The State Duma of Russia today has adopted in the first reading amendments to the Criminal Code, mitigating the punishment for crimes that are not a serious nature. According to the presidential representative in the State Duma, Alexander Kotenkov, the amendments will halve the number of prisoners in Russia - primarily minors. It is supposed to apply a punishment not related to imprisonment - in particular, fines.

In Moscow, during a football match between the capital's “Spartak” and the Petersburg “Zenit”, more than 80 fans were detained. Most were intoxicated. In general, according to the police, the match was held without excesses. Spartak and Zenit tied-one one.

Victoria Munblit , Tel Aviv: the Arab world is making every effort to achieve an agreement between the leader of the Palestinian autonomy Yasir Arafat and the newly elected Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who was supposed to submit his government on Wednesday. So far, all attempts remain in vain. Abbas said that he did not want to talk with the Arafat anymore, and the Palestinian leader himself had already begun to look for an abbasa of the successor.

The program involves the Kyrgyz oppositionist Kubanychbek Apas and an employee of the Kyrgyz edition of Radio Liberty Naryn Ayyp. Tengiz Gudava: “As you know, by the president’s decree“ Kyrgyzstan - Human Rights Country ”, the Public Council of Democratic Security was created. The Council has begun the development of the Democratic Code of the country,” writes the Kyrgyz Government newspaper The Word of Kyrgyzstan.

Nikita Tatarsky , Moscow: the issue of the payment of compensation to residents of Chechnya began to be actively discussed on the eve of the referendum. Moscow politicians and their proteges in the region at every opportunity made promises about this. But after voting, how many civilians had the impression, officials began to talk about this problem less often.

In Russia, almost a third of villages and villages are empty. This is evidenced by the first official results of the census carried out in the fall of last year. In the north, remote settlements almost completely disappeared. A lot of empty villages - in the north -west and in the central areas. Over the past decade, the population of Russia has declined by two million and is now 145 and a half million people. Russia in the number of inhabitants - in seventh place in the world.

Will the transaction take place, as a result of which a group that includes the five leaders in the volume of oil production will occur? The program is maintained by Andrei Shari. Radio Liberty correspondents Ivan Trefilov and Yuri Zhigalkin take part. Andrei Shary: The largest Russian oil companies Yukos and Sibneft agreed on the association.

At least 28 people were killed and about 300 were injured as a result of a cyclone, which had swept around in the Indian state of the Assam in the northeast of the country. Destroyed buildings and power lines. Hundreds of people turned out to be a shelter.

In Moscow, a suspect of the murder of a deputy of the State Duma, leader of the liberal Russia party, Sergei Yushenkov, was detained. Law enforcement officers detained twenty -year -old Artem Stefanov in his apartment on the basis of a photobot compiled by eyewitnesses of the crime. According to investigators, Stefanov could commit a murder out of personal motives. In 1997, his father spent six months under investigation on charges of extortion and threats against Yushenkov.

Interpol created a special unit to combat the theft of art objects and monuments of antiquity from Iraq museums. Interpol appealed to all international organizations engaged in the trading of antiques and art objects to abandon any proposals emanating from Iraq.

Andrey Shary: The Man of the Day of Radio Liberty April 23 is an American film actress Sherly Temple, celebrating the 75th anniversary. Born in the 1928th year of the small city of Santa Monica, California. For the first time on the screen appeared at the age of 3 years. By the age of six, Temple became a worldwide famous actress, starring in more than ten films. I received big fees.

Mikhail Sokolov , Moscow: The leaders of the Russian law enforcement agencies, who spoke today at a closed meeting of the State Duma, told the deputies to investigate the murders of their colleagues. Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov confirmed that the suspect of the murder of Sergei Yushenkov, twenty -year -old Artem Stefanov, was detained in Moscow.

The head of the UN Commission on the disarmament of Iraq Hans Blix believes that the American-British forces are much more likely to find arsenals of Iraqi weapons of mass defeat than his inspectors. In an interview with the German magazine, Stern Blik emphasized that now in Iraq you can freely interview people who no longer have to be afraid of the omnipotent secret police of Saddam Hussein.

In Beijing, the first round of tripartite negotiations was held to resolve the conflict around the nuclear program of North Korea. US Secretary of State James Kelly met with representatives of the DPRK and China. These are the first direct contacts of Washington with Pyongyang from the moment the conflict arisen. Kelly refused to comment. According to the US State Department, the main task of Washington is to achieve a complete refusal of the DPRK of nuclear developments.

Jan Runov , New York: Canadian authorities warned that in Toronto, passengers of suburban trains could become infected with the atypical pneumonia virus, because last week the nurse - the carrier of the virus drove the train twice and could infect others. As the representative of the Health Department Toronto Barbara Jaffi said, anxiety causes a health status of at least six passengers sitting next to the patient.