The fire in the building of the Republican Department of Internal Affairs in Yakutsk was contained. As Tatyana Popkova, press secretary of the head of the Far Eastern Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, told RIA Novosti, this happened at 08.15 local time. The fire started at four in the morning. A large number of fire brigades were pulled to the scene. Two policemen died, another was hospitalized with severe burns.

The district court banned Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio from placing a webcam in the prison and publishing footage from the life of prisoners on the Internet. The webcam has been operational since July 2000 and was disabled in April 2003 as Arpaio's hosting company closed down. At this stage, the court has only issued a preliminary ruling to ban the webcast; this decision will remain in effect until the trial, at which the case is finally decided.

Activists of the environmental organization Greenpeace held an unsanctioned rally against the war in Iraq in the center of Moscow, Interfax reports. About 30 people took part in the action. Two of them, with the help of climbing equipment, hung out a poster with the slogan "Veto war!" on the main span of the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, opposite the Kremlin. Several more participants of the action hung out a poster with the inscription "Stop the wars!" on the embankment of the Moscow River.

In the center of Moscow, an administrative building burned down, in which a medical center was located. As RBC was informed in the Civil Defense of Emergency Situations, a message about a fire in a house in Milyutinsky Lane was received by the duty officer at 18.30. According to RIA "Novosti", the traffic in the area of ​​the fire and on the adjacent streets is seriously hindered. Myasnitskaya street is completely blocked.

The first stone in the foundation of the new Government House was laid on Friday in Grozny by the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic, Akhmad Kadyrov. The ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Government of Chechnya Anatoly Popov and other officials. According to Interfax, speaking at the laying ceremony, Kadyrov stressed that the future building would be a gift to Chechnya from Moscow's leadership.

Two miners died under rubble in the Karbon mine in the city of Shakhtersk, Donetsk region. It is reported by RIA "Novosti" with reference to the data of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine. There was a significant collapse of the rock in the mine. According to preliminary data, the accident occurred due to violation of safety regulations.

Alexander Lyubimov resigns as First Deputy General Director of the First Channel of Television, reports. the Dni.Ru website According to the publication, first of all, this decision was caused by "the desire to become a journalist again, to return to the air, to engage in their own projects." From April 1997 to March 1998, Alexander Lyubimov headed the directorate of information programs on Channel One, and then became the first deputy general director of the channel.

Vladimir Putin. Photo by ar A fact is a fact, but the interpretation of a fact is also a fact. Sometimes even more significant than the event that gave rise to it. For by interpretation you can draw much more important conclusions about the state of society than on the action produced. This, of course, is related primarily to the company's company, but in totalitarian the same way - only interpretation sometimes takes unexpected forms.

Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On members of the Central Election Commission." Vladimir Butaev, Oleg Velyashev, Alexander Veshnyakov, Vasily Volkov and Vladimir Lysenko have been appointed members of the RF CEC, RIA Novosti was told in the press service of the President of Russia.

CNN and BBC have received the exclusive right to broadcast the capture of the Iraqi city of Basra, ITAR-TASS reports. The agency quotes a high-ranking representative of the joint military group in the Persian Gulf zone. "By making this decision, we're not trying to give some reporter some money," he explained. "The fact is that the Iraqi leadership watches these channels' programs, and we want them to know what's going on in the theater of operations."

At least 128 children from the Portuguese orphanage Casa Pia have become victims of pedophiles, Liberation writes, citing police investigation data. Despite the fact that abuses in the orphanage began to be discussed as early as November 2002, the Ministry of Health of Portugal confirmed the data on 128 victims of pedophiles only recently. Among the detainees in this case were famous people - for example, the most popular TV presenter Carlos Cruz, lawyer Hugo Marsao and doctor Joao Diniz.

15 environmental activists were detained on March 13 for holding an unauthorized picket near the Hungarian embassy. Environmentalists protested against the import of nuclear waste from Hungary into Russia. The action was carried out by the organizations "Ecodefense" and "Social-Ecological Union".

On March 13, operatives detained in Moscow a visitor from Tula, who is suspected of murdering Vadim Ryabtsev, a teacher at the Finance and Law Academy. This was reported to Granyam.Ru by the press service of the Moscow police department. The suspect, born in 1977, was registered in the capital at 1 Dudkin Street. It was established that on March 11, he and Ryabtsev drank, quarreled, and the detainee inflicted multiple wounds on Ryabtsev with a knife. The murder weapon has been seized.

In St. Petersburg, private security officers detained a 17-year-old boy who was trying to steal a high-voltage cable from the zoo. As RIA Novosti was told in the press service of the department of private security at the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, on Thursday, late in the evening, a detachment of private security near one of the houses in Alexander Park detained a 17-year-old boy.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Turkey have agreed not to allow Iraqi refugees to cross the border if the US army invades Iraq. This was reported by Kommersant with reference to the Qatari television company Al Jazeera. In the event of a war, these four states will set up camps for Iraqi refugees in Iraqi territory near their borders. The camps, which are already being built, will operate under the auspices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.