabo Mbeki, the successor to the founder of democratic South Africa, Nelson Mandela. The ruling African National Congress (ANC), led by Mbeki, has the greatest chance of winning: 60% of voters were ready to vote for him.

The city authorities agreed to introduce a religious elective in schools The Moscow Department of Education capitulated to supporters of teaching the history of religion in school. As Lyubov Kurneshova, first deputy head of the department, said at a press conference yesterday, it is possible that already in the next academic year such an elective will appear in the schedule of city schoolchildren.

Moscow Easter Festival is in full swing The artistic director of the Easter Festival and its main figure Valery Gergiev with the Mariinsky Theater orchestra played the first three concerts. Over the course of three days, four of Prokofiev’s seven symphonies (First, Second, Third and Sixth), three instrumental concertos (violin concertos by Sibelius and Stravinsky and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano), one symphony by Rachmaninov and one “Gypsy” by Ravel were performed without respite.

World number one Justine Henin-Hardenne withdrew at the last minute from the first category WTA tournament with a prize fund of $1.3 million in Charleston (USA). A Belgian woman is worried about dizziness associated with low blood sugar. The place of the strongest tennis player was taken by the loser of the final qualifying round, American Shenoy Perry, and Russian Alina Zhidkova got into the main tournament due to the absence of Meganne Shaughnessy (USA), who suffered a sprained ankle.

Senators granted military weapons to private security guards, and a deferment from military service to the husbands of pregnant wives. At a plenary meeting on Wednesday, the Federation Council approved several amendments to improve the conditions of service in the Russian army. According to senators, the army has become one step closer to being formed on a contract basis.

Belarus will repay its debt to Russia in three years The main topics of yesterday's annual message from President Alexander Lukashenko to the Belarusian parliament were foreign policy, the economy and parliamentary elections. The President made it clear that relations between Belarus and Russia are no longer as warm as before. But there is no talk of abandoning integration.

British cinema has taken an unexpected hitch this year. During the traditional week, the British Council, which usually provides moviegoers with an exquisite menu, served its table with food of good quality, but on duty.

Konstantin Titov and Vladimir Kishenin will be friends in batches The pre-election battles have just died down, and politicians have already begun to prepare for the 2007 Duma elections. Yesterday in Moscow the union of the Social Democratic Party of Russia and the Party of Social Justice was announced. They concluded an Agreement on Cooperation and Interaction, which was signed by the leaders of both organizations - Governor of the Samara Region Konstantin Titov and Vladimir Kishenin.

Today, the best sniper of the National Hockey League, Ilya Kovalchuk, turns 21 years old. These days, the Atlanta player is at a base near Moscow in Odintsovo, where he is preparing for the upcoming World Cup in the Czech Republic as part of the Russian national hockey team. Olga ERMOLINA, correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper, spoke with Ilya KOVALCHUK about the season in the NHL and his immediate plans. — Ilya, how do you plan to celebrate your birthday? - I don’t know yet.

The first Boeing-747 in the livery of a Russian airline arrived in Moscow yesterday. However, the owner of the giant liner, the Volga-Dnepr group of companies, chose not to advertise this historical event. He announced last year the launch of the Air Bridge project, which aims to create a regular cargo airline between Asia and Western Europe through Russia. To implement the project, a special subsidiary company, AirBridge Cargo, was created.

Alexey Kudrin will redraw the budget in a new way The budget process is facing reform. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announced this on April 13 at a meeting with the president. And yesterday Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said the same thing in a conversation with the president. The main goal is to change the budget process conceptually. According to Mr.