The Czech Republic abolished the universal conscription that existed in the country for about 140 years. On Thursday, November 18, Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed a law according to which, from January 1 next year, the country's armed forces will be recruited purely on a professional basis, Gazeta.Ru reports citing Deutsche Welle.

When a Mercedes car exploded in the center of Vladivostok, businessman Pak Gwan Hak, a Korean of Russian origin, was wounded. According to the correspondent of "Primorsky Television and Radio", to whom Data.Ru refers, the wounded man holds the position of general director of Vostok-Asia LLC. According to preliminary information, the wounds do not pose a threat to the health of the victim, but he was hospitalized.

In the Kaliningrad region on Thursday died a man injured during a hurricane. According to REGNUM, one of the passengers of the car died in the hospital, on which a tree collapsed near the village of Ushakovo, Guryevsky district. Three other people were taken to the hospital with him with injuries of varying severity.

Photo from the version of the version.com The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Thursday decided to ban the presidential elections in the second round, which will be held on November 21, voting on absenteeism. 234 deputies voted for the ban with the required minimum of 226 votes, RIA Novosti reports. “Opposition fractions voted”: Communists, Socialists, Blok Yulia Tymoshenko, “Our Ukraine”, as well as the People’s Agrarian Party of Ukraine.

Metro fares will increase in Moscow from January 1. According to the newspaper Izvestia, the head of the metro, Dmitry Gaev, prices will be increased by 30% on average. So, a ticket for 2 trips instead of 20 rubles will cost 30, but an annual ticket will practically not change in price. According to Gaev, this proposal will be considered by the regional energy commission in the near future.

The investment bank Morgan Stanley, chosen as the state appraiser of the transaction for the merger of OAO Rosneft with OAO Gazprom, will complete the valuation of the transaction by December 3 this year, Gazeta.Ru reports. This was announced by a source in the Federal Agency for Federal Property Management (Rosimuschestvo).

Osama bin Laden is planning to move the base of his terrorist organization "Al-Qaeda" to the territory of Chechnya, since this Russian region cannot be attacked by Western countries. This follows from the report of American intelligence, which is published on the website of the public organization Judicial Watch, reports Lenta.Ru.

Written off submarines. Photo from the site www.tusovkavlad.ru An incident on the submarine of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) is engaged in the commission of the TOF. This was announced in an interview with RIA Novosti by the head of the press service of the Navy, the captain of the first rank Igor Dygalo. "On the fact of the incident, the commission, headed by the temporarily acting chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet by Rear Admiral Andrei Vaitovich," Dygalo said.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said on Friday that he does not intend to sign a law passed by the Verkhovna Rada prohibiting the use of absentee ballots during voting in the second round of elections. The President announced this to journalists on Friday, Interfax reports. The Verkhovna Rada adopted this law on Thursday. 234 deputies voted for the ban, with the required minimum of 226 votes, RIA Novosti reports.

A month and a half before the terrorist attack in Beslan, the place near the village of Psedakh, located on the border of Ingushetia and Chechnya, where militants gathered, was combed by army units. This, according to RIA Novosti, was announced on Friday by the chairman of the parliamentary commission to investigate the causes and circumstances of the terrorist act in Beslan, Alexander Torshin. According to him, then a cache was discovered, in which there were 111 small arms.

In St. Petersburg, a bomb went off under a BMW car in one of the yards. This was reported to RIA Novosti by a source in the law enforcement agencies of the city. "The day before in St. Petersburg, in the courtyard of a residential building under a BMW car owned by the CEO of one of the companies, an unidentified non-enveloped device exploded, equivalent in power to 50 grams of TNT," the source said. The car received minor damage.

Grani.ru collage Several events converge at one point. Vladimir Gusinsky finally won the case against the Russian government, whose appeal was rejected by the European Court of Human Rights.

Sergey Mitrokhin. Photo from the site www.yabloko.ru In the Russian Supreme Court on Friday, hearings on the lawsuit of the "Yabloko", the Communist Party and several members of the "Committee-2008" to the CIC on the cancellation of the elections to the State Duma continued.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky in the program "Freedom of speech". NTV frame from Newsru.com On Friday, the City Court of St. Petersburg once again extended the term of detention of six defendants in the case of the murder of Galina Starovoyova. According to RIA Novosti, this was announced by the representative of the victim Leonid Saikin.

A scandal erupted in Belgium in connection with the possible arrival of the Chechen emissary Akhmed Zakaev, who is going to meet in Brussels the other day with representatives of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia. The meeting will be organized by Belgian MEP Bart Steiss. As a result, according to the local press, the visit to Moscow of Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht, scheduled for December 22-23, was in jeopardy.