Chronicle of sporting events The Olympic qualifying competitions ended in Tokyo (Japan) and Dusseldorf (Germany), as a result of which the composition of the participants in the women's tournament in Beijing was fully formed and the winner of the ninth ticket to the Summer Games for men became known. In the Land of the Rising Sun, the world qualification was combined with the Asian one. Eight teams played in one round, and three teams finished with the same results - six wins and one loss.

Economic and military The development of relations with Russia is “a priority of Afghanistan’s foreign policy, both in a bilateral format and within the framework of international organizations, for example the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.” These words, pleasant for Russian ears, were spoken yesterday at the end of a two-day visit to Moscow by Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta after negotiations with his colleague Sergei Lavrov.

Six people were killed and 480 injured as a result of a new earthquake that struck Sichuan province on May 25. The previous disaster on May 12 killed 65 thousand people, and another 24 thousand were missing. Among the dead were 9 thousand students, despite the fact that intact buildings often stand next to schools lying in ruins.

Is it possible to meaningfully confront the current general disorientation and the rules of the game imposed by global capital? Two Western theorists belonging to the left tradition give their answer to this question. Apology for refusal Slavoj Zizek. Breaking device. Parallax vision. - M.: Europe, 2008.

Gennady Onishchenko shifts responsibilities to insurance companies It is likely that Russian businessmen, whose products reach the end consumer and are capable of unwittingly causing damage to his health, will soon have to acquire a special insurance policy. Recently, a bill on compulsory sanitary and epidemiological insurance appeared on the website of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor).

Georgia does not want to live according to tips from Moscow or Washington Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday congratulated his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili on Independence Day, proclaimed by the country's Menshevik government 90 years ago.

In the northwestern region on Tuesday there will be intermittent rain in places, +12...+17оС. On Wednesday, mostly without precipitation, during the day +14...+19оС. There is little chance of precipitation in the central region on Tuesday, with scattered showers expected on Wednesday. The air temperature will gradually increase: on Tuesday the air in the daytime will warm up to +12...+17оС, and on Wednesday the thermometer will rise to +13...+18оС.

Entrepreneur Larisa Bazanova elected mayor of Arkhangelsk The elections for the mayor of Arkhangelsk ended with a surprise last Sunday. Acting mayor Viktor Pavlenko was narrowly beaten by entrepreneur Larisa Bazanova, head of the non-profit partnership Larisa Bazanova's Creative Group. She entered the fight for the position of mayor as a self-nominated candidate; she had not previously been noticed on the federal political scene; there is no information about her party affiliation.

Pavlyuchenkova made a successful debut on the courts of Paris, and Kuerten, Coria and Baghdatis dropped out of the fight The second Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, kicked off on Monday in the outskirts of Paris. These competitions were first held in 1891 as the French national men's tennis championship, in which, however, members of French tennis clubs were also allowed to participate. It's funny that the first winner of the tournament was not a Frenchman, but an Englishman, H. Briggs.

UN mission observers found the person responsible for the death of a Georgian drone A Georgian reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down by a Russian military aircraft on April 20 - this is the conclusion of the UN observer mission in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone. This news was immediately announced by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, omitting the word “mission”. And it turned out to be significant - as if the entire United Nations was dealing with the downed drone.

Yesterday in Ashgabat, a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the field of energy was signed between Turkmenistan and the European Union. Especially for this occasion, a representative EU delegation headed by EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs arrived in Ashgabat.

Dexter Airlines , which has been providing air taxi services in Moscow and St. Petersburg since last year, yesterday added the first provincial base to its network. One of the company's three Pilatus PC-12 light aircraft was relocated to Sochi. According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dexter, Evgeniy Artyukhov, by June 4 the company will purchase another similar aircraft and place it in Samara.

Why are tribute bands needed? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, said one English writer back in the mid-19th century. As if it were said about today's pop music. In the West, imitation is a separate creative profession. A band performing the songs of some famous band earns, of course, less than their idols, but more than the average club band.

The British oil company is not going to sell its stake in TNK-BP The conflict between TNK-BP shareholders has entered the public phase. Representatives of BP, which owns 50% of the shares of Russia's fourth largest oil company, admitted to disagreements with the Russian co-owners from the Alfa/Access/Renova consortium . First, TNK-BP President Robert Dudley, elected under the British company's quota, stated this in an interview.

Cuban authorities accuse American diplomats from the US Interests Section in Cuba (which is actually the embassy) of passing money collected by Cuban exiles to the opposition in Havana. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque even held a press conference on this issue with the presentation of evidence. The worsening relationship with the United States comes amid cautious reforms on the island launched this year by Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's younger brother and successor.