The meeting of the ministerial contact group was held at the Italian Mission to the UN. According to the participants, she should demonstrate the unity of Western countries and Russia on the problem of Balkans on the eve of the elections in Yugoslavia and local elections in Kosovo, which were organized by the UN and were criticized from Russia.

For the first time, Russian athletes participated in the Olympic Games in 1908. Then the first gold received the skater Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin, and the wrestlers Alexander Petrov and Nikolai Orlov went to silver medals. The 1912 Olympic Games were the last for the Russian national team for a long 40 years. The next time, Russian athletes came to Gelsinki games in 1952, already as part of the USSR national team. Russia has been acting an independent team since 1996.

The US administration opens against the intention of the largest Russian Aeroflot airline to resume flights to Iraq. This was stated by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She expressed the hope that all members of the UN will continue to observe the sanctions that are imposed against Iraq. Albright also said that she would affect this issue at the upcoming meeting with his Russian colleague Igor Ivanov.

The Olympic fire of the XXVII Games was lit by the silver medalist of Atlanta - Begunya Katie Freeman. The name of the one who will be entrusted to the honorary right to light the Olympic fire was kept secret until the last minutes of the opening ceremony. This was only the second case in the history of modern Olympiads when a woman lit Olympic fire.

After two days of decline, world oil prices resumed their growth. Yesterday, in trading on the electronic system of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), oil prices rose by 1.1%, to $34.44 per barrel. At the International Petroleum Exchange in London, prices for Brent crude oil for October delivery rose 29 cents to $32.29 per barrel. The price of Russian Urals oil delivered to Mediterranean ports also increased and amounted to $29.56 per barrel. The increase was 86 cents.

In the capital of Sri Lanka Colombo, the terrorist-suicide bomb blew up, killing himself and four more people. 26 random passers -by were injured, 10 victims are in critical condition. The tragedy occurred near the buildings of the Ministry of Health and the city eye clinic. The policeman noticed a man who behaved quite suspiciously, and decided to check his documents. At that moment there was a powerful explosion. Panic began. The remains of bodies scattered tens of meters.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee spoke in New York to representatives of various Indian religions who came to a meeting held under the auspices of the United Nations in the United States. In his speech, the prime minister never once dwelled on the problem of Kashmir, where bloody clashes are taking place between Indian troops and Muslim separatists.

Casting for participation in the militant of Luke Besson and Jet Lee "The Kiss of the Dragon" brought the first results. In the picture with a budget of $ 25 million, the Bridget of the Foundation, Cario's checks and Jet Lee will be removed. The film is produced by Luke Besson, now the leading negotiations with the FOX studio on rental rights in North America. The production period will begin in Paris this month.

Prices for tickets in the suburban trains of the Moscow Railway (IMF) will be increased by 20 percent from September 18, the press service of the Ministry of Penenses said today. According to the leadership of the Ministry of Railways, passenger transportation are unprofitable for the railway industry. So, in 1999, losses from passenger transportation amounted to 2.6 billion rubles, and in 2000 they were expected in the amount of 3.5 billion rubles.

The Supreme Court of State Security of Egypt sentenced 10 Islamists in the case. Two of them are sentenced to 15 years in prison and hard labor.

It turns out that the culmination of the program was at risk of breaking. After Katie Freeman lit a fire on the water, the giant bowl rose above the pool up and went to the mast to get out of the stadium. At the foot of the mast, the structure was supposed to stand for thirty-second seconds. Due to the sudden technical problems, this process lasted seven times longer.

“I am only going to win Sydney,” Yevgeny Kafelnikov said today after he was forced to leave the tennis tournament in Tashkent, where he was sown under the first number. Kafelnikov lost two sets to the Italian David Sanginetti 5: 7, 3: 6, - promising to rehabilitate at the Olympics. American Justin Gimelstob defeated Harela Levy from Israel √ 6: 4, 6: 3. The Frenchman Stefan Yue refused the fight in the second set of the match with the British Jamya Delgado with a score of 1: 6, 0: 2.

On Thursday, the Moscow City Court held a regular hearing in the case of Yevgeny Reshetnikov, who is accused of committing an attempt on the life of a famous businessman, the head of a large oil company, Yevgeny Rybin. The first attempt on Rybin’s life occurred in November 1998, and about 4 months later the second one took place. In both cases, by luck, the businessman survived. Another 5 months later, Evgeniy Reshetnikov was detained, whom Rybin immediately identified as the shooter.

The Minister of Justice of Latvia Ingrid Labutsk decided to satisfy the statement of the veteran of the Great Patriotic War, Russian citizen Vasily Kononov on the abandonment of Latvian citizenship. Today, the minister confirmed this in an interview with BNS. Kononov submitted a statement about the abandonment of Latvian citizenship in early July. Within three months, the naturalization control checked it.

Today, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation expressed regret in connection with the decision of the Japanese national defense department on partial coagulation of exchange programs for military delegations of the two countries. “The fact that the decrease in the development of Russian -Japanese military cooperation occurred through the fault of Tokyo is only regretted,” said a senior representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense.