The presidential elections in Abkhazia scheduled for Wednesday could be disrupted. Candidates for the post of head of the unrecognized republic Sergei Bagapsh and Yakub Lakoba expressed fears on Tuesday that the voter turnout may be below the minimum required to recognize the elections as valid.

An explosion at a fireworks factory in China's Shanxi province killed 25 people and injured nine more, CNN reports. Most of the dead are young women. The cause of the explosion is being investigated, the police put on the wanted list the owner of the factory, who fled in an unknown direction. According to preliminary data, the explosion was caused by non-compliance with safety regulations by factory employees.

In Penza, about 500 people took part in a rally against the replacement of benefits with monetary compensation on Wednesday. The rally lasted about an hour and a half. According to Interfax Gazeta.Ru, the protesters blocked the building of the regional government and attempted to block traffic on one of the main thoroughfares of the city - Kirov Street. However, this attempt was stopped by the police.

GM leaders represent Sequel in Detroit. Photo AFP At the General Motors concern, a new generation of hydrogen fuel system (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle), which was held in Detroit , the North American international engine . The power plant of the conceptual crossover SEQUEL ("continued") is 25% more powerful than the previous generation of cars using Hy-Wire technology.

OTRK '' Iskander ''. Photo from the site '' rocket technique '' In the early days of 2005, a loud scandal erupted between Russia and Israel. In Jerusalem, they say that relations between the two countries are almost on the verge of a gap. According to Kommersant, the reason for the complication of relations was the intention of Moscow to sell Syria the latest weapons-high-precision tactical missile systems "Iskander-E", capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 280 kilometers.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon congratulated Mahmoud Abbas on his victory in the presidential elections in Palestine. This phone call is yet another sign that the parties agree to resume the path of a peaceful settlement after several years of intifada, the AP notes. Since Sunday evening, when Abbas's victory became apparent, Israel and Palestine have been signaling to each other that they are ready to return to the negotiating table.

Boris Gryzlov. Photo from the site www.edinros.ru The spring session of the State Duma began. According to RIA Novosti, the speaker of the lower house of the parliament Boris Gryzlov, opening the meeting, said that the spring session will be intense not only because of the large number of bills that the parliamentarians have to be considered, but also responsibility in connection with the importance of tasks facing parliamentarians.

Two whole tangerines and slices. Photo from the site www.cooking-book.ru In Abkhazia, almost the most strange event in the world practice of the presidential election began. For some reason, the second round is called the second round here; Moreover, both candidates who previously rival among themselves are running for this time a single team; In addition to them, another candidate who himself calls what is happening clowning is allowed to the elections.

Money. Grani.ru collage Inflation in Russia according to the results of 2004 amounted to 11.7 percent, RBC reports with reference to the data of Rosstat. This indicator exceeded the initial forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, according to which the increase in prices should not exceed 10 percent.

The ex-head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, spoke on Wednesday at the Meshchansky Court of Moscow. In his statement, he said that his defense had to deal with the illegal actions of the prosecutor's office.

At the court session in the case of lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin, who is accused of illegal possession of weapons, a scandal erupted on Wednesday. Interrogating Tatyana Semiyutina, the wife of the accused, as a witness, the state prosecutor Yuri Krasnykh tried to confuse her with questions and brought her to tears.

The Foreign Ministry considers statements by the US State Department about manifestations of national intolerance in Russia inappropriate. This was announced on Tuesday by the official representative of the department, Alexander Yakovenko, commenting on the published annual report of the US State Department on the problem of the spread of anti-Semitism in the world. His words are given on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On January 11 at 9.19 Moscow time, the Baikal seismological station registered an earthquake with an intensity of 4.4 points, Gazeta.ru reports with reference to the Baikal News Service. Its epicenter was located 40 km northeast of the village of Arshan in the territory of the Republic of Buryatia. There are no casualties or destruction.

Galaxy NGC 541. Photo from the site www.llnl.gov Everyone knows that black holes carry death with them, but American astronomers discovered that these ominous monsters are also able to give the beginning of a new life, contributing to the formation of new stars. Moreover, the formation of stars induced by relativistic "jets" (jets) may play a crucial role in the appearance of the first galaxies in the early Universe.

Police. Photo from Newsru.com Russian human rights activists Lev Ponomarev and Lyudmila Alekseeva arrived in Bashkiria to conduct an independent investigation of the December events in Blagoveshchensk, when the police conducted mass cleansing among the population. As reported then, local residents report, the police detained from 500 to 1000 people in their 30,000th city in just a few days, many were brutally beaten.