The future Booker jury is resting. We are again short on long-form prose The future Booker jury is resting. We are again short on long-form prose. Andrei Gelasimov’s novel “Rachel,” which opened “October” (No. 9), seems to me a failure. Annoying - because all the previous works of the prose writer, who cheerfully, easily and victoriously burst into literature two years ago, aroused very warm feelings. And ultimately useful.

Chechen security services yesterday announced the elimination of another militant believed to be involved in the hostage-taking in Moscow at the Dubrovka Theater Center last fall. According to Ilya Shabalkin, a representative of the federal forces in Chechnya, 29-year-old Khasan Garakoev was a liaison officer for field commander Rustam Ganiev.

The head of RSC Energia reminded the government about financial promises Despite certain concerns of specialists from the Moscow Mission Control Center, who discovered minor deviations in the docking port of the International Space Station on Sunday, the unification of Yuri Malenchenko and Edward Lu with their replacements Alexander Kaleri, Michael Fowell and Spaniard Pedro Duque went strictly according to schedule.

Journalists have come up with a new nickname for RAO and its head - “information spammer.” As part of its election campaign, the Union of Right Forces (Anatoly Chubais occupies third place on the party list) is demonstrating with all its might the “success” of the energy team. An unprecedented number of PR stories are being released, so empty of information that even news agencies do not deign to pay attention to them.

Fashion Week promises new records On October 28, the next Russian pret-a-porter Russian Fashion Week for the spring/summer 2004 season will open at the T-Modul exhibition complex in Moscow. The previous fashion show (April 2003), which presented the autumn-winter collections of Russian fashion designers, became the largest fashion event of the season.

One of the leading Japanese manufacturers of consumer electronics, Sony Corporation, has planned massive staff cuts. According to the country's leading financial newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, by 2006 the company will lay off 15 to 20 thousand specialists. The announced figures look shocking for such a giant - the company's total staff numbers 160 thousand people. The corporation's press service confirms this information, but with some reservations.

“Rehearsal” by Irina Nakhova at the Tretyakov Gallery In small boxes, like those in which children bury hamsters, Irina Nakhova placed images of her friends and acquaintances, illuminated them, and carefully laid them out in rows. Fifty different people in the classic “dead bullfighter” pose from a painting by Edouard Manet. Men, women and children, of different races and, probably, nationalities, practically the entire world around us.

The Ministry of Finance has come up with a new tax for oil workers The Russian fiscal system may soon introduce a completely new tax in the field of natural resources. The Ministry of Finance is developing draft amendments to the Tax Code introducing the so-called additional income tax (ATT). This was stated yesterday by the deputy head of the ministry's tax policy department, Anna Salina.

The Samara club won the first World Cup The first ever World Basketball Cup among women's teams, a competition between the best clubs from all continents of the planet, ended on the banks of the Volga. An unexpected victory in the tournament was won by the hosts of the site - Samara VBM-SSAU, silver medalist of the Russian Championship last season. Volzhanki carried out a massive selection process in the off-season, calling half of the players of the Russian national team under their banner.

A meeting is due to take place in Tehran this morning to determine the future of Iran's nuclear program. The country's President Mohammad Khatami is receiving three distinguished guests from Europe in the Iranian capital - the foreign ministers of France, Great Britain and Germany.

Prime Minister Brazauskas seeks to load the Klaipeda port Yesterday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas arrived in Moscow for a two-day visit, who will first of all meet with his colleague Mikhail Kasyanov. The traditional agenda for such visits is to lobby for the ratification of stuck treaties, and these are the two most pressing problems for Lithuania.

Another failure of the German secret service Spy passions are raging in Germany. In recent days, the German intelligence services have identified, as they themselves claim, two moles at once.

Prime Minister He instructed the Ministry of Finance to prepare proposals for the upcoming government meeting on Thursday “on measures to ensure the successful completion of the financial year.” At a meeting with deputy prime ministers and a number of ministers, Mikhail Kasyanov drew the attention of the head of the Ministry of Finance, Alexei Kudrin, “to the need to ensure the balance of the budgets of the constituent entities of the federation in connection with the implementation of the

Israeli army takes revenge for dead soldiers A new round of violence has delayed reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, despite the efforts of the Quartet of international mediators - Russia, the United States, the UN and the European Union - to calm the situation. Yesterday, helicopters and planes of the IDF (Israeli Army) carried out three rocket and bomb attacks on the Palestinian city of Gaza.

Georgy Vladimov died at the age of 73. After a serious illness. In Germany. Thinking about Georgy Nikolaevich Vladimov, you don’t know what to be more surprised at - the power of his writing talent or his strength of spirit and human courage. In public life and at the desk, he was guided by the same principles: he did everything he could and more.