President Saakashvili spoke in the languages ​​of the rebel autonomies Yesterday, 36-year-old Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili celebrated the country's Independence Day. The Georgian leader, in addition to his native Georgian language, also speaks Russian, English, French, Spanish and Ukrainian. However, on the solemn day he also spoke Abkhazian and Ossetian languages.

PACE representative was not allowed to see Khodorkovsky Yesterday, the representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), special rapporteur on the “YUKOS case” Sabine Leuthäuser-Schnarrenberger did not manage to talk with Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev about their criminal case.

The head of Kommersant Andrei Vasiliev fired himself Kommersant has a new editor-in-chief. The general director, chief editor of the joint editorial office of ZAO Kommersant Publishing House, Andrei Vasiliev, fired himself from the position of editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper. Judging by his explanations, Vasiliev the creator did not get along with Vasiliev the manager.

The two Koreas discuss military issues Yesterday, in the North Korean Kumgangsan Mountains (Diamond Mountains), 12 km from South Korea, negotiations were held between the defense departments of both Korean states for the first time since September 2000.

The myth of a new conflict is equally beneficial to Tbilisi, Sukhumi and Moscow With his Ajarian success in May, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili raised the bar of Georgian expectations in an unprecedented way. Twice he demonstrated the miracle of bloodless revolutions, and between them he fed the suffering state employees with ransoms received for the oligarchs - and this is almost 5% of the Georgian budget.

The 11th meeting of the heads of state of Central and South-Eastern Europe opens today at the Romanian resort of Mamaia. In addition to the host of the meeting, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, 15 presidents gathered in Mamaia, including Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Moldavian President Vladimir Voronin. The discussion will focus on the results of the first group of Central European countries joining the European Union and the upcoming accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in 2007.

Despite all the efforts of George Bush and his team, the US military operation in Iraq is steadily losing supporters, and the voices of critics are becoming louder. A year ago, truth-seekers could be counted on one hand. Among the exposers of the White House's lies was former US Ambassador to Gabon Joseph Wilson, who back in February 2002 announced the impossibility of Iraq purchasing uranium from Niger.

First results of the VIII Contemporary Art Fair A holiday has come to the street of the modern art market. Everything is great at Art Moscow 2004. Our strong galleries - XL, Aidan and Gelman - are still ahead along with their constantly rising stars, but no longer seem like rays of light against the overall bleak background. Those lagging behind caught up, the ranks straightened out.

In Paris, our girls won 15 matches in a row The triumphant march of our tennis players at the French Open continued in yesterday's matches of the day's program. If we take into account the defeat of Alina Zhidkova by her compatriot Elena Likhovtseva - 2:6, 6:1, 5:7, then it turns out that the Russians won all 15 matches played on the Roland Garros courts that ended late yesterday on the evening of the matches between Dushevina and Safina.

The government will determine the price of services of natural monopolies Today at a government meeting tariffs for the services of natural monopolies will be set for 2005-2006. The day before, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Andrei Sharonov shared his department’s plans in this area. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade expects that the tariffs proposed by it will be supported by all members of the cabinet.

Russian equestrians have won two Olympic licenses, giving them the right to participate in the Athens Olympics. Despite the fact that these “tickets” are not personal, the specifics of equestrian sport are such that it is already possible to name the names of future Olympians. In Athens, Russia will be represented by Elena Sidneva in dressage and show jumper Vladimir Tuganov.

Italian cycling fans have found a new idol. As the prestigious Giro d'Italia stage race entered the real mountains, 22-year-old Damiano Cunego of the Saeco team proved that his previous position at the top of the general classification was no coincidence. Having made a long push on the difficult 16th stage with a length of 217 km, Cunego was 1 minute ahead of his closest pursuer. 16 sec.

Two unexpected joys against “sacred cows” Unexpectedly, Andrei Bartenev’s project “London under the snow” became a super hit of the Art Moscow fair. From the organizer of endless costume balls with transforming objects, no one expected anything that would be worthy of the high status of Contemporary Art. Well, the man is having fun, well, he dresses in acid-colored clothes, well, he’s wearing black glasses in canary frames, well, balls, well, bows, well, just who knows what...

Forecast for the coming days The north of European territory will be occupied by a former southern cyclone with a system of atmospheric fronts, so the rainiest weather will remain in the northern and northwestern regions of Russia. The rest of the European territory of Russia will be affected by the influence of atmospheric fronts, rain with thunderstorms only in places and of a short duration. The center of the European territory of Russia on Thursday will be in the rear part of the cyclone.

Basketball. NBA. Playoffs. Semi-finals . “Los Angeles Lakers” – “Minnesota” – 100:89 (series score 2:1). The most productive players in the third meeting of the Western Conference finals were the host leaders Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, who scored 22 points each, as well as Kevin Garnett from Minnesota, who brought his team one point less.