Iraq agreed "in principle" to destroy the Al-Samoud-2 missiles, which could have a range in excess of the prescribed 150 kilometers. This was reported to AP by diplomats and UN officials who wished to remain anonymous. According to them, the Iraqi leadership sent a letter to the head of the mission of inspectors Hans Blix with the corresponding intentions.

In Poland, in the town of Bartoszyce in the border zone with the Kaliningrad region of Russia, a case of cattle disease with "mad cow disease" was discovered. "Laboratory analysis of the cow's tissues showed that the preliminary diagnosis of her death -" mad cow disease - "corresponds to reality," said Leszek Kolodzei, chief veterinarian of Poland. This is the fifth reported case of "mad cow disease" in cattle in Poland. The first was recorded in the spring of 2002.

Several messages have been sent on behalf of Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen and from his email address. Like Rosbalt referring to the Finnish newspaper Kainuun Sanomat, one of them was addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and simultaneously sent to international media and diplomatic missions.

Experts a few days ago identified the remains of two terrorists who rammed the towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, CNN reports. Ellen Barakove, a spokesman for the New York Medical Examiner's Office, explained that this was established by comparing the DNA analysis of the remains found in the ruins with DNA samples from the terrorists. Experts cannot yet provide the names of the identified terrorists, as the FBI provided DNA samples without indicating to whom they belonged.

The case of Colonel Budanov is now being considered in the Supreme Court of Russia, Ekho Moskvy reports. In December last year, the former commander of a tank regiment was declared insane at the time of the murder of a Chechen girl, Elza Kungayeva, and sent for compulsory treatment. Both the prosecutor's office and the relatives of the deceased do not agree with this decision of the North Caucasian District Court.

The number of deaths from influenza and its complications during the current epidemic in Russia has increased to 26 people. This was reported to Interfax in the department of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The epidemic has spread to 52 regions of Russia. In the territories of Omsk and Rostov-on-Don, one can witness the end of the epidemic.

The Czech parliament will try for the third time to elect a president, Ekho Moskvy reports. There are two candidates running for the presidency. They are former education minister Jan Sokol and former prime minister Vaclav Klaus. The procedure began at 12.00 Moscow time. Let me remind you that parliamentarians have already tried twice, on January 15 and 24, 2003, to elect the head of state.

http://www.polk.ru/img/small/subj_69_9.jpg On Friday, Grozny was visited by Presidential Assistant Sergey Yastrzhembsky and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov. They instructed the republic’s readiness for a referendum in terms of agitation and propaganda work. On the same day, Moscow guests summed up at a meeting with the head of the Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov.

7.8 billion rubles were allocated from the budget for the elections of deputies to the State Duma in December 2003 and the President of the Russian Federation in March 2004. This, according to Prime-TASS, was reported on Friday at a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation.

Japan and the United States have data on testing in January this year in North Korea of ​​the engine start mechanism for the Taepodong ballistic missile. This was reported on Friday by the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, citing sources in Tokyo and Washington. According to them, the tests took place at the Musudanri test site on the northeast coast of the DPRK, as evidenced by images obtained using spy satellites.

In one of the units of the Tyumen garrison, a senior officer was caught red-handed while receiving a bribe, RIA Novosti reports. As the press service of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office explained to the agency, the chief of staff of one of the units of the Federal Railway Service, Lieutenant Colonel Orlov, extorted a bribe of 8,200 rubles from Private Weber, who was dismissed from military service.

Colonel Kornely Salia, head of the headquarters of the department for the protection of the state border of Georgia, said that a Russian military aircraft violated the airspace of Georgia. According to Interfax, Salia claims that the Russian plane flew into Georgia from the territory of Abkhazia and stayed in the sky over Georgian territory for seven minutes. Since the beginning of 2003, this is the first statement by the Georgian side about the violation of its airspace by Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law on currency regulation and currency control, Ekho Moskvy reports. This law allows you to take out of the country at a time no more than $ 3,000 without special permission. When exporting abroad from 3 to 10 thousand dollars, it is necessary to register this amount in the customs declaration, and no supporting documents need to be provided. The amount of more than 10 thousand dollars is allowed to be exported only in a non-cash form.

In Grozny, a schedule for the reduction of checkpoints has been approved, the military commandant of the Chechen Republic, Lieutenant-General Yevgeny Abrashin, told Interfax. According to him, the number of checkpoints in the city will be reduced by 8 units. "We intend to remove all posts in the city center on those highways where they impede the movement of vehicles carrying passengers and goods delivered to the restored facilities," Abrashin said.

A US Air Force U-2S strategic reconnaissance aircraft flew over Georgian territory last Thursday, a source in the Georgian military department told Interfax. "The flight was carried out on the basis of an agreement reached two months ago between the American and Georgian sides," the source said. Meanwhile, the Russian military says they controlled the flight of an American reconnaissance aircraft from their territory.