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.

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.

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

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.

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 Central Election Commission is ready to cut off some candidates for a deputy mandate The registration of candidates for servants of the people is in full swing at election commissions of all levels. At yesterday's meeting, members of the Central Election Commission managed to register the lists of three participants in the election race, including the United Russia party.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered a slight heart attack on Sunday, but yesterday he was already working without changing his usual schedule. “His desire to work is exactly the same as last week,” said the prime minister’s press secretary. The only exception, he emphasized, was made for the report to parliament on the last EU summit. It has been entrusted to the head of the British Foreign Office, Jack Straw.

“24-hour party people” on Moscow screens A feature film about popular music is not the most widespread, but still a fairly well-developed genre. Let us recall, for example, the “pro-Beatle” film “The Fifth in the Quartet” or the recent “The Velvet Mine” with Ewan McGregor.

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.

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.

Rescuers have compiled another register of upcoming disasters The latest “seasonal” forecast of emergency situations that may await the country in the approaching winter was recently compiled by experts from the Crisis Management Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations together with scientists from Roshydromet.

Gazprom threatens to cut off independent producers from the pipeline for misconduct by intermediaries At the end of last week, Gazprom notified three gas producers - Northgas, Rospan and SIBUR - that as of yesterday they would be disconnected from the main gas pipeline system. The monopoly threatened to reduce the volume of access to the largest independent gas producer, NOVATEK, by 50%.

While the future guarantors of North Korea's security are coordinating their positions, Pyongyang, in order not to lose shape, after a six-month break, yesterday, according to South Korea, carried out another launch of a short-range surface-to-ship missile made in China, according to South Korean and Japanese experts. .

Football. Spanish Championship . 7th round. Athletic - Villarreal - 2:0, Valencia - Espanyol - 4:0, Zaragoza - Valladolid - 1:0, Racing - Malaga -- 4:2, "Atlético" -- "Mallorca" -- 2:1, "Osasuna" -- "Murcia" -- 2:1, "Sevilla" -- "Betis" -- 2:2, "Celta" "- "Real" - 0:2, "Barcelona" - "Deportivo" - 0:2, "Albacete" - "Real Sociedad" - 3:1. The leaders are: Valencia - 19 points, Deportivo - 18, Real Madrid - 16.