Russian troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia will conduct their first exercises since the war with Georgia this summer On Monday, as planned, the first tactical research exercise in the history of the Russian army ended (see Vremya Novostey, March 16) . The exercise was conducted on the basis of the 74th motorized rifle brigade of the Siberian Military District at the Yurginsky training ground in the Kemerovo region.

Czech Prime Minister resigned At the fifth attempt, the Czech opposition managed to dismiss the center-right government of 52-year-old Mirek Topolanek (pictured) last night. The debate continued until late. As a result, the minimum required number of deputies - 101 out of 200 - spoke in support of the vote of no confidence.

The publication of Pushkin's lifetime edition has been completed The appearance of the final book of the four-volume series “Pushkin in Lifetime Criticism” (St. Petersburg, State Pushkin Theater Center; series “Pushkin Premiere”, 2008; general editing by Ekaterina Larionova) indicates that at least some of our “plans on a grand scale” can be brought to completion . While I’m glad that the plot is over, I can’t, however, ignore a few stupid questions.

Victims of nuclear tests will receive compensation Paris will pay compensation to victims of French nuclear tests conducted from 1960 to 1996 in the Algerian Sahara and Polynesia. The corresponding bill will be submitted to parliament before the summer holidays. The first tranche of compensation will amount to 10 million euros.

Lithuania and Estonia will lay a submarine cable Lithuania and Estonia have a new chance to achieve energy independence from Russia. From the EU summit in Brussels, the prime ministers of the two countries, Andrius Kubilius and Andrus Ansip, brought good news - the EU is allocating money to lay submarine cables along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to connect the power grids of the Baltic states with Sweden and Finland.

Human rights activists warn of “illegal anti-extremism” by authorities Human rights activists believe that anti-extremism legislation is often used for other purposes than its intended purpose.

Watch from March 26 on Moscow screens "The Wrestler" (USA, 2008, Darren Aronofsky).

The government expects a second wave of crisis in 2009 and prosperity in 2020 The Board of the Ministry of Economic Development at the end of 2008 resulted in a large-scale debate about the future of the Russian economy. No one can predict when the crisis will end. But regarding its scale and consequences for the country, everyone who gathered at the board had their own opinion. The range of views turned out to be quite significant.

The crisis may prevent United Russia from removing mayors through local parliaments The other day, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a presidential bill providing for local parliaments the opportunity to dismiss the elected head of a municipality. In Russian conditions, the main recipients of this norm will be mayors, whose elections, unlike gubernatorial elections, have not yet been canceled in the country, and city councils.

Academic music recorded If Olivier Messiaen's last work "Illuminations from the Other World" was recorded only a few times, then Gustav Mahler's "Song of the Earth" has dozens of recordings. However, Mahler has still not been sung in Chinese, and the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has practically never addressed Messiaen before. Therefore, both new records are of undoubted interest.

Negotiations between the prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine canceled Moscow's reaction to the declaration signed on Monday in Brussels between Ukraine and the European Commission on the modernization of the Ukrainian gas transportation system became even harsher yesterday.

The second wave of the banking crisis may be calmer than the first The deterioration in the quality of loan portfolios of Russian banks may cause a second wave of crisis in the sector this fall. This forecast was given yesterday by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. However, there are chances to get out of this situation with little loss of life.

The correction in the Russian stock market is caused by a decline in oil prices Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin yesterday warned investors that the financial market is facing a new wave of crisis associated with non-repayment of loans by the real sector. As a result, the Russian stock market experienced a slight correction, the RTS index fell by more than 2%.

Sberbank showed weak results in January-February Sberbank received a net profit of 5.1 billion rubles in the first two months of 2009, according to the bank’s financial statements for January-February under RAS published yesterday. This is 4.5 times less than for the same period last year, when this figure amounted to 23 billion rubles. At the same time, the bank's operating income increased by more than one and a half times compared to the previous year.

Doctors predict outbreaks of tuberculosis This year, Russia faces a surge in tuberculosis cases. The inevitability of this is recognized today by both doctors and officials. The corresponding pessimistic forecasts were made public on the eve of World Tuberculosis Day celebrated yesterday. True, the reasons for the current troubles are given differently: doctors talk about poor drug supply, and officials blame the global financial crisis for everything.