During a concert in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, singer and actress Liza Minnelli fell from the stage due to poor health, reports Reuters. The incident occurred on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. Minnelli, along with several Swedish performers, took part in a show dedicated to the upcoming Christmas holidays. Prior to this, the 61-year-old singer gave another concert in Gothenburg on Tuesday, December 11, and performed in Stockholm last weekend.

The Norwegian company Opera Software announced on December 13 that it had filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission, AFP reports . The manufacturer of the Opera browser claims that the American corporation is using its dominant position in the market. Opera Software considers it unfair to tie the Internet Explorer browser to the Windows operating system.

Sony Corporation has unveiled the Twirl N' Take wind-up camera, the handle of which, when cranked for 15 seconds, provides enough electricity to take one frame, AFP reports . The camera will not be for sale yet. The technical characteristics of the camera are similar to those of mobile phone cameras. It does not have a screen. To view photos, you must connect the device to your computer. The new camera is a continuation of Sony's line of prototype products under the general name "odo".

Auction house Christie's failed to sell a pearl necklace of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, who was executed in 1793, at an auction on Wednesday in London, Reuters reports. The necklace, taken from pre-revolutionary France by the wife of the British ambassador, who was friends with Marie Antoinette, was considered the main lot of the auction of precious stones and jewelry.

On December 12, the famous musician and producer Ike Turner died in California at the age of 77, AFP reports . According to the musician's manager, Turner died in his sleep while at his home near San Diego. The cause of death is not known. Ike Turner rose to fame in the 1960s performing with his wife Tina Turner. The duo Ike & Tina Turner recorded more than 20 albums and numerous hits, including "A Fool In Love", "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", "River Deep, Mountain High", "Nutbush City Limits".

Vladimir Putin presented the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, IV degree, to actor Alexander Abdulov in the Kremlin. The decree on the award was signed in early August of this year, even before the news of the illness of the artist of the Lenkom Theater. In total, on December 13, 2007, 50 people received orders and medals in the Kremlin, Interfax clarifies . The Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st degree, was awarded to Irina Antonova, director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

On Thursday morning in Kyiv, warehouses with products from the Soyuz-Victan company, Ukraine's largest producer of alcoholic beverages, caught fire. As the UNIAN agency was told by the company's press service, the fire occurred in neighboring warehouses and partially affected Soyuz-Victan warehouses. The fire covered a total area of ​​20 thousand square meters (of which Soyuz-Victan owns 4 thousand square meters).

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a defense spending bill for the 2008 fiscal year, AP reports. The document, which was supported by 370 congressmen with 47 votes cast against, sets defense budget spending at $696.4 billion. $506.9 billion of this amount will be spent on operating expenses of the Department of Defense.

13.12.2007, 17:53:07 version Print | PDA/PDA Fabio Capello. Photo by AFP Italian rate of the British Fabio Capello takes charge of England On Thursday 13 December Fabio Capello was appointed head coach of the England national team. The Italian replaced Steve McClaren in this post, under whose leadership the British failed to qualify for the European Championship for the first time in 24 years. Capello must sign a two-year contract.

On December 13, the shortlist of candidates for the title of Great Briton according to Morgan Stanley was published (Morgan Stanley Great Briton 2007). The winners in each of the seven categories will be announced at a gala dinner in January, The Telegraph writes . Each category features three nominees, selected from several thousand celebrities. The names of many of them are known not only in Great Britain, but throughout the world.

According to the Ministry of Economic Development, investments by residents of four technology-innovation and two industrial-production special economic zones (SEZ) by 2010 will amount to 34 billion rubles, which is slightly less than a billion euros. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Elvira Nabiullina, to Interfax .

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Stavropol on Thursday ordered the arrest of the mayor of the city, Dmitry Kuzmin, who is on the international wanted list, Interfax reports . The court thus, in the absence of the accused, granted the request of the regional department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor General's Office to take Kuzmin into custody. Two criminal cases have been opened against Kuzmin, who was suspended from office during the investigation.

Russia's international reserves (until mid-2007 the Central Bank called them "gold and foreign exchange") during the week from December 1 to 7 decreased by $2.3 billion from $463.5 to $461.2 billion. This is stated in the official press release of the Central Bank. Over the 11 months of 2007, Russian reserves grew by more than 50 percent. At the beginning of the year, only a little more than $303 billion was kept in Central Bank accounts.

Three of Italy's seven truck unions have decided to end their three-day strike after negotiations with the country's government, AFP reports . Representatives of other trade unions announced that they would probably also abandon the protest action in the near future, since unity among the strikers had already been broken. Let us recall that initially the truckers, who blocked many highways with their trucks, planned to go on strike until Friday inclusive.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) summoned acting Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolai Rudkovsky for questioning . The head of the Ministry of Transport, as Ukrainian News wrote on Thursday, is going to be interrogated as part of a criminal investigation into the embezzlement and illegal use of 390 thousand hryvnia ($78 thousand) by his department in June of this year.