A strong earthquake occurred on Saturday in Central America. The strength of the underground shocks was 7 and 6 tenths of the point on the Richter scale. In Salvador and Guatemala, according to preliminary data, about a hundred people were killed, about two hundred were injured. More than a thousand two hundred - are listed as missing. Local authorities are afraid that the number of victims can increase sharply. 300 houses were buried under landslides caused by an earthquake.

Finance ministers of 15 countries of the European Union and 10 Asian countries completed a two -fashioned meeting in the Japanese city of Kobe. The issues of development of regional cooperation were discussed in order to reduce the risk of economic crises. The ministers have expressed concern in connection with the consequences of slowing the rate of economic growth in the United States.

The leadership of the Taliban movement turned to the government of Tajikistan on Sunday with a request to allow thousands of Afghan refugees to cross the Tajik border. About 13 thousand Afghans who left the battles in the north of the country are located near the Tajik border. The Tajik government refuses to let them into its territory, referring to the impossibility of providing refugees with food and shelter.

About the fate of the employee of the international humanitarian organization "Doctors without borders", US citizen Kenneth Glaka, is still not known. On Saturday, representatives of "doctors without borders" at a meeting with the President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev turned to him with assistance in search and particularly Vlack. Over the past day, the positions of Russian troops in Chechnya were fired 10 times. One person was wounded.

In Primorye, mass power outage continues. For hours without electricity there are residential buildings, as well as life support objects, in particular, in Vladivostok and Nakhodka, where the frost reached 22 degrees last night. In the Krasnoarmeysky district, the air temperature dropped to 35 degrees. The energy deficit in the region is 380 megavatts/hour, that is, more than half of the electricity necessary for the Primorye.

Alexey Kozyrev: What seems important to me now is under no circumstances to stop the dialogue, not to get out of communication. Antonio Santi: We are looking for happiness. We are looking for our fate. We are looking for our implementations. But to look for unity is how to look for the sun! Why look for the sun? There is a sun! There is already unity, we get it. Mario Corty: According to Dostoevsky, true Christianity cannot be national - it must be universal.

Today in India, 5 million people took part in the traditional bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges, marked by the beginning of the largest Hindu holiday of immortality. It is expected that in six days washing will perform up to seventy million pilgrims. According to Hindu beliefs, once in the battle of the gods with demons, an elixir of immortality fell into the water of the Ganges.

At least 10 people died yesterday as a result of the helicopter disaster in Mongolia. On board the helicopter were UN employees who examined areas, whose population was on the verge of hunger due to the mass death of livestock caused by strong colds.

The International Airport in Geneva introduced restrictions on landing aircraft of Russian airlines Aeroflot and Atlant-Soiuz. The airport spokesman said that the usual check of two IL-86 airliners showed a malfunction of control devices warning about the danger of a possible collision in the air. The Swiss authorities demanded that the malfunctions be eliminated until January 20.

Four armed violators of the Tajik-Afghan border were killed on Saturday night in a battle with Russian border guards. This was announced today by the press service of the Russian border group in Tajikistan. In accordance with the agreement between Moscow and Dushanbe, the Tajik-Afghan border is guarded by more than 11 thousand Russian border guards.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia Zoran Zhihkovich said that all officials accused of committing war crimes will appear before the court, including the former president of the country, Slobodan Milosevich. Zhivkovich made this statement in connection with the ongoing requirements of the Hague tribunal for war crimes - to issue Milosevich and other culprits of the genocide in the Balkans.

Portugal is presidential elections today. The main contender for the post of head of state is the current president - socialist Georges Sampayu. Among the four of his rivals, the most serious is the representative of the liberal party, the former minister of construction, Joachim Ferreira Du Amaral. Three others adhere to the left and extremely left beliefs.

American financial assistance to Russia may be limited under the administration of the newly elected US President George Bush. In an interview with New York Times, published today, Bush made it clear that the funds would be released primarily for the dismantling of nuclear weapons. He said that Russia should decide whether to create favorable conditions for American investments.

In Tehran, two-day Russian-Iranian consultations on the status of the Caspian Sea ended today. According to the Radio Liberty correspondent, they were attended by special representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Viktor Kalyuzhny and his Iranian colleague Ali Ahani.

Former President of Peru Alberto Fuhimory, who is in Japan, said he would not return to his homeland until he would remove the charges of embezzlement of $ 18 million. Fuhomori noted that he would remain in Japan where his ancestors were born, until the early elections are guaranteed in Peru in April and security guarantees will be provided. Fuhimory left the post of head of state in November last year - after the parliament voted for his resignation.