Italy PM is against politicising Beijing Olympics.

ROME, August 6 (Itar-Tass) - Three days to go before the opening of
the Olympic Games in Beijing, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has stated that he is against politicising "the significant sports event".

The Head of Government made this statement Tuesday in view of
pronouncements by some of his colleagues, Cabinet ministers, specifically
Minister for Youth Policy Giorgio Melani, who advised Italian athletes to
take protest actions against Chinese authorities at the Games opening
ceremony.

According to parliamentary sources, the Premier brought his point of
view to the notice of Foreign Minister Franco Frattini who will head an
Italian delegation in Beijing. Frattini told this when speaking at a news
conference in the Chamber of Deputies later in the day.

.Truck collides with passenger train in Moscow region.

MOSCOW, August 6 (Itar-Tass) - A long-haul truck has collided with a
passenger train in Ramenskoye District, Moscow Region, late on Tuesday
night. There was no loss of life.
Vladimir Myagkov, spokesman of the Moscow Railway, has told Itar-Tass
that the incident occurred at about 22:00 Moscow time on the railway leg
between Faustovo and Bronnitsy.
"Over there, the long-haul truck rammed into Passenger Train 3,
Kislovodsk-Moscow, at a no-gates railway crossing. As a result, one
passenger of the train was injured while the train's electric locomotive
was damaged and put out of order. The damaged locomotive has been towed to
Faustovo Station by now and a new one was attached to the train," Myagkov
pointed out, emphasizing that "the train is proceeding on its way to
Moscow's Kazansky railway terminal".
According to preliminary version, the collision occurred because the
driver of the truck failed to cope with controls. It took about one hour
to restore railway traffic there.

.French president to attend opening of Beijing Olympics.

PARIS, August 6 (Itar-Tass) - President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend
the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing but will stay in China for
only several hours, the presidential administration announced Tuesday.
According to the circulated programme for Sarkozy's stay in Beijing,
the plane with the President, a number of French government ministers and
prominent sportsmen on board will arrive in the capital of the People's
Republic of China (PRC) on Friday, August 8, the day of the opening of the
Games.
The French President will attend a luncheon to be given by the Chinese
leadership in honour of the Heads of State and Government attending the
Olympic Games opening ceremony. On the same day Sarkozy will meet with
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, Premier of the PRC Council of
State.
At the close of the ceremony the President of France is to leave for
home.

.Solzhenitsyn to be buried in Donskoy Monastery graveyard.

MOSCOW, August 6 (Itar-Tass) - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a great writer,
thinker, and citizen, is to be buried in the Donskoy Monastery here on
Wednesday. It is not fortuitous that he will find his last earth-house
precisely there, within the grounds of the Monastery where the outstanding
figures of Russia of many centuries lie buried.
A mass for the repose of the soul of the deceased is to begin at
09:00, to be followed by a burial service to be held by Archbishop Alexy
of Orekhovo -Zuyevo, patriarchal vicar.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to attend the funeral
ceremony. With this end in view, he interrupted his brief working holiday,
during which he has been touring cities situated along the Volga River.
The body of the deceased is to be interred at about noon in the
Monastery's old graveyard. A grave for him has been prepared behind the
altar of the Church of St John of the Ladder. Solzhenitsyn's last will had
been to be buried in Donskoy Monastery. He had applied to Patriarch Alexy
in a request for that five years ago.