One of the prisoners of the colony of Rostov-on-Don tied with the multiple world champion in chess Anatoly Karpov during a simultaneous game session. The “hero” of the colony of general regime was Alexander Zubchenko, who was serving his sentence for attempted murder. Karpov handed him and two other players who lost, but ongoing the longest, Karpov handed chess sets with his own autograph. The simultaneous game session was held on 11 boards, RIA Novosti reports.

The world-famous American fantasy writer Robert Shekeli would like to write a book about Russia. He reported this on the air of the Echo of Moscow radio station in Yekaterinburg. “To do this, I need to stay here for a while, it depends on what I see, whom I will meet,” the writer noted. According to Robert Shekeli, he "pleasantly struck that a lot of attention was manifested to such a writer like me." “I look forward to new meetings, new impressions,” he added.

At the upcoming at the end of September, the international competition of readers of the Koran in the capital of Saudi Arabia Russia will be represented by five participants. This was announced by the Internet site Muslim.ru Head of the International Department of the Council of Mufties of Russia Rushan Abbyasov. "Most likely, the Russian list will be experts on the Main Book of Muslims from the Republic of Tatarstan, the Orenburg region, Perm and other regions," said Rushan Abbyasov.

The famous Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov will play in the comedy television series "Sex and the City", which gained very popularity in the United States and is demonstrated in many other countries, including Russia. The manufacturer of the television series - the HBO cable television company - announced on Wednesday in New York. The world ballet star will have to play the role of the popular artist Alexander Petrovsky.

Media publications about the actions in Moscow of a maniac can provoke the appearance of such criminals, said the employee of the Laboratory of the Judicial Sexology of the State Scientific Center for Social and Judicial Psychiatry named after Serbian Georgy Vvedensky. Vvedensky advises the prosecutor's office in the case of a series of July murders of women in Moscow.

Researchers studying documents returned to the CIA Germany found that the head of the reformed committee was an agent of the East German secret police. The group, consisting of 50 analysts, works with the Rosenholtz folder, the latest documents relating to espionage from East Germany, which were taken to Washington in recent days of the GDR and returned in the present July.

Roman Abramovich invested well by buying a Chelsea London football club. Such a conclusion can be made from the annual report of the audit company Deloitte & Touche , the Vedomosti write. The most attractive to investment football market in Europe is called in the report. According to Deloitte & Touche, the total income of clubs playing in the top leagues of European countries increased during the 2001/02 season to 7.1 billion euros from 6.6 billion euros.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the temple of St. Seraphim of Sarov , ITAR-TASS reports. The head of state, whom the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II met at the entrance to the temple, examined the altar and applied to the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Accompanied by Alexy II, the president examined the cell of Seraphim of Sarov. The Patriarch said that it was recovered literally according to the pictures, but some items have already been restored.

Sales of a new generation of Renault Megane begin in Moscow a month earlier than the official premiere, which should take place at the August metropolitan car dealership, Vedomosti reports. The first batch consists of just a few dozen cars. So most potential buyers will be able to evaluate Megane II, which is not least due to its avant -garde design won the title of "Car of the Year - 2003" in Europe, only in the fall.

On the Moscow -St. Petersburg highway, a minibus and a truck crashed into a group of people who sell fresh vegetables by the road. As reported on Thursday in the traffic police department of the Novgorod region, a traffic accident on 500 km of a highway occurred on the eve of 15:31 Moscow time. Leaving the roadside of the road, the 52-year-old driver of the GAZ-33021 car (Gazelle) from St. Petersburg was not convinced that the route was free and encountered a passing MAZ brand from Kazan.

A survey conducted in the UK showed that most of the kingdom residents are unhappy with the current design of the national currency. The study was conducted by Virgin Money and was due to the fact that 10-pound banknotes with the image of the writer Charles Dickens are removed from the turnover. On banknotes of a new sample will be depicted by Charles Darwin. However, the British want to see not at all great scientists on their money, Sky News reports.

The head of the Tibetan Buddhists, who vowed celibacy many years ago and devoted his life to prayers and good deeds, recently admitted that sometimes he was very suffering from the lack of female power in his life, the newspaper Kommersant writes with reference to Times.

The Vatican begins a large-scale campaign aimed at changing public opinion regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriages, ITAR-TASS reports.

The source of information about the likelihood of a new theft of passenger aircraft to perform a large attack with their help was one of Al-Qaeda’s high-ranking figures. This was reported by the CNN television company with reference to a source in the American administration. According to him, this person is the organizer of the terrorist attack on May 12 in a residential complex for foreigners in the capital of Saudi Arabia - Er -Riyde, which killed 35 people.

Employees of the Prosecutor General and the FSB of Russia began checking the investment bank "Trust" (previously - a confidential and investment bank) owned by MF Menatep. As it became known to Kommersant , this time investigators were interested in not only financial transactions related to the head of the MFI Plato Lebedev, but also the movement of funds in the accounts of the bank’s customers. And among them - a structure close to the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Kasyanov.