The London Chelsea is close to concluding a contract with the leader of the German Hamburg Rafael Van der Vaart. The estimated transfer amount will be 16 million pounds. The player himself will leave the Bundeslig this summer, refusing to renew the contract with the current club. He was intensively married to Valencia this January, but the Dutchman remained in the club. Now the "blue" are the main contender for Rafu, who can be a replacement for Frank Lampard if he still leaves Stamford Bridge.

In Myanmar, the unknown committed an act of public self -immolation in the square in front of the Buddhist Pagoda Swabodon in Yangon, where in September 2007 the most fierce clashes of the opposition and the military were held. As the Associated Press reports with reference to eyewitness certificates, the man shouted: “Down with the military regime!”, Draised himself with gasoline and set fire to. According to other information, he did not shout anti -government slogans.

Hockey players of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in the starting match of the semifinal series of Russian playoffs won in Magnitogorsk at the local Metallurg with a score of 2: 0. The success of the guests was formed thanks to the well -aimed throws of Vasyunov and Yashin. The reliable game of Lokomotiv in the defense and rational in the attack guaranteed the Fourth in a row in the playoffs in a row and the first in the confrontation with the current champion.

At a rally in support of the leader of the St. Petersburg "Yabloko" Maxim Reznik, eight provocateurs were detained. This was reported on the air of the Echo of Moscow radio station leader of the local branch of the United Civil Front, organizer of the rally Olga Kournosova. According to her, the detainees "carried out provocations of various kinds." “One group rushed at the spokes in the speakers.

The results of a single state exam (USE) will be taken into account for the first time this year upon admission to Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. This was announced today by the rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy during a press conference dedicated to the new season of entrance exams in Moscow State University, which took place in the main building of the university on the Lenin Mountains, before the opening day of the open door.

The Green Zone in Baghdad - a specially protected territory where government institutions and embassies are located - was subjected to a massive missile shelling on Sunday morning, Reurets reported. According to eyewitnesses, the shelling lasted about 15 minutes. The victims and destruction are not reported. Responsibility for previous such incidents of the US military command in Iraq lied to the radical Shiite group "Mahdi Army", which is led by Muktada al-Sadr.

The Tibetan spiritual leader of the Dalai Lama rejected Beijing's accusations of provoking the riots in the historical capital of Tibet Lhasa in the desire to damage China’s image abroad on the eve of the Olympic Games, the EURONEWS TV channel reports. On Sunday, Chinese television spread video frames of burned bodies found during the analysis of blockages in Lhasa.

The intensive melting of snow in the mountainous Mestiysky district of Western Georgia led to floods in a number of settlements and a similar snow avalanche. As Interfax was informed in the Emergency Situations Department of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, one of the avalanches went to the village of Mulahi. There are no victims or victims as a result of the avalanche, but the damage to the local population was serious.

The seven-time world champion Formula 1 German Michael Schumacher took part in the traditional motorcycle racing, which annually takes place in Hungary for the Pannonia highway, and ended up among the winners. The legendary German confidently won the qualifications, but decided to go into the race from the last line of the starting grill along with other professional racers, Martin Bauer and Andy Meclon.

Pupils of British schools are increasingly carrying drugs, knives and even pistols, reports Sky News on Sunday. The study conducted by the University of Walorus in dozens of British schools indicates that over the past seven years, such cases have become noticeably more frequent. A 1,500 teachers survey showed that some of the schools have serious problems. Approximately every fourth teacher or 22.4% at least once a year dealt with students who brought weapons to school.

The Supergon on the dog teams "Beringia-2008" started on Sunday in Kamchatka. The length of the distance that the dogs has to pass is recordly long - 950 kilometers through. In the course of the distance, the participants pass only 12 villages and the villages of the Kamchatka Territory. The race will take place in 15 stages. Today, 15 kayurs with their teams entered the snow track, in which from 10 to 14 dogs are harnessed.

Residents of Orenburg panic about rumors about the possible next emergency disconnection of water, the deputy head of the city administration for housing and communal services, transport and communications Yuri Kolychenkov told RIA Novosti on Sunday. "On Sunday, calls from the city residents alarmed by rumors about the new disconnection of water are received at the Central Emergency Service of Orenburg. The Orenburg administration officially states that this information is not true.

The representative of the Holy See in the Russian Federation, the archbishop of Antonio Mennini baptized 35 adult Russians during the worship of the Easter Industry in the Moscow Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said RIA Novosti .

The current world champion Kimi Raikkonen became the winner of the Grand Prix of Malaysia, while his Ferrari partner Felipa dropped out of the race due to a mistake. The second place for the first time in his career was taken by Robert Kubitsa at the BMW-Zauber, the third was Haikki Kovalainen at McLaren. The beginning of the race in Sipanda was less rich in clashes, compared with the start of a week ago in Australia.

On Monday, an Olympic fire relay race will begin from ancient Olympia, which will be held on five continents and finishes on August 8 of this year in Beijing, on the opening day of the XXIX Olympics. Olympia was badly damaged by fires in August last year, when fire destroyed forests in the vicinity of archaeological monuments. "Competing over time, we managed to plant 50 thousand trees in the affected areas for the victims of the fire.