News. Image from the newspaper website. The Izvestia newspaper will be controlled by a friend of Vladimir Putin, co -owner of the Bank "Russia" Yuri Kovalchuk. According to Kommersant Wednesday with reference to a source close to the Gazprom-Media holding, Sogaz insurance company, which belongs to the bank, intends to buy 51 percent of the shares of Izvestia newspaper OJSC.

Aman Tuleyev. Photo from the site www.ikvo.vrn.ru The Governor of Kuzbass Aman Tuleyev filed a lawsuit against the leader of the Communist Party of the Communist Party of Gennady Zyuganov about the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the representative of the press service of the Kemerovo Region.

American patrol on the border of Kosovo and Macedonia. Photo Reuters If Russia recognizes the independence of the self -proclaimed republics in Georgia, its opponents can respond with the recognition of the separatist regions of Russia itself. According to the Air Force, one of the heads of the US Department of State for European and Euro -Asian affairs Matthew Braise in an interview with the Azerbaijani television channel ANS stated.

Valeria Novodvorskaya. Photo dm. BORORO/Brani.ru Enlightened Europeans and Americans carefully watched the dying convulsions of Russian democracy in the parliamentary elections. Excluding several Kremlin specially acquired at a similar price and, according to the fee, who declared their delight with the lack of violations, and in the USA and the EU, everyone understood, all saw and were shocked, scandalized and outraged.

Zurab Tsereteli. Photo by RIA "News" The non -profit organization "Fund for the Children's Park of Miracles", founded by the Zurab cerethels, abandoned the right of unlimited use of land in the lower volumes. As Interfax reports, a source in the city administration on Wednesday reported. By order of Yuri Luzhkov, the Department of Land Resources should apply to the Federal Registration Service for registering the right to permanent use of these lands during the week.

Handcuffs. Photo from the site dni.ru Fifteen Russian citizens were detained in France for illegal stay in the country. This was reported by Vesti with reference to the gendarmerie of the Department of Somma in the north of France. The incident occurred on the night of Monday on Tuesday. A group of five people was seen by gendarmes on the A-1 motorway connecting the north of the country with Paris. People walked along the reserve lane of the highway.

Harry Kasparov with his wife. Photo from the site Kasparov.ru At the Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg, the wife of the leader of the United Civil Congress Harry Kasparova Daria with a little daughter was detained, Sobkkor.ru reports. Daria Kasparova and her child was going to fly abroad on personal matters.

Alberto Fuhimory. Photo from the site www.un.org The former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fuhimory was sentenced to six years in prison, RIA Novosti reports. He was convicted of the order to steal documents confirming his corruption actions from the house of the former intelligence chief of Peru Vladimir Montesinos. The court found Fuhimory guilty of abuse of power, illegal invasion of intelligence chief in order to abduct the denunciations of documents and assign the functions of an official.

State Duma. Hard of news In the State Duma of the fifth convocation there will be fewer deputies of the speaker compared to the previous one. This is written on Wednesday "Vedomosti" with reference to a source in the leadership of United Russia.

George Bush. Photo from the site www.stopdubya.com The head of the White House George Bush said he would not be president of the United States if he had not quit drinking alcohol 21 years ago. “I doubt that I would stand here if I had not stopped drinking whiskey, beer, wine and all that,” Bush said in an interview with ABC television company. He said that he made the decision to quit drinking immediately and irrevocably.

Saratov. Photo from the site rah.ru The cities of Saratov and Engels are proposed to unite in one metropolis. On Wednesday, the initiative of activists will be considered by the commission of the Saratov City Duma on local self -government, writes Independent Gazeta. There is an idea to give the metropolis the name of the current president of the country. The initiative to unite cities belongs to a member of the Patriots of Russia Alexander Sidorenko, who ran for the Saratov Regional Duma.

Alexey Frenkel. Frame NTV The Basmanny Court of Moscow ordered the banker Alexei Frenkel to get acquainted with the materials of the criminal case until December 23. According to RIA Novosti, this was announced by the lawyer of the accused Igor Trunov.

Andrey Piontkovsky. Photo from the site www.pankisi.info Andrei Piontkovsky was awarded a diploma named after Andrei Sakharov "For Journalism as an Act" for a series of publications in Gralyyakh.ru. The awards were presented on Wednesday in the Sakharov Center in Moscow. The Spanish journalist Pilar Bonet, representing the work of the Piontkovsky prize jury, noted the severity and the analyticity of his political journalism.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Photo from the site yahoo.com The Ingodinsky court of Chita on Wednesday extended the detention period in the Chita pre-trial detention center of the ex-head of the Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky until February 7, 2008. Thus, the court granted the petition of the Prosecutor General, the lawyer of Khodorkovsky Semyon Rosenberg told RIA Novosti. Khodorkovsky’s defense intends to protest this decision in the Chita Regional Court.

Lyudmila Alekseeva, Harry Kasparov and Georgy Satarov. Photo: www.novayagazeta.ru On Wednesday, the fourth All -Russian Civil Congress opened in Moscow. About 550 delegates from public and political organizations from 73 regions of Russia gathered in the Cosmos Hotel. As expected, a new leadership will be elected on the congress. Until now, the co -chairs of the VGK were Lyudmila Alekseeva, Alexander Auzan, Georgy Satarov and Harry Kasparov.