Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is in negotiations in Stockholm with the leadership of the European Union. The main topic of the meeting is the status of Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between the territories of Poland and Lithuania. The EU leadership in the negotiations is involved in the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Anna Lind and those responsible for the foreign policy of the European Union Javier Solan and Chris Patten. Sweden is now the chairman of the EU.

The United Nations recommends supplying Iraq with exclusively civil purposes without the recommendation of the Security Council. According to representatives of the UN department responsible for humanitarian aid Iraq, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan believes that the goods, the use of which is excluded for military purposes, should get to the population of Iraq suffering from economic sanctions as soon as possible.

The shelling of Russian military facilities does not stop in Chechnya. According to the command, the positions of Russian troops were fired 7 times over the day, including Grozny. The sappers neutralized 19 explosive devices. In the capital of Chechnya, two buildings were cleared, a mined blockage was found and disassembled in the Nozha-Yurt district. The command also reports that last day three small groups of Chechen fighters were destroyed.

The Palestinians fired on Thursday evening from mortars a Jewish settlement of Netsarim in a gas sector, a representative of the Israeli army said. As a result of the attack, no one was injured, but the military ordered that the settlers take refuge in bomb shelters. The head of the Palestinian autonomy Yasir Arafat sent congratulations to Ariel Sharon yesterday in connection with his entry as prime minister of Israel. Arafat called for the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

At the new Minister of Defense of Israel Benjamin Ben Eliezer, an attempt was made today. According to the Israeli radio, Ben-Eliezer visited today the headquarters of the Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. When the minister went up to the observation post on the roof of the building, the Palestinian sniper fired two shots along it, but missed.

In the Belfast, a meeting of the prime ministers of Great Britain and Ireland - Tony Blair and Bertie Achaern ended. Negotiations, in which the leaders of the parties of Northern Ireland, representing the opposing groups took part, lasted 13 hours. Blair and Achaern in a joint statement positively appreciated the readiness of the "Irish Republican Army" (IRA) to resume on certain conditions negotiations on the surrender of weapons interrupted in June.

On the western bank of the Jordan and in the gas sector on Friday, clashes between Israeli military and Palestinians continued. At least 15 Palestinians were injured. On the western coast of Jordan, Sniper fired at the new Minister of Defense of Israel Benjamin Ben Eliezer and the head of the General Staff of the Israeli army Shaul Mofaz, when they inspected the military base located there. Ben -Eliezer and Mofaz - were not injured.

In the UK, an epidemic of foot and dwelling among livestock continues for the third week. To date, 111 cases of disease have been recorded. The British authorities expect the epidemic for a long time for a long time, and have introduced severe precautions - the export of meat and dairy products is prohibited, many roads in rural areas are closed, sports events have been canceled, and it is not recommended to travel outside the city.

Hasin Raduev, North Caucasus: A fierce shootout occurred last night in the suburbs of Grozny. According to the Russian military, a group of Chechen fighters dressed in police uniforms mined the road, along which armored vehicles and military vehicles are nominated from Khankala. During the shootout, one of the Chechen fighters was killed and another was wounded.

The United Kingdom expressed its readiness to continue the withdrawal of its troops from Northern Ireland, provided that the Irish Republican Army would confirm in fact an application for the termination of the armed struggle.

NATO Secretary General George Robertson expressed confidence that fears of a number of European countries and Russia regarding the new American missile defense system will ultimately be eliminated. According to Robertson, he came to this conclusion after negotiations with the US leadership this week. Robertson noted that by decision of US President George Bush, the planned system about the National "system is no longer called.

The search for four Russian sailors from the team of a trading ship, which sank on Thursday in the Taiwan Strait, has not yet given positive results. Of the 19 sailors, only 12 were saved. Three members of the team died after they were lifted out of the water by the crews of arrival ships.

Afghan Taliban has destroyed both gigantic statues of Buddha in the province of Bamian today. The statues are the largest in the world and were considered invaluable monuments of world culture on messages from Afghanistan, sculptures, which were already severely damaged by artillery shells, were blown up with the help of dynamite.

In Kyiv, several people were beaten today and somewhat detained during the clashes between the manifestants and the police. According to Radio Liberty correspondent, among the victims, the deputy of the Ukrainian parliament Valentina Semenyuk. Several hundred participants in the demonstration tried to break through the police cordons to prevent President Leonid Kuchme from laying flowers to the monument to Taras Shevchenko.

The House of Representatives of the US Congress voted for a phased decrease in federal income tax - by about $ 1 trillion in the next decade. This is the key element of the President of President George Bush to facilitate the tax burden of Americans. In total, a reduction in taxes over 10 years should amount to 1 trillion $ 600 billion. Yesterday’s vote in the ratio of 230 “FOR” and 198 - “against” reflected the difference between the positions of the Republicans and Democrats on this issue.