CAMERON SINKS FOR BIRTHDAY
«Titanic» director James Cameron spent his birthday underwater. Cameron, who turned 56 on Monday, dived beneath the surface of the world’s deepest lake in a submersible he used to film the wreck of the Titanic, the Foundation for the Preservation of Lake Baikal said.
Cameron boarded the Mir-1 submersible and spent a few hours in Lake Baikal’s waters, the Russian-based group said. The Mir-1, less than 8 meters long, is one of two submersibles Cameron used to film the Titanic in preparation for the 1997 blockbuster.
Russia used the vessel in 2007 to plant a Russian flag on the sea floor near the North Pole. On Monday, it was piloted by Anatoly Sagalevich, director of the technical council of the preservation foundation, who invited Cameron on his first visit to Lake Baikal and gave him a hardy «hydronaut’s» watch. The sickle-shaped lake in Siberia, some 5,000 kilometers east of Moscow, is the world’s oldest and deepest lake, according to UNESCO, which lists it as a World Heritage Site. It holds one-fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water. Ecologists say the 25 million-year-old lake, which reaches a depth of 1,637 meters, harbors 1,500 plant and animal species, including a unique freshwater seal.1
Beneath Ниже, под
Blockbuster Кассовый хит (зарабатывает более 100 миллионов долларов
Board (v) Подниматься на борт
Deep Глубокий
Director Режиссер
Dive Нырять
Harbor Содержать, укрывать
Hardy hydronaut’s watch Водонепроницаемые часы
Hold (held, held) Держать, содержать
Invite Приглашать
Plant Устанавливать
Plant and animal species Виды растений и животных
Reach Достигать
Sea floor Морское дно
Seal Тюлень
Sickle-shaped lake Серповидное озеро
Sink (sank, sank) 1) погружаться, 2) тонуть
Spend (spent, spent) Проводить время
Submersible Подводный аппарат
Surface Поверхность
Vessel Корабль, судно
World Heritage Мировое наследие
Wreck Крушение
FSB Detains Romanian «Spy»
The Federal Security Service said a Romanian diplomat was caught spying Monday and given 48 hours to leave the country.
Gabriel Grecu, first secretary in the political department of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow, was detained while trying to obtain secret military information from a Russian citizen, the FSB said in a statement. «Espionage equipment seized from the agent fully reveals his hostile activities against Russia,» the statement said.
Russia has made a formal protest to the Romanian government about Grecu’s activities and declared him persona non grata, the FSB said.
The Romanian Embassy in Moscow and Romania’s Foreign Ministry in Bucharest both declined to comment on the matter. Relations between Russia and Romania are cool. Romania joined NATO in 2004, and it has annoyed Russia by supporting the pro-European government in Moldova, a former Soviet republic where two-thirds of the population speaks Romanian. In June, Moldova ordered Russia to withdraw 1,500 troops who have been stationed in a separatist region of the country since the Soviet Union collapsed nearly two decades ago.