The first stage of the “Changing Museum in a Changing World” competition has ended This year the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation is holding its museum competition for the second time. The stakes are rising: the total grant fund is $265 thousand; 504 applications from 65 regions of Russia at the initial stage; the number of nominations increased to seven.

Cultural figures commented for the newspaper Vremya Novostey on the verdict in the case of the exhibition at the museum. Sakharov. Daniil DONDUREY, sociologist, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Art of Cinema”: -- Recently, culture has been used as a laboratory platform for testing future dramas of election campaigns and ideological battles of 2007-2008.

The World Bank advises us to join the World Trade Organization The World Bank, while ardently supporting the idea of ​​Russia's early accession to the World Trade Organization, nevertheless believes that Russia has the right to insist on special conditions for itself. Moreover, an influential international organization takes the side of Russia in the most painful negotiation issues.

Organizers of the exhibition "Caution, Religion" sentenced to fine The Tagansky District Court of Moscow yesterday announced a verdict in a scandalous criminal case against the organizers of the exhibition “Beware of Religion!”, who were accused of inciting religious hatred. Externally, the court's verdict has become a classic example of a compromise, which Russian Themis has often resorted to in recent years in cases where the case has a pressing social or political background.

A small American company closed the Japanese corporation's sales market in the United States The famous Japanese corporation Sony may soon lose one of its main markets for PlayStation game consoles. A court in California recently ordered the company to stop selling consoles in the United States and pay a fine of $90.7 million to the small firm Immersion Corporation as compensation for illegal plagiarism.

Al-Arabiya TV channel yesterday aired a 1.5-minute recording of a street video camera in Beirut. The footage captured the moment before the terrorist attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 20 other people on February 14. You can clearly see a white Mitsubishi cargo van approaching the opposition politician's motorcade. A second or two later an explosion occurred.

33 soldiers suffered for other people's demobilization jokes The Belgorod Garrison Court (Amur Region) rendered a verdict in the scandalous case of mass poisoning in the spring of 2004 of military personnel from the airfield of the 11th Air Force and Air Defense Army in Vozzhaevka. Soldier Vitaly Smirnov was in the dock. As it turned out, wanting to take revenge on the old-timers for their grievances, he added a toxic substance - thallium - to the sugar.

Vneshtorgbank invests up to $75 million in retail on the basis of Guta Bank Government-owned Vneshtorgbank intends to invest from 61 to 75 million dollars in the development of its retail business on the basis of Guta Bank. VTB announced these decisions of its supervisory board yesterday.

United Russia lost the elections to the Amur parliament The results of the elections to the Council of People's Deputies of the Amur Region, held last Sunday, became a real sensation. For the first time since its creation, United Russia lost elections to the regional parliament based on the results of voting on party lists. But the Union of Right Forces received a record number of votes in the entire history of regional elections in which the party participated.

At the World Championships that finished in Los Angeles, Russia received only one gold medal. It was won by 36-year-old Olga Slyusareva in scratch, a race with a common start in which anyone who lags behind the group by a full lap automatically retires from the 10-kilometer race. Slyusareva, who made a decisive breakthrough on the last lap, left behind the Ukrainian Lyudmila Vypyrailo, who eventually won bronze, and Katherine Bates from Australia, who took silver.

I have been reviewing literary magazines since the early 90s. Then I tried to at least somehow interpret almost every new opus, to identify the meaning (pleasant or sad) in every editorial decision. But in order to talk about the meanings (of novels, poems, articles and editorial decisions, thanks to which they all become public property), you need to see these meanings yourself. Or at least assume the possibility of their existence.

The new chief of staff of the Airborne Forces can lead the process of creating special anti-terrorist troops The new chief of staff of the Airborne Forces was the former deputy commander of the Airborne Forces, Lieutenant General Valery Evtukhovich.

Lokomotiv-Belogorye did not retain the title of the strongest club in Europe The Final Four of the Volleyball Champions League ended in Thessaloniki with the victory of the French Tour. The result is very disappointing for us, since Lokomotiv-Belogorye Belgorod lacked just one victorious match to overcome the incredibly difficult path to the decisive match. “Everything is clean. It was a completely blind draw,” the leaders of the European Volleyball Confederation assured journalists.

Scientists began to doubt whether there is life in the Baltic The Baltic Sea is either dead or in agony. This sad conclusion was made by researchers from the environmental commission working under the Swedish government, reported the French newspaper Libération. In their opinion, pollution of the Baltic with human waste could soon lead to the irreversible destruction of the entire ecological system of this reservoir.

The trial of the main accused of the Russian police has begun The Moscow District Military Court (MoVS) yesterday, at an on-site session in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, began a hearing in the case of employees of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who were declared by the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be “werewolves in uniform.” Lieutenant General of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Valentin Ganeev and MUR