On Saturday, in many countries of the world, mass demonstrations were held against the plans of the administration of George Bush to start a military campaign in Iraq. One of the largest shares should be held in Washington when there will be night in Moscow. Japan: "Do not kill people in Iraq" About 5,000 people took part in Saturday in Tokyo Demonstration of Protest against the preparation of the United States to attack Iraq.

Russian Marat Safin dropped out of the open championship of Australia in tennis. Due to the injury, he refused to play against the German Rainer Shuttler. According to Safin, he felt pain in the brush in the first round of competitions after falling during a fight with Dutchman Ramon Sluiniter, RIA Novosti reports.

In the Russian capital, a 78-year-old pensioner, on the basis of hostile relations with his son-drug addict, stabbed him, as well as, for the motives that were not yet clarified, his wife, sources in the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the capital reported on Saturday.

A symbol of the stamina and courage of the city’s defenders on the Neva will be a memorial sign “Days of the blockade”, open on Saturday, on the 60th anniversary of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad, on the embankment of Fontanka opposite the house 21. A strict stone stove marks the place where on the harsh days of the blockade, when the water supply was frozen out of any frosts, the townspeople took water from the ice hole.

Moscow "Lokomotiv" officially opens a new season on Saturday. The champion of Russia will begin its performances in the Commonwealth Champions Cup. The team of Yuri Semin, along with the Donetsk "Shakhtar" are not only the main favorites of the tournament, but also its debutants. In previous competitions, Ukraine was invariably represented by Dynamo Kiev, and Russia - Moscow Spartak, only once in 1996, lost this right of the Vladikavkaz Alania.

Yao Min met in the match of the next NBA gaming day with Shakil O'NILL. The Central Houston lost in a personal duel, but his team won this match. The main hero of the fight was the defender-universal Steve Francise, who set a personal record and brought the Rockets 44 points. The meeting ended with a score - 108: 104. In addition, Francise made 11 assists and six rebounds, Reuters reports.

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said that he would not give in to the opposition "not a paw." According to RIA Novosti , Chavez spoke on Friday in Karakas with the annual message of the country's national assembly. Touching on the universal strike that began in Venezuela on December 2, the president noted that this is only a “mask”, behind which fascist and terrorist trends encroaching on the republic and state institutions are hiding.

The emperor of Japan Akihito underwent surgery on Saturday regarding the prostate cancer. According to ITAR-TASS in the Office of the Imperial Court, the operation began at 07:54 local time, and at 14:05/08: 05 Moscow time left the operating room. The operation, thus, lasted about six hours.

Payments of monetary compensation to the families of the dead and the victims of the explosion on December 27, 2002 at the complex of government buildings in Grozny are delayed. “This is due to the lack of full lists of victims of the attack,” the Minister of the Russian Federation on the restoration of Chechnya Stanislav Ilyasov said on Saturday on Saturday. “Today, all the dead are identified, but not all relatives turned for help.

The legendary English folk rock band Jethro Tull will arrive in Moscow in the spring. The only concert of the famous rock musicians will be held in the recreation center named after Gorbunov on April 11, the organizers of the group’s tour of the group told Interfax. The leader of the group of Ien Anderson is called the best flutist in the history of rock music.

The Commission on the Affairs of the President of Bashkiria at its first meeting in 2003 on Saturday first rejected all eight petitions received from convicts who were serving the imprisonment in the institutions of the Guin in the republic.

In connection with the strongest forest fires, a state of emergency has been introduced in the capital of Australia Kanberre, RIA Novosti reports. According to the Australian media, fires, raging for more than a week in the territory of Namaji Neeshenl Park Namaji Namaji, located in the western suburbs of the city, spread to several densely populated residential areas last night.

In St. Petersburg, a tragedy occurred at the European Short Treku championship. A serious wound in a clash with one of the rivals was received by the skater from Bulgaria. In one of the races of 500 meters, Assen Panda, who literally stumbled upon the Russian horse. The head physician of the competition Viktor Purtov in an interview with ITAR-TASS said that Bulgarian had a cut wound of the middle third of the right thigh with vascular damage.

44 of a delegate of 29 parties operating in 25 countries of the world take part in the First World Congress of Patriotic Parties, organized on Saturday in Moscow by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Among the delegates of Congress, representatives of such countries as Japan, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, France, Lebanon, South Africa and a number of other states.

The first day of the football "Commonwealth Cup" was marked by a bomb that could soon burst. According to unverified information, the Spartak coach Oleg Romantsev resigned. The first message about this was received on the influential guest book of Spartak fans . The message was based on a conversation between the President of Lokomotiv Valery Filatov and his colleague from CSKA Evgeny Giner.