Yesterday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il arrived in China, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing an intelligence official. Early in the morning, Kim Jong Il's special train crossed the border through the Chinese Dandong station, where heavy security was posted. There were also reports in foreign media that Kim Jong Il was heading to Russia through China.

New information about US secret prisons The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) yesterday called information about the deployment of secret CIA prisons in the country absurd. “There are no prisons or secret centers of foreign states on the territory of Ukraine,” said SBU press secretary Marina Ostapenko.

The 31st journalist was kidnapped Saturday in Iraq since the U.S. intervention began in March 2003. It was 28-year-old freelance journalist for the American newspaper Christian Science Monitor, Jill Carroll. No one has yet taken responsibility for this. Carroll was captured 300 meters from the headquarters of Sunni sheikh Adnan al-Duleimi, with whom she went for an interview. The corpse of her translator is found nearby with two bullets in his head.

Today is Nursultan Nazarbayev's inauguration Today at 9 am Moscow time in Astana, Nursultan Nazarbayev will take office as President of Kazakhstan for a new seven-year term. The inauguration ceremony will take place for the first time in the new Ak Orda presidential palace, which became Nazarbayev’s residence in December 2004. The celebrations in Astana promise to be the most magnificent in the modern history of Kazakhstan and much more impressive than in 1999.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon balances between life and death Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 77, was able to move his left arm and leg. This news became the main news in the country yesterday. Previously, doctors believed that the stroke suffered by the Israeli Prime Minister could lead to complete paralysis of his left limbs. Ariel Sharon was hospitalized on January 4th. Doctors diagnosed him with a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage.

Joschka Fischer is ready to lecture in America Former German Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor, one of the leaders of the Green Party, 57-year-old Joschka Fischer, is apparently preparing for a serious scientific career. He may soon take up a professorship at one of the leading American universities, such as Princeton or Harvard. As the German illustrated weekly Stern learned, Mr.

This weekend, a scandalous intrigue in the opposition Liberal Democratic Party of Great Britain was resolved. Its leader, 46-year-old Scot Charles Kennedy, who seemed to have recovered from alcoholism, unexpectedly resigned, and, as announced, due to problems with alcohol.

Israel will not interfere with the holding of elections to the Palestinian Authority parliament in East Jerusalem. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced this yesterday. Polling stations will be located at postal service offices located in eastern Jerusalem. Palestinian authorities have threatened to cancel the January 25 parliamentary elections across the entire autonomy if Israel does not allow voting to take place in East Jerusalem.

Negotiations on South Ossetia have been disrupted again In South Ossetia, demilitarization, interrupted due to the New Year holidays, will resume on Wednesday. The parties suspect that each of them has illegal military facilities and weapons in the conflict zone. The Georgians and Ossetians exchanged lists of these claims in mid-December, after which the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) (their core is the Russian battalion) began monitoring.

Russia gives Iranians another chance Iran has once again alarmed the world community. Seals installed in 2004 under an agreement with the European Union (EU) were removed from laboratories at the nuclear center in the city of Natanz yesterday. The moratorium on nuclear research has been interrupted. Iran remains a headache for the international community. However, Vremya Novostey’s source in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged not to stir up passions.

Turk threatens to tell the truth about the KGB and CIA Tomorrow, 48-year-old Turk Mehmet Ali Agca (pictured) will leave Istanbul prison. The court decided to release him early, taking into account “good behavior”, as well as Turkey’s lenient new criminal code, adapted to the standards of the European Union, which Ankara is about to join. Agca is one of the most famous terrorists of the twentieth century. On May 13, 1981, in St.