Aviation delivered several strikes on militants found in the mountainous part of Dagestan. "Two and a half kilometers south of the settlement of Matrada in the mountains of Dagestan, helicopter pilots delivered several fire strikes on groups of militants driven into a gorge," Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Livantsov, head of the North Caucasus Regional Border Guard Department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, told Interfax on Wednesday.

An American military patrol was blown up by a land mine near Samarra, Reuters reports. As a result, three Americans were killed. In total, on Wednesday, as a result of 6 actions of Iraqi resistance, 6 civilians and three American servicemen were killed. 4 people were killed in a car bomb explosion in Erbil. In Baghdad, a landmine explosion in a tunnel killed 2 people.

In Bulgaria, a group of international experts found about 14 kg of enriched uranium at an inactive nuclear reactor, the Washington Post writes , citing high-ranking sources. The raid was carried out with the support of armed special forces as part of large-scale operations to prevent nuclear terrorism. The group includes American and Russian experts in nuclear weapons. The Bulgarian authorities, for their part, have shown a willingness to cooperate with the experts.

On Wednesday, Moscow will host the first meeting of the United Democratic Council, which includes six representatives each from the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko. Boris Nemtsov, Irina Khakamada, Yegor Gaidar, Viktor Nekrutenko, Boris Nadezhdin and Yevgeny Yasin entered the Democratic Council from the Union of Right Forces. Yabloko delegated Vladimir Lukin, Alexei Arbatov, Igor Artemiev, Boris Misnik, Sergei Mitrokhin and Viktor Sheinis.

The state of New York posthumously pardoned the famous comedian Lenny Bruce, who was convicted of foul language 40 years ago, BBC reports. Earlier this year, several celebrities, including actor Robin Williams, petitioned Governor George Pataki for posthumous acquittal.

In the US state of Washington, the first case of encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been detected in the history of the country. US Secretary of Agriculture Ann Winiman said preliminary test results confirmed the disease. However, according to the minister, American beef, which is exported, is absolutely safe, reports the BBC. According to Winiman, the sick cow is not part of the livestock, whose meat is sold abroad.

The police detained a 72-year-old Muscovite who, in a drunken quarrel, stabbed his drinking companion and sawed him with a hacksaw. This was reported to Interfax by sources in the police department of the capital. On Tuesday, in an apartment building on Kerchenskaya Street (South-Western District), the detainee drank alcohol with a 47-year-old man. A quarrel arose, during which the pensioner hit the drinking companion with a knife in the throat.

In the Kazakh city of Pavlodar, a young man saved his wife, who decided to commit suicide. “After a small feast, seeing off the guests, the young spouses quarreled. As a result of the quarrel, the woman decided to commit suicide and jump from the balcony of her apartment located on the fifth floor,” Andrey Kasyanenko, head of the city rescue service, told Interfax. According to him, at the last moment, her husband came out onto the balcony and managed to grab his wife by the overalls.

Russia considers the visa regime with Georgia to be a temporary measure, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said after talks with acting. Georgian President Nino Burjanadze. "This is a temporary measure," the minister said. According to Ivanov, this topic was discussed during his meeting with Burjanadze.

The head of insurance supervision Konstantin Pylov sent a note to First Deputy Minister of Finance Sergei Shatalov sharply criticizing the Russian Union of Motor Insurers (RSA), reports Kommersant . The leadership of the union is accused of incompetence and the failure of the PR campaign "avtocitizen". Market participants consider this the next round of the struggle for control over RSA funds.

In Kaliningrad on Wednesday morning, a warehouse of paints and varnishes caught fire. The signal about the fire of a two-story building, in which the warehouses are located, was received by the operator on duty of the unified rescue service at 5:15 Moscow time. Nine fire trucks, rescuers, representatives of the city's life support services arrived at the scene. The area of ​​the fire is about 300 square meters, there was a spill of paints and varnishes.

"Tatu" are nominated for the presidency of the Russian Federation in a duet, according to the publication Dni.Ru. On December 27 at 12.00, the Moscow Palace of Youth will collect signatures to register a group of voters in support of Tatu's candidacy, according to a press release from the Neformat center. About why exactly the girls are going to get out for president is not specified. “The Tatu group is nominated for the presidency of the Russian Federation in full force.

The Triumph Palace residential complex, built in Moscow near the Sokol metro station, has been recognized as the tallest residential building in Europe. After installing a 49-meter of the spire, the total height of the building was 264.1 m. Recently, the record was recorded by representatives of the Guinness Book, the press service of the DON-Stroy company reports. The total weight of the spire is 52 tons.

A costume of more than two thousand buttons was sewn by a Novgorod housewife to her daughter as a gift for the New Year. As RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday, 41-year-old resident of the village of Proletary, Novgorod Region, Natalia Deykun, it took her about a month to sew an unusual costume for her 15-year-old daughter Galina. According to her, she performed this painstaking work mainly in the evenings, watching TV.

In Liverpool, 55-year-old Tony Carswell, dressed as Santa Claus and riding a wooden sleigh to a scout holiday, got into an accident. He was hit by a truck whose driver disappeared from the scene. Now Santa Claus will have to spend Christmas in the hospital, according to the BBC. Mr Carswell, a Boy Scout leader and former police officer, broke his leg and nose. Santa Claus, who has been congratulating children for 9 years, is very upset by the unexpected resignation. Dossier on Granyakh.ru