Czeslaw Milosz passed away Maybe a century truly ends when the people who personified it die - people who have gone through the century through and through and pass away, remaining symbols of the century. Among such common losses of recent times, let us name Maurice Blanchot, Benny Carter, Henri Cartier-Bresson... On August 14, the name of the poet, prose writer, translator, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1980 - the unforgettable year of "Solidarity" - Czeslav Milosha (1911--2004).

Alexey Alipov won gold for Russia - the first and 500th Yesterday at the Olympic Games in Athens, the first gold medal for the Russian team in the trap exercise was won by 29-year-old trap shooting master Alexey Alipov. His victory brought Russia the five hundredth Olympic award of the highest dignity for the entire period of the country's participation in the Olympics - since 1908.

A model of the monument to Viktor Tsoi was briefly installed on Arbat A monument to the singer may soon appear near the wall in memory of the cult rock musician of the 80s Viktor Tsoi on Krivoarbatsky Lane in Moscow. Yesterday, on the 14th anniversary of the death of the leader of the Kino group, a plaster model of the sculpture was unveiled. On the monument, the rock idol is depicted barefoot, wearing sunglasses and riding a motorcycle.

The players played the first matches of the group tournament On the first day of the Olympic Games, our bitterness over the missed gold medals for the shooters was smoothed out to a small extent by the gamers. Basketball, volleyball and handball players won their first victories. A day later, the baton was picked up by water polo players, and only those on whom special emphasis is placed in team events - volleyball players unexpectedly lost to the Dutch team. So the picture was not complete.

CLUBS An evening of jazz guitar - from classical to ethnic. Cool Train , 21.00. Anton Rumyantsev Quartet (saxophone). Le Club , 20.00. MOVIE “Shiza” (Kazakhstan - Russia, 2004). Directed by Gulshad Omarova. Starring Olzhas Nusuppaev, Olga Landina, Eduard Tabishchev, Viktor Sukhorukov, Gulnara Eralieva, Nurtai Kanagat. Shiza is the nickname of a 15-year-old boy. Money, power, women - this is not yet in his life. But there are already fist fights for which he supplies fighters.

The project of unification of the Tyumen region and districts is completely closed The agreement on the division of powers between the Tyumen region and its constituent Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs was signed by all parties and comes into force on January 1, 2005.

To remain a leader in the Russian market, the Japanese decided to build a plant here The flagship of the Japanese automobile industry, Toyota Motor Corporation, which ranks third in the world ranking in terms of production volumes (about 5.8 million cars per year), has finally dared to take its first step into the Russian market. Leading Japanese economic newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Saturday that Toyota will build its first assembly plant in Russia in 2008.

Yuri Grigorovich showed Krasnodar ballet to St. Petersburg Background A week before the Krasnodar theater's tour to St. Petersburg, two Moscow newspapers reported: Valery Gergiev invited Yuri Grigorovich (he now reigns in Krasnodar) to lead the Mariinsky Ballet; he refused, but agreed to stage three performances.

The Pope visited Lourdes in the interests of humanity On Saturday, Pope John Paul II completed a two-day pilgrimage to the shrines of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. His trip was timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, which was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

The concern did not want to compensate for the decline in export prices by cutting costs Gazprom's financial and political successes in 2003 had a relaxing effect on the company's management. The concern's management never learned to manage costs effectively, and the deterioration of the external environment immediately revealed the illusory nature of the concern's prosperity.

13 people died in a car accident near Kazan The biggest car accident in recent years occurred on Saturday morning in Tatarstan. On the Kazan-Ulyanovsk highway, a Gazelle minibus and a Volkswagen Passat moving towards each other collided at high speed. The terrible impact caused the cars to catch fire. As a result, out of 15 people, only two managed to escape.

An air show was held in Monino in honor of Russian Air Fleet Day Russian Air Fleet Day has two founding fathers: Nicholas II and Stalin. Both of them gave orders that were significant for domestic aeronautics in August.

South Ossetia continues to teeter on the brink of war Yesterday, representatives of the Georgian and South Ossetian sides, with the participation of peacekeepers and OSCE observers, began reconnaissance of the area in the conflict zone. They are going to identify formations that do not have the right to be in this area without a decision of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) and agreement with the command of the Blue Helmets.

Separatists in Assam did not even spare children The death of more than twenty people, mostly children, marred India's Independence Day celebrations yesterday. In the city of Dhemaji in the eastern state of Assam, terrorists detonated a radio-controlled bomb during the ceremonial hoisting of the national flag. At least 13 children and three women were killed. 40 people were injured, some of them very seriously.

The Viktor Vekselberg collection has a limited stay in Russia The main sensation of the past cultural season was the purchase of the famous Forbes collection - the best collection of Faberge works abroad - by Viktor Vekselberg. For the first time, such valuable works of art were returned to the country. For the first time in many decades, a private person in our country became the owner and manager of such treasures. Mr. Vekselberg’s plans were interesting not only in themselves.