The First Moscow Biennale through the eyes of free experts The first Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art will run for another half month. So hurry up to see. Those who didn't have time are late... It so happened that, in parallel with the biennale, our newspaper began to observe the program of the Crescendo music festival that opened two weeks later. In both cases, the motto applies: art is the work of the young.

Yukos lawyers defeated “Basmanny justice” The opinion about the steadfastness of “Basmann justice” seems to have turned out to be somewhat exaggerated. Yesterday, for the first time in the entire history of the Yukos saga, the Moscow City Court did not agree with the position of the Basmanny Court and overturned its decision on the presence of signs of a crime in the actions of Yukos NK lawyer Pavel Ivlev (as reported by Yuri Bagraev, Mr. Ivlev’s lawyer).

I always expect the worst. From the main exhibition of the Moscow Biennale - “Dialectics of Hope”, made by international curators, I expected officialdom in its modern version, because curators are curators, and our Biennale has become a state initiative, which, out of habit, is a little alarming. Only the officialdom now is not political, but commercial: glossy works of high-status artists brought from abroad.

The World Ski Championships kicks off today in Oberstdorf, Germany. On the eve of the championship, Vremya Novostei correspondent Olga ERMOLINA spoke with the President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation, Vladimir LOGINOV. — Vladimir Alekseevich, can we count on any medals at this championship? “We hope for medals, but whether we will win them or not, I can’t say.” Yulia Chepalova will compete for awards in three disciplines - relay, duathlon and 10 km freestyle race.

Moscow utility workers are ready to turn to students for help A real act of civil and bureaucratic courage was demonstrated to the residents of the snow-covered Russian capital by the head of the municipal services complex, Pyotr Aksenov. Yesterday, during a break in a meeting of the Moscow government, fighting off annoying journalists who demanded to explain why the vaunted thousands of units of snow removal equipment could not cope with the consequences of a rather ordinary snowstorm, Mr.

Yushchenko promises businessmen not to take everything away Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who has already met with several world leaders, yesterday spoke with those on whom the new government has special hopes - investors. It is noteworthy that the First International Investor Conference, which Mr. Yushchenko attended yesterday, was organized by the Russian Renaissance Capital. The main thing that the president pleased investors with is that there will be re-privatization in Ukraine.

Yuri Luzhkov unearthed the hatchet of war for historical monuments in Tsaritsino The unspoken “cultural non-aggression pact” concluded by the federal and capital authorities, who are waging a long dispute over the ownership of one and a half thousand architectural monuments in the historical center of Moscow, seems to be in danger of being violated.

Art historian, philosopher and writer Gleb Smirnov has been living in Venice for almost ten years. Curators, artists, commissioners of the Russian pavilion of the Venice Biennale, as well as critics who come to the world’s oldest art forum, after official events, according to an established tradition, try to look into Gleb’s house for a glimpse. You can be sure of a warm welcome, good wine, and interesting conversation. Now the “Russian Venetian” has arrived in Moscow. His role has changed.

Israel and Syria blame each other for the Lebanese tragedy The murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister, billionaire and influential politician Rafik Hariri not only shocked seasoned Lebanese with its scale, but also made them fear for their own fate. In 1990, Lebanon's civil war, which had lasted a quarter of a century, ended. This country is small - there are barely four million people. But a new conflict in it could destabilize the entire Middle East.

Officials propose creating a state reserve of petroleum products to influence prices Officials continue to puzzle over how to stop rising gasoline prices. Yesterday the Accounts Chamber came up with another initiative. According to department officials Sergei Stepashin, the situation on the domestic market could be changed by the creation of a state reserve of petroleum products, the reserves of which will help bring down prices, as well as the development of exchange trading.

Russia needs a state strategy for sustainable development Immediately after the tragedy in Beslan, it became clear that it would be an event for us comparable to September 11, 2001 in the United States. As we see, less than five months have passed, and serious social tension is already felt in the country.

MEDT unveils action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions The day before the Kyoto Protocol entered into force, the Russian authorities took the first step to implement this international program for the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Yesterday, the Ministry of Economic Development submitted to the government a comprehensive plan of actions that Russia needs to take in the coming years in order to fulfill all its obligations.

Kim Jong Il gave himself a nuclear scandal The surge in global attention to North Korea's growing nuclear ambitions has become a wonderful gift for "great commander" Kim Jong Il, who celebrates his 63rd birthday today. Last week, Pyongyang declared itself a nuclear power and withdrew from the six-party nuclear talks indefinitely. The DPRK Foreign Ministry explained: nuclear weapons are a deterrent that will ensure the security of the country.

Forecast for the coming days In the center of European Russia, the weather was under the supervision of a cyclone, the passage of a warm front was accompanied by heavy snowfalls and wind, and strong snowstorms were swirling. The air temperature increased and was five degrees higher than usual for these days in February. On Wednesday-Thursday the weather will remain cloudy and damp, snow, sleet, blowing snow, possible ice, and still windy on Wednesday.

The Berlin Festival is coming to an end More than half of the films in the competition program were shown at the Berlinale. There have been no sensations yet, but the average level turned out to be more than tolerable.