In Chechnya, in the village of Naurskaya, Silkovsky district, a column of a consolidated detachment of the police was fired from automatic weapons and grenade launchers last night. According to official figures, three law enforcement officers were injured. It is also reported about shootings in Grozny, Vedeno and Argun. Russian aviation inflicted a series of blows on the alleged positions of Chechen fighters in the mountainous regions of Chechnya.

In Chechnya, in the village of Kurchal, two Russian troops were killed today and one was injured in a shootout with Chechen fighters. In the curly, as well as in the Gudermes district, Grozny and the village of Petropavlovskaya, the so -called "patronage" pass. According to local authorities, a military patrol was fired in Shali today. The attackers are killed.

The stop of steeling production at the Red October and the dismissal of such a large number of workers is associated with the next increase in electricity tariffs. It was such an explanation that was made today by the board of directors of the enterprise. Products, which until today was produced in the electric steel -and -melting workshops of the largest Volgograd metallurgical plant "Red October" has become absolutely not competitive.

Andrey Korolev, Murmansk: In Murmansk, the first press conference of representatives of companies involved in the operation to raise the nuclear submarine "Kursk" took place. At the very beginning of the press conference, the General Designer of the Rubin Central Design Bureau Academician Igor Spassky received a message that the Giant barge, whose arrival in the Barents Sea is expected over the past 4 days, left the Norwegian port of Kirkenes at 10 hours and headed for the Kursk disaster.

In Brussels today is an extraordinary summit of the European Union, dedicated to the problem of the fight against terrorism. The meeting was convened at the initiative of Belgium - the current chairman of the EU. As the Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michelle emphasized, the European Union needs to mobilize all their might to counteract terrorists - after the attacks in the United States on September 11.

Arnold Ruytel, a representative of the opposition “People’s Union”, was elected President of Estonia. In the second round of the Ryuitel voting today, a little more than half of the members of the college of electors - 186 out of 367. Earlier, the parliament was not able to elect the president of the country three times. From 1983 to 1990, the Ruytel was the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR, and in 1990-1992 he headed the Supreme Council of the Estonian Republic.

The gas pipeline "Blue Stream" and the oil pipeline of the Caspian pipeline consortium is one of the most discussed problems in Novorossiysk. In the summer, residents of the villages of Glebovka and South -Wright near Novorossiysk were put up pickets on the roads along which the heavy vehicles of the corporation are moving. The fight against the "blue stream" is in full swing. In August, residents of the village of Smolenskaya staged a similar picket on the road for gas workers.

The program is maintained by Andrei Shari. The Radio Liberty correspondent in Moscow, Christina Gorelik, who talked with the naval traveler Fedor Konyukhov, and the Radio Liberty correspondent in London Natalya Golitsyna, who talked with Kennet Krachlow, the president of the British "Ocean Rowli Society", participate in it. Andrey Sharry: One and a half million rings must be done to cross the Atlantic Ocean by a funny boat.

The Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Dvinzhich considers radical economic and political reforms - the only means to maintain the current Yugoslav Federation. Speaking today at the Prague Headquarters of the Freedom-Exhibition Europe of the Radio Station, Ginjich expressed the opinion that Yugoslavia should become a confederation of two independent republics-Serbia and Montenegro. The authorities of Montenegro are announced to the intention to withdraw from the Yugoslav Federation.

Lawyers of the Secretary of State of the Union of Russia and Belarus Pavel Borodin ask Swiss investigators to interrogate new witnesses. Witnesses in question are Russian and foreign citizens who were related to the conclusion of contracts between the management of the President of Russia and the Swiss firms Mercata -Trading and Mabetex.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed an expert commission consisting of five people to monitor the implementation of sanctions imposed this year against the Taliban ruling movement in Afghanistan. The task of experts includes the organization of groups to conduct sanctions in countries neighboring Afghanistan.

The BBC World Service will expand broadcasting on Afghanistan and other countries of this region. In Afghanistan there is no television and national newspapers. BBC broadcasting in this region is carried out in Arabic, Pashtu, Persian and Urdu. The Arab service of the radio station switched to round -the -clock broadcasting.

The visit of the Pope John Paul the Second to Kazakhstan continues. Yesterday, in the capital of the country - Astana - the head of the Roman Catholic Church served in the open air for almost 50 thousand pilgrims. John Pavel the Second called on adherents of all religions to ensure that in the world there was as little as possible evil and violence. On the same day, Pope met with the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Statements of special migrants. The policy of "eliminating the kulaks as a class" led to the formation of a mass social layer - special settlers, people forcibly expelled to the low -excessive areas of the country. About how the peasants fell into special migrants and in what conditions they lived tell their appeals to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In France, at least 12 people died and about two hundred were injured today as a result of a powerful explosion at a chemical enterprise in Toulouse. The plant located near the city center is greatly destroyed. Two neighboring buildings were seriously affected. In other buildings, glass flew out during the explosion. Telephone lines are damaged in the city. The French Prime Minister Lionel Zhopen and the Minister of Internal Affairs Daniel Vayan urgently flew to Toulouse.