In Astrakhan, three people died from the influenza epidemic today, said Alexander Gavrilov, head of the regional health department. Among the victims of the epidemic: A young woman at the 27th week of pregnancy, which was delivered to the maternity hospital with a diagnosis of acute toxicosis and the presence of the Group B flu virus; woman aged 81 years; Man 67 years old . During the tests, they found positive results on flu "A" and paragraph.

With the approximation of elections to the State Duma of Russia, which will be held in the spring of 2004, deputies show ever increasing activity. Sometimes this activity takes the most unexpected and forms. Last Friday, when discussing the agenda of the plenary meeting, independent deputy Alexander Fedulov called the leader of the Communist Party faction Gennady Zyuganov "Political Prostitute". His ally, his ally Vasily Sandin, stood up for the main communist.

The outbreak of incidence of influenza , recorded in late January - early February in a number of Russian regions, will decline in early spring. This was announced on Wednesday by the chief sanitary doctor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko. "Given the nature of the disease and factors that affect its development, it can be expected that at the beginning of spring the situation is stabilized," he said.

At the St. Petersburg airport "Pulkovo" at 13:26 Moscow time, an emergency landing plane, flying along the route New Urengoy - St. Petersburg. The press service of the Main Directorate of Civil Defense and on Emergency Situations of St. Petersburg reported that the landing was safely. No one was injured. The emergency landing was performed by the Tu-154 aircraft due to a malfunction in the engine. On board the aircraft were ten crew members and 142 passengers.

Scientists have found that the protein has become the first animal, the genetic structure of the cells of which has changed due to global climate warming. According to Daily Telegraph (translation on the website inopressa.ru ), in the past living organisms have already demonstrated their ability to adapt to environmental conditions, but the protein has become the first animal to adhere to global climate changes.

The transaction for the purchase of Rosneft is 100% of the shares of OJSC North Neft in the final stage. This was stated by Rosneft President Sergey Bogdanchikov and co -owner of North Oil Andrei Vavilov. The transaction amount is $ 600 million, Interfax reports. In 2002, North Oil produced 1.474 million tons of oil, which is 35% more than in 2001. The companies own licenses for the development of 15 oil fields in the territories of the Komi Republic and the NAO.

American intelligence recorded the deployment of Iraqi SCUD missiles in the immediate vicinity of mosques and historical monuments. This was announced by CNN .

In the Surgut of the Tyumen region, the day before, an attempt took place on the director of the Alpha television company Mikhail Zinchenko. According to the press service of the district police department, on Tuesday evening, unknown criminals attacked a journalist in the entrance of the house and shot it several times, ITAR-TASS reports. Currently, Zinchenko is in the intensive care unit of a city hospital with several bullet wounds. Nothing is known about his condition.

To modernize communal networks and housing and communal services infrastructure, it is necessary to spend about 300 billion rubles for five years. This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Kasyanov, speaking on Wednesday in the State Duma, reports Prime-Tass.

The leading football clubs in Europe did not support the proposal of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) on the holding of the World Cup. This was clearly demonstrated by the discussion in Njon, held on February 11-12 at a plenary meeting of the Forum of European Clubs, uniting more than 100 leading clubs in the Old World.

Around Washington there are mobile Anger air defense systems. The installations are placed in connection with an increase in the level of a terrorist threat, as the US government in the person of the Ministry of Internal Security officially announced the day before, CNN reports with reference to sources in the American administration.

In honor of the Muslim holiday , Kurban-Bayram in Turkmenistan took place in a mass trip to the mountains, reports ITAR-TASS. Despite the rain, at the launch pad "Health trail", which is otherwise called "Serdar Ella" (the Way of the Leader) tens of thousands of residents of the capital - groups of enterprises and organizations, ministries and departments, as well as schoolchildren and students.

More than 20 thousand Russian children and young people were trained at foreign Islamic centers and today are returned to Russia with “fully zombified” extremists. Such data were given on Wednesday by the Supreme Mufti of Russia Talgat Tajuddin on a "direct line" in the editorial office of Izvestia newspaper.

The volume of oil production in Russia, which last year amounted to 378 million tons, will be brought to 450-500 million tons in the coming years. These figures were cited by Igor Kozin, the head of the development department of the main pipelines of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. According to him, in the Russian energy strategy until 2010-2020, these figures will be spelled out in detail, ITAR-TASS reports.

The authorities of the Afghan province of Helmand announced on Wednesday that 17 civilians were killed as a result of bombing of the US Air Force. Haji Mohammad Vali, a representative of the Helmand province, told Reuters that the head of the Bagran district told him about the death of civilians. He himself learned about this from the relatives of the dead, who came to the building of the district administration.