Fire at nursing home kills 62 people During a fire in a nursing home in the village of Kamyshevatskaya (Yeysk, Krasnodar Territory), 35 people were rescued, of which 30 people were hospitalized, the press service of the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation reported. Referring to the list of dead nursing home patients, a representative of the Yeisk administration noted that 62 people aged 53 to 95 years died in the fire, 37 of them were women.

Rafael Nadal won the Masters on American hard court In the final of the first men's Masters tournament this season, held on the courts of Indian Wells, the second racket of the world, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, beat Serbian Novak Djokovic, who had never previously played in decisive matches at this level - 6: 2, 7 :5.

Russian oil workers refuse processing schemes in Belarus Russian companies no longer want to process oil at Belarusian plants on tolling terms. After Minsk approximately doubled excise tax rates on petroleum products in March, this scheme became unprofitable for oil workers. Some companies, for example LUKOIL and RussNeft, have already stopped refining oil in Belarus on processing terms. Others (according to news agencies, Slavneft) plan to do this in April.

A major disaster occurred at the Ulyanovskaya mine In the Kemerovo region yesterday afternoon, the largest mine accident in modern Russian history in terms of the number of victims occurred. At about 14.30 in the city of Novokuznetsk, as a result of a methane explosion in the Ulyanovskaya mine, about 200 miners were trapped underground, including almost the entire management of the enterprise, which, as usual on Mondays, carried out a routine inspection of the sites.

The British may be allowed to drive in Russian UK transport authorities are seriously considering a small change in traffic rules. It is possible that in the future motorists will be given a little more freedom and will be allowed to drive on the sides of highways during rush hour. This, according to officials, will help relieve congestion on the country's roads and reduce traffic jams.

Mikhail Zurabov complied with the terms of the ultimatum Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov met the deadline for the ultimatum put forward by State Duma deputies.

Presidential Advisor Alexander Burutin will head the new state holding President Vladimir Putin yesterday, at a weekly meeting with members of the Cabinet of Ministers, approved the candidacy of the head of the yet uncreated national shipbuilding holding . First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov proposed nominating Presidential Adviser on Military-Industrial Policy Alexander Burutin to this post. “We (together with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. - Ed.

North Korea demands frozen money back Yesterday, the sixth round of six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue began in Beijing with the participation of the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan. None of the participants expressed optimism.

Orhan Pamuk. "New Life". St. Petersburg: Amphora, 2007. Now that Pamuk has become a Nobel laureate, a dissident and, they even say, a political emigrant, and his name has reached the masses, it’s time to release it in mass editions. As luck would have it, the “hit” “Black Book” was republished many times, as well as “My Name is Red” and “The White Fortress”.

Nazarbayev will transform GUAM into GUAC The beginning of yesterday's meeting in the Kremlin between Vladimir Putin and the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev looked crumpled. Appearing from different sides of the Executive Office, intended for the protocol, in the presence of the press, beginning of meetings between the owner of the Kremlin and his guests, Putin and Nazarbayev sat down next to each other and quietly joked about something.

Manufacturers of fake special license plates convicted The Timiryazevsky District Court of Moscow yesterday announced the verdict in the scandalous case of a criminal group of former and current intelligence officers, which was engaged in the trade of counterfeit special documents and special license plates for cars. All six defendants were found guilty of fraud and producing false documents and sentenced to terms ranging from two to seven years in prison.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said in a television interview that “now it would be necessary for all strategic partners to sit down at the negotiating table to create a missile defense system in Europe,” including Ukraine itself, which “has something to go into this system with.” “We have space tracking systems,” which are used jointly with Russia, the prime minister recalled. He confirmed that Ukraine “certainly” could offer its participation in the European missile defense system.

Investments in energy are a way to hedge against post-election risks The reform of the electric power industry with the liquidation of RAO UES at the final stage, apparently, will be one of the few reforms completed during the presidency of Vladimir Putin . It was traditionally believed that this reform was “unpopular”, and on the eve of the previous elections it was actually curtailed. Not so this time.

German coalition quarrels over missile defense Discord is brewing in the German government. The reason for the skirmish between the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in the ruling coalition was the prospect of placing an American missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that the missile defense project be transferred to NATO.

Only a third of Russians are inclined to trust Ramzan Kadyrov President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov yesterday at a press conference in Grozny suggested that “media representatives and authors of television projects about Chechnya” change their “approach to the Chechen people” and be more objective. “Some authors consider themselves lucky to have made a film about the Chechen war in which Chechens are portrayed as bandits, informers and traitors,” Mr. Kadyrov complained.