Today, the question of how Russia is viewed in the West, how Russia’s image is formed in the world, is very relevant. As, indeed, always. Forming a “positive image of the country” in the eyes of foreigners was part of state policy both under the tsars and under the Bolsheviks. It’s just that the statesmen relied on different forces and relied on different political and social guidelines.

France prepares for presidential elections The popularity of 72-year-old President Jacques Chirac, who has led France's 60 million people since 1995, has never been as low as it is now.

Prodigy performed at Luzhniki on their second attempt The Prodigy concert in Moscow was supposed to take place in May, but then it was completely unexpectedly canceled due to a vague force majeure reason. It seems to be due to the illness of the main eccentric, dancer and MC Keith Flint. Although “knowledgeable people” said that “all this is due to drugs.” This is understandable, given the reputation of the team.

Forecast for the coming days In the central regions of the European territory of Russia, the weather has turned from summer to almost autumn, the air temperature is 5 degrees lower than usual for these days in June, the sky is overcast with dense clouds, and sometimes it rains. At the same time, the wind is quite fresh, from the northeast. And such weather changes occurred due to the fault of the southern cyclone.

Mahmoud Abbas will visit Sharon at his residence Today, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet at his Jerusalem residence with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Abbas became chairman of the autonomy in January, after which he held talks with Sharon in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh in February. Then the Israelis and Palestinians agreed to a ceasefire. Today's meeting will be the second in a row.

Veteran Robert Orry brought an important victory to San Antonio The San Antonio Spurs still managed to win one of three away games against the Detroit Pistons. Before returning to Texas, the Spurs defeated the Motor City team 96-95 in dramatic overtime to take a 3-2 series lead. Now the still-reigning NBA champion Detroit needs to win twice in San Antonio. The task is almost impossible.

The Federal Property Management Agency named candidates for the boards of directors of Gazprom and RAO UES The state has almost decided on its representatives on the boards of directors of Gazprom and RAO UES of Russia. The Federal Property Management Agency sent draft directives on voting by state-owned blocks of monopolies at shareholder meetings to be held on June 24 and 29, respectively, to the Ministry of Economic Development for approval, and immediately notified the public about this.

United Russia lost two heads of regional legislative assemblies at once On Sunday, June 19, in the vicinity of the city of Stary Oskol, Belgorod Region, the car in which Yuri Titov, head of the Voronezh Regional Duma and chairman of the political council of the regional branch of the United Russia party, was traveling, skidded and crashed at full speed into a concrete power line support.

Anatoly Chubais is ready to amend the electricity reform plan RAO UES of Russia has completed an investigation into the causes that led to the power accident on May 25 in the Moscow region. Anatoly Chubais, speaking yesterday at the annual conference of Renaissance Capital, said that the main result of this investigation will be an adjustment to the reform of the electric power industry. At the same time, he clarified: it is an adjustment, but not a stop or a refusal to transform.

Officials don’t want to hear about the possibility of inflation exceeding the forecast level Members of the government, representatives of the presidential administration and the Central Bank continue to assert, as if under conspiracy, that inflation at the end of the year will not go beyond the forecast - 10%. At the same time, they are not at all embarrassed by the fact that in the first five months consumer prices have already increased by 7.3%.

The government is trying to save the investment climate Kremlin and government officials are grappling with a difficult problem. They are forced to encourage foreign investors to invest in Russia in the face of deteriorating key macroeconomic parameters and complications in relations between business and government.

Canadians abandoned the new Boeing 787 airliner The Canadian airline Air Canada at the end of last week refused to fulfill a contract recently concluded with the American concern Boeing for the purchase of 32 aircraft. The total cost of the failed deal is estimated at $6 billion. For American aircraft manufacturers, it is especially sensitive that Canadians were not among the launch customers for the new generation Boeing 787, also known as the Dreamliner.

Georgia will not give up abandoned airfield to Americans Georgia does not intend to hand over the abandoned Greater Shirak military airfield in the east of the country to the Americans. Presidential Commissioner in Eastern Georgia Pyotr Tsiskarishvili told Vremya Novostey that he “does not have such data.” Sensational information was released by the leader of the opposition association "Georgian Movement" Vakhtang Talakhadze.

“The sky above the port resembled a television screen turned on to a dead channel” - this is how Neuromancer by William Gibson , a canonical work in the cyberpunk genre, began. In 1984, Gibson, having virtually no experience with computers at that time, put forward and developed the idea of ​​virtual reality, which was technically realized a decade later. The priority of Gibson's idea was recognized by all developers of the global Internet.

Lebanese opposition triumphs The Lebanese opposition, which achieved the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country this spring, is celebrating its victory. And her political competitors have already admitted defeat in the parliamentary elections. The process of expression of will, which began on May 29, took place for the first time in the last three decades in the absence of the Syrian military in the country. The fourth and final phase of voting ended in northern Lebanon on Sunday.