Yaroslav Golovanov, scientific observer for Komsomolskaya Pravda, died suddenly in Moscow. This was reported to Interfax in the editorial office of the newspaper. Information about the place and time of the funeral of Yaroslav Golovanov will be announced later. "The main topics of Yaroslav Golovanov all these years have been the history of science and cosmonautics. It was he who "discovered" the secret general designer Sergei Korolev for a wide range of readers.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday that another amnesty could be announced in 2005 in connection with the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from fascism and victory in the Great Patriotic War. PRIMA reports. According to Lukashenko, more prisoners have been amnestied in Belarus than in any other country, but a third of those who have been amnestied return to prison for repeated crimes. The president said the government would consider amnesty.

Saudi intelligence agencies said on Tuesday that three members of al-Qaeda were arrested in the port city of Jeddah (on the Red Sea). "One of the three has agreed to cooperate with us and is being interrogated by the security services," a Saudi intelligence official told Reuters. It is not yet clear if these arrests are related to the attacks that took place last week in Riyadh.

On Wednesday, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus brought from Moscow 12 books that were stolen a month ago from the National Library of Belarus. According to PRIMA, among the rarities are lifetime editions of Gogol's books "Mirgorod", "Taras Bulba, a story from" Zaporozhye antiquity", "The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls", two editions of the 18th century and six of the 19th, the incunabula "Herbarius", dating from 1486 The cost of the books is 22.6 million rubles.

A major terrorist attack has been prevented in Grozny, RIA Novosti was told at the Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic. "The day before, during operational activities, a container was found in a destroyed house in the Leninsky district, which contained 45 kilograms of plastite," a spokesman for the ministry said. According to him, the explosives were taken to a safe place. Investigative activities are being carried out.

A draft law on amendments to the city's charter, which abolishes the election of the vice-mayor, has been submitted to the Moscow City Duma, Interfax reports. The author of the document, Oleg Bocharov, vice-speaker of the Moscow City Duma, proposes to write in the city's charter that the vice-mayor of Moscow is appointed and dismissed by decree of the mayor.

In no case should Petersburgers let strangers into their apartments, says Anna Markova, vice-governor of St. Petersburg. According to Rosbalt, she announced this on Tuesday at an open meeting of the city government.

On May 25, Channel One will receive an updated version of Puppets, which will be pulled by Mikhail Leontiev. It is reported by Gazeta.ru. The program is being prepared jointly by Channel One and Vasily Grigoriev, who in mid-March took over as chief producer for promising and documentary projects on the Rossiya TV channel. The producer of the program, Vasily Grigoriev, notes that the updated "Dolls" will be a serious, but very expensive show.

On the evening of May 20, the corpse of a child was found in Nizhny Novgorod, the same age as the kidnapped newborn child of a police officer, reports Regions.ru. This was reported to NTA Povolzhye by the press service of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate NO. Identification has not yet been carried out, and it cannot be argued that it is he, the two-week-old son of Senior Lieutenant Alexander Petushkov, who works at GAZ. Police officers distributed sketches of suspects in kidnapping.

Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov reiterated the need to form a government, taking into account the elections to the State Duma, RIA Novosti reports. He made this statement at the fourth reporting and election conference of the Organization of Veterans of Internal Affairs Bodies and Internal Troops.

The US representative did not take part in the signing ceremony of the protocol on claims, litigation and exemption from liability to the Agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program /MNEPR/ in Russia. As RIA Novosti learned from the circles of the Russian delegation, the United States would like to remain within the framework of the 1992 agreement between Russia and the United States. This agreement concerns the reduction of joint threats.

Two listening devices were found in the office of Voronezh Region Prosecutor Anatoly Boyarkin. They were found by specialists from one of the private firms in Voronezh, whom the prosecutor specifically invited to check his office, Newsru.com reports . One of the bugs was found in the telephone set, the second - on the electrical wiring of the TV.

Three al-Qaeda members of the al-Qaeda organization, detained on Tuesday night in Saudi Arabia, planned to hijack a plane that was supposed to take off from Jeddah and crash into a high-rise building in the city of Jeddah. This was reported to CNN by a source in the intelligence services of Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the terrorists were going to use knives. They were detained right at the airport - they were preparing to board a Saudia flight to Sudan.

The murder of the mayor of Troitsk near Moscow may be related to his official activities. According to RIA "Novosti", referring to the statement of the Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia for the Central Federal District Nikolai Savchenko, this is the main version of the investigation. According to Savchenko, the prosecutor's office of the Moscow region is investigating this criminal case.

Spectators and staff were evacuated from the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on Tuesday due to a bomb threat. This was reported to RIA Novosti by an employee of the information and public relations department of the Moscow police department. "Anonymous message was received on the control panel of the 02 duty officer from a teenager who reported that there was allegedly a bomb in the theater building," he said.