http://www.svoboda.org/programs/ftf/2001/ftf.091601.asp Boris Jordan declares his readiness to leave the post of general director of NTV. As Interfax reports, he made this statement at a press conference on Tuesday. According to Yordan, the corresponding official letter was sent to the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller. The letter also contains a request to report the successor to the successor so that Yordan can convey his affairs.

A North Korean delegation has arrived in Seoul to resume talks on resolving the nuclear issue, AP reported. The negotiations will last 4 days and will be held at the ministerial level. South Korea hopes to convince North Korea to stop trying to acquire its own nuclear weapons. In addition, the parties will discuss a number of economic issues, as well as the construction of a railway that will connect the two countries.

In the first city clinical hospital in Veliky Novgorod, a patient killed a nurse and wounded a doctor. According to RIA Novosti, this happened at about four o'clock in the morning on Tuesday. It is reported that one of the patients, born in 1969, stabbed a twenty-year-old nurse several times. She passed away. In addition, the doctor on duty was stabbed in the stomach with the same knife. The suspect tried to escape from the hospital, but the police managed to detain him.

On Tuesday, an explosion of the Melodiya recording studio was prevented in Kyiv. As RIA "Novosti" was informed in the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine, at 16.30 local time, unknown people reported that explosives had been planted in the studio. Within half an hour, the explosive device was neutralized by specialists from the special police unit. The incident is under investigation.

In Venezuela, a strike and protests by the opposition continue, calling on President Hugo Chavez to resign, Reuters reports. On Monday, clashes between supporters, opponents of the president and the police took place in the city of Charajave (50 km south of Caracas). A shootout ensued. As a result, one person died and dozens were injured. The demonstrators also threw bottles and stones at each other. Who fired - the police or the protesters - is still unclear.

In Dagestan, during a search in the house of a young man detained for resisting police officers, an arsenal of weapons and ammunition was found. According to RIA Novosti, a 25-year-old resident of Khasavyurt kept in his house a Kalashnikov assault rifle with 6 magazines, a home-made grenade launcher, 2 hand grenades, 5 VOG-17 shells, about 400 cartridges of various calibers and military uniforms.

The Kamchatka deputies asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help in resolving the energy crisis on the peninsula, RIA Novosti reports. According to Dmitry Dorofeev, press secretary of the Council of People's Deputies of the Kamchatka Region, on January 21, the Kamchatka parliamentarians sent an appeal to Putin. "An energy crisis is approaching Kamchatka once again.

In the city of Skhodnya, Moscow Region, three servicemen were detained on suspicion of committing a brutal murder, Interfax reports with reference to the Moscow Region police department. On January 20, the corpse of a 56-year-old owner of the house with signs of beatings on his face and body was found in one of the private houses along Pervy Michurinsky Dead End Street. A criminal case has been initiated on this fact, an investigation has been launched.

In Kyiv, nine infants were poisoned with dairy products. As the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine told RIA Novosti, children born in 2002 were admitted to the city hospitals with a diagnosis of acute gastroenterocolitis. All of them ate products of children's dairy cuisine. On Tuesday, the food distribution point was closed by order of the district health officer until the end of the investigation.

The Russian government approved a regulation on the procedure for determining the list of organizations and individuals in respect of which there is information about their participation in extremist activities. According to Interfax, this provision was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.

Russia will not support unilateral military actions against Iraq, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said. According to Interfax, Ivanov believes that "if such actions take place, they will complicate not only the situation in the region, but also deal a tangible blow to the unity of the antiterrorist coalition." Ivanov said that there are many resources and opportunities for solving the Iraqi problem through diplomacy.

For the third day in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian motor ship Hess has been on fire, RIA Novosti reports. On Monday, firefighters tried to fill the ship with foam, but this operation was unsuccessful. On board the ship is textiles, building materials and several tons of diesel fuel. Experts fear that oil spills from the damaged ship hull could lead to an environmental disaster. There were 36 people on board the ship, all of them were evacuated on the first day of the fire.

In the shootout, one person was killed and another received multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Air Force. Both were civilian employees of the Pentagon. The incident occurred near the US military base Camp Doha: the Americans were fired upon while they were driving along Route 85. The US Embassy and the US military command in the region confirmed this information. Details of the attack have not yet been released.

The number of cadets who fell ill with pneumonia has increased to 250. One of them has already died, ten are in intensive care. The remaining patients are undergoing treatment in military hospitals in Rostov and Novocherkassk. A criminal case has been initiated into the death of cadet Alexander Dubovik, Moskovskiye Novosti reports. “In my memory, this has never happened. Usually 5-6 people get pneumonia for conscription.

http://www.newsru.com/world/20jan2003/train.html The Georgian partisan group "Forest Brothers", operating in the territory of Abkhazia, is ready to blow up the train Sochi-Sukhumi. According to Interfax, this was stated by the leader of the "forest brothers" Dato Shengelia, and now the Sochi-Sukhumi railway route is under enhanced control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia.