Abkhazia and South Ossetia invite Kosovo to their company The presidents of the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia , de jure part of Georgia, are following in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s increasingly harsh foreign policy rhetoric.

Brussels offers Russians Warsaw-style tenderloin Today in Berlin, during the Green Week fair, representatives of the European Commission, Russia and Poland will discuss the ban on the import of Polish livestock and crop products, introduced by Moscow more than a year ago. The Russian side imposed sanctions due to violations of sanitary requirements and supplies of meat that did not meet standards from third countries. In November 2006, this led to an international scandal.

Russia may have “new goals” in Europe The new arms race , while verbal, is rapidly gaining momentum. Extremely concerned about the development of events, the Russian leadership is moving from the language of politicians to the language of the military. This was once again demonstrated by Vladimir Putin, answering questions from Western journalists before the G8 summit.

The ex-president of a neighboring state is being tried for the tragedy in Sierra Leone The Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone began yesterday in The Hague the hearing of the case of ex-President of Liberia, 59-year-old Charles Taylor . He is charged with 11 counts, including violating the laws or customs of war and crimes against humanity in neighboring Sierra Leone.

The Giro stage race was won for the 11th time in a row by the owner of the track The second most important stage race, the Giro d'Italia, finished in Milan, second in popularity only to the Tour de France. For the 11th season in a row, the Giro remains the undivided domain of the track owners. The victory in the general classification was again won by the Italian - Danilo Di Luca from the Liquigas team.

The President signed amendments to the law on retail markets Regional officials will have to adjust market policy again - this time from August 1. They are required to reconsider their approach to organizing trade by the amendments to the law “On Retail Markets and Amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation” signed yesterday by the President.

In the early morning of June 5, 1967, Israel began the Six Day War, in which Egypt, Syria and Jordan participated on the other side. On this day, all Israeli aircraft were scrambled. Military airfields in Cairo (Cairo West) and Al-Arish in North Sinai were bombed. Egyptian planes were destroyed right at the airfields. The Israeli command chose the time for the attack when there was a change of night and day duty officers sitting in the cockpits of the aircraft. Then the ground attack began.

Two performances of the Tbilisi Rustaveli Theater were shown at the Chekhov Festival At the current Chekhov Festival, the Georgian Rustaveli Theater brought, as planned, two productions: one modern and the other classical - based on David Kldiashvili, who wrote sad everyday comedies about the fate of the impoverished nobility at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries. As a modern performance, they were waiting for “Soldier, Love, Security Boy...

Aeroflot has an unexpected competitor in Serbia Indian state-owned airline Air India is considering acquiring Serbian national carrier JAT, which the Serbian government intends to privatize by the end of this year. Yesterday, London's Financial Times reported, citing representatives of JAT and Air India, that the two companies were in talks about a "possible merger or other kind of partnership." Until now, the only contender for the purchase of JAT was the Russian Aeroflot .

Russian doctors pledge to save babies from 500 grams Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov seems to have found a fundamentally new approach to improve unpleasant demographic statistics . In just a few years, the lists of living Russians will be replenished with citizens born with very low birth weight. Now in our country, nursing children born weighing less than 1000 g is considered a unique event, the destiny of advanced medical centers.

The festival "Arch-Moscow"-2007 has ended What had to happen happened. Organized by the International Confederation of Unions of Artists, the Central House of Artists, the Art Moscow Foundation with the main sponsorship of the Krost concern, the architecture festival has lost the sweet schizoid charm that had been its know-how for a good ten years. The era of romanticism is over. Today radical pragmatism rules the roost.

The auditor calculated the main risks of Russian insurers The quality of management is the main risk of the Russian insurance market . This is evidenced by a joint study by the auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Center for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI). The research results are based on conversations with 8 heads of the largest insurance companies in Russia. Market participants expect that the situation will change with the development of the sector.

Walter Morse. 13 1/2 lives of a captain named Blue Bear. Translation from German by Lyudmila Esakova. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2007. “Every life begins at birth. Any - just not mine. In any case, I don’t remember how I was born. Perhaps - purely theoretically - I came into the world from the foam of the sea or grew up in a shell like a pearl. Or maybe it fell out of the sky during a strong starfall.

Israeli lawyer Yoram Mushkat, representing the interests of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, said yesterday that he intends to prove the illegality of obtaining Israeli citizenship by the former co-owner of YUKOS Leonid Nevzlin, whose extradition Moscow is seeking.

CONCERTS The Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra , conductor Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, performs the "Dance of the Apprentices" from Die Meistersinger of Nuremberg, the introduction and "Death of Isolde" from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. As part of the festival "Festival of World Symphony Orchestras" . Column Hall of the House of Unions , 19.00. "Benefit performance alta" . Chamber ensemble "Moscow Soloists" , conductor and soloist Yuri Bashmet (viola).