The Russians are confidently leading in the team standings before the final day of the European Championship in Water Sports, which ends in the Netherlands. On the account of the Russian national team after 45 of 54 species - 11 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze medals. The Spaniards-5-3-3 and Italians-4-7-7 are significantly lagging behind our national team. On Monday, nine sets of medals in water and swimming will be played.

Iran officially turned to the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) with a request to accept it to the organization, the head of the Foreign Ministry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iry Manechr Motaki told reporters here. Now Iran, along with Mongolia, India and Pakistan, has the status of an observer in the SCO. Members of the organization are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The "green zone" in Baghdad - the outpost of the Iraqi authorities and the forces of the coalition in Iraq - was subjected to mortar and missile shelling at least four times during Sunday. This was announced by a representative of the Iraqi security forces.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will visit Russia on a visit on March 24-26, the Egyptian ambassador to the Russian Federation was told by Ipat al-Said. During the visit, an agreement will be signed between the two countries on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. "This agreement will be beneficial to one countries, as our relations in the field of energy make more significant.

The leader of the famous rock band "Civil Defense" Yegor Letov died of acute respiratory failure that developed from alcohol poisoning, the senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee at the Omsk Region Prosecutor's Office of the Omsk Region told RIA Novosti . As previously reported, Yegor Letov died in his apartment in Omsk on February 19, 2008 at the 44th year of life.

On Monday, the National Assembly (Lower House of Parliament) elected the new head of the government of the 55-year-old Saili Yusfa, the former assistant ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, killed at the end of December 2007. Gilani's candidacy was nominated by the two largest opposition parties that defeated the parliamentary elections on February 18,-the Pakistani people (PPN), which was headed by Bhutto, and the Pakistani Muslim League (PML) of another ex-premiere of Navaz Sharif.

The Internet site, through which the deputy of the Netherlands Parliament, Goert Wilders planned to implement the world premiere of his anti-Islamic film "Troubles" , stopped his work. As a result, its show is postponed for an indefinite time, reports ITAR-TASS.

The prosecutor's office of the Zeisky district of the Amur Region began a check on the fact of an outbreak of SARS with intestinal syndrome among more than 40 students of the Zean boarding school No. 9. According to the regional prosecutor’s office on Monday, 41 children aged 7 to 12 years old fell ill in total. They noted that 23 children were hospitalized in the infectious department, and the state of four is assessed as moderate.

State Duma deputies Gennady Gudkov, Alexander Khinshtein (both of the United Russia faction) and Andrei Lugovoi (LDPR faction) introduced amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for the tightening of the punishment for raiding. As Gudkov told reporters, at present Russian legislation does not even contain the definition of the concept of "illegal enlibization, that is, raiders." "The problem of raiding must be solved primarily by legal ways.

Russian woman Svetlana Kuznetsova was defeated in the final of the representative tournament of the first category of Pacific Life Open in Indian-Wells, losing to the second racket of the world Anna Ivanovich. The tennis player from Serbia won the sixth title in his career and the first in the season, with 32 degrees of heat in less than an hour and a half, having outplayed the rival with a score of 6: 4, 6: 3.

To free up space for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which will be held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, the authorities evict more than 4 thousand people, the participants in the protest campaign say. According to them, many will receive minor compensation - or will not receive it at all, writes The Sunday Times . The authorities have already forcibly expelled the population from the territories in which it is planned to build Olympic objects.

Last weekend, the Plenum of the Communist Party was held, which instructed the Presidium of this party to approve the composition of the working group for the All -Russian referendum. The party leader Gennady Zyuganov specified that the plebiscite can pass at the end of 2009, as the law prohibits its holding within a year after the election, the Vedomosti newspaper writes. Quotes from other newspapers on this topic are given by the site "Headings.ru" .

The Union of Austria motorists warned drivers that with the advent of spring, hares became more actively and often run out onto the roadway, trying to cross the highway. In the event of a collision with any wild animals, strict rules apply, and hares have no exception. So, if the hare fell under the wheels, the motorist must tell you about this at the nearest police station. If the driver who shot down the animal will try to hide what happened, it will cost him more than 1,000 euros.

In Poland, due to drunken hooligans, two liners per day sat urgently at once. The A-320 aircraft of the German airline Lufthansa, flying from Frankfurt to Kyiv, made a forced landing in the Polish city of Katowice on Monday. According to the Polish Radio Zet radio station, the liner pilot decided to make an emergency landing, as one of the passengers, which, as it turned out later, was drunk, began to shout that he was a terrorist. The man also demanded alcohol and tried to start a fight.

Immediately 80 newborn galaxies located at a distance of 12.5 billion light years from the Earth was photographed and studied by an international group of researchers, representing, in particular, the Japanese University of Tokhoku and the California Polytechnic University. The materials of their work are presented at the meeting of the Japanese Astronomical Society opening today in Tokyo.