Danish newspapers hit the conspiracy with a cartoon “We cannot compromise on freedom of speech and freedom of the media,” said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He was commenting on the new heightened emotions surrounding the publication in September 2005 of Jyllands-Posten newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad . Five very different Danish newspapers - the same Jyllands-Posten, Politiken, Beringske Tidende, Be-Te and Extra Bladet - reproduced one of those drawings yesterday.

The communist leader has problems in the homeland of the leader of the world proletariat Russian presidential candidate and leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov said that on February 9 the administration of the Ulyanovsk region tried to prevent him from meeting with voters. This is especially blasphemous for the communists, given that this happened in the homeland of the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Lenin.

A militant who kidnapped Soviet diplomats was blown up in Damascus The Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah yesterday accused Israel of killing its security chief Imad Mughniyeh (pictured) , and its Beirut-based Manar TV reported: “We are proud to announce that the great leader of jihad in Lebanon, brother commander Imad Mughniyeh Haji, has joined to the martyrs in paradise." An explosion that tore apart an armored Mitsubishi Pajero jeep occurred late in the evening of February 12 in Kfar

Soon February 23rd, Defender of the Fatherland Day. As the holiday approaches, as the practice of recent years shows, the flow of lofty words will intensify, often turning into pompous ones. They are very established in everyday speech. I heard the phrase “I have the honor” many times more often in post-Soviet times than in Soviet times. Including from people who have no honor.

Russia agrees with India on major investments in joint ventures Russia and India can invest about $8 billion in joint ventures. As Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina said following the results of the second Indian-Russian forum on trade and investment, organized by the Ministry of Economic Development, agreements for this amount were discussed at the forum. In the final protocol signed by Ms.

Russian off-roading is very expensive, but not worth the cost of a state corporation Economic losses due to the poor condition of Russian roads exceed the country's defense spending. With this comparison, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov yesterday illustrated his idea about the need to finally overcome at least one of Russia’s two traditional troubles .

Kosovo could declare independence from Serbia as early as this week. In the self-proclaimed states on the territory of the former USSR - Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria, a common point of view is that they are next in line for international recognition after Kosovo. In Europe, they are not inclined to draw direct analogies between the Balkans and the Caucasus.

The Ministry of Finance and the business community cannot agree on a new VAT rate Today, at a government meeting devoted, among other things, to the main directions of tax policy for 2008-2011, the figure for the main tax intrigue of the month should be announced - what the new value added tax (VAT) rate will be. But whatever this figure turns out to be, it is almost certainly clear that the positions of business and government are still far from convergent.

Elvira Lindo. Manolito Ochkarik. Translator N. Morozova. - M.: Samokat, 2008. Manolito the Barnacled Man is not Harry Potter, although he is very similar to him. He also wears round glasses, has dark hair and wouldn't mind playing squash if he could fly. The artist Emilio Urberuaga, whose illustrations fill this fantastic book, seems to have specially drawn Manolito to look like magical Harry.

The Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund will share the budget surplus with the regions The Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund will help compensate for the budget deficit of territorial compulsory health insurance funds observed in most Russian regions. The fund's managers are ready to allocate an additional almost 24 billion rubles to the territories, thereby increasing the health insurance budget for the country as a whole by 54%.

The danger of energy marginalization Since 2006, relations between the European Union, Russia and the United States have been experiencing a deep crisis, characterized by the intertwining of strategic and energy aspects. The current situation allows us to draw analogies with the first half of the 1980s. The main question then was how to combine the development of trade relations between East and West with ensuring the security of Western countries.

CLUBS Gerard Morel (France) at the Grand Bouffe club, 20.00. CONCERTS "Great French". Sebastien Ensemble performs works by Couperin, Leclerc, Debussy, Fauré, Onneger, Damaze, and Francais. St Andrew's Anglican Church , 7.30pm. Chamber orchestra "Moscow Virtuosi" , conductor and soloist Vladimir Spivakov (violin). Great Hall of the Conservatory , 19.00. MOVIE PREMIERES “My blueberry nights” (France - Hong Kong, 2007). Directed by Wong Kar-wai.

Iran threatens America with the creation of its own oil exchange with settlements in euros Iran yesterday officially announced that on February 27 it will launch an exchange on which contracts for the sale of oil, petroleum products and gas will be traded. According to RIA Novosti, Oil Minister Golam Hossein Nozari stated this on the local Press TV channel.

The governor of the Japanese island of Okinawa (which hosts a US military base), Mr. Hirokazu Nakai, has called for a renegotiation of the US-Japan military cooperation treaty. Even yesterday's apology from the American Ambassador to Japan, Mr. Thomas Schiffer, did not soften the governor's anger. The diplomat expressed regret over the rape of a Japanese teenage girl by an American soldier.

The fate of Private Rudakov threatens another military scandal Yesterday morning in the Moscow Burdenko Hospital, soldier Roman Rudakov died during an organ transplantation operation, whose fate continued a series of scandals about morals prevailing in the Russian army. Doctors fought for his life for several hours, but were unable to save him.