Africans are looking for a way out of the crisis in Zimbabwe The Zimbabwean government confirmed yesterday that the second round of the country's presidential election will go ahead as scheduled on Friday. At the same time, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s refusal to participate in the election process , according to the authorities, “means nothing.” However, in reality, this predetermines the uncontested victory of 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980.

Appointment of acting rector of the St. Petersburg Conservatory caused protests from professors An emergency meeting of the staff of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, dedicated to the equally emergency appointment by the Ministry of Culture to the position of acting. rector violinist Sergei Stadler, turned into a scandal yesterday.

100 years ago one of the strongest intelligence services in the world was created The French gave the Americans not only the Statue of Liberty. On June 26, 1908, exactly one hundred years ago, Carl Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's great-nephew, signed an order establishing a Bureau of Investigation at the Ministry of Justice. At that time, Bonaparte, the grandson of Prince Jerome, Napoleon's younger brother, served as US Attorney General.

The District Court of Tampa, Florida, received an application from Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. With a request to assign two sites to her at the bottom of the English Channel. This news aroused great interest among historians, archaeologists... and the French authorities. The fact is that Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. specializes in finding treasures from sunken ships. Searching for underwater treasures and recovering them is a very profitable and serious business.

FMS promises to speed up the process of obtaining foreign passports The Federal Migration Service continues to look for ways to cope with the influx of Russians wishing to obtain a foreign passport . And they promise to respond to criticism from citizens who are faced with queues when filling out forms, and then wait for months for the coveted document giving the right to travel outside of Russia.

Guus Hiddink scares the Spaniards with his calmness Russia is preparing for its first ever European Championship semi-final. Relaxed and calm. If Guus Hiddink's team had not played against the Spaniards at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium today, having defeated the Russian team 4:1 in the opening match of the European Championship, there would have been cause for concern: there might not have been enough emotions in the third week of the tournament.

The waters and seas that are more accessible to our compatriots hold many mysteries. For example, Black. Expeditions of treasure hunters have been unsuccessfully trying for almost 150 years to find at the bottom of the Black Sea the British frigate "Black Prince", which sank on November 14, 1854 during a severe storm off Balaklava.

The situation around the Military Leaders' Club was commented on by the former head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, Colonel General Fyodor LADIGIN, now an adviser to the general director of the Sukhoi aviation holding company, to Vremya Novostey columnist Nikolai POROSKOV. The Military Leaders Club is a huge cohort of people with significant knowledge acquired at several military universities and extensive service experience.

Retired generals offer their services to the state If the President Hotel in Moscow saw such a number of general stars, it was only once - in April 2005, during the formation of a new public organization “The Military Leaders Club of the Russian Federation” .

Expensive oil reduces demand for aircraft The world's leading commercial aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing could lose 25-30% of the orders they have already collected if market oil prices continue their unpredictable rise, says the chairman of the board of directors of the world's largest aviation leasing company International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) Steven Udvar-Hazy.

The election of the board of directors of TNK-BP Holding will be immediately appealed The conflict between the shareholders of TNK-BP (which is half owned by BP, and another 50% of the shares are distributed among members of the Russian consortium Alfa/Access/Renova) went inside the company. Today there will be a meeting of shareholders of TNK-BP Holding, a subsidiary of TNK-BP, on whose balance sheet the main assets are located.

Last fall, Gazprom increased its stake in the German company Wingas from 35 to 50% minus one share, becoming virtually an equal partner of BASF in the gas transportation and distribution market in Germany and other Western European countries. In 1993, Wingas began its approach to the German market from scratch and became the first example of the development of competition in the field of gas supplies to consumers with the direct participation of the Russian monopolist.

An evening in memory of Alexander Prokofiev was held at the Musical Theater One of Russia's best ballet teachers died a year ago, the day before his 65th birthday. Recently he lived and worked in Germany - he left in the nineties, when the money for hellish work here began to pay too ridiculously. Before that, he trained a galaxy of excellent gentleman dancers.

Dmitry Medvedev will make his debut at the Russia-EU summit Today the next, twenty-first, Russia-European Union summit opens in Khanty-Mansiysk. And the first for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The main result expected from this large-scale event is the start of negotiations on a new cooperation agreement . “I think this should be a successful summit.

Russia-EU summits are held twice a year, but the one that opens today in Khanty-Mansiysk is not an ordinary one. And not only because of the exotic location of it. On the Russian side, new President Dmitry Medvedev will make his debut there, and this acquaintance is extremely important for Europeans. In addition, at this meeting a political start will be given to negotiations on a new Russia-EU basic document, which will replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in force since 1997.