Watch from May 26 on Moscow screens “Zhmurki” (Russia, 2005, Alexey Balabanov). Deliberately kitschy, raspberry-colored (like the jackets of the new Russians of the recent past) and quite a bloody criminal farce “for those who survived the 90s.” There is not a single unknown actor in the cast: Nikita Mikhalkov, Alexey Panin, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Sergei Makovetsky, Viktor Sukhorukov, Igor Yasulovich, Dmitry Pevtsov, Renata Litvinova - and this is only the very beginning of a completely Homeric list.

Judges overturned half of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's sentence Today is the eighth day since the verdict in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev is announced in the Meshchansky District Court of the capital. Yesterday the judges until the evening talked about only one episode out of 11 incriminated against the defendants, although the day before they managed to consider four.

American experts debunked seven myths about nuclear terrorism The Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and the American Harvard University presented to the public a 120-page report with the energetic title “Secure the Bomb 2005: New Global Imperatives.” The report, considered the first targeted work on the topic of nuclear terrorism, was prepared by Harvard professors Matthew Bunn and Anthony Weir.

Maria Sharapova defeated her compatriot with great difficulty The defeat of last year's French Open winner Anastasia Myskina in the first round of the current tournament was almost followed by another sensation yesterday. The second racket of the competition, Maria Sharapova, only at the cost of colossal effort, tipped the scales in her favor in a duel with her compatriot and almost the same age as Evgenia Linetskaya - 6:7 (3:7), 6:2, 6:4. Linetskaya loudly announced herself only this season.

Criminal prosecution of Yukos drags down European economic performance Yesterday, banking group Institute of International Finance (IIF) released a report predicting that the deterioration of the business climate in Russia, caused by the Yukos affair, will lead to a further slowdown in economic growth throughout Central and Eastern Europe. According to IIF estimates, the total GDP of the region's countries will grow by 5% in 2005 versus 6.2% in 2004. And, apparently, the process will continue.

Chelyabinsk United Russia members are going to resolve their conflict in Moscow The intervention of the federal leadership of United Russia brought the conflict in the Chelyabinsk regional branch of the party (the newspaper Vremya Novostey has repeatedly written about this conflict) to a new level: the losers of the next round of the struggle for control over the regional branch of the party, the Afghans, are preparing walkers for a meeting with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and United

Dmitry Kozak returned Adygea to the legal field Yesterday, after a difficult, lengthy conversation with the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, the head of Adygea, Khazret Sovmen, canceled his scandalous decree of May 18 on the early dissolution of the republican parliament. There, in Maikop, the plenipotentiary representative and the president of Adygea hastened to declare that the political conflict in the republic had been settled.

Andrey Kozlov calls on bankers to reconsider their credit policy The Central Bank is starting another full-scale project to reduce the risks of the banking business.

Russian business is looking for ways to dialogue with the state The tired topic of the relationship between business and government suddenly became the subject of discussion again.

The other day, 58-year-old Jordanian Prince HASAN BEN TALAL, the younger brother of the late King Hussein and uncle of the current King of Jordan Abdullah II, visited Moscow. His Highness came to the Russian capital at the invitation of Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich, who were celebrating their golden wedding. It turned out that the prince had been friends with the star couple for 12 years and was now waiting for the musicians to visit Jordan.

LUKOIL begins development of the West Qurna-2 field LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov yesterday in New York told reporters about the prospects for the company's international activities. The main news is that development of the giant West Qurna-2 field in Iraq begins. Mr.

Today the Federation Council will discuss the ratification of the Additional Agreement on the Russian-Chinese state border on its eastern part. It was signed in Beijing on October 14, 2004 by President Vladimir Putin and Chinese party and state leader Hu Jintao.

European transport workers reached Russia The session of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) opened yesterday in Moscow with the personal participation of two Russian prime ministers - the current and the former. The extraordinary attention shown at the highest political level to this industry event is explained by the fact that of the 89 ECMT sessions held so far, this is the first on Russian soil.

Head coach of the Russian national team Yuri Semin yesterday decided on the list of players who will take part in the 2006 World Cup qualifying match with the Latvian team. This match will take place in St. Petersburg on June 4, and on June 8, the Russian team in Munchengladbach will play a friendly game with the hosts of the upcoming world championship, the German team.

CLUBS Carla Cook (USA) and Igor Butman Quartet. Karla Cook is a young jazz vocalist. She rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her first album, It's All About Love, was nominated for a Grammy. The vocalist's range of musical interests is extremely wide - in her improvisations she skillfully creates cocktails from jazz, gospel, classical and R`n`B. May 25-27 at Le Club , 20.00.