Vladimir Lukin’s report came out “more alarming” than usual Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin seems to have joined in the search for evidence of the arrival of a political “thaw” in our country, and this did not go unnoticed by his independent colleagues. Human rights activists drew attention to the features of the report published at the end of last week by Mr. Lukin.

Israel will take part in the Moscow conference on the Middle East - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently reported this news to Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov. However, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the Israelis put forward several conditions for their participation.

Hugo Chavez wants to be Barack Obama's friend After his April debut in Europe with the idea of ​​complete nuclear disarmament, US President Barack Obama has continued his peace offensive close to his country's borders with new initiatives aimed at Latin America.

Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev discovered that they need each other “There are no problems between us,” these words of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, said in an interview with Russian media, could, if desired, be made an epigraph to the final documents of his visit to Moscow that ended last weekend. But, since no documents were signed, we have to evaluate the Russian-Azerbaijani summit based on these words, as well as on the assessments of other officials.

The Russians came fifth in the new tournament The first ever World Team Figure Skating Championships ended in the capital of Japan, Tokyo, which was won by the US team, which scored 60 points. Canadian athletes took second place (54), and Japanese took third place (50). The Russians took penultimate, 5th place (35), behind the French (37). The last to finish were the Chinese (34).

If this continues, the next head coach of the capital's Spartak should be its owner Leonid Fedun. Why not? He has no less coaching experience than the current acting coach of the “people's team” Valery Karpin - also none. But Mr. Fedun pays, so he has every right to “call the tune,” demand dedication from the players, and also expel from the team those who do not show the proper level of play.

On Monday, in the northwestern region, precipitation in the form of snow and sleet is expected during the day only in the east, at night and in the morning there will be icy conditions in places, in some areas there will be increased wind gusts of up to 15-20 m/s, during the day -2... +3оС.

German Social Democrats composed a manifesto German political parties are actively preparing for elections to the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, which will be held at the end of September. Based on the results of the vote, the Federal Chancellor will be elected for the next four years. The main competition will take place between the conservative bloc of the CDU/CSU, led by current Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the Social Democrats.

"Golden Mask" celebrated its anniversary In honor of its fifteenth anniversary on Saturday evening, “Mask” gathered the public, participants and laureates for a ceremony where the awards “For Honor and Dignity” (critic Inna Solovyova), “For Support of Theater Arts” (Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug Alexander Filippenko) were awarded and the Kommersant Publishing House) and “For the best foreign performance shown in Russia in 2008” (“Ivanov” by the Hungarian theater József Katona).

FOOTBALL. April 22. Russian Cup. Quarterfinals. "Lokomotiv" - CSKA, "Moscow" - "Tom". Premier League. 6th round. April 25. "Zenit" - "Khimki", "Dynamo" - "Wings of the Soviets", "Terek" - "Saturn", "Rubin" - "Spartak". April 26. CSKA - Rostov, Kuban - Lokomotiv, Spartak-Nalchik - Amkar, Moscow - Tom. In the 2008/09 Russian Cup, two quarterfinals already took place last week.

Varlamov made his debut in the playoffs Hockey. NHL. Stanley Cup. First round. "Washington" -- "Rangers" -- 0:1 (series score 0--2), "Boston" -- "Montreal" -- 5:1 (2--0) - - Kovalev "M" (1 +0), “Detroit” -- “Columbus” -- 4:0 (2--0) - - Datsyuk “D” (1+0), “Chicago” -- “Calgary” -- 3:2 (2 --0). Russian goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov played his first match in the Stanley Cup.

Risks from the 2009 budget threaten the 2010 budget On Friday, two Deputy Ministers of Finance - Tatyana Nesterenko (pictured) and Anton Siluanov - found an hour and a half in their busy schedules to share with journalists their hopes and fears about the new version of the budget for the current year.

The opera competition ended predictably The opera competition was not like a battle of the titans. It could even be called weak if the main thing in it were not the contemplation of the general level of the opera stage, which is smoothly blurred across the country. The average temperature in this hospital turned out to be subfebrile - a slightly dull 37.1-37.3. Therefore, the fact that the main awards in the opera genre were awarded, in essence, “for heroism” is understandable.

Latvia is getting used to frugal living The Riga branch of the International Red Cross hopes to feed 50 thousand victims of the economic crisis. However, the “Welfare” campaign, which is about to begin, is designed for those who have Internet access. Those interested will be asked to fill out a questionnaire with questions about their financial situation, number of family members and indicate which products are needed first.

After an Easter calm that lasted several days, the Georgian opposition will resume protests tomorrow demanding the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili. The aggravation of the internal political struggle in Georgia worries the international community. The Special Representative of the European Union for the South Caucasus, Peter SEMNEBY, recently held negotiations with the Georgian leadership, opposition leaders, and representatives of the public.