Our team is the most successful at the World Cup so far The Russian team completed the first group stage at the World Championships in Riga with a 100% result. Vladimir Krikunov's team defeated the teams of Kazakhstan (10:1), Belarus (3:2) and Slovakia (4:3). Our ice knights scored the most goals at this stage - 17 goals, demonstrating sharp attacking and fiery hockey.

The Russian Cup will be played by the capital's Spartak and CSKA The finalists of the National Cup have been determined, and at the same time all the European Cup participants from Russia have been determined. The second most important Russian trophy will be played on May 20 by Spartak and CSKA. But since both of these clubs won places in the Champions League, a ticket to the UEFA Cup went to Rubin Kazan, which took fourth place in the last national championship.

ALROSA and De Beers complied with the conditions of the European Commission The head of the Russian diamond monopolist ALROSA, Alexander Nichiporuk, and the managing director of South African De Beers, Gareth Penny, signed a memorandum on May 9 in Vienna on organizing the supply of rough jewelry diamonds for 2006-2008, ALROSA said in a statement issued yesterday.

The mystery of the death of the Armenian airliner may be destroyed by hydrogen sulfide The ongoing search operation in the Black Sea off the coast of Sochi, where an Armenian Airlines A320 passenger plane crashed on May 3, has not brought any results in recent days. Rescuers were unable to find any more wreckage of the plane or the bodies of the dead.

The Vilnius speech of US Vice President Richard Cheney on May 5 has already become a fact of history. They say that no politician has made such devastating criticism of Moscow since Winston Churchill’s Fulton speech in 1946, which is considered the beginning of the Cold War. My wife, having watched enough TV and heard a lot of comments about Dick Cheney’s speech, only noticed: “Well, we’ve lived here, the Iron Curtain is coming down again.” He calmed her down as best he could. And he was right.

The capital's legislators do not like the amendments to the law "On Citizenship" Deputies of the Moscow City Duma, who have always been loyal to documents issued from above, yesterday tried to recoup on bills proposed to the federal parliament, bypassing the party line. However, having criticized the proposals to liberalize legislation on Russian citizenship received by the State Duma from colleagues from Kabardino-Balkaria, Moscow deputies found themselves in trouble.

And speculators miss work The shortened week after the holidays started optimistically for the Russian market. In anticipation of Vladimir Putin's speech with his annual message, the RTS index from the opening of trading until the president came to the podium grew by 1.69% and reached a record 1,795 points. However, immediately after the head of state’s speech, the trend changed. By the close of trading, the RTS index fell to 1739, which is 1.47% lower than Saturday’s close.

April 5 -- May 5, 2006 “Politicians through the Eyes of the Media,” a joint project of the Vremya Novostei newspaper and the Medialogy company, are ratings of political figures who are most actively discussed in the Russian media.

Mikhail Kasyanov entered into an energy dialogue with the European Union In the dialogue between Russia and the European Union, the topic of energy balance has recently become too acute. Moreover, mutual reproaches have already developed into a sharp verbal spat at the level of the Russian leadership and EU representatives. Apparently, this was one of the reasons for holding the international seminar “Geopolitics of Energy Security.

Vladimir Putin wants to trade Russian energy resources in Moscow The Kremlin has prepared another energy surprise for its G8 partners. In his message to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin announced his intention to organize exchange trading in hydrocarbons in Russia. “The ruble should become a more universal means of international payments and should gradually expand its zone of influence.

Despite the fact that Russian politicians, just a few minutes after the end of the presidential speech, began vying to support Vladimir Putin’s proposal to provide every woman who has given birth to two children with “primary maternal capital” of a quarter of a million rubles, domestic demographers believe that this should not be made absolute idea.

The yellow smiling face, or "smiley," has sparked a major legal battle between Wal-Mart and French entrepreneur Franklino Lufrani. Both parties claim the exclusive right to use the yellow smile. For many years, this symbol has been part of the Wal-Mart employee uniform. But Mr. Lufrani is still confident that he is the inventor of the logo. Over the past thirty years, the enterprising Frenchman has managed to earn millions from copyrights.

The US softened its position on the “Iran problem” Today in Moscow negotiations will be held between the head of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko and the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Saidi. They are devoted to the completion of the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and our country’s participation in tenders for the construction of two more nuclear power plants. Russian-Iranian negotiations are taking place against the backdrop of a new respite won by Iran.

Polish diplomacy has a feminine face For the first time in the history of Poland, a woman became the Minister of Foreign Affairs - 49-year-old Anna Fotyga.

Yesterday evening on Oktyabrskaya Square in the center of Minsk, during an unauthorized rally to mark the seventh anniversary of the disappearance of former Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus Yuri Zakharenko, the leader of the United Civil Party of Belarus Anatoly Lebedko, as well as several other opposition activists, were detained. Yesterday, activist of the Belarusian youth movement Artur Finkevich was sentenced to two years of restriction of freedom (transfer to a settlement).