The leadership of the FSIN announced new mass layoffs in its ranks Deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Andrei Velichko at a press conference on Saturday announced a new large-scale purge being prepared in the department. According to him, a decision has already been prepared to dismiss about 20 generals and dozens of lower-ranking employees.

And promises to do nuclear fusion Today Iran intends to send a letter to the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna with proposals for resolving the nuclear problem. This was stated yesterday in Istanbul by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu after a meeting with colleagues from Iran and Brazil.

Anniversary of the Salzburg Festival - the beginning of a new era Yesterday, the Salzburg Festival, the largest music and theater forum in Europe, started: Hugo von Hofmannsthal's famous play "The Name" was performed on Cathedral Square, just like ninety years ago.

June 23 -- July 23, 2010 “Politicians Through the Eyes of the Media,” a joint project of “Vremya Novostei” and the “Medialogia” company, are ratings of political figures who are most actively discussed in the federal press and on central TV channels.

Central Partnership was the first to announce a plan for films after the financing reform The Central Partnership company was the first to publish a list of films that will be made with the participation of the state Film Support Fund. However, budget money is 240 million rubles. -- will amount to only 40% of the total amount planned to finance the production of seven films. The rest is funds raised by the company itself and its own.

BP chief Tony Hayward is preparing to leave his post The accident, which occurred on April 20 on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform , was the result of a tripping alarm that warns of excess concentrations of flammable gases in the wellbore, said Mike Williams, head of the facility's electrical engineering services.

Execution in Buinaksk In Dagestan on Friday evening, three lieutenant colonels of the Russian army were shot by unknown assailants. According to the regional department of the Investigative Committee, the attack on them occurred in Buinaksk at the intersection of Dakhadayev and Yanina streets at about 21.10, when the officers were returning from the 136th separate motorized rifle brigade after service. The criminals, who were in a passing car, opened fire on them from machine guns.

Capital builders demolished an ancient manor in the center of Moscow Last weekend, almost overnight, city investors demolished several buildings built in the 18th and 19th centuries in the historical part of Moscow. As one of the coordinators of the Arkhnadzor movement for the protection of monuments, Rustam Rakhmatulin, told Vremya Novostei yesterday, the territory of the Alekseevs’ urban estate complex on Bakhrushina Street was cleared for the construction of a modern hotel complex.

Seoul does not need direct dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang Yesterday, South Korea and the United States began joint naval exercises involving 20 ships, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington, two hundred aircraft and about eight thousand military personnel from both countries. The maneuvers will last four days.

Defenders of the Khimki forest were dispersed with the help of riot police The confrontation between environmentalists from Khimki near Moscow, protesting against the start of construction of a new high-speed toll highway Moscow - St. Petersburg, and contractors who began cutting down the Khimki forest, has entered the phase of direct confrontation. On Friday, Moscow region police detained 15 activists of the “green” movement.

Zenit and Siberia held their last rehearsals before the cup campaign Zenit St. Petersburg, the first domestic club to enter European competition, confirmed its readiness for the third qualifying round of the Champions League with another victory in the Russian Championship.

The Supreme Court legalized savings on bonuses Trade unions failed to get the Supreme Court to change the scheme for calculating the so-called northern bonuses paid in a number of Russian regions for work in difficult natural conditions. At the end of last week, the Supreme Court put an end to the disputes that had been going on for the past few years, including in the court itself, which made contradictory rulings.

The cooling of Russian-Iranian relations has not escaped the attention of Western experts, who consider Moscow one of the US’s key partners in resolving Tehran’s nuclear problem. Many in America are confident that the reset between Moscow and Washington must include an adjustment of the Kremlin’s political priorities, and therefore are quite critical of its prospects. Among them is Leon ARON, director of Russian programs at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

“If I want to whistle, I’ll whistle!” on Moscow screens Silviu (Gekorghe Pestireanu), a large and retarded eighteen-year-old boy, a robber sparrow, has been kicking dust in the courtyard of a juvenile detention center for four years now. Why he got there is not really explained to us, and he doesn’t seem to remember it very well himself --- or know. One thing is clear - he has fifteen days left to sit.

On Monday, the weather is hot in the north-west of the European part of Russia, in the warm sector of the cyclone. In the North-Western region +31...+36оС, in the Novgorod region up to +38оС, in some places short rains and thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 20 m/s. In the middle zone the weather remains abnormally hot.