The creator of MMM was found guilty, but he has almost served his sentence In the Chertanovsky Court of Moscow yesterday, the announcement of the verdict against Sergei Mavrodi, the founding father of the largest financial pyramid "MMM", began.

The Central Bank will explain how to calculate the effective lending rate The Central Bank is preparing a letter in which it will explain in detail to banks what commissions to include in calculating the effective interest rate on loans . This was announced by the head of the department of banking regulation and supervision of the Central Bank, Alexey Simanovsky, promising that the document would be published within two months.

The problem of human rights violations in Chechnya has been recognized as greatly exaggerated Rumors about massive violations of fundamental rights of citizens in Chechnya are greatly exaggerated, in which human rights activists and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) played an important role.

The Japanese automaker became the world's sales leader for the first time in history. The global car market has seen a new leader: the Japanese Toyota Motor Corp. According to the results of the first quarter of this year, it was possible to push the American General Motors , which had maintained its leadership for 76 years, into second place. The Japanese corporation, having increased by 9.2% the figure for the three months of last year, sold 2.35 million cars.

And about an alternative to the European constitution Yesterday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Berlin for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The three of them must present to the public a new non-governmental organization, the Tribune of African Progress, headed by Mr. Annan. The initiative to create it was put forward back in 2005 at the G8 summit; the necessary funding was provided by computer tycoon Bill Gates.

"Spring Awakening" in Brussels and the opera crisis There is a world premiere at the main Belgian opera house La Monnaie, which actively includes modernist and newest works in its repertoire. To attract tourists, Benoit Mernier's opera is positioned as a “100% Belgian product” - like chocolate, beer or a sculpture of a boy peeing.

In the next 24 hours, the stormy cyclone will move to the northeast, bringing the cold with it. In the rest of the European territory of Russia, the western anticyclone will establish power over the weather. In the northwestern and central regions, near the center of the anticyclone, atmospheric pressure will increase, no precipitation is expected and it will become warmer (in the northwestern district by 2-4 degrees, in the central district by 5-8 degrees).

Chronicle of sporting events Basketball. NBA. Playoffs. 1/8 finals. "East". “Detroit” – “Orlando” – 98:90 (series score 2-0). "West". “Houston” – “Utah” – 98:90 (series score 2-0). Both matches of the third game day of the playoffs ended with the same score, repeating the results of the first meetings of these series. Detroit relied on shots from behind the 3-point line, and eight of their 19 attempts were successful.

Venezuela will secure friendship between Minsk and Moscow The annual message to parliament, which President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko delivered yesterday, was in fact a detailed action plan for Minsk in the face of rising prices for Russian energy resources . In a condensed form, the Belarusian president’s proposals boiled down to maintaining the previous course with minor amendments.

Ramzan Kadyrov completed the formation of the government of Chechnya Less than a month after Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov officially took office, the new government of the republic has taken shape that is close to final. On April 5, 2007, on the day of Ramzan Kadyrov's inauguration, the former cabinet of ministers officially resigned, as required by the constitution.

Türkiye has begun construction of the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline bypassing the straits The governments of Russia, Greece and Bulgaria are just planning the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, and Turkey has already begun implementing its project bypassing the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits - a 550-kilometer oil pipeline from the Black Sea port of Samsun to the Mediterranean Ceyhan.

Moscow has found an incentive for Kosovo Albanians Yesterday, a Special Mission of the UN Security Council set off for the Balkans, on whose report the future status of the Serbian region of Kosovo largely depends. The delegation must hold negotiations with the leadership of Serbia and the leaders of the Kosovo Albanians, and visit Serbian enclaves in the region, which is under UN control.

Watch from April 26 on Moscow screens “The Curse of the Golden Flower” (Hong Kong - China, 2006, Zhang Yimou). A tragedy of Shakespearean proportions from the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Returning from a long journey, Emperor Ping (Chow Yun-fat - "Hard Boiled", "Anna and the King", "Pirates of the Caribbean: At the End of the Earth") discovers that his wife (Gong Li - "Memoirs of a Geisha", " Miami Vice, Hannibal Rising) has an affair with her stepson, and a conspiracy is brewing at court.

The President of Russia was invited to the foundation stone of a Russian school in Ashgabat Yesterday, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, who was in Moscow on a two-day working visit , decided to stay here for another day to take part in the funeral of Boris Yeltsin . The decision looks humanly wise and politically balanced.

The international conference on Iraq at the level of foreign ministers, which was planned back in April in Istanbul, will be held on May 3-4 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Iraq's neighbors and the world's leading powers will discuss what to do next with the country plunging into chaos and how to help it. The Iraqis themselves have at least one answer: they can help with money . So on the first day of the conference it will be discussed who will give Iraq money and how much .