The latest issue of Literary Gazette (No. 5) contains a letter from thirty professors and teachers of the Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. My former mentors, classmates and younger colleagues are temperamentally and reasonably protesting against the seemingly already accomplished triumph of the Unified State Examination (USE), which involves the exclusion of essays from the number of entrance tests. I share their righteous anger.

The Georgian President entrusted Russia with the most faithful people The appointment of 35-year-old David Bakradze to the post of Foreign Minister of Georgia instead of Gela Bezhuashvili has already caused changes on the “diplomatic front”, primarily in the Russian direction. A Russia department is being created in the Georgian Foreign Ministry, and a new deputy minister, 49-year-old Grigory Vashadze, has been entrusted with overseeing relations with the northern neighbor.

Merrill Lynch expects sharp strengthening of ruble exchange rate By the end of this year, the ruble to dollar exchange rate may reach 22.75, which is 8% higher than the current value of 24.67. This is the forecast of the investment bank Merrill Lynch. Bank analysts believe that the Russian ruble is one of the most undervalued currencies and the aggressive strengthening of its nominal exchange rate is the only effective measure that the authorities will use this year to curb inflation.

In most of the European territory of Russia, atmospheric pressure is rising, but the atmospheric fronts of the cyclone, which is heading towards St. Petersburg, are making their own adjustments. Portions of warm and humid air continue to arrive in the northwest and the western half of European Russia. In the rest of the territory, the weather is determined by the crest of a cold anticyclone.

Police officers told the president how much it costs to get a driver's license back An extended meeting of the board of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs was held in Moscow yesterday, dedicated to the results of work in the past year and plans for the future. By tradition, President Putin also attended this event.

The "Chemists' Case" is closed, but it may be replaced by "Matters of the Heart" The so-called “chemists’ case” - the scandalous initiative of the Drug Control Department to prosecute, after veterinarians and surgeons, representatives of the chemical industry and business - died safely yesterday.

Hungarian railway workers violated Russian Railways schedule Russian Railways (RZD) yesterday stopped sending direct carriages from Moscow to Budapest, as well as through Hungarian territory to Zagreb, Belgrade and Venice. In a statement issued by Russian Railways on this occasion, it is said that carriage service has been interrupted until the end of the railway workers' strike in Hungary.

The Public Chamber is looking for ways to eradicate legal nihilism Vladimir Putin, speaking on Wednesday at the board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs , called on law enforcement officers to strengthen the fight against corruption . At these same hours, deputies, political scientists and experts who gathered at a round table, held under the auspices of the Public Chamber , talked about what, exactly, corruption is and whether it can be overcome in principle.

Chronicle of sporting events Basketball. NBA. Regular season. Indiana - San Antonio - 89:116, Cleveland - Boston - 114:113, Philadelphia - Washington - 101:96, New Jersey - - “Lakers” – 90:105, “Memphis” – “Milwaukee” – 97:102. The leadership of the outsider Miami Association is ready to exchange its main star, center Shaquille O'Neal. The basketball player's agents have already been informed that their client may end up in Phoenix.

Non-parliamentary parties are being squeezed out of regional politics The Yabloko party again found itself thrown out of the election race. The federal leadership of the party decided to boycott the presidential elections , and left the issue of participation in the presidential elections to the legislative assemblies of 11 regions, scheduled for March 2, to the regional branches.

Nabucco accepted RWE and postponed its launch to 2013 The European Commission's favorite gas transportation project, Nabucco, has found another participant. A solemn ceremony took place in Vienna to join the German RWE to a consortium of five companies (Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Romanian Transgaz, Bulgarian Bulgargaz and Turkish Botas).

Nick Hornby. Slam. Translation from English V. Shubinskaya. M., "Amphora". Sam is the most ordinary London schoolboy; skateboards and dreams of becoming a designer. The only strange thing in his life is his own mother, whom high school students mistake for a pretty older sister and strive to ask for her phone number, since the difference between them is some fifteen and a half years. Unfortunately, Sam also discovers that he will soon become a father.

BHP attacks rival, but to no avail Australian mining company BHP Billiton yesterday made another purchase offer to its main competitor, the Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto. True, Rio did not think long and again rejected BHP's claims, considering the price not high enough. BHP offered 3.4 of its shares in exchange for one Rio share. This is 13% more profitable than the unofficial offer made in November in the amount of three VNR shares for one Rio share.

The Swedish leg of the Eurotour starts today The third stage of the Eurotour in Sweden has always been difficult for the Russian team. Some players tried to skip him, and once the coach of the national team refused to go to Stockholm. In addition, the team did not always perform successfully in Scandinavia. 2005 Coach's refusal The most amazing season was 2004/05. In February 2005, no one knew who would take the national team to Sweden.

President Tadic may be left without a prime minister The signing of a “political agreement” between the European Union and Serbia, scheduled for today in Brussels, has been postponed “indefinitely.” This was stated yesterday by European Commissioner for EU Enlargement Olli Rehn. The reason was the aggravation of the situation in Serbia.