Last Sunday, two days before the start of his visit to Turkey, the Pope Benedict XVI announced the "feelings of respect and sincere friendship", which he experiences in relation to the Turkish people and his representatives.

At the Christie's auction in Hong Kong, for almost $ 7 million, a picture of the Chinese artist Xu Bayhun called "slave and lion" was sold. This is a record price for the works of Chinese oil painting, ITAR-TASS reports with reference to the South China Morning Post . We are talking about one of the early and unusual works of the recognized classic of Chinese painting of the 20th century, which performed it in the European manner in 1924, being in Berlin.

The suicide bomber in a mined car crashed into a convoy of the Western coalition at the entrance to the city of Kandahar in Afghanistan, ITAR-TASS reports. Two military personnel and one peaceful resident were killed. One person is wounded. According to Afghan lawyers, the dead soldiers were Canadians.

The famous British singer and composer Elton John arrived in Australia with a concert tour. During his tour, the musician will visit the Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and the New Zealand capital of Wellington. According to the manager of the singer, the program of speeches includes the best compositions written by John for a 35-year career.

A large traffic accident occurred on Monday afternoon in the Tver region on the federal highway M9 Moscow - Riga. According to the latest data, six people were killed as a result of the incident. On Monday, at 14:35 Moscow time, at the 174th kilometer of the Moscow -Riga, the Gazelle passenger car collided with a Volvo truck.

In Ingushetia, a traffic accident occurred with the participation of the presidential motorcade. In the car of the President of Chechnya, the Volga car crashed in the car of the President of the Chechnya. The press service of President Chechnya claims that the driver of the Volga car, which crashed into the ALU Alkhanov motorcade, was intoxicated. As a result of the car accident, one police officer from the escort of the column of the President of Chechnya died, three were injured.

Olympic champion-2006 in solitary skating Evgeny Plushenko was a guest of the Grand Prix of the Cup of Russia figure skating in Moscow, having visited, first of all, competitions in men's single skating. This was reported by the Sports Information Agency "All Sports" . “I specifically got out to look at an arbitrary program for men,” said Evgeny Plushenko. “I am still interested in what is happening in male single skating. I did not leave amateur sports.

The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation advocates the introduction of religious subjects into the school curriculum only on the basis of the voluntary choice of students. A joint meeting of the commissions of the Public Chamber on Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience, on the intellectual potential of the nation, as well as on the issues of cultural and spiritual heritage, took place today in Moscow.

The Sambo and Judo coach of the Center for Physical Culture and Sports "Narva Zastava" Andrei Larin was detained on suspicion of committing violent acts of a sexual nature regarding his students 8-12 years old, Fontanka.ru reports. According to the Main Directorate of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, the 38-year-old coach was detained last Friday after the grandmother of one of the victims turned to law enforcement agencies.

In St. Petersburg at the weekend, a 25-year-old arrested man was shot dead by police officers while trying to escape. As ITAR-TASS was informed in the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, the incident occurred last weekend at the building of the Krasnoselsky Federal Court on Suvorov Street, where the detainee was delivered in handcuffs to make a decision on the measure of suppression.

In Los Angeles, one of the main engineers of Toyota David Ermans crashed during the collapse of a light sports aircraft. The 59 -year -old engineer headed the center of new technologies in the United States, he was responsible for the promotion of Toyota hybrid cars in Western markets. Ermans called the American father of the Prius hybrid car, who acquired the US market with very popular, AP reports.

The motorcyclist from George Bush, who suffered in an accident last week, died in the hospital on Sunday. According to AP, 30-year-old Steve Fevela and his two colleagues had an accident in Gonolulu (Hawaiian Islands), where Bush flew after the Asian tour. The presidential motorcade was driving through the territory of the military base, and three motorcyclists collided with each other. Fevela received internal damage and in critical condition died in the hospital.

The Russian Orthodox Church warns about the danger of replacing the sacrament of repentance with a “virtual” story of a person about his sins.

Last weekend in St. Petersburg on the fifth floor of the 9th house on Marat Street, a memorial apartment was opened-the Dmitry Shostakovich Museum. At the house where the young years of the composer passed, a bronze memo is solemnly opened - a memorial plaque. For Petersburgers, the Museum apartment is still closed, according to Fontanka.ru . However, the reconstruction of the premises was completed in the year of the 100th anniversary of the composer's birthday.

The US F-16 fighter of the United States with a pilot on board on Monday crashed in Iraq, news agencies reported with reference to representatives of the American army. According to one version, the plane was shot down. The common statement by the American military command says that the incident occurred 32 km northwest of the Iraqi capital. The combat vehicle crashed during a military operation in the province of Anbar, during which the coalition troops were covered from the air.