Arsenal will have a hard time retaining the league title The summer holidays have flown by, and the English Premier League starts on Saturday. The tournament promises to be very interesting, because at least four clubs will compete for the main trophy - Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. These are clear favorites. There are also hidden ones that can intervene in this dispute - Newcastle, Aston Villa and Tottenham.

The airline is being asked to pay for benefits The Prosecutor General's Office sent a letter to the government with a proposal to recover from Transaero Airlines the amount of all customs duties for foreign aircraft purchased by this company since 1999. Until now, Transaero has been exempt from these payments by government decree issued in 1999. And the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade filed an arbitration claim against Transaero demanding payment of customs duties.

President He stated that “a significant increase in expenditures is envisaged” in 2005 to strengthen defense capabilities and the entire security component. “It will amount to approximately 40% of the current year,” Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the leadership of the security and financial departments. “For 2005, the defense order assumes an increase of 40%, which in monetary terms is about 70 billion rubles,” Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin replied to the head of state.

Forecast for the coming days The latest weather news is not encouraging. One after another, with an interval of approximately two days, cold atmospheric fronts passed through the center of European Russia. And the warmth left our region for about a week. In the center of European Russia the weather will be 2-4 degrees colder than usual. The central regions will have to experience the impact of another cyclone, excessively rainy, over the coming weekend.

Yuri Trutnev is looking for “gray” oil Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev, who had just reported to Vladimir Putin on the work done to monitor compliance with the terms of subsoil use licenses, announced a new large-scale inspection. This time, all the country's oil producing enterprises, which Mr. Trutnev suspects of providing inaccurate information about the volume of oil production, became the objects of the minister's close attention.

The government's business plan has been sent for revision The government is rapidly mastering a new method of work. From now on, ministries will plan goals for themselves in order to obtain funds for them. It remains to figure out how to evaluate the results of departments’ work in the new conditions. Every minister wants to be political, but no one wants to bear political responsibility.

Korean archers set two world achievements This coming weekend, 25 sets of medals will be awarded at the Olympics. Athens' first gold medal winner will be announced around noon on Saturday when the women's air rifle competition concludes. Russians Tatyana Goldobina and Lyubov Galkina are among the world elite in this discipline. The first world record at the Games was set yesterday, the day before the official opening ceremony.

Americans storm the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad's brother The dramatic events in southern Iraq resemble a cross between intervention and civil war. Iraqis are already fighting with Iraqis: yesterday, on the seventh day of the Shiite uprising, several thousand Iraqi National Guardsmen and police, trained with the help of the Americans, were thrown against the Shiites who rebelled in the south. American Marines are also participating in the operation, receiving strong air support.

CLUBS "Megapolis". August 13, Gogol' , 20.00. Vyacheslav Butusov . August 13, “B2” , 23.30. “The squeak of the reptile.” A noisy association of members of the Leningrad group - trumpeter Sashko , drummer Mitya , accordionist Romero and double bassist Ochkan . August 13, Bilingua , 21.00. Nikolay Arutyunov (vocals). Jazz. August 13, Le Club , 20.00. Sergey Manukyan (vocals), Miriam (vocals), Neo Swing . Jazz. August 13, Cool Train , 21.00. “Paper TAM.” August 14, “Chinese pilot Zhao Da” , 23.00.

Gold Fields will absorb Canadian Iamgold The world's fourth largest gold producer, South African Gold Fields Ltd, announced on Wednesday it would merge with the Canadian gold mining company Iamgold (which owns mines in Ghana and Mali). As a result of the transaction, according to Russian experts, the value of the 20 percent stake in Gold Fields, which currently belongs to Norilsk Nickel, may increase. The scheme of the deal between Canadians and South Africans is as follows.

On August 8, 2004, Larisa Orazovna Shikhmuradova, the sister of the Turkmen politician, leader of the democratic opposition movement of Turkmenistan Boris Shikhmuradov, died. Larisa Shikhmuradova was born on September 6, 1944 in Ashgabat. After graduating from high school, she entered the philological faculty of the Turkmen State University, and then the philological faculty of Moscow State University. Lomonosov.

The debate on the restructuring of RAO UES resumes An unknown Interfax source in the Ministry of Economic Development reported yesterday that his department is preparing a proposal to the government to refuse the sale of wholesale generating companies (OGKs), which will be created on the basis of the largest power plants of RAO UES of Russia.

Yuri Luzhkov is seeking to host the 2012 Olympics in Moscow The capital's mayor, who has spent too much effort and money preparing Moscow for the 2012 Olympics, does not seem to intend to wait idly for the results of the International Olympic Committee competition. The mayor did not even spare his vacation time to lobby for one of his largest projects. Like many other Muscovites, Yuri Luzhkov decided to vacation in Greece.

Deputies and senators are working to monetize their own benefits Deputies want them to have everything like people. That is, among voters. Therefore, they, having recently adopted a law on the transfer of benefits into monetary compensation, intend to reform their own status privileges. Parliamentarians expressed different views on reform. For example, the vice speaker from United Russia, Georgy Boos, argued that all parliamentary benefits should be abolished.

Olympic champions from Greece will receive 200 thousand euros The largest bonuses for winning the Olympics have been promised to Greek athletes. The hosts of the Games are ready to pay their Olympians 200 thousand euros for each gold medal. “Silver” and “bronze” will be worthily paid - 150 and 100 thousand euros, respectively. At the last Olympics in Sydney, the Greeks won four gold, six silver and three bronze medals.