US prepares 'emergency' missionary release plan The first American military special operation in the post-Soviet space may become a reality in the coming days. The “interested parties” are being pushed to action by the rare efficiency of the Taliban Sharia court, which demonstrates its determination not to delay the sentencing of the employees of the Shelter Now International charity mission any longer.

From August 24 to August 31, Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by $500 million, or 1.35%. According to the Department of External and Public Relations of the Bank of Russia, this figure is $37.5 billion. Thus, the Central Bank compensated for the decrease in reserves that occurred a week earlier and was caused by the payment of $1.3 billion in external debt. "TIME FOR NEWS"

Rostov elections went according to the seaside scenario The elections for the governor of the Rostov region will be scandalous, and their outcome, as well as the composition of the candidates, is practically unpredictable. The Central Election Commission neither confirmed nor denied the decision of the regional election commission, which on August 27 removed candidate Leonid Ivanchenko (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) from the race.

The owners of Orekhov-Zuev flew high, but sat down for a long time The Moscow Regional Court sentenced the leaders and participants of the Orekhovo-Zuevskaya criminal group, which for several years terrified most entrepreneurs in the Moscow region and neighboring regions. This gang was considered one of the most powerful in Russia, and its patron was thief in law Vyacheslav Chuvarzin, nicknamed Zeleny. 18 people appeared before the servants of Themis, ten of them received large sentences.

The Americans already have the sad experience of rescuing their fellow citizens from the country of victorious Islamic fundamentalism. In November 1979, thousands of Iranian students, demanding the return of the Shah, who had fled to the United States in February, stormed the American embassy in Tehran. Washington had to deal with the release of fifty of its citizens who found themselves in the position of hostages.

Jerry Zucker hasn't filmed for six years. And the last film from the co-author of “Airplanes” and “Naked Guns,” which once made the whole world go into grateful hysterics, was completely humorless “The First Knight” with Richard Gere and Sean Connery. Now, fortunately, he has returned to his native element.

The fugitives left Butyrki by taxi A large-scale operation by employees of the Main Directorate of Execution of Punishments (GUIN) of the Ministry of Justice to search for three dangerous criminals who escaped from the Butyrsky detention center on Wednesday morning ended in failure. Despite the assurances of the jailers that the fugitives would not be able to escape into the city from the intricate dungeons of the prison, the repeat offenders did so.

Tennis. US Open. Semi-finals - finals. September 8-9. Marat Safin beat the 103rd racket of the world, 23-year-old Mariano Zabaleta, in the quarterfinals of the US Open - 6:4, 6:4, 6:2 and in the semifinals he will meet the winner of the Sampras - Agassi pair. Let us recall that in the final of last year’s US Open Tennis Championship, Safin won against Sampras. Last night, another Russian tennis player, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, sorted things out on the court with Gustavo Kuerten.

The St. Petersburg Theater of Musical Comedy sang the history of the Soviet country Understanding the fate of our vast homeland through its musical culture is a very common genre in post-perestroika theater. Because the songs, unlike everything else we have, needless to say, were really good. And everyone - from an old woman who longingly remembers her former stability, to a refined intellectual who has despised the “scoop” all his life - is not averse to purring them under his breath.

A large Russian leasing company, RTK-Leasing, can become a market leader. Its shareholders yesterday approved a three-year development program developed at the initiative of the St. Petersburg investment bank Gamma Group. Created five years ago to service projects of the parent company, Rostelecom, RTK-Leasing is now going to work with other clients. A consortium led by Gamma Group will implement ambitious plans.

So far only criminal Deputy Prosecutor General Vasily Kolmogorov flew to the Lensky ulus area, where destroyed cities and villages are being restored at an accelerated pace, on Wednesday. He is going to personally control how the money allocated for the country's main construction project is spent. More than a dozen criminal cases have already been initiated in connection with this construction, and their number is growing literally every day.

Housing rent will be increased for all Muscovites at the same time Yuri Luzhkov agreed to cancel the experiment on introducing 100 percent payment for utility services in Zelenograd from October 1. Deputy Galina Khovanskaya announced this yesterday after a meeting with the Moscow mayor at a meeting of the public council on housing policy of the Moscow City Duma. According to the deputy, the authorities decided not to conduct any experiments at all.

Basketball. European Championship. Semi-finals. September 8 . Final. September 9. Istanbul. Late yesterday evening, the Russian national basketball team met the Spaniards in the quarterfinals. Let us recall that the team that entered the top four could not only qualify for a medal, but also receive a ticket to the 2002 World Championships. And the day before, two games of the quarterfinal stage took place. The Turkish national team beat the Croats - 87:85, and France lost to Germany - 77:81.

Book publishers were headed by Ivan Laptev Ivan Laptev became the new president of the Association of Book Publishers of Russia (ASKI). The decision was made at an extraordinary congress of this public organization, which took place during the XIV International Book Fair. Today, the Association of Book Publishers unites about 200 metropolitan and regional publishing houses.

The Arbitration Court of the Ural Federal District recently overturned the ruling of the Sverdlovsk Arbitration Court on the deprivatization of the Yekaterinburg enterprise Alstom-SEMZ, the former Sverdlovsk Electromechanical Plant. The decision to deprivatize was made in February of this year. At the request of the regional government, the local prosecutor's office acted as the plaintiff.