The launch of the Japanese lunar probe, planned for 2004, is postponed due to problems in the data transfer system, RIA Novosti reports. The Luna-A apparatus is supposed to be launched into space using a small Japanese M-5 missile designed for scientific goods. For the first time, it was planned to launch the device in 1999, and since then the start was postponed several times.

The head of the anti -doping commission of the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR) Nikolai Durmanov believes that at the Olympic Games in Athens it will not be possible to avoid doping scandals. This is due to the fact that in the competition in order to identify athletes taking prohibited drugs, the latest technical equipment will be used. "There is no such equipment in any country in the world. Therefore, doping scandals in any case will not be able to avoid.

The Republican Congressman Porter Goss announced yesterday about his departure from the post of Chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress. According to RIA Novosti, the state announced this at a meeting of the Committee, where he read out the text of the corresponding letter sent to them in the name of the speaker of the House of Representatives of Dennis Hastta.

In exchange for Russian loyalty in Georgia in its conflict with rebellious autonomies, Tbilisi invites Moscow to actively participate in its economy. This was in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant said the Minister of Defense of Georgia Georgy Baramidze.

South Ossetia warns that Georgia is pulling forces for the assault on Tskhinvali. Currently, up to 700 Georgian commandos are transferred to the border of the Znaursky district of South Ossetia. In addition, units of the internal troops of Georgia, headed by the commander of George Tavtukhashvili, are also advanced to the borders of South Ossetia, Interfax reports. The internal troops accompany armored vehicles, mortars and guns. In turn, Georgian representatives refute this information.

The Moscow authorities began the demolition of illegally erected structures in the protected area of ​​the Silver Bor. Employees of the State Unitary Enterprise “Gormost” dismantled and took a metal fence installed without the permission of the city authorities from the territory of Silver Bor, ITAR-TASS reports. In addition, opposite the summer cottage No. 91, an illegally built 50-meter boat pier was found on the Moscow River.

American troops established control over the En-Udzafa Center, tanks and military vehicles occupied the main points of the city, reports RIA Novosti. Several thousand American military were involved in the operation against the militants. The detachments of the "Mahdi Army" took refuge in the Shiite cemetery, close to one of the main shrines of the Shiites - the tomb of Imam, completely blocked by the American troops .

In world markets - a shaky balance. Stock indices are reduced: the DOW has lost nothing - 0.06% - but NASDAQ has lost almost 1.5%. The rate of decrease in the American high -tech index is a clear sign that not everything is in order. It can be seen that people will be forced to spend more on oil and less - on computers - at least until the raw materials market (especially the most important raw materials - oil). By numbers. The euro costs, like yesterday, 1.223 dollars.

The Supreme Court of Mexico decided to start the consideration of the case of removal from the powers of the mayor of the capital Andres-Manuel Lopez Dodor. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Mexico accuses the head of the metropolitan government of protectionism when resolving disputes in the acquisition of land plots within the Mexico City Form, RIA Novosti reports.

The tropical storm and a hurricane can fall immediately from two sides to Florida. The state has not worried such cataclysms since 1906, ITAR-TASS reports. As expected, the storm, called Bonnie, will cover at noon the northern part of the state from the Gulf of Mexico. He will bring storm rains with him. According to weather forecasters, the level of precipitation will reach 15 centimeters, which can cause floods and landslides.

The Federal Energy Agency of the Ministry of Industry of Russia was held on the issue of increasing the throughput of oil pipelines. The complex of measures to increase the capacity of the OSA-Ukhta and Ukhta-Yaroslavl system of the main oil pipelines for the medium-term and long-term perspective, including the purpose of increasing the bandwidth of the Usa-Ukhta to 23.3 million tons per year at the PSP Leme-oil transformer, was considered.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Information, for seven months of this year, 35.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas were obtained in Turkmenistan, which is 1.1% higher than the indicator for the same period last year. 25.5 billion cubic meters of gas were sent for export, which is 1% more than in seven months of last year.

The leadership of South Ossetia nominated the ultimatum of the Georgian side, RIA Novosti said by telephone, chairman of the press and information committee of the Republic of South Ossetia Irina Gloheva. According to her, if Tskhinvili will not stop within 30 minutes, then the leadership of South Ossetia will take measures to clean the Georgian villages from illegal armed groups in the conflict zone. She said that this morning shelling from Georgia resumed.

In Paris, in the Louvre, studies of the state of the "Jacoconda" Leonardo da Vinci are held, the Kommersant newspaper reports today. With a picture, for which crowds of tourists flow into the Louvre, some changes occur. The museum employees recorded a slightly larger deformation of the board on which the portrait was written. The boat made of poplar reacts very subtly to any changes in air humidity. Recently, the reaction has significantly intensified.

Georgia nominated its requirements for South Ossetia, the Prime Minister of Georgia told RIA Novosti after a meeting of the National Security Council. According to the prime minister, Georgia requires the beginning of direct negotiations, the complete demilitarization of the Tskhinval region and the expansion of the composition of the OSCE monitoring group in the region. “The President of Georgia in the coming hours will contact his American colleague and leaders of European states.