Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today at the first meeting of his cabinet that he had developed “five principles by which Israel will communicate with the Palestinians,” AFP reports, citing Jerusalem radio stations. The main principle, according to Sharon, is the restoration of Israeli security after five months of confrontation with the Palestinians.

First Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Far Eastern Federal District Gennady Apanasenko was officially nominated today as a candidate for governor of the Primorsky Territory, whose early elections are scheduled for May 27. Apanasenko was nominated by a group of voters. According to the candidate himself, he was repeatedly approached by the heads of large enterprises, deputies of the regional Duma and ordinary village residents.

Rio Praaning, secretary of the international Kursk Foundation, said today that the issue of raising the boat will be discussed in March at a meeting between representatives of Russia and the European Union, and if “a compromise is not found, then the Kursk will remain lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea seas." “The rise of the Kursk, as experts say, should be carried out in the summer.

On March 12, Finance Minister Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin announced that Russia has almost agreed on a one-year cooperation program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) , ITAR-TASS reports. According to Kudrin, experts are currently working on final agreement on “technical issues.” Returning to Russia's previous intentions to conclude an agreement on a three-year cooperation program, the head of the Ministry of Finance emphasized that the government is not abandoning its plans.

The yen exchange rate against the dollar fell to its lowest level in the last 20 months, and quotes on the Japanese stock market continued their decline, reports Bloomberg . This situation raises doubts that the Japanese government's plan to breathe life into the country's economy will be successful. During Asian currency trading on Monday, March 12, the Japanese currency dropped to 120.61 yen per dollar, which is the lowest level since July 19, 1999.

Pope John Paul II beatified 233 martyrs who died during the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939, Ekho Moskvy reports, citing the Interfax agency. They were awarded this honor because they preferred death to renunciation of the Catholic faith. The number of those beatified during the 23 years of John Paul II's tenure on the papal throne reached 1227. During this time, 443 righteous people were canonized.

His pursuit lasted more than 20 hours. On March 9, border guards near Cape Ostrovnoy discovered a drifting fishing vessel, which was allegedly poaching crab. As NTV reports with reference to Interfax, as soon as the border guards approached the Komsomolets Nizhneamurya, the ship set course and began to move away at full speed. Requests to stop via radio did not produce any results - the ship did not communicate.

According to the results of a recent survey conducted in Great Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair was recognized as the most influential representative of the country's religious community, the Blagovest-info agency reports. Blair was given this title for his dedication to the Anglican Church. Second and third places were taken respectively by Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and Queen Elizabeth II. In fourth place was the wife of Prime Minister Cherie Blair, who is a Catholic.

Today in London the results of a survey were published, according to which, two months before the elections, the majority of British residents believe that Tony Blair should remain the country's Prime Minister, and his rivals have practically no chance. In a poll conducted by the BBC, 47% of respondents supported Blair, and analysts now say that it is the Labor Party he represents that will win the British parliamentary elections, which are due to be held on May 3.

In Afghanistan, most likely, there are no more monuments of Buddhist culture. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reports that the destruction of two giant Buddha statues in Afghanistan continues, and the remaining Buddhist monuments in the country have already been destroyed. The leadership of the Afghan Taliban movement informed Kofi Annan about this. According to independent sources in Afghanistan, the rock-cut statues have already been completely destroyed.

In the third round match, she defeated compatriot Nadezhda Petrova -6:4, 6:4. And in the next round her opponent will be a Russian woman, Elena Dementieva. Among the results of other matches, we note the victory of American Linsday Davenport over Frenchwoman Anne-Gal Sido - 6:4, 6:4.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim announced today that “the government of the republic is not going to create a federation in Macedonia,” as the Albanian rebels demand, because “a federation will not bring anything good.” “If we create a federation, divide the country into Albanians and Macedonians, we will create two competing communities, and it will not work. I think no one supports such an idea,” Kerim said.

Lawyers Eleonora Sergeeva and Genrikh Padva announced today that Pavel Borodin, who “felt unwell in prison” last Saturday, will soon be visited by a doctor from the Russian embassy. “Last Saturday, Borodin lay for two hours with an oxygen cushion, and now he will be examined by a doctor from the New York Russian consulate.

The Il-96 airliner made an emergency landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo-2 international airport, NTV reports citing Interfax. As it became known today, on Sunday at about 17:00 Moscow time, the air traffic controller received a request for an emergency landing of flight number 600 flying from Seoul to Moscow, the capital’s Department of Internal Affairs for Air Transport reported. According to the crew, the plane's so-called "third hydraulic system" failed.

In Chechnya, a partial reduction of troops begins on March 13. On Tuesday, a train with a motorized rifle brigade of the Ministry of Defense will depart from the Russian military base Khankala in the suburbs of Grozny to places of permanent deployment. The commander of the United Group of Federal Forces, General Valery Baranov, said that the schedule for the withdrawal of military units and units temporarily stationed on the territory of the republic has already been fully drawn up.