Justine Henin suffered the most devastating defeat in her career Russian big-racket masters are demonstrating high-quality tennis at a major tournament currently taking place in Miami (USA). Men and women here have an equal prize fund - $3.77 million each. Without taking into account the two matches of the girls' competition, which ended last night Moscow time, three of our compatriots secured access to the quarterfinals - Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev and Svetlana Kuznetsova .

Zemfira at the Olimpiyskiy An event, to be sure. The first and last time Zemfira assembled this hall was eight years ago, on the same first of April. Moscow does not observe an oversupply of Zemfira. Well, he will perform at the club from time to time, at the Green Theater or at the Maxidrom. But it clearly doesn’t overfeed. But if he performs, then to the fullest. The last concert was a real monster.

From an informed source in Moscow, Vremya Novostey learned that, as a compromise on the problem of missile defense, the Americans are now proposing to allow Russian observation officers to future American missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland. At the same time, Washington sets a condition: that in return American specialists be allowed to visit Russian missile defense facilities, including those located near Moscow.

Moscow has found a way to respond to supporters of the region’s independence Moscow for the first time officially announced the possibility of dividing the region of Kosovo, which in February unilaterally declared independence , which was never supported by Russia.

The State Duma increased penalties for abandoning parental debt Legislators put unscrupulous dads on the counter . This is how the first deputy leader of the United Russia faction, Tatyana Yakovleva, commented on yesterday’s decision of the State Duma, which adopted amendments to the Family Code in the first reading. When the bill is approved by both chambers and signed by the president, the new version of Art. 115 of the Code, the amount of the penalty for alimentary debt will increase.

Gazprom and Eni are close to a deal with assets in Libya The Day of Russian-Italian Business Friendship , during which business representatives from the Apennine Peninsula met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Novo-Ogarevo, did not bring any big deals. Assistant to the head of the Russian state Sergei Yastrzhembsky only hinted at the possibility of a quick breakthrough in negotiations between Gazprom and Eni regarding the exchange of assets.

The organizers of the Sochi Olympics were unable to determine the amount of compensation for alienated land plots Public opinion, and first of all the direct participants in the “game” of the 2014 Olympics - residents of the resettled areas of Sochi , are interested in how the issue of land rights will be resolved.

The head of the Fed promised a recession in the US economy in the first half of the year and recovery in the second The head of the US Federal Reserve System, Ben Bernanke, yesterday spoiled the mood of investors with his forecast of a possible recession in the American economy in the first half of the year. “After this, the US economy should recover,” he assured members of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

A unique meeting will take place today at the summit in Bucharest . For the first time, the leaders of the 40 countries whose contingents operate as part of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan will meet with the country's President Hamid Karzai, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, senior officials of the European Union and other international organizations. This meeting will not just reaffirm our commitment to support Afghanistan, although that will also be done.

The Central Election Commission refused to acknowledge the decline in Russians' trust in the electoral system The legal culture of Russians and methods for improving it were the focus of yesterday's meeting of the Central Election Commission. Electoral system workers heard and approved a report on the implementation of the Consolidated Plan of Major Activities to Improve the Legal Culture of Voters and Train Election Organizers in 2007. 162 million rubles were spent on its implementation.

The head of the Central Bank is confident in the stability of the Russian banking system The head of the Central Bank, Sergei Ignatiev, predicts a slowdown in lending growth in the Russian banking system and opposes the idea of ​​granting Rosfinmonitoring additional rights in the process of revoking banking licenses . He spoke about this yesterday from the rostrum of the congress of the Association of Russian Banks and at a separate meeting with journalists.

Counterintelligence officers conducted searches in the offices of the UBEP St. Petersburg The offices of the heads of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes (UBEP) of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region were searched yesterday.

Zimbabwe's ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has lost control of parliament for the first time in 28 years. According to the official results of the March 29 presidential elections announced yesterday , the party of 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe can only claim 93 seats in the 210-seat parliament. And the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of 56-year-old Morgan Tsvangirai has 105 seats.

In the north-west and in the center of the European territory of Russia, thanks to the efforts of the anticyclone, predominantly dry and warm weather will remain. During the day, under the rays of the hot April sun, the air will warm up to +9...+16оС. However, in the northwestern region on Thursday, light rains will already affect the approach of the Atlantic cyclone. Due to cloudiness and rain, the day will become a little cooler: the temperature will drop to +7...+12оС.

The State Duma marked the anniversary of the Holodomor with a political statement The State Duma yesterday adopted a statement “In memory of the victims of the famine of the 30s on the territory of the USSR.” Discussion of this issue caused a tough and intense debate.