The Iranian city of Bam, almost completely destroyed by the earthquake, is being quarantined, Gazeta.ru reports citing ITAR-TASS. The units of the Iranian army, the Iranian Red Crescent Society will carry out disinfection work throughout the city destroyed by the earthquake for a month. At the same time, tremors continue in this region of Iran.

An explosion occurred next to a regular bus in Tel Aviv, CNN reports. The scale of the incident is still unknown, but, as the correspondent of the TV company reports, the explosion was "loud". The incident took place at a bus stop on Allenby Street, one of the busiest streets in the heart of the city. Data on the victims and injured is not yet available. Israeli police say the incident was not a terrorist attack. It is likely that a pyrotechnic device was simply blown up on the street.

A state of emergency has been declared in the village of Zandak in the Nozhai-Yurt district of Chechnya, Gazeta.Ru reports citing Interfax. The introduction of the state of emergency is associated with landslides that continue to destroy houses in the village. This was announced by the representative of the President of Chechnya for relations with international humanitarian organizations Abdulkakhir Izrailov.

Residents of the Spanish city of Soria will celebrate the New Year two days later than usual. The idea to celebrate the New Year for two days was put forward by the public movement Let's Save Soria, RIA Novosti was told at the mayor's office.

Tim Berners-Lee. Photo from the site CERN The creator of the widely stretched web and the director of the World Wide Web Consortium Tim Berners-LED is dedicated to knights for his work, BBC reports. The widespread web was invented in 1991 in the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN). Tim Berners -Lee is a Briton by origin currently living in the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to the writer Daniil Granin "for many years of fruitful literary and social activity." It is reported by Newsru.com with reference to the press service of the head of state. Daniil Granin was born on January 1, 1919. The writer's first literary success was the novel The Searchers, published in 1954. Subsequently, Granin wrote the novels After the Wedding (1958) and I'm Going into the Thunderstorm (1961).

President of Adjara Aslan Abashidze fears an attempt on his life. Abashidze told journalists about this after the meeting with Georgian State Minister Zurab Zhvania, RIA Novosti reports. According to Abashidze, the organizers of the assassination could be "certain representatives of the new Georgian leadership and security agencies." According to the Adjarian leader, the action is being prepared not only against him.

The sound of an explosion in downtown Tel Aviv was caused by a burst bus tire, according to CNN. The reason for the extremely high reaction of the operational services and the short-term panic that arose after the "explosion" was the numerous reports that the Israeli authorities have information about terrorist attacks being prepared on December 31 and January 1. Ambulances and special services immediately arrived at the scene.

An Israeli Air Force helicopter fired two rockets in Gaza at a car carrying two members of the Hamas terrorist group, Reuters reported. As a result of the action, one of the militants was wounded. Ten bystanders were also injured. Apparently, the target of the Israeli military was the Arab terrorist Jamal al-Jarah, but it is not clear whether it was he who was injured.

In Moscow, a seven-month-old child was injured when a firecracker hit a baby carriage. This was reported to RIA Novosti by Evgenia Makarova, a representative of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate. "The incident took place at about 21:00 near house number 128 on Profsoyuznaya Street. A group of unknown teenagers threw a lit firecracker into a stroller with a child with whom the mother was walking.

Starting January 1, 2004, Moscow will raise fees for water supply, heating, garbage collection and housing maintenance, as well as gas tariffs, RIA Novosti reports. In accordance with the decree of the city government, the fee for garbage collection from the beginning of next year will be 13 rubles 20 kopecks per person per month for the population.

A group of extortionate policemen who took bribes in restaurants in the capital was detained in Moscow, Gazeta.ru reports citing Interfax. After the owner of one of the Moscow restaurants contacted the police, the first of the extortionists was detained - an intern of one of the divisions of the capital's police, the press service of the Main Directorate of Internal Security (GUSB) of the Russian Interior Ministry reported.

On Wednesday, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church (ROOC), Metropolitan Alimpiy (Gusev) of Moscow and All Rus', died in Moscow. As Dmitry Petrovsky, an employee of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, told RIA Novosti, "Metropolitan Alimpiy died at about 8 a.m.

On New Year's Eve, traffic in the center of Moscow will be significantly limited, Interfax reports. The streets will be closed due to the planned mass festivities. From 10 pm until the end of the ceremonial events, travel will be closed along Tverskaya, Mokhovaya, Myasnitskaya, Okhotny Ryad, Ilyinka streets, along Theater and Lubyansky passages, as well as along Vasilyevsky Spusk.

On suspicion of involvement in the work of an underground workshop for packaging red caviar, a number of current and former employees of the Bogorodskoye police department and other law enforcement agencies were detained. Among the detainees, according to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is a retired general of special services, Newsru.com reports with reference to Interfax. Illegal production was eliminated, 25 tons of caviar were seized.