Shares of the oil company Yukos have been growing rapidly for the second day now, both on Russian and international stock exchanges. A record growth in quotations is demonstrated by the company's dollar-denominated securities on the RTS . Here, Yukos shares rose by 70 percent to 99 cents per share. On the MICEX at 12:18 Moscow time, trading in Yukos was stopped for one hour due to an increase in quotations by more than 24 percent.

Qatar is ready to extradite two Russian citizens, Anatoly Belashkov and Vasily Bogachev, convicted of murdering former Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. As reported by RIA Novosti , a responsible source in the Qatari Foreign Ministry reported this to a local news agency. “Qatar agreed to the request of the Russian government to transfer two Russians so that they could continue to serve the remaining sentences in their homeland,” the agency quotes the words of a Qatari diplomat.

NK Yukos will prosecute any buyer of Yuganskneftegaz, writes the Financial Times. According to lawyers, the Houston court's order banning transactions with Yukos assets remains in force and applies to all parties to the transaction. Yukos lawyers said that the ban also applies to Rosneft, although this company was not mentioned in the court decision.

Youth bobsleigh world champion, member of the adult Latvian bobsleigh team Juris Latišs died on the evening of December 22 in a car accident that occurred on the Dobele-Kronjauce-Tervete road. The BMW 525, driven by 25-year-old Latish, collided with a Volvo 460. As a result of the accident, both drivers died on the spot, Interfax reports . The second driver was 29 years old. The accident occurred at 18:00 local time, LETA clarifies .

Norwegian police say they have a suspect in the theft of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" painting. As Reuters reports, this is the first information about robbers in the four months that have passed since the armed raid on the artist’s museum in Oslo. According to a police representative, investigators questioned a person who has the status of a suspect. He was released without charge on Wednesday after questioning.

The State Duma wants to give Russian citizens a full New Year holiday, State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said. According to the Interfax news agency , Gryzlov assured journalists that at a meeting on December 24, deputies will immediately adopt amendments to the Labor Code in the second and third readings and vote for the establishment of New Year holidays from January 1 to January 5. “This will be a great gift to our citizens for the New Year,” Gryzlov said.

Research Holding According to a survey conducted in mid-December by the ROMIR Monitoring , the majority of Muscovites (63 percent) are going to celebrate the New Year at home. The legendary Olivier salad remains a traditional New Year's dish for residents of the capital - more than half of those surveyed plan to enjoy it. Every tenth person plans to go on a visit. Two percent of respondents have already made reservations in nightclubs and restaurants.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office confirmed that on Thursday its employees carried out searches at the central office of the Yukos Oil Company in Moscow, Interfax reports . “Investigative actions were carried out within the framework of a criminal case on tax evasion by enterprises controlled by the Yukos Oil Company ,” said an official representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Volcanic activity on Mars, which was previously considered a dead planet in this regard, ceased just 2 million years ago, reports the British newspaper Guardian. On a geological scale, this is considered a very recent past, which means scientists believe that volcanic eruptions may resume in the future. Mars Express, orbiting Mars. From an altitude of 226 kilometers, a high-resolution stereoscopic camera captured giant mountain ranges, landslides, glacial deposits and lava plateaus.

At a meeting of the Bureau of the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union held on Thursday, December 23, the work plan of the head coach of the national team Georgy Yartsev for 2005 was approved. It was based on the results of the plan presented by Yartsev that it should have been decided whether the coach would remain in his post or not. The Russian national team coach presented an expanded list of 30 candidates for the national team, which was also approved by the Bureau.

Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who refused to head the US Department of Homeland Security, resigned from the consulting company Giuliani Partners, which was previously led by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Kerik said he decided to resign in the best interests of his family, colleagues and clients. Kerik does not plan to hold any positions in the near future, Bloomberg reports. US President George W.

Yukos will continue to challenge the legality of the auction for the sale of its main oil asset, Yuganskneftegaz. this to the Interfax agency on Thursday. Yukos press secretary Alexander Shadrin stated “We said that the buyer of Yuganskneftegaz has acquired a serious headache. If the final beneficiary of this transaction is the Rosneft company, it will mean that this statement also applies to this respected company,” Shadrin said.

14 people were killed when a Super Puma military helicopter crashed in the central part of the Indonesian island of Java, CNN reports. According to authorities, the cause of the disaster was bad weather conditions, namely rain and fog. The helicopter crashed into a mountain near the town of Wonosobo, 350 kilometers from the Indonesian capital Jakarta. The bodies of 14 people were recovered from the wreckage - 8 soldiers and 6 crew members.

Two passengers and one crew member on a Pakistan International Airlines plane suffered minor injuries on Wednesday when the pilot was forced to drop sharply to avoid colliding with another plane over southern Pakistan, Reuters reported. People were injured precisely during the descent, the airline's spokeswoman explained. According to her, a large-scale disaster was barely avoided.

The State Duma of Russia, in the second and third readings, adopted an amendment to the Tax Code, which abolishes the taxation of “material benefits associated with transactions with credit cards.” The amendment introduces the so-called grace period - a month during which the card holder does not pay interest for overspending, writes the Kommersant newspaper . Until now, interest-free loans have been prohibited in Russia.