The Vancouver Olympics, instead of the expected triumph, brought bitter disappointment mixed with shame. The main television event of February turned into a complete torment. Professional and seasonal fans did not lose their usual sense of excitement - they still watched the Olympics both day and night - but they no longer felt anything other than a feeling of powerless despair at the end.

Moscow theater award “Highlight of the Season” awarded The crystal “Highlight of the Season” (for some reason hammered into a crystal ball) is being awarded for the eighth time, and the festive ceremony of this presentation, held in the spirit of a theatrical skit, has always been considered the most fun and informal of all awards for stage workers.

Russian parties decided to turn the country's defeat at the Winter Olympics into their victory Political parties and movements have actively joined the search for those to blame for the most disastrous Winter Olympics in the history of the country in Vancouver.

Businessmen responded to the prime minister's criticism Owners of energy assets, criticized a week ago by Vladimir Putin for failure to implement investment programs , yesterday made it clear that they do not consider the criticism fair.

The 80th International Motor Show started in Geneva Yesterday the 80th anniversary motor show opened in Geneva. More than 250 companies from 30 countries are participating in the International Motor Show Geneva-2010, which will demonstrate products of 700 brands. The world's major manufacturers remain convinced that small, eco-friendly cars are the future, and luxury brands such as Audi, Lexus and Aston Martin are seeking to meet the need, the BBC notes.

During the White Olympics, events that took place in sports that do not belong to the program of the Winter Games went into the shadows. Meanwhile, the football season will soon begin in Russia, the regular championship of the volleyball super league is approaching its end, the second group stage of the Euroleague basketball is approaching the finish line, the Formula 1 World Auto Racing Championship, the tennis Davis Cup, prestigious bicycle road races on the roads of Europe and etc.

Small businesses will be offered insurance against government inspections Participants in the V Congress of the Association of Business Organizations of Russia (OPORA), held on Monday in the building of the Ministry of Economic Development, demanded that government officials curb the law-making and rule-making aimed at creating new “feeding troughs”.

The pension fund has reached the subsistence level Thanks to valorization, pensions have increased for more than 90% of citizens. The average increase turned out to be slightly less than expected last year: instead of 1,100 rubles. -- 1090. For more than half of the pensioners, the increase exceeded 1 thousand rubles, but some became richer by 3 thousand, while others gained less than 100 rubles.

Russia and Georgia slightly opened the land border In the shadow of the negotiations between the presidents of Russia and France in Paris, an event remained that was no less important for Russian foreign policy: traffic opened through the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border. You can only cross the checkpoint by car - the checkpoint on the Russian border with Azerbaijan operates according to the same scheme. Upper Lars has been closed since July 2006.

The most disastrous Olympics for Russia on native TV was initially accompanied by smug and unceremonious comments that strongly distracted viewers from the victories of foreign athletes. Only Tatyana Tarasova and Kirill Nabutov commented on what was happening correctly, interestedly, and with sincere sympathy for all, without exception, participants in difficult and responsible competitions.

UN to study report on secret Turkmen prisoners At the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which opened on March 1 in Geneva, a report prepared by independent experts on secret prisons in the world will be heard. A huge document of more than two hundred pages, prepared over the course of a year, has already caused numerous scandals in many countries.

Post-holiday January took place on television under the banner of the series “School”. Regardless of personal assessment, one could be glad that there was a subject for heated debate. It seemed that this was a non-trivial word for serial aesthetics, which was worthy of at least detailed analytical understanding. For me, “School” is innovation with a minus sign, and innovation in general is very relative.

How Russian power will grow in a separate sport - judo - became clear after the final of the national championship among athletes under 17 years old, which ended in Kabardino-Balkaria. Having won the most awards - 21 (four gold, four silver and 13 bronze) and unconditional first place in the team event, the team of the Southern Federal District celebrated their victory in the capital of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

A strong business executive honors the memory of an “effective manager” The Moscow City Hall does not intend to abandon plans to decorate the capital for Victory Day with posters depicting Stalin. Yesterday, at a regular meeting of the capital's government, city officials approved the program of celebrations dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Victory. It provides for the placement of information stands with the image of Stalin in different areas of the city.

In Russia, the technical condition of transport and the level of qualifications of personnel pose a threat to passenger life that is almost ten times more dangerous than terrorism. Such data was presented yesterday by the head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Transport (Rostransnadzor) Gennady Kurzenkov at an extended meeting of his department. At the same time, he noted that accidents in the Russian transport complex in 2009 decreased by 6% compared to 2008.