In Lithuania this weekend, a two -day referendum will be held on the issue of its entry into the European Union. More than 2.6 million citizens of Lithuania, included in the electoral lists, must express their opinion about the country's membership in the EU. Voting on Saturday and Sunday will begin at exactly 06:00 in the morning local time / 07: 00 Moscow time / and end at 22:00.

Five people died last night during a fire in a residential building in the village of Krasnogvardeisky at Stavropol. According to RIA Novosti in the Gups of the region, the husband and their wife and three of their young children were victims of fire. The neighbors tried to help the fellow villagers who were in trouble - two people carried out from the burning house. However, they no longer showed signs of life, apparently poisoned by combustion products.

After a 23-year exile to his homeland, Muhammad Bakr al-Khakim, the leader of the Higher Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq-the largest Iraqi Shiite group, opposition to the former Baghdad regime, returned to his homeland on Saturday, ITAR-TASS reports. Since 1980, Al-Hakim lived in Iran. The head of Vsiri was subjected to persecution in the 70s from the regime of Saddam Hussein. He stated that he advocated the formation of a democratically elected government in Iraq.

The Moscow CSKA lost to Barcelona in the semifinal match of the main tournament of the Basketball Euroleague. When led by the meeting, the army team lost - 71:76, and now, at best, they can only take third place. At the beginning of the match, the Russians came forward quite easily - 11: 2. It is worth highlighting that CSKA had almost everything at these minutes.

Five people died, more than 10 were injured as a result of a terrorist attack in the south of the Philippines. According to AR, a powerful explosive device was blown up on Saturday in the Kotabato market on the Philippine Island of Mindanao. According to the police representative, a bomb made of an 81-mm mortar projectile exploded. Two sellers and three market visitors were killed.

The national teams of Sweden and Canada will meet for the first time in the final of the World Hockey Championship. The Swedes upset the last year’s winner of the world championship - a team of Slovakia with a score of 4: 1, and Canadians won the Czech Republic - 8: 4. The best part of the Swedish team was the player of Toronto Maip Lefs Mats Sundin.

So far, it is impossible to say how much time American troops will remain in Iraq. This was announced to reporters at a briefing in the Pentagon on Friday US Secretary of Defense Donald Ramsfeld, RIA Novosti reports. “Those who think that they know how much time it will take deceiving themselves,” he emphasized. He noted what was called earlier a year is just a preliminary term.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II congratulated each other on the Easter holidays. The head of state visited the residence of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church , Peredelkino, near Moscow. The President presented the Patriarch with an icon of the Resurrection of Christ. Alexy II presented Vladimir Putin with a “symbol of life” - an Easter egg.

In the USA, in the city of Somitvil, the police had to open fire on a woman threatening to kill her own son, Echo of Moscow reports. Karen Lynn Laul was serving a sentence in prison for "persecution and public insults." The woman pretended to be the patient and achieved that she was sent for examination to the clinic. On the way, Karen took advantage of the mistake of the guards and, hijacked the patrol car, got to the house of her sister.

In the event of atypical pneumonia in Moscow, all necessary measures are provided to fight the further spread of the disease in accordance with the international level and provide assistance to patients. This was stated by the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of Moscow Lyudmila Shvetsova on Saturday on the air of the Echo of Moscow radio station.

The Romanian football player, defending his girlfriend on the street, received from those who attacked a couple of robbers, a knife in the stomach. Now the state of Valentine Ioovitsa is out of danger. The 19-year-old defender, playing for the sports club, made his debut in professional football this season. One evening, he decided to take a walk with his friend. However, two unknown people blocked his path, demanding money. One of the robbers attacked the girl and grabbed her mobile phone.

Unknown in camouflage form, who on Thursday evening opened firing from automatic weapons at the business school of the University of Case Western Reserve in Cleveland (USA), arrested. According to Reuters, one person is killed and at least one was wounded. On other reports of the wounded two. The police cordoned off the building and began to check the premises, in some of which frightened students and teachers closed.

The United States is studying the possibility of the second round of consultations with the DPRK to resolve the crisis around its nuclear program. As the Japanese agency Kyodo reports today, sources close to American-North Korean contacts in Washington reported.

In the next three days, warm weather will remain in Moscow and the region, short -term rains are possible, RIA Novosti was told in the Moscow Hydrometeorological University. On Sunday night, May 11, 9 degrees of heat are expected in the capital, 7-8 in the region. In the afternoon in Moscow, the temperature will be 21 degrees, in the region - plus 19-21, rains in places. South wind, 5 m/s. On Monday, May 12, in Moscow and the Moscow region, short -term rains are possible.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Yuri Fedotov and France Ambassador to Russia Claude Blanchmeson at a meeting in Moscow on Saturday advocated an early termination of sanctions imposed against Iraq, taking into account the provisions of decisions previously taken in the interests of the Iraqi people and strengthening stability in the region.