Georgia invites Western military observers to South Ossetia In August, Georgia will say goodbye to the commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, Major General Svyatoslav Nabzdorov. This Russian general caused persistent irritation in official Tbilisi. Therefore, the Georgian authorities consider his removal a diplomatic victory.

Democrats have new political stars An extravaganza of multi-colored balloons, ribbons and confetti accompanied by loud musical accompaniment crowned the end of the Democratic convention in Boston yesterday. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, 60, gratefully accepted his nomination and became the official rival of Republican George W. Bush in the US presidential election on November 2.

Russian intelligence officers are in “skillful hands” Yesterday, Qatari judge Abdalla al-Saadi of the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the trial court, which on June 30 sentenced two Russians (according to documents, presumably Anatoly Yablochkov and Vasily Bogachev) to life imprisonment for the February 13 murder of Chechen Zelimkhan Yandarbiev.

Lawyer accused of organizing the murder of a judge and deputy mayor The prosecutor's office of the Astrakhan region approved and transferred to court a criminal case against a group accused of almost all high-profile crimes committed in the territory of this region. Among other things, those arrested are charged with the removal of the deputy chairman of the regional arbitration court, Lyubov Cheremnykh, and the vice-mayor of Astrakhan, Sergei Nashkhunov.

A new book by Evgeniy Shklovsky has been released “Fata Morgana” (M., “New Literary Review”) is the fourth book of prose by Evgeny Shklovsky. Much of it is known from recent magazine publications, which have generated some admiring responses.

Yesterday, a bomb from the Great Patriotic War was discovered on one of the beaches of the Black Sea coast. Civil Defense and Emergency Situations officers found a 500-kilogram FAP-500 bomb during engineering reconnaissance on the beach near the village of Volna on the Black Sea coast of the Taman Peninsula. During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet pilots bombed Nazi positions with such bombs. Three exactly the same bombs were discovered here last week, 30 m from the shore at a depth of about 3 m.

Yesterday, President Putin signed a decree on reforming the Federal Service for Control of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (FSN). Now its leader will receive ministerial status - like the head of the FSB. Until yesterday, the FSN made the most gloomy assumptions: in particular, the option was not excluded that the service would be abolished altogether and would again become one of the divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Retrospective of Anatoly Zhuravlev in MDF The activities of the Moscow House of Photography have no limits. And there is no end to the exhibitions in its halls. By the beginning of August, even the most lively ones calm down, and only on Ostozhenka do they not know what summer holidays are.

Bolshoi Theater performance booed in London The newspaper "Culture" has just conducted a survey of Moscow ballet critics - as a result, "Romeo and Juliet" (choreography by Radu Poklitaru, production by Declan Donellan) at the Bolshoi Theater turned out to be the undisputed leader of the season.

Another expedition set off in search of the Tunguska meteorite Corresponding member of the Petrovsky Academy of Sciences and Arts (St. Petersburg), chairman of the Siberian public foundation “Tunguska Space Phenomenon” Yuri Lavbin intends to prove that the legendary Tunguska meteorite could not be discovered only because they were looking in the wrong place. He is sure that when determining the probable location of the meteorite fall, scientists made a mistake of almost 250 km.

CLUBS Leonid Fedorov (vocals, guitar). July 30 at the drinking club Gogol` , 20.00. "Picasso's Children" Armenian folk songs in authentic performance and rock interpretation. July 30 in “Chinese pilot Zhao Da” , 23.00. "Surganova and the orchestra." A project by former Night Snipers participant Svetlana Surganova and St. Petersburg musicians from various groups. July 30 and 31 in “B2” , 23.30. Messer Chups feat. Lydia Kavina (theremin). Dub, ska.

Experts consider TNK-BP the most active in the field of tax minimization YUKOS yesterday attempted to defend its right to minimize taxes thanks to offshore zones. As you know, thanks to this method of optimizing taxation, the company became the object of close attention of the Ministry of Taxes and as a result received claims for 200 billion rubles.

Russia made the right bet in the war, but lost The 20th century began 90 years ago with the outbreak of the First World War. This idea belongs to Anna Akhmatova. She expressed it many years after the fateful August 1, 1914, when Germany, frightened by the mobilization in Russia, declared war on the Tsarist Empire. A global armed conflict has become inevitable.

Summer music at the Ostankino Theater The traditional theme of summer discussions about academic music is the very nature of summer musical life in Moscow, its habitat and content, cleverly integrated into the environment. High-profile events are rare at this time.

Mobile operators are rushing to occupy a new niche Mobile operator VimpelCom (Bee Line trademark) and Nokia yesterday demonstrated the capabilities of the new push-to-talk (PTT) technology, which allows you to use a mobile phone as a walkie-talkie. It is planned to go into commercial operation at the end of the year. If PTT implementation is successful, trunk operators may be forced out of the market. However, not all mobile operators are in a hurry to launch the new technology.