The Prime Minister of Chechnya Mikhail Babich will be removed from his position, ”Akhmad Kadyrov, head of the administration of the republic, told reporters in Grozny. He refused to call the candidacy of the new prime minister. In January, a conflict took place between Kadyrov and Babich related to the change of leadership of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic.

Natalya Golitsyna , London: On the fourth channel of British television, an interview with Saddam Hussein was shown. This was the first in the last ten interviews that the Iraqi dictator gave to Western television. Saddam Hussein gave an interview to Tony Benna, a former member of the British Parliament, a labor, known as his pacifist and left -winged views.

The American state of Texas yesterday is executed by the death sentence to the British citizen John Ellitt. The court found Ellitt guilty of rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl 17 years ago. The petition of the convicted person was not satisfied. Activists of human rights organizations and several deputies of the British Parliament turned to the Texas authorities with a request to mitigate the sentence. John Ellitt is the third Briton executed in the United States in recent years.

In Azerbaijan in the village of Nardaran, local residents were armed with armed resistance to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who arrived to arrest the participants in the riots. Seven police officers were injured. The elder of the village claims that 17 local residents received injuries. Eight people are detained. The riots in Nardaran began last summer, when the police tried to disperse the rally.

In the parliament of Australia there was a split - deputies and senators could not come to a consensus on the Iraqi problem. The Senate, the upper house of the Australian Parliament, expressed distrust of John Hauard to the conservative government, which decided to send two thousand troops to the Persian Gulf area - to participate in a possible war against Iraq. However, members of the lower house, where conservatives have a majority, supported the government.

The program is conducted by Peter Vile. Radio Liberty correspondents Vladimir Abarinov and Jan Runov take part. Peter Vail: US President George Bush sent his federal budget for 2004 the financial year, which will begin on October 1. The presidential application provides for a record budget deficit and reduction of assistance programs in Russia and Ukraine. With details from Washington Vladimir Abarinov.

The European Union has begun to implement the project to improve interethnic relations in Russia-today Richard Wright, the head of the representative office of the European Commission in Russia, said at a press conference in Moscow. According to Wright, the European Union is very concerned about the manifestations of xenophobia and the infringement of the rights of national minorities in Russia. The project will be carried out in Moscow, Orenburg and yet - not called - the region of Russia.

In Karelia in 8 districts, employees of the budget sphere were not paid wages for December. The total amount of debt is almost 10 million rubles. Local authorities explain the current situation by the fact that they were forced to direct a significant part of the money intended for the remuneration of state employees to eliminate the consequences of accidents in the heat supply system In several regions of Russia, an epidemic of influenza and flu -like diseases began.

The French and West African peacekeeping troops in the cat-d'Ivoire, according to yesterday’s decision of the UN Security Council, now have the right to use force-if necessary, the mandate was issued for 6 months. The rebels violated the ceasefire agreement reached recently in Paris - with the active assistance of France. For several months now, a civil war has been going on in the former French colony. In recent days, France citizens are urgently evacuated from the cat-d'Ivoir.

In Turkmenistan, the concept of “treason” is legislatively defined - an accusation of which more than fifty people have already been convicted. The definition, approved by President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov, includes not only an attempt on the existing system or disclosure of state secrets.

Yuri Zhigalkin , New York: Heaven over the flight control center was perfectly cloudless. Impeccable weather for launching and planting shuttles. On the same sunny morning, 4 days ago, Colombia and its crew burned in the sky above Texas, while experts in the flight control center tried to call a silent crew, observing in horror on the screens of monitors, as a sparkling ball of the ship turns into meteorite rain. There were many memorial words and words of hope at this ceremony.

The Moscow prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against student Igor Fedorovich, detained last night with a home -made bomb. The police claims that Fedorovich, a student at the Moscow University of Subtle Chemical Technologies, was preparing to arrange an explosion at the car compartment - in protest against increasing travel prices. According to the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate, the arrested is an active participant in the extremist group “Avangard of Red Youth” ..

The host of the St. Petersburg hour of the Liberty Live program Tatyana Valovich: In September last year, on the eve of the day of the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad, we raised the question of how people who have undergone all the hardships of this time live now. More recently, the 60th anniversary of the blockade breakthrough and the next anniversary of the complete removal of the blockade of Leningrad were celebrated in St.

Member of the leadership of the European Union Chris Patten said that the EU seeks to achieve specific results from the structural dialogue with Iran. Patten spoke on Wednesday in Tehran before the second round of negotiations on a possible trade agreement between the EU and Iran. The United States criticized the EU policy regarding Iran. Last year, US President George Bush ranked Iran to the “Evil axis”, along with Iraq and the DPRK.

10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe actively supported the US position regarding Iraq. Countries included in the so -called Vilnius group were released by the message with the expression of support immediately after the performance of US Secretary of State Colin Powell in the UN Security Council. Now the international community should not remain the slightest doubt that Baghdad, who grossly violating the UN resolution, is a danger to the whole world, the letter says.