Psychiatrists expect an influx of patients due to rising telephone tariffs The record warm spring of 2007 does not at all relieve Muscovites from the risk of a nervous breakdown. The head of the Center for Medical and Psychological Assistance in Emergency Situations, Deputy Director of the Institute named after A. Serbian Zurab Kekelidze.

Sanyo CEO Toshimaza Ie forced to leave the company Sanyo Electric Co. , one of Japan's leading home appliance manufacturers, will replace its president. A high-profile financial scandal erupted when regulators suspected her of concealing losses in 2000-2004. According to local press reports, Sanyo wrote off about $1.6 billion from its unprofitable books to its subsidiaries.

Jeroen van der Veer will remain with Shell until the end of his contract The head of Europe's largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell, Jeroen van der Veer will remain in his post until June 30, 2009. An official representative of the corporation in The Hague told Bloomberg. According to him, the top manager will serve until the end of the five-year contract, although in the Netherlands it is customary for the managing director to leave his post after celebrating his 60th birthday.

Warm and relatively dry weather remained in most of European Russia: the average daily temperature was 5-8 degrees higher than normal for these days and was about 20-25 days ahead of the spring schedule. In a number of cities in the Central Federal District, the north-west, Karelia and the Murmansk region, new temperature records were set on March 25-26. The weather will not change significantly over the next two days.

Pittsburgh made the playoffs for the first time in six years Having defeated Washington 4:3 in the regular season match, the Pittsburgh Penguins secured participation in the National Hockey League playoffs for the first time since 2001. Now the Penguins are out of reach of competitors in the Eastern Conference, and largely owe this to their two top scorers - Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Chinese President Hu Jintao concluded his visit to Russia yesterday with a trip to Tatarstan. There he toured Kazan University, leaving an entry in the book of honored guests who visited the memorial room of student Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin. The guest also visited the republic's industrial facilities. In 2006, Tatarstan's trade turnover with China increased by 54.2%, to $115.7 million, with four-fifths of this amount coming from Tatarstan exports - helicopters and synthetic rubber.

Fashion Week in Moscow As usual, Moscow was one of the last to lift the veil of secrecy before the trends and current novelties of the fall-winter 2007/08 fashion season. The series of shows at Gostiny Dvor began on March 23, the last fashion show will take place today. “We are actively working to ensure that Moscow takes its rightful place among the world's fashion capitals.

And its new president is ready for the Hajj Tomorrow in Mary, in the south of Turkmenistan, the 20th meeting of the Halk Maslakhaty (People's Council), which, according to the constitution, is the highest authority in the country, opens. This event is expected in Turkmenistan with a mixed feeling of hope and fear.

The European Commission is suing the Spanish authorities in the Endesa case The European Commission has again intervened in the German-Spanish-Italian poker around the electricity company Endesa. As in the fall of last year, Brussels sided with the German E.ON, the main contender for the right to acquire the Spanish Endesa.

The confrontation between the government and the opposition in Kyrgyzstan moved yesterday into a phase that can hardly be called anything other than a disintegration of power structures. In the morning, reports began to arrive from Bishkek that President Bakiyev had dismissed five members of the government headed by Azim Isabekov . Among them is Deputy Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov , whose name has been on the lips of the Kyrgyz elite due to high-profile allegations of corruption.

Sergei Khomyakov became Alexey Miller's deputy The Gazprom Board of Directors yesterday, among other things, approved a new deputy chairman of the board and head of the concern's security service. This was Sergei Khomyakov, who had been performing these duties until now. As reported, his predecessor in this post, Sergei Ushakov, returned to the Federal Security Service as first deputy. Our sources claim that Mr. Ushakov’s return to the FSO is connected with further career prospects.

Yesterday, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves signed a decree convening the first session of the country's new parliament on April 2. As a result of the elections held on March 4, the Reform Party, led by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, received the largest number of mandates. It was he who initiated the campaign for the demolition of the monument to the Soviet Liberator Soldier located in the center of Tallinn.

Russian academic science needs fundamental changes Human civilization is based on three foundations: knowledge, learning and creation.

The Moscow City Duma voted to increase salaries for public sector employees The increase in the rate of the first category of the unified tariff scale, according to which state employees are paid, sanctioned yesterday by Moscow deputies from United Russia, is unlikely to significantly improve the modest consumer opportunities of this category of citizens.

Rosnedra intends to revoke licenses from the Sintez group at any cost Rosnedra is determined to leave the Sintez group without the Admiralteyskaya and Pakhtusovskaya areas, located in the Barents Sea. As the head of the service, Anatoly Ledovskikh, told reporters, Rosnedra has still not returned both areas to the company’s use, despite the fact that in February of this year the Moscow Arbitration Court decided that the actions of officials to revoke licenses to develop the sites were unlawful.