President of the Nixon Center in Washington, political scientist Dmitry SIMES answered questions from Vremya Novostey columnist Pyotr ISKENDEROV. -- Why does the US administration support the independence of Kosovo, but blocks recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?

US and German intelligence agencies will identify terrorists Germany and the United States will more actively exchange data on suspects of involvement in international terrorism. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries agreed on this yesterday in Berlin with their American colleagues - Homeland Security Minister Michael Chertoff and Justice Minister Michael Mukasey.

About Evgeny Shklovsky’s novel “Unloved Children” Evgeny Shklovsky is one of the most notable modern Russian storytellers.

Moscow authorities hope to make the conditions for hiring migrants impossible for employers It seems that the capital's authorities are preparing new administrative obstacles for hiring migrant workers for city employers who have not yet had time to recover from a sharp reduction in quotas for foreign labor this year .

The European Union has tightened requirements for sellers of lighters The European Union continues to look for ways to completely isolate children from the sins of adults. Yesterday, the reprieve granted by the European Commission a year ago to trading companies for the sale of prohibited types of lighters that do not have protective “trigger” mechanisms, as well as decorative lighters in different cases, expired.

The off-season did not reduce the number of scandals in the Royal Races In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to make pre-season forecasts in Formula 1. Even predict the approximate contours of the championship. Since 2005, when Fernando Alonso unexpectedly ended Michael Schumacher's five-year championship, Nostradamus could not have predicted the path the championship would take.

The alleged mastermind of the murder of Evgeny Grigoriev was detained The Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor's Office yesterday announced the arrest of four people suspected of murdering the prosecutor of the Saratov region, Evgeny Grigoriev , who was shot dead on February 13 at the entrance of his own house.

Watch from March 14 on Moscow screens “10,000 BC” (USA, 2008, Roland Emmerich). A big color movie about the affairs of bygone days - it seems that since Jean-Jacques Annaud (The Battle of the Fire, 1983) no one has seriously taken on stories from the Stone Age.

"United Russia" can get a majority in the Duma of the Stavropol Territory, despite losing the elections The local election commission has decided to recall from the Stavropol Regional Duma the representatives of A Just Russia who entered it on the party list. For this purpose, the regional election commission went to court, demanding that its own decision a year ago be reversed.

The Pope was reminded of unflattering statements about Galileo The centuries-old dispute between science and religion has resulted in a scandal under the walls of the Vatican. Today, Benedict XVI was scheduled to deliver a ceremonial speech at the opening ceremony of the 705th academic year at Rome's La Sapienza University, founded in 1303 by the Holy See itself. However, the brainchild of the Catholic Church fiercely resisted the Pope's plans.

Poland gets carried away by anti-missile bargaining with the United States Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Washington yesterday that the US "expects to prepare its proposals for modernizing Poland's armed forces within about three months." This means that the head of the Polish cabinet managed to achieve the main goal of his American tour - to force the White House to make concessions.

The organizers of the new hockey league have reached the finish line A meeting of clubs participating in the new hockey league, the KHL, took place. There, the new regulations were read out to team representatives. If anyone has questions or complaints, they must send amendments three days in advance. The regulations must be approved on March 15.

Societe Generale raised twice as much money as it planned The French bank Societe Generale, as a result of an additional issue of securities in favor of its own shareholders, attracted almost twice as much funds as it expected. The amount of 10.2 billion euros made up for losses suffered by the bank due to the actions of trader Jerome Kerviel and unsuccessful financial transactions in connection with the mortgage crisis.

In most of the European territory of Russia, warm weather remains with an average daily temperature 2-5 degrees higher than the climate norm for these days. The reason for this is the Atlantic cyclones, whose trajectories pass along the northern coast. Along their southern peripheries, with western and southwestern flows that are established at high altitudes, portions of warm and humid air continue to be carried to European Russia.

Russia helped Serbia gain a platform Tomorrow, Serbian President Boris Tadic plans to dissolve parliament and call early elections for May 11. Elections to local authorities were already scheduled for this day, so the combination will help the state treasury save a lot of money. But this is the only encouraging circumstance for the Serbs.