In Moscow, about 300 supporters of the Union of Right Forces, Yabloko and Liberal Russia, a rally of protest against the project of the Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, to restore the monument to Dzerzhinsky, on the Lubyanskaya Square. Earlier on Friday, the State Duma of Russia refused to accept a statement condemning Luzhkov's proposal. On the same day, State Duma deputies rejected another project - to establish a monument to Yuri Andropov on Lubyanka, who headed the KGB of the USSR for 15 years.

The United States has reliable data on the leadership contacts of the Al-Qaeda International Terrorist Organization with senior Iraqi representatives. The US Minister Donald Ramsfeld said at a press conference in Washington that over the past four years, these contacts have become closer. He did not specify who it was from the leadership of al-Qaeda, but said that he did not mean Osama Bin Laden.

The leader of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai begins today a three -day trip to the countries of the Persian Gulf. He will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The main topic of negotiations is bilateral relations and international assistance to Kabulu. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia - together with the United States and Japan - announced the allocation of $ 180 million to Afghanistan to restore roads.

The program is conducted by Peter Vile. Radio Liberty correspondents Vladimir Ivakhnenko, Vitaly Portnikov and Yuri Zhigalkin, who is talking with Harvard University Marshall Goldman, take part. Peter Vail: The Ukrainian authorities continue to declare the groundlessness of the accusations of Kiev in the supply of military equipment Iraq. Vladimir Ivakhnenko reports the reaction of Ukrainian politicians to this international scandal from Kyiv.

In Makhachkala, a police colonel Akhberdilav Akilov, who headed the Dagestan Directorate for the fight against extremism and terrorism, was killed. Two criminals in masks shot a colonel’s car in the city center. Akilov and his driver died on the spot. A woman who was passing by a minibus passing by a minibus was also killed. The department headed by Colonel Akilov was created in 1999 to combat the abductions of people.

The current decline in production and the possible negative consequences for the global economy of the military solution to the Iraqi problem are the focus of today's meeting in Washington of finance ministers of seven leading industrialized countries. The problem of the debts of developing countries is also discussed. Negotiations of finance ministers are held on the eve of the annual meeting of the leadership of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank planned for tomorrow.

Russia does not have data on the availability of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov. He added that Moscow has not yet received evidence of the contacts of the Saddam Hussein regime with international terrorists, including with Al -Qaeda. Ivanov again emphasized that Russia persistently seeks the return of international inspectors to Iraq - without preliminary conditions from the Iraq side.

The OSCE Commissioner for the Media Affairs of Freimut Dave called on the countries of Central Asia to develop freedom of speech. He stated this in Tashkent at the conference on the auspices of the conference on the problems of the media in Central Asia. Douve emphasized that freedom of speech is one of the most effective tools in the fight against corruption. In his opinion, it is corruption that is the greatest danger to the transition economy of the countries of the region.

The first vice-president of the LUKOIL oil company Sergey Kukhu was kidnapped to receive a ransom, ”Dmitry Dolgov, press secretary of the company, officially confirmed. According to him, Lukoil today begins the payment of remuneration (million dollars) for information that contributed to the release of Kukura. To whom the money will be paid, debts did not specify. Sergei Kukhu, stolen on September 12 in the suburbs, returned home last Wednesday. How he was free is still unknown.

Belarus should carry out cardinal democratic transformations before it can apply for joining the Council of Europe. This is stated in the resolution of the Council of Europe, adopted today in Brussels. The document notes that civil society in Belarus remains in its infancy, and a long list of violations of democratic norms in the country is given - in particular, in the field of human rights, in electoral and judicial systems.

Germany is ready in December to accept the command of the international security forces in Kabul from Turkey. The Minister of Defense of Germany Peter Shchruk said, however, that Germany would command peacekeepers with the Netherlands - and only six months, and not two years, as the United States asked. The curtain emphasized that he is against the placement of the international contingent outside Kabul, since this, according to him, is "too dangerous."

Pakistan is not going to fight with India, but is ready if necessary to fight back, if necessary, ”the head of the Pakistani state, Perevz Musharraf, said today. Relations between Islamabad and Delhi aggravated again this week - after two Islamic extremists killed 28 people in one of the Indian temples. India believes that the militants were associated with the groups of Islamists based in Pakistan.

Leading Marina Katys The Tambucan Lake lies in a small basin near the Pyatigorsk -Nalchik road. The length of the lake is about two kilometers, in width - about one. The depth of the vestibule reaches 10 meters and ranges at different times of the year, depending on the amount of precipitation. Dirting refers to the most ancient methods of treating various diseases. The therapeutic dirt of the lake of Tambucan is a plastic thick mass of black color.

East Timor became the 191st member of the United Nations. The corresponding decision was made today by the UN General Assembly. East Timor was officially proclaimed an independent state this year. Prior to this, for three years, the UN administration ruled the territory after this former Portuguese colony left Indonesian troops, which occupied East Timor since 1975. The population of East Timor is 760 thousand people. This is one of the poorest countries in the world.

The virologists from New York and California explained in a new way of increased resistance to the immunodeficiency virus. It is well known that in some people, HIV infection develops extremely slowly and does not go into the terminal stage for a very long time. Experts have long assumed that T-lymphocytes of such patients synthesize some compounds of protein nature, which for the time being helped their body to repel AIDS attack.