US Central Intelligence Directorate George Tenete said that al-Qaeda terrorist organization has not been completely defeated and continues to pose a threat to the United States. Blows can also be dealt on targets in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other countries. Speaking on Wednesday to the US Senate Committee on Intelligence, Tenet said that during the anti-terrorist operation, about a thousand people associated with al-Qaeda were arrested in 60 countries.

The General Director of the Gazprom-Media holding Boris Yordan denied the message that he bought 30 percent of the NTV television company from Vladimir Gusinsky. According to Yordan, the information that the Minister of Press Mikhail Lesin was distributed today is not true. Lesin, speaking at a meeting of the State Duma, said that Yordan was involved in a transaction whose purpose is to redeem the Hussinsky share in NTV.

The number of unemployed in Germany in January of this year exceeded 4 million people. This is almost 10 and a half percent of the total working population of the country. Over the past month alone, the number of unemployed has grown by 326 thousand. True, as experts notice, this is seasonal unemployment associated with the cessation of many types of construction work - due to cold weather.

US Secretary of Defense Donald Ramsfeld said that a group of American military experts is being sent to Afghanistan to assist in the creation of a regular Afghan army. According to Ramsfeld, they will interact directly with the head of the interim Afghan administration Hamid Karzai and the Minister of Defense Mohammad Fahim.

About three thousand people fled from the suburbs of the capital of Nigeria Lagos, where bloody ethnic feuds have not stopped for several days. According to the International Red Cross, at least a hundred people were killed and over four hundred were injured. Today, the situation was somewhat stabilized after the forces of the army and the police stormed the building, where the instigators of the riots were hiding.

In Geneva, American-Russian negotiations are held on the issue of revising the regime of international sanctions against Iraq. The possibility of expanding the list of goods, which Iraq has the right to import in the framework of the program "Oil in exchange for food" is discussed. At the same time, a strict ban on the import of raw materials and products that can be used in military production remains.

In Berlin, one of the main international film festivals opened. At the opening ceremony of Berlin, there were about two and a half thousand guests, among them - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The twelve -day film festival began by a demonstration of the film "Paradise" of the German director Tom Paver. According to the organizers, more than 400 thousand spectators will visit festival views.

Beef and lamb, fat dairy products, as well as white bread and other wheat flour products significantly increase the chances of diabetes mellitus in adulthood. Researchers from Harvard University concluded that among men over forty, abusing products from this list, the number of patients with diabetes of the second type is 60 percent higher than the average norm. If such a diet is held by a person suffering from obesity, then for him the probability of getting diabetes increases tenfold.

In Kyiv, firefighters managed to eliminate a fire in the House of the Government of Ukraine. The incident occurred yesterday at the end of the working day about the victims is not reported. The cause of the fire is unknown.

In the USA, on Tuesday, official charges against John Waker, an American who fought in Afghanistan on the Taliban side, were brought forward. The large jury in the federal court in the city of Alexandria, Virginia, accused Walker at 10 points. Among them are a conspiracy to kill American citizens, as well as the provision of support for the Taliban movement and terrorist organizations, in particular - the bin Laden Laden Laden group al -Qaeda.

The head of the interim administration of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai arrived today in the city of Herat in the west of the country - for negotiations with the local governor Ismail Khan. According to, Ismail Khan, with the support of Iran, is trying to take control of four Western Afghan provinces. Meanwhile, the Council of Elders of the Eastern Province Host turned to Karzai with a request to appoint another province of the province.

About half a million Muslims from around the world have already arrived in Saudi Arabia to participate in Haja - traditional pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca. Hajj will begin on February 17. Five days later, the pilgrims will rise to Mount Arafat in the vicinity of Mecca - according to legend, the place of the last sermon of the Prophet Muhammad. Last year, 1 million 360 thousand Muslims participated in Hajj. Religious ceremonies were overshadowed by the death of 35 pilgrims in a till crush.

Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Gryzlov announced a reduction in the number of checkpoints in Chechnya by 15 units - until April 1. Today, in Mozdok, at a meeting of the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya, Gryzlov announced the decision - to eliminate all the checkpoints inside the formidable. According to the minister, the final number of employees of the Chechen police was approved - 10 thousand 800 people.

Belgium expressed "sincere regret" in connection with the murder of the first Prime Minister of Congo Patris Lumuba - 41 years after his death. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michelle made this statement on Tuesday at a meeting of parliament in Brussels. The report of the Commission of the Belgian Parliament says that Belgium is moral responsibility for the murder of Lumumba.

The exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the renaming of Leningrad to St. Petersburg. Perhaps that is why the problem of the border of millennia in the presented exhibition was reduced to the history of the last decade, that is, to the reforms of the 90s, as they passed in St. Petersburg and saw from it.