Comcast, the largest cable television (and dedicated internet) network in the US, has proposed a $66 billion merger to Walt Disney Co, Lenta.Ru reports citing Reuters. In this case, each Disney share will be exchanged for 0.78 shares of Comcast'a, so that the former Disney shareholders will have 42 percent of the shares of the new conglomerate. Walt Disney Co has not been doing very well on the stock exchange lately.

The police received a statement from presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin, in which he explains the reasons for his absence, Kirill Mazurin, head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of Moscow, told RIA Novosti. "In his statement, Rybkin notes that his absence is not connected with any criminal infringement. In this regard, the search case on the fact of his disappearance has been terminated," Mazurin said.

The euro climbed to a one-month high, surpassing $1.2800 in trading on Wednesday after US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the dollar's decline was helping to narrow the US's vast current account deficit, Reuters reported. The head of the Fed gave a semi-annual report on US financial policy before the US House of Representatives. By 19.39 Moscow time, euro quotes amounted to $1.2803/06 per euro compared to $1.2673 before Greenspan's speech.

Photo from the site Sky News In the UK, a court investigation began on the murder of 33-year-old Joanna Ketley and her two daughters-4-year-old Phoebe and 2-year-old Emma, ​​reports the Air Force. Their cut bodies were found in their house in a village of Hing in the north of Lincolnshire on February 3. The younger sister of the girls - one -year -old Lily - was found alive in the car of her father. Now the girl was taken to the shelter.

Cox News journalist Rebecca Santana, who disappeared in North Ossetia, has been found, journalists from the Los Angeles Times told Gazeta.Ru. Her colleagues working with her in Russia managed to get in touch with her. The message about the disappearance of the journalist was spread on Wednesday by the US Embassy in Moscow. The embassy reported that Santana was in the Mozdok region (North Ossetia).

As early as Thursday, a proposal to amend Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "terrorism" will be submitted to the Duma Council, RIA Novosti reports. Vladimir Vasilyev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security, told journalists that it is planned to "increase liability to life imprisonment." This refers, in particular, to the third part of this article, which provides for a maximum sentence of up to 25 years.

About a hundred thousand counterfeit CDs were confiscated on Wednesday during an inspection of the Luzhniki market in the capital, RIA Novosti was told in the press service of the Main Directorate for Combating Economic Crimes (GUBEP) of the FSENP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

Ivan Rybkin. Photo from the site www.newtimes.ru The news of the return of presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin, who for five days unsuccessfully tried to find his family, the election headquarters and special services, caused ambiguous assessments of both the politicians and the staff of his headquarters and his family. The absent from February 5 and the wanted by Ivan Rybkin flew on Tuesday to Moscow from Kyiv.

A large batch of explosives was found by employees of the organized crime department in the Eastern Administrative District of Moscow. "In the course of operational-search activities on the territory of an unorganized parking lot in an ownerless garage, two bags were found containing 50 kg of TNT," a source at the police department of the capital told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. At first, 25 kg of explosives were reported, but then the figures were clarified.

Vladimir Putin sent a message to US President George W. Bush, in which he expressed his gratitude for condolences and solidarity in connection with the terrorist attack in Moscow. This was reported to RIA Novosti by the press service of the President of Russia. "The only response to the barbaric actions of terrorists should be the further build-up and deepening of joint efforts in the fight against this threat," the message says.

The military prosecutor's office of the Far Eastern Military District completed the investigation and sent to the military court a criminal case against the deputy commander of one of the aviation units of the Far Eastern Military District, Lieutenant Colonel Gennady Golobochansky. This was reported to RIA Novosti by the military prosecutor's office of the Far Eastern Military District.

Yukos, one of the first to start buying up the assets of regional companies, is now seeking to get out of this business, writes Vedomosti. The oilmen are forced to do this by the financial claims of the tax authorities and the position of RAO "UES of Russia", which did not want to correct the reform in accordance with the wishes of "Yukos". Yukos was one of the first to announce its interest in the electric power industry.

In Nizhnevartovsk, an explosive device was defused in the building of Promtekhservis LLC. As the press service of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug told RIA Novosti on Wednesday, the duty unit of GOM-2 Nizhnevartovsk received a telephone message from the commercial director of Promtekhservice LLC, who found a plastic bag with TNT sticks. The explosive device was located on the second floor of an unfinished wooden extension to the Promtechservis building.

The State Duma instructed the parliamentary committee on CIS affairs to prepare a bill within a week on the introduction of economic sanctions against Latvia and measures to provide humanitarian assistance to Russian citizens living in this republic, Rosbalt news agency reports. The instruction was given at the initiative of Konstantin Zatulin, member of the United Russia faction, director of the Institute of CIS Countries.

Ivan Rybkin at the Sheremetyevo-2 airport immediately after arrival. Frame of the NTV channel. A plane with Presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin landed at the Moscow Airport Sheremetyevo-2, missing for four days, NTV television company reports. At Rybkin’s airport, criminal investigators were met, who were going to take a receipt that he was not subjected to violence, and thus close the search case, which was started after contacting the police of Ivan Rybkin’s wife.