The International Human Rights Rice Roits Uchch expresses concern with severe press pressure in Pakistan. In an open letter to the President of Pakistan Peresa Musharraf, human rights activists note that journalists in his country are constantly pursued and intimidated in order to prevent critical publications about the actions of the authorities and the military. Since the beginning of last year, one Pakistani journalist was killed and five were arrested, three of them were tortured.

The United States announced the capture of one of the most influential leaders of Al-Qaeda. The US Department of Defense reports that Abd al-Hadi al-Iraki was the main developer of terrorist operations in Afghanistan and planned attacks on American troops from the territory of Pakistan. It is also believed that he was the organizer of attempts on the President of Pakistan. He was captured on the way to Iraq and taken to an American military prison in Guantanamo in Cuba.

In the south of Chechnya there is a special operation to capture the militants. There are victims. In the Shata district of the Republic of Mujahed, one of the three helicopters of the Ministry of Defense with paratroopers, who were transferred to the special operation, were shot down. 18 people died (three of them are crew members). In the battle on Earth, three soldiers of the West special battalion, two Chechen policemen and three militants were killed, Radio Liberty correspondent reports.

About eight thousand Georgian students on hundreds of buses gathered for a protest of the Inguri River, separating Georgia and Abkhazia. According to Tbilisi George Kobaladze, the column stretched for several kilometers. Russian peacekeepers, deployed in the Zhino-Abkhaz conflict zone, were made in increased readiness.

Estonian authorities did not listen to the opinion of the intelligentsia, the outstanding artist Kirill Lavrov died

The New York Jeshiva Universitet-a Jewish higher educational institution, preparing, in particular, Judaist religious figures-nominated for the honorary title of "Savior of Jews during the Holocaust" Khalid Abdul-Vahab. This is the first Arab in the history of such nominations. During the Second World War, the Tunisian Khalid Abdul-Wahab saved more than twenty Jews from the Nazis, hiding them on a farm. Abdul-Wahab died in 1997 at the age of 86.

Mstislav Rostropovich died on May 10, the Council of Russia-NATO will begin to discuss the fate of the Treaty on ordinary armed forces

In the Pakistani province of North Vaziristan, at the Afghan border, three militants died during the manufacture of an explosive device. According to the Pakistani military, all three were suspected of relations with Al-Qaeda. According to local residents and intelligence officers of the province, a missile blow was inflicted. As a result of which 4 people were killed. Whoever was shelling is unknown. Representatives of NATO in Afghanistan have not yet commented on what happened.

Sergey Mironov gives young associates the time to understand the political views of senior comrades In the Museum of Victory on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow, the constituent congress of the Victory movement, the youth wing of the Fair Russia party, was today. “Victory” decided to forge from six organizations that, before the creation of “Fair Russia” were youth divisions of parties united in it. More than 500 young supporters of the party, Sergei Mironov, gathered in the Victory Museum.

In the Shata district of Chechnya, a shootout continues. Chechen policemen and military personnel are pursuing a group of Mujahideen. During the special operation, more than 25 people have already died. 15 of them - according to the Radio Liberty correspondent - the paratroopers of the South battalion, who were on board the downed helicopter - one of their three transferred military personnel to the place of operation. 3 members of the crew were killed.

Despite the fact that, according to Vladimir Putin, it is inappropriate to give assessments of his own activity, he began his speech with the results The eighth and, according to the current Constitution of the country, the last message of Vladimir Putin took one hour 14 minutes to the Federal Assembly and was interrupted by applause 46 times, that is, about once every one and a half to two minutes.

The program is conducted by Alexei Kuznetsov. The Radio Liberty correspondent in London Natalya Golitsyna takes part. Alexey Kuznetsov: The British royal family ordered her family portrait of the Russian artist Sergei Pavlenko living in London. The portrait has already been approved by Queen Elizabeth Second and British artistic criticism.

In Moscow, the Estonian embassy hosts an unlimited protest against dismantling in the center of Tallinn the monument to the Liberator Warrior. The activist of the Eurasian Youth Union was detained, who tried to throw the diplomatic mission building with stones. Earlier, several dozen activists of the Model Guard and Ours did not allow the car of the Estonian ambassador to leave the embassy. The Federation Council called on the President of Russia to break diplomatic relations with Estonia.

In St. Petersburg, the opposition holds a protest against the actions of the police during the dispersal of the "marsh of disagreements". According to the Interfax agency, about two hundred people - representatives of the local branch of Yabloko, public organizations “Defense” and “Soldiers' mothers” take part in the rally. "Marsh of disagreements" was held in St. Petersburg on April 15th. Some of its participants were brutally beaten, several dozen were detained.