Near Sicily, a small vessel sank, on board of which there were several dozen illegal immigrants from Africa - mostly women and children. Only 11 people managed to save. 12 bodies of the dead were discovered. The authorities are afraid that at least 50 people were killed. The survivors said that each of the passengers paid to smugglers for delivering 4 thousand dollars to Italy. The ship left Turkey about a week ago.

In Nazran, an explosion occurred at the building of the Palace of Culture this morning. There are no victims. According to law enforcement agencies, a home -made explosive device, with a capacity of about 200 grams of TNT, was filled with metal balls. In the House of Culture, a concert should be held today in support of the presidential candidate of Ingushetia Khamzat Gutseriev.

At least 26 Palestinians were killed today during the operations of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and on the western bank of the Jordan. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops entered the Palestinian villages early in the vicinity in the vicinity of the city of Khan-Junis. More than 20 Palestinians were killed in the shootout, including one of the leaders of the Palestinian Security Service in Gaza Ahmed Mephraj.

The Turkish Prime Minister Buent Ezhevit again announced today about the firm intention of the country to join the European Union. Ezhevit emphasized that Türkiye has an integral right to EU membership and is not looking for other alternatives. The head of the Turkish Security Council, Tuncher Kilinch, expressed the opinion yesterday that the efforts that the government are making to join the European Union are doomed to failure.

The Parliament of Macedonia approved the law on the amnesty for the fighters of the Albanian detachments, which last year the fighting against government troops in the north of the country. An amnesty to the rebels is an integral part of the agreement signed in August 2001 on the settlement of ethnic conflict in Macedonia. All participants in the Albanian armed groups will be pardoned, except for those who are suspected of war crimes.

The head of the UN Human Rights Department, Mary Robinson, on a visit to Afghanistan, said that the situation of Afghan women has improved significantly after the fall of the Taliban regime. However, according to her, women in Afghanistan are still often discriminated. Robinson, along with the head of the temporary Afghan administration, Hamid Karzai and the Minister for Women's Affairs, Simar Samar today participated in festive events on the occasion of International Women's Day in Kabul.

Transfer Topics: the first vaccine from Alzheimer's disease, diabetes prevention studies, as well as short medical news. Evgeny Muslin: Alzheimer's disease is already ill today by at least 4 million Americans, but according to the forecasts of experts of the American Association of Alzheimer's disease in 2050, such patients will be more than 14 million. The only means of preventing such a massive increase in the incidence can be an effective vaccine against Alcegemer's disease.

In the mountains in the east of Afghanistan, only two hundred Taliban and fighters of al-Qaeda remains, the American command says. Command representative, General John Rosa, believes that in a week of battles it was possible to destroy about half the forces of the enemy. According to him, American planes continue to bomb the mountain district.

Two American astronauts are completing work today to modernize the Hubble orbital telescope. According to the American space agency, NASA, the astronauts will spend more than six hours in open space. On Saturday, the Hubble will be disconnected from the spacecraft "Colombia" and moved to a higher orbit. According to the plan, "Colombia", together with astronauts, should return to Earth on Tuesday.

In the vicinity of Paris, in the castle of Fontainebleau, a shirt of Napoleon Bonaparte will be exhibited at the auction, which, perhaps, was on it on the day of death on May 5, 1821. According to the French press, the auction will be held on Sunday. It is expected that collectors can pay about 10 thousand euros for the shirt of the emperor of France. The shirt on which the imperial monogram was embroidered was taken out of St.

The Chinese authorities were sent today from the country of 10 Australians - followers of the Falungun religious movement prohibited in the China. On Thursday, they tried to organize a picket in support of the Falungun near the building in the center of Beijing, where the session of the PRC parliament, the All -Chinese Assembly of People's Representatives, is now being held. This is not the first protest organized in China to foreign supporters of this religious movement.

In Afghanistan today - for the first time in 11 years - International Women's Day is celebrated. In Kabul, an organized UN and the interim administration of Afghanistan will be held discussion on the topic "Afghan women: reality and prospects." It is expected that before the hundreds of Afghan women who will take part in the event will be performed by the head of the Provisional Administration Hamid Karzai and the Minister for Women's Affairs Sima Samar.

US Secretary of Defense Donald Ramsfeld said that the combat operation of American troops and their Afghan and European allies in the east of Afghanistan will end in the coming days. According to Ramsfeld, the Taliban and militants of Al-Qaeda are blocked by the forces of the anti-terrorist coalition in the mountainous area near the Pakistani border. American and French aircraft continue to strike at enemy deployment places.

Foreign ministers of the ten European countries intending to join NATO discussed a plan of joint actions in the capital of Macedonia today. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, in the process of expanding NATO of the country of Southeast Europe, they should not stand aside, as this threatens with new demarcations.

Presenter of the program "Topics" Dmitry Volchek: The person of the day of Radio Liberty is Russian tennis player Anna Kurnikova, who concluded a multimillion -dollar contract with the company "Nike" this week. Kournikova was born in 1981 in Moscow, plays in tennis since 5 years, in 1997 she graduated from school and entered the Russian Academy of Physical Culture.