The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad El Baraday discussed in Vienna with a senior Libyan representative the decision of Libya to refuse to develop weapons of mass destruction. The results of the meeting are not reported. On Friday, the Libyan leadership announced the coagulation of all programs to create nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons. This decision, in particular, provides for the admission of IAEA experts to Libyan nuclear facilities.

The delegates of the parliaments of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Edinburgh (Scotland) in order to try to resolve the dispute between Yerevan and Baku on the problem of Nagorno -Karabakh. Representatives of Georgia also took part in two -day negotiations. In 1994, an agreement on the ceasefire was concluded between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but the permanent peace agreement was still not reached.

On Sakhalin, a vote ended in the second round of the governor's elections. According to preliminary data, after the counting of more than half of the ballots, the acting governor Ivan Malakhov, who gained about 55 percent of the vote, leads. Almost 32 percent of voters voted for his opponent - the mayor of Yuzhno -Sakhalinsk Fedor Sidorenko. Elections are held ahead of schedule in connection with the death of the head of the region Igor Farkhutdinov.

A former high -ranking official under the Taliban regime was arrested in Afghanistan, suspected of organizing attacks on coalition military personnel. Mohammad Unis was detained in the southern province of Hilmain and transferred to the American command. Over the past five months, in this province, as a result of attacks by the Taliban and militants of Al -Qaeda, dozens of people - military personnel, employees of humanitarian missions, local residents died.

The authorities of the Philippines are afraid that over 200 people have become victims of powerful landslides in recent days. The death of 77 people officially confirmed, over 120 went missing. The landslides and floods are caused by heavy rains.

In the mountainous regions of Dagestan, the Russian military continued to search for a detachment of Mujahideen, who had gone into the regional territory at the beginning of the week. The terrain is combed in the Tlyarotinsky, Tsumadinsky and Tsuntinsky districts. According to the military, last night, according to the alleged location of the Mujahideen, artillery strikes were inflicted.

In a number of regions of Russia today, second rounds of elections of heads of local administrations are held. In Bashkiria, the current head of the Republic of Murtaza Rakhimov, who gained a little more than 43 percent of the vote in the first round, and entrepreneur Sergey Veremeenko, who lagged 20 percent from him, claims to be a president. During the election campaign in Bashkiria, numerous violations were recorded.

Representatives of the USA, the EU, Japan, China, Russia and Canada in negotiations near Washington postponed the decision on the place of construction of the world's first experimental thermonuclear reactor until February. The main candidates are the French city of Kadarash and the Japanese Rockashomur. Construction will cost $ 10 billion. A highly effective reactor will practically not pollute the environment.

Montenegrin President Svetozar Marovich said that in the event of nationalists victory in the coming universal elections in Serbia, he will achieve the independence of the republic. In an interview with local television, Marovich emphasized that the defeat of the pro -Western Serbian government will prevent the integration of Serbia and Montenegro into the European Union.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Iran began to verify the list of more than eight thousand candidates who submitted applications for participation in the parliamentary elections in February. In the case of approval by the ministry, the list will be approved by the "Council of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution", which is dominated by the conservative clergy. Candidates - supporters of liberal reforms are afraid that the Council will exclude their surnames from the list, as happened before.

The refusal of Libya to develop weapons of mass destruction is an important step towards strengthening peace and stability, ”said the British Foreign Minister Jack Str. Israel also welcomed Libya’s decision and expressed hope that specific actions would follow words. At the same time, a number of Arab states and Iran, who believe that Israel has nuclear weapons, called him to follow the example of Tripoli and destroy this weapon.

Oleg Vinokurov: At the coming week, the world hockey championship among youth teams will begin. Our New York Correspondent Evgeny Rubin directly connected his New York Correspondent with the upcoming youth forum. Evgeny Rubin: As always, the world championship among young hockey players starts at the end of the outgoing and finishes at the beginning of the new year, this time in Finland. For many years, Soviet teams dominated these tournaments, as well as at adult championships.

Leading Sergey Yuryenen The new writer and the book is a regular author of the program - a Moscow journalist and translator Ostap Karmodi working in Prague. Ostap Karmodi: We made our transmission about Dave Eggers, the novel of which "The Torn Heart of the Stunning Genius" has become one of the most important events in the American literature of recent years.

The author of the program Marina Efimova Announcer: Dear mom! Three and a half years passed after your death, and only now, it seems to me, I begin to understand you. During your lifetime, you have always been a stranger to me. Why it happened, I don't know. Marina Efimova: So the letter begins to the mother of the French writer Georges Simenon, published in America with a separate book, probably due to his instructiveness.

The Pope John Pavel the Second is ready to reckon the blessed of the last emperor of Austria-Hungary Karl the First. According to the Vatican’s statement, the decision will be made after a special commission confirms that the miracle related to the name of Charles the First really took place. The descendants of the deceased emperor claim that the Brazilian nun, praying for the reckoning of Karl the first in the rank of blessed, was cured of mortal illness.