Goldman Sachs has become "morally bankrupt" British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured) joined the attack on the American bank Goldman Sachs. He said on the BBC that the British Financial Conduct Authority should immediately launch an investigation into the activities of Goldman Sachs together with American financial authorities. According to Mr. Brown, the case of the largest American bank highlights the need for further reforms of the international banking system.

The American show Pilobolus was shown at the Variety Theater The name of this dance theater, which has just performed in Moscow, and today begins to show its performance in St. Petersburg, is somewhat misleading.

Tottenham works wonders in the fight for the Champions League In two English derbies, Mancunian and London, Tottenham emerged victorious. After Manchester United snatched victory from Manchester City, and Harry Redknapp's team beat Chelsea, Spurs moved into fourth place. Now the main thing for Tottenham is not to retreat from the conquered positions until May 5, and then in a face-to-face meeting with the “citizens” they will determine who is more worthy of the Champions League.

The capital's authorities have allocated funds to disperse clouds on Victory Day The Moscow Department of Housing, Communal Services and Improvement has been instructed to prepare measures to improve weather conditions during the celebration of Victory Day on May 9. The corresponding resolution was recently signed by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. This year, 44.5 million rubles will be spent on dispersing rain clouds over Moscow.

The President of Uzbekistan faces difficult negotiations in Moscow Yesterday evening, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov (pictured) arrived in Moscow for a two-day official visit. Today he will be received in the Kremlin by Dmitry Medvedev, and before that Russian-Uzbek negotiations will take place in an expanded format. Then, in the late afternoon, Karimov will meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, after which the Uzbek leader will leave the Russian capital.

Abnormally warm weather has settled over most of the European territory of Russia (with the exception of the Lower Don). In the next 24 hours, the temperature regime in European Russia will change slightly. In the northwestern region, precipitation will stop; on Tuesday afternoon the air will warm up to +6...+11оС, on Wednesday to +8...+13оС.

Toyota is ready to pay $16.4 million without admitting guilt Japanese automaker Toyota Motor yesterday announced its agreement to pay an industry-record fine of $16.4 million. This amount was demanded by the US government, accusing the concern of deliberately concealing defects in its cars, which subsequently caused their massive recall. The size of Toyota's fine, according to US law, is the maximum possible for auto companies.

A period of volcanic activity begins on the island of Iceland A volcanic eruption in Iceland has changed the way life is lived in Europe. So far, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which means “island of mountain glaciers” in Icelandic, has only led to the closure of airspace over most of the Old World. Meanwhile, this is not the first time that a volcanic eruption on the small island of Iceland has seriously affected the whole of Europe.

The IOC inspection saw real construction in Sochi for the first time Over the past week, the Russian resort of Sochi, where unprecedented-scale work has finally begun to prepare the city for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, was inspected by specialists from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

More and more Russians do not want to share what they earn with the state The share of Russians who believe that taxes must be paid has decreased sharply. At the same time, the share of those who are ready to avoid paying taxes at any opportunity also remains at a very low level. Experts suggest that while there is a general willingness to pay taxes among citizens, dissatisfaction is growing not so much with the existing tax system as with the use of collected funds by the state.

The oil and gas economy hinders the improvement of the quality of life of Russians “There is progress in Russia, but it has a very strong smell of oil and gas,” said Natalya Zubarevich, head of regional programs at the Independent Institute for Social Policy, at yesterday's presentation of the 2009 Human Development Report in Russia. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been conducting such reviews annually for 13 years in a row.

The provisional government began to lose control over the situation in the country The situation in Kyrgyzstan yesterday began to get out of control of the country's interim government.

Sports officials can't get to the Fed Cup The finalist of the tournament in Charleston, Russian Vera Zvonareva, lost to Australian Samantha Stosur in the decisive round - 0:6, 3:6. Immediately after the competition, the captain of the Russian tennis team, Shamil Tarpishchev, who had received an American visa, but due to problems with delayed flights could not get to the United States, telephoned the athlete about her possible participation in the semi-finals of the Fed Cup.

Northern Cyprus turned right The Government of the Republic of Cyprus said yesterday that it considers the victory of Dervish Eroglu (pictured) in last Sunday's "presidential elections" in Northern Cyprus to be a "negative development". Eroglu, 72, is a supporter of dividing the island into two states.

Georgians want money from Russian tanker The troubled relations between Russia and Georgia have received another hole. In the coming days, the justice of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara will issue a verdict in the case of a tanker flying the Russian flag, detained in Batumi.