Historian and priest, leading Radio Freedom Radio "Between Vera and Belief" ykrotov@yahoo.com

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas said that he canceled foreign trips until the head of the Palestinian autonomy Yasir Arafat will be given complete freedom of movement. Abbas's statement was made after US President George Bush invited him to discuss the Middle East Plan in Washington. Observers believe that Mahmoud Abbas seeks to achieve more popularity among Palestinians on the eve of the voting on Tuesday in parliament in the composition of the new cabinet.

The Pakistani authorities reported that a large warehouse of weapons was discovered near the border with Afghanistan. 99 Russian -made missiles, 6 controlled shells, rocket fuses and anti -tank mines were stored in one of the peasant houses - two kilometers from the Afghan province of Pactia. In the south of Afghanistan, government troops are fighting with a Taliban detachment. According to local authorities, 10 Taliban were killed, 6 were injured.

Two Turkish troops were killed and two - wounded in a battle with the Kurdish rebels in the southeast of Turkey. According to local authorities, the clash occurred on Saturday, when the Turkish patrol stumbled upon a detachment of Kurdish separatists. This is the first armed incident of this kind in a few months. Over the 15 years of the armed struggle of the separatists for the creation of independent Kurdistan in the southeast of Turkey, about 37 thousand people died in clashes.

The UN welcomed the creation of a commission to finalize the project of a new constitution of the country in Afghanistan. The UN representative said that the commission may make a unique contribution to the construction of a new state and help strengthen national unity. The commission will have to inform the country's population about the content of the Constitution project and collect response to the document.

In Dushanbe today there is a summit of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The main topics are further economic integration, customs policy, the problem of the entry of member countries of the Council into the World Trade Organization.

The Chinese authorities reported today about nine who died from atypical pneumonia, eight of them in Beijing. Thus, the total number of victims of the disease in the country reached 131. About three thousand people are infected. The first case of death from atypical pneumonia is registered today in Taiwan. 12 people died in Hong Kong.

The commander of the US troops in the Gulf zone, General Tommy Frank, said that the end of the military operation in Iraq would not mean automatically reducing the American military presence in the region. Speaking at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, Frank noted that after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the need for patrolling by the airspace in the north and south of Iraq-as it was after the 1991 war. About 150 thousand American and British troops are now deployed in Iraq.

In the village of Goyta, Urus-Martansky district of Chechnya, two local residents were stolen last night. According to the head of the administration of the area of Shirvani Yasaev, a group of unknown people burst into the house and, under the threat of execution, took away two brothers Lichi and Ibrahim Bitaev. According to Yasaev, employees of the local police department do not take measures to prevent abduction of people. Two roads leading to the village of Goyta are not taken under control.

During mass robberies in Iraq from banks, more than 400 million dollars were stolen. This was announced by the senior American consultant of the Central Bank of Iraq, George Mallinex.

In Estonia, a book about the crimes of the Holocaust has been published "Tell your children about it." The book was prepared by the Swedish authors Paul Levin and Stefan Brukhveldo and was already published in 10 languages of the peoples of the world. In each country, the language of which is translated into the language, it is supplemented by the head of the events of the Holocaust in this state.

At the airport of the capital of Indonesia - Jakarta - an explosion occurred this morning; According to preliminary data, 11 people were injured. According to the Indonesian police, an explosive device of small power was laid in one of the diner. So far, no one has taken responsibility for the terrorist attack - already the second for this week. The authorities are suspected of organizing explosions by the radical Islamic organization "Jema Islami".

Beijing authorities ordered to temporarily close all cinemas, concert halls, theaters and discos - to prevent further reconstruction of an epidemic of atypical pneumonia. In the Chinese capital, 42 people have already died from this disease, about a thousand infected - about a thousand. The deputy chairman of the State Council U and was appointed new Minister of Health, the former - was dismissed for concealing data on the scale of the epidemic of atypical pneumonia in the country.

US Secretary of Defense Donald Ramsfeld, a trip to the Persian Gulf countries, arrived in the United Arab Emirates. In negotiations with the leadership of the country, Ramsfeld is expected to express gratitude for the support of the US military operation in Iraq and discuss issues of the American military presence in the region. Ramsfeld - for technical reasons - set aside the visit to Afghanistan scheduled for today.

In Finland, the 67th world hockey championship started on Saturday. The Russian team began its performance with the victory, defeating the Switzerland team with a score of 5: 2. In another match in this group, a sensation was recorded: the debutant of the World Cup - the Danish team - won the US hockey players with the same account. Other results: Canada - Belarusia - 3: 0, Czech Republic - Slovenia - 5: 2, Finland - Austria - 5: 1, Latvia - Sweden - 1: 3.