Maria Sharapova stopped one step away from victory in Cincinnati Maria Sharapova reached the final of the North American WTA tournament for the second time in a row and was defeated again. If in early August the Russian lost to Victoria Azarenka in the decisive Stanford match, then on Monday night Maria lost to Belgian Kim Clijsters in Cincinnati - 6:2, 6:7 (4:7), 2:6.

The VIII International Festival of Experimental Art ended in St. Petersburg The young heroes of one of Viktor Dragunsky’s “Deniska’s Stories” decide to get money for their mother for a gift by handing over bottles. Why are they emptied by pouring into a jar two wines found in the cupboard - black and yellow: “Does it really matter?

Israel will buy new planes from the US Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved a deal to purchase fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets from the United States (pictured) . This agreement must still be approved by the Israeli Cabinet of Ministers for Security Affairs, which includes the heads of security ministries and departments. However, according to the Israeli media, this is a formality, since the General Staff and the Minister of Defense have already approved the purchase.

The court again did not recognize the former owners of YUKOS as entrepreneurs The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow yesterday once again extended the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, over whom the trial continues in their second criminal case - the theft of oil worth almost 900 billion rubles. According to the court decision, the period of detention was extended until November 17.

German energy companies threaten the government The atomic lobby in Germany has gone on the offensive against the federal authorities. Yesterday it became known that the heads of four energy concerns that own nuclear power plants - E.ON, RWE, Vattenfall and EnBW - promised to stop operating all power units in the country if Angela Merkel's coalition government achieves the introduction of a new tax on nuclear energy.

Political scientists disagree on the number of presidents the country needs The initiative of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who proposed that the republican parliament rename his position , received an ambiguous assessment from the expert community. According to Mr. Kadyrov's idea, there should be only one president in the country - the head of the Russian Federation, and the leaders of the national republics should find more modest titles for themselves.

Russia does not issue permits for clinical trials of drugs Yesterday, the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) confirmed that as of August 11, Russia has completely suspended the acceptance of applications for examination prior to the start of any clinical trials. As a result, the start of several dozen projects is delayed by at least a month.

Documents for the start of grain interventions must be ready by August 20 The scale of damage from the drought is reaching its final parameters, and the government has begun to fight the panic that has arisen in the food market. At the end of last week, First Deputy Prime Minister and curator of agriculture Viktor Zubkov chaired a meeting of the interdepartmental working group to overcome the consequences of the drought. And on Sunday, a complete ban on grain exports came into force.

Climate-related inflation is beginning to appear in Russia In the country as a whole, prices for consumer goods and services are growing noticeably slower this year than last year, when inflation at the end of the year turned out to be a record low for the entire post-reform period. According to the latest data from Rosstat, at the beginning of August they increased by 4.77%, while in 2009 by this time prices had gained 8.08% since the beginning of the year.

Investors did not like the country's GDP data World markets yesterday received another portion of negative economic statistics. This time news came about weak Japanese economic growth. Since August 10, when the US Federal Reserve said the US economic recovery would be more moderate than expected, global markets have lost about $1.9 trillion. As it became known yesterday, Japan's GDP grew by 0.4% in the second quarter. At the same time, analysts predicted growth of more than 2%.

The XVIII festival “Window to Europe” ended in Vyborg As expected, the program of the second half of the festival turned out to be more eventful than its beginning. We can talk about two clearly observable positive trends. The first is that the dream of many filmmakers, which arose during the last few films (mid-90s), has finally come true: give me a script for two actors in one room and I will make a film.

The new limit does not limit Manchester City's spending The English Premier League enters the new season with new rules. On September 1, when the transfer window officially closes, each club must have 25 players on its roster, eight of which are homegrown, that is, players who have spent at least three seasons in the English or Welsh club system before the age of 21.

In the south of the Korean Peninsula, the joint military exercises “Eulchi - Defender of Freedom” (Eulchi is the name of a 7th-century Korean commander), held annually since 1976, began yesterday in the south of the Korean Peninsula. They will last until August 26 inclusive, and a record number of military personnel will take part in them - 56 thousand Koreans and 28.5 thousand Americans.

Government spending is being cut in the Czech Republic The Czech government appears to have listened to criticism from the opposition, which claims that the government's measures to save public funds will mainly affect ordinary citizens. From January next year, the salary of the country's President Vaclav Klaus, amounting to about 10.3 thousand dollars per month, will be reduced by 5% and taxed at 15%.

The international community is in no hurry to help Pakistan The flood, caused by heavy rains in the mountains of northern Pakistan and covering almost the entire territory along the main waterway - the Indus River, became the worst natural disaster in the entire history of the country. The international community is actively involved in the search for ways to resolve the situation.