On Friday US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks on the situation around Iraq. The leaders of the two allied countries discussed the possibility of extending the terms of the work of inspectors in Iraq and the estimated date for the start of the military operation. Bush and Blair also discussed a future UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, AP reports.

Three students of the Medical University and a student of the Institute of Culture were detained in Khabarovsk on suspicion of kidnapping a minor for ransom. As RIA "Novosti" was informed on Wednesday in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the night before, young people abducted one of the visitors to the city cafe - a 16-year-old high school student. The attackers demanded 1.5 thousand rubles from his friends for the release of the captive.

In three regions of Ukraine, 364 settlements have been de-energized due to strong winds and sticking of wet snow. This was reported by Interfax with reference to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Without power supply there were 181 settlements in the Nikolaev area, 148 - in Odessa, 35 - in Kherson. Restoration work is underway. The passage of motor vehicles on all roads is provided. Violations of the movement of railway and air transport are not registered.

US administration officials say there is no evidence yet that the Columbia shuttle crashed as a result of a terrorist attack, AP reports. According to Department of Homeland Security spokesman Gordon Jondro, "by this hour there is no information that it was a terrorist attack." However, Jondro added that the investigation has only just begun and this is preliminary information.

Lithuania is introducing new national border control rules on Saturday for direct transit trains traveling from Russia to the Kaliningrad region and back, Interfax reports. According to the new rules, in the period from February 1 to July 1, 2003, Russian citizens can transit through the territory of Lithuania without visas on the Kaliningrad-Moscow and Kaliningrad-St. Petersburg trains. To do this, they need to have a document proving the identity of a citizen of the Russian Federation.

In the Krasnodar Territory, winegrowers of the Abrau-Dyurso sparkling wine factory went on strike. According to RIA "Novosti", the action was launched due to the fact that the management of CJSC "Abrau-Durso" did not pay the winegrowers for the last year's harvest. According to the strikers, they have not been paid wages for November 2002 yet. Vine growers manage to work only a few days a month, since there is no fuel to take teams to the vineyards, and spare parts for tractor repairs.

One of the crew members of the Il-76 aircraft that crashed on Friday in East Timor was a citizen of Belarus. According to ITAR-TASS with reference to the statement of Eurasia Aviation CEO Boris Kovyakin, mechanic Valery Ukhvanov had Belarusian citizenship. Eurasia Aviation was the operator of the crashed aircraft. The remaining five crew members were Russian citizens. All of them died, their bodies have already been found.

In St. Petersburg, a member of the Union of Artists of Russia was robbed, RBC reports. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, on the eve at 23:45 Moscow time on Vakhtenskaya Street, two unknown persons attacked a passerby who turned out to be a member of the Union of Artists of Russia.

A storm wind hit the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory in the zone from Taman to Tuapse. According to OJSC "Kubanenergo", in the Novorossiysk region the wind speed reaches 30-33 meters per second.

Unidentified people fired rockets at the headquarters of the International Peacekeeping Forces (ISAF) in Kabul on Friday evening, Reuters reports. In the direction of the base, three Chinese-made BM-12 missiles. No one was injured as a result of the shelling. An investigation has been ordered into the rocket attack.

A group of Australian investigators left for East Timor on Saturday to participate in the investigation into the crash of the Il-76 airliner, RIA Novosti reports. According to representatives of the Australian Bureau of Transport Security, 4 employees of this organization flew to the capital of East Timor. The government of this country turned to Australia with a request to assist in the investigation of the causes of the disaster.

In Miami, Florida, an unidentified person hijacked a mail truck. The armed man is believed to be holding the hostages. The police managed to block the truck on one of the streets of the city after an hour and a half chase, AP reports. According to the local broadcaster WFOR-TV, the hijacked truck drove very close to their correspondent. He saw that a woman was sitting at the wheel - a postal employee, and next to her was an armed man. 48 schools in Miami are closed.

Today, Germany assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council for a period of four weeks.

In Moscow, on Narodnogo Opolcheniya Street, a fire was extinguished at the warehouse of the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics, Ekho Moskvy reports. Office equipment and stationery were stored in the warehouse. The fire area exceeded 300 square meters, the warehouse burned down almost completely. According to Interfax, the cause of the fire, most likely, was a short circuit. There are no reports of casualties.

George Bush and Tony Blair. Photo Reuters US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused Iraq of refusing to disarm and comply with the requirements of the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, reports News Air Force. The US President stated that Washington’s patience was exhausted and that a few weeks remained to settle the Iraqi conflict peacefully. "Saddam Hussein is a threat to the world.