The commander of the American troops in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks arrived last night in Uzbekistan. He will visit the American units located at the Uzbek military base of the Hanabad, and will negotiate with the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and the Minister of Defense Kadyr Gulyamov. According to the American embassy in Tashkent, during a trip in Central Asia, Franks will also visit Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

In Tokyo, the International Conference on Assistance to Afghanistan is ending today. Donor countries decided to provide Kabul with more than four and a half billion dollars for five years. This year, a billion eight hundred million dollars will be allocated to Afghanistan. Money will go to pay for current expenses and social programs, first of all, to combat illiteracy and health.

Siim Kallas was approved today as Prime Minister of Estonia. 62 deputies of parliament voted for his candidacy, 31 - spoke out against. In an appeal to the deputies, Calllas said that the main goal of the new government is Estonia entering into the European Union and NATO. Siim Kallas leader of the reform party, in the former office he served as Minister of Finance. The Martha government Laara was forced to resign in early January after the collapse of the ruling coalition.

Until March, the construction of the railway from the Ulaki station at the Baikal-Amur highway to the Elginsky coal field in Yakutia was suspended. The Ministry of Railways has stopped financing construction. More than five thousand people remain without work. The builders organized a strike committee and demand to continue laying Ulak-Elga branches by rail. Of the 320 kilometers, 60 have already been laid, dozens of bridges are being built, and shift villages were laid.

Japanese coastal security saved 15 Russian fishermen. According to Interfax, on Tuesday night, the Russian fishing schooner "Sandy" crashed during a storm in the strait between the Kuril Islands and the Japanese Island of Hokkaido. The Japanese ship had arrived in a distressing schooner. All of them are taken to the nearby Japanese port and will soon return home.

Relatives of politicians and entrepreneurs who disappeared in Belarus in recent years turned to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe with a request to conduct an independent investigation of the circumstances of the disappearance.

In February, 100 minors and more than 500 women will leave the correctional colonies in February in February from correctional colonies in amnesty. 44 pupils of the Zhiguli colony for minors have already been released. According to the leadership of the Samara Department of Punishment, the released must undergo social adaptation.

US Secretary of Defense Donald Ramsfeld said that with captured Taliban and militants Al-Qaeda, who are found at the American base of Guantanamo in Cuba, are addressed humanely. He called the "false" messages about the bad handling of the prisoners. According to Ramsfeld, they are provided with medical assistance, they have a hot shower, clean clothes, blankets and everything necessary to perform prayers.

In Tehran, a mass demonstration of teachers was held today, requiring an increase in wages and improving working conditions. Despite the ban on the authorities, about eight thousand people took part in the manifestations, according to the organizers. Teachers of Tehran schools called their colleagues across the country to a nationwide strike.

The leader of the ATP faction, Boris Nemtsov, announced today in the State Duma that the decision to liquidate the TV-6 television channel was made at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Nemtsov, the head of the Supreme Arbitration Court, Veniamin Yakovlev, told him that he received from the president to close TV-6 in order to get rid of the media belonging to Boris Berezovsky.

Musa Khasanov , North Caucasus: Another clashes occurred near the village of Bachi-Yurt in the east of Chechnya. A group of unknowns fired on the autocol of the internal troops here. As a result of this attack, on the official reports of the Russian military, one soldier was injured. According to the same sources, three attackers died in a shootout. Bachi-Yurt has been almost completely blocked by troops for a week.

Lev Roitman: Russian poor - who is he? Who do you think the poor? These questions were asked on the street our Moscow coordinator Veronika Bode. Here are typical answers: “These are teachers, doctors in the budgetary sphere of financing, military, pensioners, of course.” “The entire population has sat down, villages are generally poor.

The British police lifted the ban on holding a popular summer festival in Glastonbury after the organizer of the festival Michael Ivis promised to spend a million pounds on a new fence that guarantees compliance with safety rules. Ivis addressed an open letter to fans, traditionally storming the gate and fence of the festival venue. In a letter, he calls on the fans to protect the largest open -air festival. M.

In California, at the 82nd year of life, the legendary jazz singer Peggy Lee died. She made her debut in 1941 in the Beni Gudman orchestra. Peggy Lee recorded more than 600 songs, among them “Fever”, “Lover”, “Golden Earrings” and others. She performed in various halls - from nightclubs to the White House.

The fee for the right to broadcast on the sixth meter television channel will be a million dollars. This decision was made today by members of the Russian Federal Competition Commission. The competition for the frequency, which until today was held by TV-6 TV channel, was scheduled for March 27.