“To realize evil and not to confront him is to betray a person in yourself,” I bring these words of the Mahatma Gandhi according to the book “Active Neckalia”. This book was recently published in Moscow in the series "Library of the Center for Extreme Journalism", the Center for the Union of Journalists of Russia. The director of this center and one of the co -authors of the book Oleg Panfilov participates in today's conversation.

Iranian President Mohammad Hatam completed a two -day visit to Syria, where he discussed with the Syrian President Bashar Assad the problems of peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Hats and Assad signed a joint statement calling for the United States - to terminate the "threats" to Iran, Lebanon and Syria. Yesterday, both presidents were present at the signing ceremony on the creation of the Syrian-Iranian Committee on the gradual liberalization of trade between the two countries.

About half a billion dollars were discovered in Lebanon, taken out of Iraq by family of Saddam Hussein, ”the US Department of Finance said. According to the representative of the Ministry at a hearing in the US Congress, the funds were transferred to Lebanon from the Central Bank of Iraq and other sources. Washington claims that all discovered funds will be aimed at helping the Iraqis and the restoration of the country.

Every two seconds from the face of the earth, a forest plot disappears, equal to the size of the football field. 6 years ago in Altai, one might say that overnight the forest burned out on 80 thousand "football fields". The summer of 1997 was unusually arid, in two months, a drop of rain did not fall in the region. The fire came from the steppe. With gusts of a meter of more than 24 meters per second, it was almost impossible to stop it.

Russia temporarily closed 31 checkpoints of 52 on the border with China and Mongolia-due to the threat of atypical pneumonia. This was announced today by the chief sanitary doctor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko after a government meeting, which was devoted to measures to prevent the epidemic. The Russian government allocated more than 50 million rubles for these purposes. 44 million will go to create laboratories in every large city - to quickly detect sick.

Peter Vail , Prague: removal from participation in the Miss Universe Beauty contest, Russian woman Maria Smirnova, who, as it turned out, was removed half -naked in the journal "Playboy", caused a noisy reaction in the Russian press. Being world -famous and beloved millions is not only pleasant, but also troublesome, not only honorable, but also difficult. As in all social roles, we are talking about the ratio of rights and obligations.

In Sakhalin, in 9 settlements, electricity supply to housing and communal services enterprises was stopped. In the last 4 months, the debts of consumers to power engineers grew by 250 million rubles. In general, the debts of consumers have already exceeded 650 million rubles. In Kaluga from May 15, the phone fee rises by 15 rubles. Now the subscription fee will be 100 rubles per month. In Ulan-Ude, 24 families received apartments in a new house built in a remote urban district.

The collegium of the Supreme Court of Georgia is expected to be sentenced today in the case of extradition to Russia of three Chechens, detained in August last year on the Georgian-Russian border. They were part of an armed group of 13 people, five of whom were already issued to the Russian authorities accusing them of participating in illegal armed groups.

3 Palestinians died today as a result of shootings during the raid of Israeli troops in the Palestinian village of Beit Khanun in the Gaza Strip. Soldiers using tanks and bulldozers demolished 4 houses of extremist groups. The Israeli military stated that the purpose of the operation is to put an end to the shelling of Jewish settlements located along the border of the gas sector. Today, Palestinians celebrate the 55th anniversary of the NAKBA - the loss of an independent Palestinian state.

The program involves: the head of the Sector of the President of Azerbaijan, Rustam Mammadov, the leader of the Opposition Party, Musavat, Isa Gambar, Radio Liberty correspondent in Baku Yalchin Tair-Oglu, an Azerbaijani Radio, Radio Liberty Samira Gazyeva. Tengiz Gudava: The other day, the President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, turned 80 years old.

In France, two trade unions participating in a national strike came to a compromise agreement with the government on the issue of pension reform. We are talking about relatively small trade unions. The largest - the "Universal Confederation of Workers" and "Forsus Uvrier" - decided to continue the strike. In protest promotions that last three days, millions of people take part. Almost all of the transport is worth it, mail, banks and many other institutions do not work.

The American authorities warn of an increased threat of terrorist attacks against US citizens in East Africa - primarily in Kenya. The US State Department recommends that Americans abandon trips to the region. Kenya’s authorities reported today that, apparently, one of the most dangerous terrorists of Al -Qaeda was entered into the country - the phase of Abdullah Mohammad.

On May 11, the team of North Ossetia President Alexander Dzasokhov successfully held the parliamentary elections for himself. Noisy scandal on oil yamal. In Noyabrsk, Mayor Yuri Linka defeated the city court and the election commander. Boris Berezovsky briskly began the new round of struggle for the departure of the comrade -in -arms Sergei Yushenkov Party "Liberal Russia". The May celebration of the 300th anniversary of St.

Yan Runov , New York: The purpose of the visit of Secretary of State Powell to Moscow, as it is seen in America, was to enlist Russia's support in the issue of lifting the UN sanctions from Iraq and establishing relations with the Russian leadership, which cools during the debate in the Security Council regarding the use of military force in Iraq.

He has been cooperating with RS since 1991. The editor and host of the Road to Freedom Program Vitaly Portnikov on Facebook , Twitter Portnikovv@rferl.org