And arm the British army because of terrorists and the USSR “My father was a stockbroker (engaged in stock trading - Ed. ), and my mother was a municipal judge. I had a prosperous and happy childhood. I studied at a wonderful school and graduated from a wonderful university. And I'm not ashamed of any of this.

Dmitry Kozak recruits presidential envoys to his department The now former presidential plenipotentiary representative in the Far East, Kamil Iskhakov, yesterday went to work in the department, which has been headed by another former presidential plenipotentiary representative, Dmitry Kozak, for ten days now.

Home field is no longer the determining advantage in Champions League matches In five matches of Tuesday's Champions League program, away teams achieved positive results for themselves. Fenerbahçe drew the match with CSKA, and Barcelona, ​​Sporting, Arsenal and Rangers returned from visiting with even more significant baggage. Lyon fans left the Gerland stadium in the worst mood. The French champions suffered their second defeat in a row, and again with a large score.

Most Russians do not know and do not want to know the history of the country The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) has published research data on how well Russians know Russian history and can answer the questions of the unified state exam. It turned out that only 2% of adult Russians would pass the Unified State Exam with excellent marks, and the majority of them are not at all interested in the history of Russia.

Political scientists on the future of the party system in Russia Vremya Novostei correspondent Daria GUSEVA asked political scientists to comment on the prospects for the party system in the country after the new political initiatives of President Vladimir Putin. "Any artificially constructed party system will collapse" Georgy SATAROV, President of the INDEM Foundation: -- Now the public side of the upcoming elections will demonstrate the complete crisis of the party system.

Russian diplomats were also injured Today in Iraq, the one-month deadline for carrying out the death sentence of Ali Hassan al-Majid, nicknamed Chemical Ali , expires. As Muslims continue the holy fast of Ramadan, the execution of this associate of Saddam Hussein will likely be delayed by a week or more. However, the overall situation in Iraq during the post-Ramadan period remains turbulent. Yesterday, no less than the Polish ambassador, 57-year-old General Edward Pietrzyk, was wounded there.

Two recently published books, the titles of which juxtapose the words “Russia” and “empire” with varying degrees of explosive power, although written in contrasting stylistic registers, are read as parts of one whole, composed of reckless domestic jingoistic optimism. The voluminous volume by Dominic Lieven, a professor at the London School of Economics, is a retrospective look into the past of the Russian and Soviet empires, ending with a bleak conclusion.

The Capuchin sisters did not divide the monastery The nuns of one of the most ascetic Catholic orders unwittingly confirmed the old joke that the optimal size of a male team is three people, and a female team is two, since the appearance of a third immediately turns into internal conflicts. The conflict in the monastery of Santa Clara in the Italian province of Bari, where two nuns took up arms against the abbess, seems to have to be dealt with personally by the Pope himself.

In Israel , the case of former US naval intelligence officer 53-year-old Jonathan Pollard is again being remembered. Local politicians always remember this Israeli spy when there is talk of early elections in the Jewish state. In addition, these days Jews celebrate the holiday of Simchat Torah, symbolizing the wisdom of the Book of Books - the Torah.

There are no clear favorites in the starting NHL championship Last night, the next regular season of the National Hockey League started overseas. Two postponed matches in London, in which the current Stanley Cup holder won against Los Angeles and then lost to Los Angeles with the same score 4:1, best demonstrate that there will again be no clear favorite in the fight for the Stanley Cup. But even among equals, if you wish, you can find the first.

Domodedovo increases the share of non-aviation revenues Domodedovo Airport has taken first place in Russia not only in terms of air passenger traffic, but also in terms of the level of non-core (non-aviation) income. Dmitry Kamenshchik, chairman of the board of directors of the East Line group, which manages Domodedovo , told a press conference yesterday that non-aviation sources bring in 60% of the airport's revenue. By the end of 2007, the airport plans to serve 18.5 million passengers.

New film by Pavel Chukhrai on Russian screens The script for the film “Russian Game” is based on “The Players” by Gogol, but radically altered. A short, fast-paced, gambling theatrical play about how some rogues deceive another rogue has been turned into a rather large-scale film about an Italian sharper who wanted to take advantage of Russian gullibility, but was left without pants.

Ian McEwan. Unbearable love. Translation from English E. Novikova. -- M.: Eksmo, 2007. On the eve of the release of the film “Atonement” (based on the novel of the same name) and Ian McEwan’s almost one hundred percent receipt of the second “Booker” (for the novel On Chesil Beach), Russian publishers unanimously began to republish his previous creations. Following “The Consolation of Pilgrims,” published in Rosman, a ten-year-old novel called “Unbearable Love” appeared on the shelves.

Yushchenko called on the “orange” and “blue and white” to fraternize The Ukrainian Central Election Commission paused all day yesterday. Despite promises, the remaining protocols of election commissions - less than 1% - had not been recounted by evening. Obviously, the Central Election Commission was waiting for some kind of agreement at the top.

"A Just Russia" will write a program based on voters' requests Last Saturday a meeting of the central council of the A Just Russia party was held. It determined the date and location of the next party congress (it will be held on February 26 in St. Petersburg), and also adopted a political platform, which in the future will be transformed into the election program of A Just Russia.