Separatists have killed 22 Bengali farmers in the Indian state of Tripura. The massacre took place in the small Bengali village of Sudcherri near the border with Bangladesh. About 30 terrorists in military uniform broke into the village and opened fire, not understanding who was in front of them. After 20 minutes, they turned around and fled into the jungle. 12 people died on the spot, 10 - on the way to the hospital. Among the dead are women and children.

In connection with the May 7 rally on Vasilyevsky Spusk in the center of Moscow, the movement of vehicles will be limited. As RIA "Novosti" was informed in the department of information and propaganda of the capital's traffic police, the restrictions will come into effect on Wednesday from 12.00 Moscow time until the end of the action.

The US State Department warns of possible terrorist attacks against the interests of the United States on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, reports AFP. The attacks may be planned by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda that has recently stepped up its activities. The State Department urges US citizens not to travel to Kyrgyzstan if they are unable to ensure their own safety. The US Embassy in Bishkek is monitoring the situation.

It was decided to privatize the Pridnestrovian winery "Bouquet of Moldova", located in the city of Dubossary, RIA Novosti reports. The initial price of the enterprise is 3 million 600 thousand dollars. The new owner will be determined on a competitive basis within a month. The main requirements for the investor are the preservation of the labor collective and the increase in the workload of the main production from 20 to 50 percent.

Ecuador is going to file a lawsuit against Chevron Texaco. The company is accused of polluting the Amazon basin with oil waste. The deterioration of the ecological situation negatively affected the health of the Indians living there. Applicants for the American company were 30,000 Indians. This is the first such case in Ecuador. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said Texaco Petroleum Co leaked 70.3 million liters of petroleum products between 1972 and 1992, Reuters reports.

A 31-year-old South African decapitates himself in a supermarket in front of astonished shoppers. This is reported by the DPA with reference to the local police. The incident occurred on Wednesday early in the morning in one of the port cities of South Africa. According to eyewitnesses, the suicide calmly approached the meat department, where he turned on the meat cutting machine and stuck his head into it. Neither sellers nor buyers had time to stop him.

Sanctions against Iraq can only be lifted on the basis of the current resolutions of the UN Security Council, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told Interfax. "Russia is in favor of easing the burden of sanctions as soon as possible, and this should be done taking into account the current resolutions of the UN Security Council," Fedotov said.

The International Orchestra of the World will give the only concert in St. Petersburg on Thursday, RIA Novosti reports. The orchestra will perform at the Mariinsky Theater as part of the Stars of the White Nights festival. The artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater, conductor Valery Gergiev, believes that the performance will be one of the most important events of the festival.

On Wednesday, relatives of those convicted under so-called "religious articles" protested in Tashkent, PRIMA reports. About a hundred women picketed the building of the Main Directorate for the Execution of Punishments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan. Participants of the action gathered at the reception of the GUIN and demanded an end to torture and humiliation in places of deprivation of liberty, the release of convicts or, at least, their transfer closer to home.

Filming NTV During the investigation of the Mi-26 helicopter disaster, another version appeared near Chita, Kommersant writes. It does not comply with the statement of the head of the Ministry of Emergencies of Sergey Shoigu that the helicopter was destroyed by a squall wind that raised a trailer water intake to the level of the rear screw. According to the new version, the cause of the disaster could not be weather conditions, but the human factor.

In Moscow, for the first time, a competition was held for the right to install new billboards in the city, writes Kommersant . The competition was held by the committee of advertising, information and design of the city of the Moscow government. Among the winners there is not a single prominent player in the capital's outdoor advertising market.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was named the best finance minister of the year in Central and Eastern Europe in a survey by Emerging Markets, Interfax reports. The survey was conducted among investors and bankers. "Kudrin is committed to a conservative fiscal policy that has brought stability to the Russian economy," Brunswick UBS Warburg Chief Economist Al Breach said.

In Ukraine, in the cemetery of the village of Kornin, Rivne region, several vandals knocked down sixteen monuments and twenty-two crosses. It is reported by Magnolia TV with reference to the newspaper "Rivne vechirnє". All hooligans were detained in hot pursuit. These were children aged 10-12 years. At present, investigators are communicating with all seven detained children, who must establish the reasons for the hooligan act.

The Vector Virological Center is not yet developing a vaccine against SARS, Raisa Martinyuk, one of the leaders of the center, told Ekho Moskvy. Thus, she refuted the statement of the plenipotentiary in the Siberian district Leonid Drachevsky that such work is already underway in Russia and it is Vector that is busy with this. According to Martinyuk, the center has not yet received even strains of this virus, which are expected no earlier than May 12.

On May 21, an agreement on a multilateral nuclear environmental program in Russia will be signed in Stockholm. According to RIA Novosti, such a statement was made on Wednesday by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.