In Washington, an armed man fired several shots from a pistol at the White House. Security agents wounded him in his knee and detained him. US President George Bush was at that time in the White House. There was no danger to Bush and his employees, since the incident occurred behind the fence. The police identified the shooter. It turned out to be a 47-year-old accountant from Indiana Robert Pickett. At this time, he is in the hospital where he was operated on.

Mikhail Sokolov: The Russian governors did not have time to enjoy the prospects of work hard for three or four in a row, as the chairman of the Central Election Commission, Alexander Veshnyakov, reported the following innovations pleasant for the heads of regions. The head of the CEC considers it necessary to urgently extend the provisions of the law, which allows to combine regional elections with federal elections before May 1, 2001.

The military government of Pakistan, General Perevez Musharraf, said that Afghan Taliban should give the international terrorist Usam Bin Laden for the trial of him in a neutral country. According to Musharraf, the Taliban will never give Bin Laden to the United States who want to judge him for organizing explosions of two American embassies in Africa in 1998. Therefore, the Pakistani leader suggested holding a trial of Bin Laden in one of the Muslim countries, for example, in Pakistan.

At the beginning of his visit to Austria, Vladimir Putin will meet with the President of the country Thomas Clestil and lay a wreath to the monument to the Soviet soldiers who fell here in 1945. This monument was erected after the end of World War II, when Soviet troops stood in Vienna. Putin will spend the rest of the visit in Tyrol, where he will meet with Austria Chancellor Wolfgang Shusissel. Then they will be attended by the closing of the world skiing championship.

The cooperation of the European Union with Yugoslavia was discussed today in Belgrade at a meeting of EU representatives with the Yugoslav leadership. EU representatives said that they expect economic reforms from Belgrade, the abolition of repressive legislation, the liberation of the Albanian prisoners and cooperation with the international tribunal.

The UN Office for Refugees reported today that in the coming days it plans to resume the sending to Chechnya of a motorcade with humanitarian aid cargo. The UN Office and a number of other humanitarian organizations stopped activities in Chechnya after the abduction of an employee of the organization "Doctors without borders" of Kennet Glack.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is not going to stop activities in the North Caucasus, despite the recent abduction of Kenneth Glaka, an employee of the humanitarian organization “Doctors without Borders”, ”said Red Cross representative Eric Royman. According to him, in Chechnya, mainly employees of the organization from among local residents work. Foreign representatives of the Red Cross only periodically visit the republic.

The upcoming meeting of the presidents of Ukraine and Russia will take place against the backdrop of the cooling of Kyiv’s relations with the European Union, as well as a noticeable activation of military cooperation with Moscow. Negotiations will not be held in Kyiv, where protests continuing the resignation of Leonid Kuchma, but in Dnepropetrovsk. It is assumed that one of the topics will concern the possibility of joint production of ballistic missiles at the Dnipropetrovsk plant "Yuzhmash".

In Grozny, a military car was blown up yesterday on a mine. According to the commandant’s office of the Chechen capital, one soldier was wounded. In the Staropromyslovsky district of the city, a local resident was seriously wounded - also as a result of the explosion of the landmine. As the Radio Liberty correspondent reports, a sabotage was committed on the junk-Argun on a railway line. The wagon with fuel was blown up. Over the past day, Russian military facilities were fired 15 times.

According to the Law on Radio and Television, the daily volume of broadcasting in foreign languages, including Russian, should not exceed 25 percent of the airtime.

The Iranian Supreme Court rejected the appeal of ten Iranian Jews sentenced to various prison periods for "espionage in favor of Israel." According to the official agency of Irna, the Supreme Court believes that "the sentence was already too soft." The last instance is the religious and political leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the right to pardon.

The program "Liberty Live" from Washington is conducted by Sergey Danilochkin: Yesterday, the United States Secret Service, which ensures the security of the first persons of the state, opened fire on an armed person who was behind the fence of the White House. Says Vladimir Abarinov: Vladimir Abarinov: The incident occurred at about half past twentieth in the morning local time.

In Azerbaijan, the disabled people of the Karabakh war ceased a two -week dry hunger strike. According to the Radio Liberty correspondent, the health status of seven participants in the action is critical. The hunger strike ceased after representatives of the presidential administration agreed to consider the requirements of veterans. Disabled people insist on raising pensions and providing free medical care.

More than 30 thousand people are left without heat in Russia. 22 accidents that occurred this winter in many regions of Russia in heat supply systems led to emergency situations. According to the Russian Ministry of Development of Russia, accidents were awarded in Samara, Perm, the Orenburg, Chita region, in the Chukotka, in Yakutia, in the Primorsky Territory and in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug.

In the Russian Prosecutor General of Russia, the interrogation of Vladimir Morsin, the director of the Image Bank, serving the media-Moscow holding, is undergoing. Yesterday, searches and seizure of documents were held in the bank. According to Morsin, investigators seized all banking information, which, in his opinion, is a gross violation of banking secrets.