The Pentagon does not exclude that Saddam Hussein may be the first to strike the American and British troops. Representatives of the American military department allow this opportunity.

In Moscow, in the South-East Administrative District, on Friday night, a police officer was attacked. According to the sources in the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the capital, around midnight near the house number 157 on Lublinskaya Street, three unknown people attacked a policeman returning home from the service. The robbers inflicted several blows to the police officer on the head, stole a service weapon and identity card, and then disappeared.

The Vatican officials reported on Thursday that an investigation of the case of the abduction of the marble hand cut off the statue of St. Peter is being investigated. The statue scorched in the XIII century stands at the entrance to the lower grottoes of St. Peter's Basilica, where the Apostle was buried. Officials said the hand disappeared a few days ago.

As RIA Novosti reports, turning to believers during Friday prayer, the imam of the Mosque “UMM al-Maarik” (“Mother of All Battle”) Aberzozak al-Saadun, said that today the duty of all Muslims “threaten American interests, wherever they are, to set fire to them and drown their ships. This is jihad in the name of Allah!” he said.

The State Duma at a plenary session on Friday plans to consider in the first reading the bill "On the Transition of the Russian Federation to Horcient Time". The authors of the bill are deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Tomsk Region. The bill is supposed to cancel the so -called "maternity time" operating in Russia, which is ahead of the global "waist time" for 1 hour.

On March 14, the troupe of the famous Mariinsky Theater begins in the Bolshoi Theater. This time only a ballet troupe came to the capital, Muscovites will meet with such stars of the world size as Diana Vishneva, Julia Makhalin, Svetlana Zakharova, Farukh Ruzimatov, Andrian Fadeev. The performances of the Mariinsky ballet will be a response to the tour of Gabta in the northern capital.

US President George Bush signed a decree on the extension for another year of sanctions against Iran, which forbid American companies to conduct almost all financial and economic operations with this country.

The American and British military command decided to attract the largest broadcasting corporations of CNN and the Air Force as a kind of "information sponsors" of probable military operations in Iraq. Thus, the exclusive right of the television broadcast of the "assault and fall" of the Basra - the second largest Iraqi city - has already been transferred to them. About this, as it became known today, said a senior representative of the United Military Group in the Persian Gulf zone.

In the Spanish city of Castelon, the 5th meeting of representatives of the main world religions "Dialogue of Faith and Culture", dedicated to peace and struggle against violence, RIA Novosti reports. The followers of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and Buddhism take part in it.

US President George Bush flies on Sunday to the Azore Islands in Portugal to hold an emergency meeting on Iraq with the Prime Ministers of Great Britain and Spain Tony Blair and Jose Marias Ainar. This was announced to reporters in Washington by the press secretary of the White House Ari Fleisher. According to him, the meeting will discuss the prospects for solving the situation around Iraq peacefully.

In Moscow, Oceanarium will be built on Poklonnaya Gora. The construction concept approved on Friday the public urban planning council under the mayor of Moscow. It is assumed that the complex will be located in the reserve territory of the Victory Park on the high bank of the Setun River. He will include the oceanarium itself, the entertainment center "Jungle" and a small guest. The area of ​​the structure will be 21.8 thousand square meters. meters.

The HD 209458B planet is in a bad situation: every second it loses billions of tons of a hydrogen atmosphere under the influence of a star that is too close to it. This is an amazing discovery - the planet evaporating in the sun - the result of observations conducted with the help of the Hubble space telescope by a group of French scientists from the Paris Institute of Astrophysics. The article about this was published by the scientific journal Nature.

The new building of the Government House in Chechnya will have increased strength. In order to protect it from demolitions like the terrorist attack on December 27, a monolithic frame will be built during the construction of the building with a seismicity calculation of 9 points. This was announced by the deputy head of the Main Directorate of Special Construction (GUSS) of the Ministry of Defense Major General Mikhail Bekovitsky. According to him, other security measures will be provided.

The White House prepares a urgent trip to US President George Bush to one of the European countries to meet with the Prime Ministers of Great Britain and Spain Tony Blair and Jose Maria A Asnar. Such a trip could take place this weekend, but her plans have not yet been agreed, NBC reports. Despite the fact that earlier the press secretary of the White House, Ari Fleisher, officially denied these messages, sources in the White House continue to say that Bush’s trip to Europe may take place.

The United States is transferred from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea a detachment of ships armed with winged missiles of the Tomagavk type, the Pentagon reports. We are talking about cruisers, destroyers and submarines, which are currently moving to a new location. The exact number of ships is not specified - 10-15 units. Presumably, the cruise missiles located on board will be used in the shelling of Iraqi territory, especially at the initial stage of the probable conflict.