Over the past day, the area of forest fires doubled in Siberia. About one and a half thousand hectares of taiga are covered by fire. The most alarming situation is in Tuva and the Novosibirsk region. There are no threats to the settlements yet. However, according to experts, warm weather established in Siberia contributes to the emergence of new foci of the fire.

The chief prosecutor of the international tribunal for war crimes Karl del Ponte begins today a two -day visit to Croatia. Del Ponte plans to negotiate with the leaders of the country and visit the places of mass reprisals against the Croats, committed by Serbian militarized formations during the civil war of the first half of the 90s. Del Ponte will travel to the city of Vukovar, which was destroyed by the Serbs, who captured it in November 1991. Then more than a thousand civilians died.

Apparently, a 10-year split in the chess world, apparently, came to an end. The settlement agreement was today signed in Prague Harry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. The agreement provides that the world champion of chess next year will name FIDE (International Chess Federation). The chairman of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said after negotiations that lasted several hours that "the parties made concessions and as a result all came out the winners."

In Germany, a strike of workers and employees included in the largest union IG Metal began. In the strike - the first in 7 years - about 50 thousand people take part, including the workers of the Mercedes -Benz, Audi and Porsche car factories. They require an increase in salaries by 6 and a half percent. The strike is organized on the principle of rotation and will gradually apply to all new enterprises in industries, in which millions of people work.

Elena Kolomiychenko: On Sunday, the second round of the country's presidential election was held in France. The results coincided with expectations - the president of France for the second time was Jacques Shirak, who far ahead of his opponent Jean -Mari Le Pen. 82% of voters cast votes over Shirak, about 18 - for Le foam. On Monday, the new president of France issued the first decree.

In Chechnya last night, an attempt was made on the assistant prosecutor of the Shali district of Karunnigov - he was wounded. As the Radio Liberty correspondent reports, the deputy military commandant of the city of Haron Idrisov was stolen in Argun that evening. In Grozny, Argun and Vedeno over the past day, Russian units have been repeatedly undergoing shelling. In all cases, the fire was opened. There are no victims.

In Germany, about 50 thousand employees of industrial enterprises of the south-west of the country intend to start a strike today with a demand to increase wages. Negotiations between the trade union and employers ended in vain. The trade union rejected the proposal - to increase the salary of 3.3 percent within 15 months and pay employees a one -time benefit in the amount of 190 euros.

The leaders of the world community welcome the liberation of the leader of the democratic opposition of Myanmar (former Burma), the Nobel Prize of the World Aun San Su Sui. Aun San Su Zhi, who spent 19 months under house arrest, is allowed to engage in political activities again. The leaders of the European Union, Great Britain and Japan said that the decision of the Myanmar authorities opens the way to democracy.

Natalya Golitsyna, London: It seems that the English parliamentarians seriously intend to bring the rights of pets to human rights. The head of the community, the head of the Ecology Department, Elliot Morley said that the government intends to improve the outdated legislation on the rules for keeping pets, which was adopted back in 1911, and provide animals with a number of rights and freedoms.

President Kosovo Ibrahim Rugov accused Slobodan Milosevich of lies. The accusation was made today, when Rugova continued to testify at the process of ex-president of Yugoslavia in the International Military Crime Tribunal. In April 1999, by order of Milosevich Rugov, he was placed under house arrest. The leader of the Kosovo Albanians told the court that he was sure that Milosevich’s regime would deal with him.

In the Netherlands, a prominent ultra -right politician Pim Fortown was killed. The attempt was made today at about 6 pm. The killer shot several times at Fortown when he left the radio center in the city of Hilversum near Amsterdam. 53-year-old Fortown headed the recently created extreme right party, which is becoming increasingly popular among the Dutch.

Victoria Munblit, Tel Aviv: negotiations of the Israelis and Palestinians regarding the fate of those who spent the month, barricaded in the Church of the Nativity of Christ, ended with an agreement reached through the mediation of the CIA representative Jeff O'Connol. In accordance with this agreement, the leaders of the terrorist groups located in the temple will be expelled from the territory of the Palestinian autonomy, apparently, to Italy.

The United States officially refused to recognize the authority of the first permanent tribunal for war crimes and genocide. A letter sent to the UN administration by the US President George Bush says that Washington reserves the right to ignore the decisions of this international court. Former American President Bill Clinton in 2000 put his signature under the agreement on the creation of a permanent tribunal. However, neither Clinton nor Bush asked the Senate to ratify the contract.

Semen Mirsky, France: The current president of France, Jacques Shirak, won a convincing victory in the second round of the presidential election. More than 82 percent of voters voted for him. The candidate of the ultra-right "National Front" by Jean-Mari Le Pen received about 18 percent of the vote. Over 80 percent of voters participated in the vote.

The program is conducted by Giovanni Benxi. Participate: from Rome - Adriano Roccucci, historian, teacher of the University of Roma Tre and an active participant in the Catholic movement; From Moscow - Andrei Zubov, a historian of religions and theologian, a teacher of MGIMO, and Mark Smirnov - the responsible editor of the “Religious” application “Independent Gazeta”.