The corporation promises competitors free technical support After much resistance, Microsoft Corp. agreed to comply with antitrust demands from European authorities to disclose software codes and release a version of Windows without a media player. True, the implementation of the order was not quite in the form required by the European Commission.

Scientists explain why people rarely become infected with bird flu While people all over the planet are thinking about giving up chicken wings as a snack for beer, and a migratory infection is decimating the ranks of birds, scientists and doctors are predicting certain scenarios for the development of a flu pandemic.

CLUBS "Demons of the Text". Festival of works by one of the most interesting contemporary Russian composers, Vladimir Martynov. On March 24, poets D.A. will perform. Prigov, Lev Rubinstein , Vladimir Martynov (piano), Tatyana Grindenko (violin) and the Opus Posth ensemble. March 25 on stage: Vladimir Martynov (piano), Tatyana Grindenko (violin) and the Opus Posth ensemble. "Home" , 19.30. Cynthia Scott (vocals, USA) and Oleg Butman Trio.

The “indefinite truce” announced on Tuesday by the separatist group ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) comes into force tomorrow. Demonstrating the seriousness of its intentions, ETA yesterday published in its political wing newspaper a repeated, extended appeal to Madrid and Paris calling for a “positive response” to the group’s moves.

The jury found no signs of racism in the murder of a Tajik girl One of the most high-profile cases against St. Petersburg skinheads - the wanton murder on the street in February 2004 of 9-year-old native of Tajikistan Khursheda Sultonova - ended in a deafening scandal. Yesterday in the city court of St. Petersburg, a jury announced its verdict to the eight accused of this wild crime.

Magnitogorsk hockey player Evgeny Varlamov ended up in intensive care The second day of the 1/4 finals of the hockey championship did not bring unexpected results. The quartet of clubs that played better in the regular season were stronger than their opponents who finished lower in the three-round Super League tournament. The game day was overshadowed by the dirty act of Lada defender Alexei Emelin. He struck Evgeniy Varlamov in the neck with his stick.

Dmitry Rogozin's party is losing the fight for the title of "permitted" opposition The 6th Congress of the Rodina Party will be held in Moscow on Saturday. It will decide the fate of Dmitry Rogozin as the leader of the party and, possibly, the fate of the party as a whole. Mr.

Maria Petrova and Alexey Tikhonov leave amateur ice At the World Figure Skating Championships in Calgary, the Russian pair Maria Petrova and Alexey Tikhonov won a bronze medal. Two Chinese couples rose to the highest steps of the podium: newly-minted world champions Queen Pang - Jan Tong and silver medalists Dan Jang - Hao Jang.

There will be no winners in the new parliament of Ukraine Parliamentary elections will take place in Ukraine on Sunday. The leaders of the election race are three political forces. The pro-presidential Our Ukraine and its competitor, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT), belong to the “orange” part of the political spectrum; they fly the flag of the Euro-Atlantic path of development of the country. The opposition Party of Regions advocates a friendly alliance with Russia.

Gazprom will play with German Gref in indexing domestic prices The heated discussion that took place yesterday at the government meeting (see page 1) may continue next Wednesday.

In Ukraine, people are buying dollars in panic before the elections Political and economic instability in Ukraine has provoked growing distrust of the local population in the national currency. Over the last two weeks before the upcoming parliamentary elections next Sunday, people have been actively buying dollars and transferring their bank deposits from hryvnia to foreign currency.

In the next two days, a Balkan cyclone will pass through the European territory of Russia, its path runs from southwest to northeast, from the Chernozem region to the Volga. As a result, the heaviest precipitation with this cyclone will occur in the Black Earth Region and the Southern Federal District. In the central regions of Russia, the cyclone will manifest itself on Friday with light snow and an increase in night temperatures to -6...-11оС, on Friday afternoon -4...+1оС.

Russian elite: high society or high den? Somehow it happened that while visiting, I saw a film about the Russian elite shown on a respected Russian TV channel. Alternative names shown on the screen and spoken off-screen and in the frame - “High Society Party”, “High Society”, “High Society” and, finally, “Russian Elite”! That is, we were talking about the best of the best, those who define her face and her path. What did they show us?

The Sixth International Photo Biennale of Moscow has opened Ten years ago, the art of representing light stolen by ingenious mechanics in the form of life-duplicating pictures became the theme of the first photography festival in Russia. Thanks to this festival and the House of Photography, which also appeared ten years ago, Russians have learned to consider photography as a full-fledged genre of artistic creativity. The territory of photography as an art form is constantly expanding.

Football. Spanish Championship. 29th round. "Zaragoza" - "Real" - 1:1, "Alaves" - "Celta" - 1:0, "Athletic" - "Espanyol" - 1:1, "Betis" - "Racing" -- 1:0, Valencia -- Villarreal -- 1:1, Deportivo -- Malaga -- 2:1, Mallorca -- Cadiz -- 1:0, Osasuna "- Real Sociedad - 2:0, Barcelona - Getafe - 3:1. The leaders are: Barcelona - 67 points, Osasuna - 55, Real Madrid - 54.