The leader of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai ordered to free a significant part of foreigners taken from the guards during the battles with the Taliban and militants of Al-Qaeda. As the head of the Security Service of Afghanistan Amarullah Salikh said today, liberation will be gradually and will affect Pakistan citizens primarily. According to Salich, this is a gesture of good will on the eve of a possible visit to Afghanistan of the Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Powerful forest fires are raging in the west of Turkey. According to the Anatolian news agency, fires began on Thursday, when the cable of the high -voltage line passing through the forest. One and a half thousand hectares of pine forest - completely burned out. Rescuers are not able to cope with fire due to strong winds.

The French police arrested the kidnappers of the 23-year-old Swedish millionaire Eric Westerberg on Saturday. The arrest was made in the city of Lill - shortly after two young people took a package with a ransom, which Westerberg left in a agreed place. The amount of ransom amounted to 1 million 200 thousand euros. Both arrested - Swedish subjects, immigrants from Yugoslavia. A few more suspects of involvement in the abduction were detained in Stockholm and Luxembourg.

The Russian government intends to sell a significant part of precious stones and metals from the state reserve - to pay the country's external debt. This was announced on Sunday by the Minister of Finance of Russia Alexei Kudrin. However, he did not specify how much jewelry was talking about. Russia's external debt is $ 128 billion. This year, the country should pay 14 billion on debts and interest, 17 billion in the future.

In Cairo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Ahmed Maher and a representative of the Palestinian leadership of Saab Erekat discussed on Saturday the current stage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Erekat arrived in Cairo after visits to Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Today, two people will appear in France, arrested on charges of involvement in the abduction of the son of a Swedish millionaire. The arrested - citizens of Sweden of Yugoslav origin - were captured on Friday near Lill. During the search, they found a million 200 thousand euros - a ransom received for the liberation of 23 -year -old Lars Westerberg, the son of the president of one of the largest Swedish companies. Sweden, apparently, will achieve the issuance of detainees.

On the Tajik-Afghan border, Russian border guards over the past year and a half have confiscated more than 900 kilograms of heroin. According to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan Khumiddin Sharipov, about 40 drug couriers were detained. A number of operations were carried out by border guards together with the Tajik police.

In Kashmir last night, Indian border guards shot seven armed Islamists trying to penetrate from the territory of Pakistan. The situation on the Indo-Pakistani border, where hundreds of thousands of military personnel of both countries are pulled, remains tense. Delhi accuses Islamabad of the support of Kashmir separatists. Pakistan denies accusations and claim that the Indian authorities impede the free will of the inhabitants of Kashmir, mainly Muslims.

31 people died and 34 were injured and injured on Sunday as a result of a car accident in southern Turkey. The tragedy occurred in the area of the city of Tarsus - after the brakes were refused the passenger bus, and he rolled over. As it turned out during the investigation, the bus was crowded, many people rode standing, which is prohibited by the rules of passenger transportation. Two more people were injured as a result of a collision of several cars trying to go around the bus.

Two million believers were present on Sunday on the open -air mass, which was served in Krakow by Pope John Pavel the Second. In his sermon, the head of the Roman Catholic Church called on Christians to create, as he put it, the "civilization of love" and strive for non-violent resolution of the problems of the modern world. John Pavel the Second ranked blessed four representatives of the Polish church - two priests, a nun and archbishop.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan is convinced that Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the al -Qaeda terrorist organization, and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, are alive. In an interview with Reuters, Dr. Abdullo said that Bin Laden and Mullah Omar, apparently, are hidden in some remote area of Afghanistan or in a neighboring country.

In Dagestan last night, an earthquake occurred 90 kilometers southwest of Makhachkala. There are no victims and destruction. The strength of the underground shocks was 4 and a half points on the Richter scale. Their epicenter was underground, at a depth of 20 kilometers.

In Berlin, on Sunday evening, a meeting of the heads of government of countries affected by the current unprecedentedly strong floods in Europe took place. The Chancellors of Germany and Austria took part in it - Gerhard Schroeder and Wolfgang Shüssel, the Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia - Vladimir Stvidla and Mikulash Dzurinda, as well as the Chairman of the European Commission Romano Prodi.

Valery Vinokurov: Under the President of Russia, the Council for Physical Culture and Sports will be formed. The decree was signed by Vladimir Putin last Thursday and decided that the new advice himself would lead. The head of the state sports of Russia Vyacheslav Fetisov became Deputy Chairman of the Council. Fetisov is instructed to submit proposals on the composition of the Council within two weeks.

The US President’s administration George Bush is alarmed by the spread of cruise missiles in the world, which are also in service with countries hostile to the United States. According to Washington Post, US defense Minister Donald Ramsfeld presented a secret report to the White House, in which he urges the president to take emergency measures to protect the country from cruise missiles.