The Minister of Energy of the United States Bill Richardson appealed to the chairman of the organization of exporting countries (OPEC) Ali Rodriguez with a request to increase oil production in the near future in order to reduce prices for this raw materials. On Friday on the New York commercial exchange, the price of a barrel of oil was about $ 33.

France President Jacques Shirak, who is on a visit to China, discussed today with the chairman of China Jiang Tsemin the problems of observing human rights. Shirak called on the Chinese authorities to ratify the two UN Human Rights Conventions and handed over the list of Chinese dissidents, whose fate seriously bothers France.

At least four Palestinians were killed and more than a hundred were injured as a result of yesterday's clashes on the west coast of Jordan and in the Gaza Strip. According to representatives of the Israeli army, the soldiers do not shoot combat cartridges at unarmed demonstrators. Fire to defeat is carried out only in response to attacks using firearms. The Israeli authorities accuse the head of the Palestinian autonomy of Yasir Arafat of deliberately inciting violence.

The commander of the Northern Fleet Vyacheslav Popov said on Sunday that in the next two days, divers, may be able to penetrate 8 compartments of the sunken Kursk submarine. The main thing is that the weather does not hurt, Popov said. Previously, meteorologists predicted a sharp deterioration in weather conditions in that area of the Barents Sea, where the operation takes place. On Sunday, divers managed to make a small technological hole in the durable case 8 of the submarine compartment.

Tehran last night was subjected to mortar shelling. The victims are not reported. Explosions occurred in the area of the park and the sports complex located near the military base. Responsibility for shelling was taken by the opposition group "Folk Mujaheddins", based in Iraq. The statement of the group says that the goal of the attack was the barracks of the Guard of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.

The President of Yugoslavia Voislav Koshtunitsa held negotiations in Montenegro on the formation of the Yugoslav government. Montenegrin, along with Serbia, form the Yugoslav Federation. According to the Constitution, if the president of Yugoslavia is a representative of Serbia - as in the case of a koshtunitsa, then the head of the federal government should be from Montenegro.

Governor's elections were held in the Kursk region on Sunday. As ITAR -TASS reported with reference to the regional election commission, the elections can be considered consisted, since 51 and 8 tenths of voters took part in them - with a rate of 50 percent necessary under the regional law.

Spain will provide Iran with a loan of $ 600 million for the development of bilateral trade. This statement was made by Spain Prime Minister Jose Maria Asnar, who is on a visit to Tehran. At a joint press conference with Iranian President Mohammad Hatam, Asnar said that he supported the reformist policy of the Iranian president. This is the first visit to Tehran the heads of the Spanish government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

In the election of the Governor of the Sakhalin Region, according to preliminary data, the current head of the regional administration Igor Farkhutdinov won. Currently, 72 percent of the ballots have been processed. More than 58 voters voted for Farkhutdinov. In second place is the mayor of Yuzhno -Sakhalinsk Fedor Sidorenko. He scored about 20 percent of the vote.

Tens of thousands of people took part in a demonstration in the city of Bilbao, in the north of Spain, demanding to put an end to violence in the country of Basque. The manifestants protested against extremist activities of the organization of Basque-Saratratists. The authorities accuse the separatists of killing 15 people this year. The last victim of the attack was a military doctor, shot down on Monday in Seville.

The head of the UN department for refugees Sadako Ogata arrived today on a four -day visit to Russia. The main topic of her negotiations is the situation of approximately 140 thousand refugees from Chechnya. The visit program includes meetings with President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and representative of human rights in Chechnya Vladimir Kalamanov. The UN department provides assistance to Chechen refugees.

Author and Presenter Vladimir Tolts Samizdat. Attempts to comprehend Vladimir Tolts: The Yandex search engine finds more than 88 thousand mentions of the word “Samizdat” on the Russian Internet. And yet not a single definition of what it is. - The most important thing is that people did what they wanted. They turned the abstract word "independence" into reality. - When I was imprisoned, hundreds of people were already closely following my arrest, mine and my friends.

The elections of the governor and deputies of the regional Duma are held on Sakhalin and Kurillah today. Five candidates apply to the post of head of the Sakhalin Region administration, including the current governor Igor Farkhutdinov and the mayor of Yuzhno -Sakhalinsk Fedor Sidorenko. 182 candidates apply for 27 seats in the regional Duma. Local legislation has not been stipulated by the necessary minimum of voters.

In the city of Pushkin near St. Petersburg last night, the chief state sanitary doctor in the northwestern region of Russia Vladimir Kozoda was killed. His body was found in a car at the intersection of the St. Petersburg highway and Leningradskaya Street. According to experts, the goat died of two gunshot wounds.

On the western bank of the Jordan and in the gas sector on Saturday, fierce clashes between the Palestinians and Israeli troops continued. At the Katifa Gush checkpoint in the gas sector, the Palestinians threw stones and bottles with the incendiary mixture of Israeli troops. The clashes also occurred at the Erez checkpoint.