The Cannes jury is ready to work The opening ceremony of the 58th Cannes Film Festival was without surprises. As usual, following the jury led by Emir Kusturica, film stars (mostly French) walked along the legendary staircase of the Croisette, and numerous film fans and lovers of spectacular spectacles enthusiastically greeted them.

The US Senate found Saddam Hussein's accomplices in Great Britain and France. These are British parliamentarian George Galloway and French senator Charles Pasqua. The report of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations has been published in Washington.

"Alania" was not licensed by the RFU At the very beginning of the country's football championship, the Russian Premier League may lose one of its members. Yesterday, Vladikavkaz "Alania" did not pass licensing in the Russian Football Union, and if the club from North Ossetia does not comply with the requirements of the RFU in the near future, the team may be excluded from participating in the national championship and the Russian Cup. The claims against Alania are of a financial nature.

Military sailors drift towards the shelf The Russian Navy is ready to ensure the entry of Russian industry onto the continental shelf. This was stated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Fleet Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov. He advocates a systematic scientific approach to the promising field of shelf development - as opposed to the current one, in his words, “administrative and armchair”. The sailors expressed their readiness to ensure the safety of this type of work.

President Held a working meeting with the Governor of the Smolensk region Viktor Maslov. The governor informed the head of state that “the situation in the region is stable.” “The implementation of Law 122 was carried out without any problems. There were no social emergencies, no protests by citizens. We held meetings with people and explained to them the meaning of this law,” said Viktor Maslov.

Report from the exhibition "Svyaz-Expocomm-2005" This week the Expo Center is hosting the largest annual exhibition of communication systems and telecommunications equipment. Despite the excellent organization and entertainment of the event, the impressions of what was seen are mixed. A good third of the central pavilion is occupied by the joint stand of the Sistema Telecom company. Vast venues, impressive pavilions, giant screens with commercials and dozens of pretty models in bright suits.

Victor Khristenko was impressed by Lada Kalina The government has taken another step towards the domestic automobile industry. In anticipation of the cabinet's consideration of the medium-term development program for the automotive industry, scheduled for May 19, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, Viktor Khristenko, decided to personally inspect domestic manufacturers.

The government is trying to become the executive branch The head of government chose to immediately respond to the Kremlin’s public dissatisfaction with the work of the Cabinet of Ministers. The day before the government meeting, President Vladimir Putin, during a personal meeting, recommended that Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, together with his subordinate ministers, carry out presidential instructions on time.

Today's youth are not going to grow old In the largest countries of the world, the classic model of a pensioner - a slow old man whileing away the rest of his life in a rocking chair - is rapidly becoming obsolete. A sociological study commissioned by HSBC Bank in ten countries showed that younger generations have absolutely no intention of aging in the same way as their fathers and mothers and grandparents aged.

Riga wants to replenish its budget at the expense of Russians The Latvian Seimas, after a two-hour debate, yesterday approved in the first reading the scandalous declaration “On the condemnation of the policies of the totalitarian communist regime implemented in Latvia by the USSR.” The Latvian government must, within three months, form a commission of experts who will assess the damage caused to the state. Then Russia, as the legal heir of the USSR, will be presented with a bill.

The creator of the operating systems market is considered to be International Business Machine (IBM), an IT corporation with more than a century of history. In the early 80s, IBM invited Microsoft to this market, contracting it to develop the first operating system for the IBM PC, which ultimately led to the world domination of Windows. Now IBM actively supports a competing product - Linux (an open source operating system, that is, available to all developers).

The opening of the monument to the memory of signalmen soldiers, built at the expense of Centertelecom OJSC, on May 10, was attended by the Minister of Information Technologies and Communications Leonid Reiman, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel General Evgeny Karpov, General Director of Centertelecom OJSC Ruben Amaryan, and war veterans.

State Duma deputies saved on gifts for pensioners Federal legislators decided to once again prove their readiness to protect pensioners from inflation, which could lead to an increase in social benefits. Instead of the expected increase in pensions on the occasion of the holiday, State Duma deputies gave veterans another gift - they simplified the procedure for recalculating the basic labor pension for citizens who have reached their 80th birthday.

The Parliamentary Ethics Commission is in no hurry to punish fighting parliamentarians The Duma Commission on Mandate Issues and Issues of Deputy Ethics yesterday refused to consider the proposal of the Prosecutor General's Office to give consent to lift parliamentary immunity from five parliamentarians who staged a fight on March 30, 2005 at a meeting of the chamber.

FAS proposes to sell wholesale generating companies one at a time The Federal Antimonopoly Service decided to make a significant contribution to the process of reforming the electric power industry. She sent a letter to the government “On the risks of vertical and horizontal integration in the electric power industry” with a proposal to sell no more than one wholesale generating company (OGK) to one person.