"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" on Moscow screens Sing, all of you, sons and daughters of the West! For your sovereign has returned and will henceforth remain in his possessions on his ancient throne. And the withered tree will bloom again, And a new countdown of time will begin Near the sunny White Tower. Sing and rejoice, people! In just a few days, you and I can rightfully join in to the joy of the sons and daughters of the West.

Igor Yebra performed at the Kremlin Ballet When the ballet “Ivan the Terrible” was composed by Yuri Grigorovich in 1975, the Moscow intelligentsia felt sick. The message was too obvious: the king was brutal, but his own. And only obvious criminals can flee abroad like Kurbsky.

Irina Polyanskaya was recognized as “Storyteller of the Year” The six finalists of the fourth Yuri Kazakov Prize looked very worthy - in this case it is difficult to guess the laureate. Afanasy Mamedov ("Letter from Larisa V." - "Friendship of Peoples" No. 9), Sergey Soloukh ("Metamorphoses" - "Banner" No. 12), Yuri Goryukhin ("Stationery Glue of August Mobius" - “Belskie Prostori” No. 11), Dmitry Pritula (“Happy Day” - “Neva” No. 9).

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The Russian Association of Third Generation (3G) Mobile Operators has voiced its opinion on licenses for 3G services: it is advisable to issue four licenses, all of which should be on a federal scale. If regulators agree to this proposal, many regional operators will be left out of 3G. At the same time, a struggle will begin for the right to have a fourth license (obviously, three will go to such giants as MTS, VimpelCom and Megafon).

Rising bread prices in some regions will outpace inflation Bread prices in Russia have increased by 30% over the past year and will continue to rise monthly. The president of the Russian Union of Bakers, director of the Research Institute of the Baking Industry, Anatoly Kosovan, told reporters yesterday. Moreover, more and more low-quality loaves and buns will appear on the shelves, made in private bakeries from feed flour of the 4th-5th grade.

In Ukraine, they fear that the purchase of the largest metallurgical enterprise in Ukraine by Severstal could turn it into a raw material appendage of a transnational monopoly. The situation around the privatization of Krivorozhstal is heating up day by day. The other day, the Goloseevsky District Court of Kyiv suspended the privatization competition for the sale of 93.02% of the shares of the largest Ukrainian metallurgical plant "Krivorozhstal".

Viktor SUKHODREV, a well-known Americanist, writer and translator of the General Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee, tells a correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper about how the Soviet leadership treated Ronald Reagan, the US President from 1981 to 1989. - At first, Reagan was treated with hostile irony: the former actor, where he wanted to go, took up the wrong business... And after he labeled the USSR as an “evil empire”...

Antimonopoly legislation will be made much stricter The government is seeking new reserves to ensure economic growth rates that will double GDP by 2010. Yesterday, antimonopoly authorities, which had not previously shined on the economic front, were involved in solving the common problem. At the board of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov set them the task of ensuring fair competition in the country.

At the International Series tournament in London with a prize fund of 791,750 euros, 20-year-old Igor Andreev defeated the most titled current tennis player, Andre Agassi, in the second round match - 4:6, 7:6 (7:2), 7:6 (7:3). The official website of the ATP called the Muscovite a “giant killer.” Indeed, the Russian is becoming a threat to authorities, because at the recent French Open he knocked out last year's champion, former world number one, Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Yesterday, the Georgian authorities for the first time - in the newspaper "24 Hours" - published the concept of an Abkhaz settlement. Seven authoritative experts prepared it for a year. According to the document, Abkhazia within Georgia is offered the status of a “state unit” with maximum powers.

Vladimir Lukin promised to stand up for disgruntled citizens The main Russian human rights activist, Vladimir Lukin, decided to expand the scope of his activities and help Muscovites in the fight against illegal construction that is taking place in various areas of the capital near the residential sector. And at the same time, former colleagues from the Yabloko party, who recently suggested that the ombudsman join forces and create a public coordination council to protect the rights of citizens.

On Saturday, Latvia, which joined the European Union among a dozen other newcomers on May 1, will hold its first-ever elections to the European Parliament. Citizens of Latvia and citizens of other EU countries have the right to vote. Non-citizens of Latvia, and there are about half a million of them in the country, are deprived of the right to vote. In general, the infringement of the rights of Russian speakers in Latvia and Estonia still worries Moscow.

Alexander Gnusarev became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United Industrial Corporation (UPC), created to manage non-core assets of the International Industrial Bank (IPB). Having graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University in 1988. Lomonosov, since 1992 he has held the positions of head of the investment department, deputy manager, first deputy bank manager at the Moscow Bank, and is a member of the board of directors of the Moscow Bank.

Sotheby's auction house will exhibit the most expensive collection in its history On May 5, 44 unique paintings from the collection owned by the family of John Whitney, former editor-in-chief of the New York Herald Tribune and president of the newspaper's successor publication, the International Herald Tribune, will be sold in New York. According to Sotheby's head Bill Ruprecht, this is the most expensive collection ever put up for auction in the history of the auction house.