The number of country houses in the Moscow region, more reminiscent of palaces, made a “terrible impression” on the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. He stated this in an interview with the Russian News Service . Lukashenko said that he got this impression when he, together with Vladimir Putin, when he was president of Russia, flew in a helicopter from Zavidovo to Moscow. “We flew a hundred kilometers and a hundred kilometers from Moscow - palaces.

Moscow authorities from July 1, 2012 can begin issuing permits for the construction of real estate and putting buildings into operation via the Internet. According to RIA Novosti , this was stated in a statement from the capital's urban planning policy department. The department has already developed new draft regulations for issuing relevant permits.

In November, 33,642 transactions for the purchase and sale of housing were concluded in the Moscow region, which is 21.5 percent more than in October of this year (27,699). This is evidenced by data from the Department of the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) for the Moscow region. According to the department, the number of mortgage transactions for the month increased by 23.4 percent to 13,326 (in October - 10,796).

The second flamingo, found in November in the Krivosheinsky district of the Tomsk region, has died at the Seversk Zoo. Deputy director of the menagerie Sergei Burets said this in a conversation with the TV2 agency. According to him, the bird died a few days ago. “He [the flamingo] had severely frostbitten paws and extensive pneumonia. We did everything we could, but the bird, unfortunately, did not survive,” Burets noted.

A Lufthansa airline passenger plane landed in an emergency at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, RIA Novosti reports , citing a source in Moscow law enforcement agencies. The Airbus A-320 made an emergency landing at 17:20 Moscow time due to the fact that one of the plane's engines failed. According to preliminary data, there were no casualties. It is not known what route the plane took. At the end of November, an Airbus of the same model, also owned by Lufthansa, made an unscheduled landing in Perm.

In December, Internet companies traditionally sum up their results and demonstrate the main interests of their users over the past year. Lenta.Ru assessed the preferences of the Russian audience of Google and Yandex search engines, as well as the interests of Russian users of Facebook and Twitter, and tried to find similarities and characteristic differences between them. The main thing that distinguishes domestic users of different services is the people who interested them in the past year.

The leader of A Just Russia, Sergei Mironov , argued with the editors of Moskovsky Komsomolets that he would enter the second round of the presidential election together with Vladimir Putin . MK writes about this in its issue dated December 16. Mironov and the journalists bet on a bottle of cognac. The winner of the dispute will choose the brand of the drink.

Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Rubio lost his chance to become the champion of the Latin American region according to the WBC (World Boxing Council), unable to fit into the weight category of up to 72.6 kilograms. On the night of December 16, at the official weigh-in, Rubio’s weight turned out to be 73.25 kilograms, reports the online publication Fightnews.com. According to the rules, Rubio could have asked for time to bring his weight into line with the category, but he did not do this.

16.12.2011, 16:27:58 version Print | PDA/PDA Khadzhimurad Kamalov. Photo from personal Facebook page "Draft" in blood An influential journalist was shot dead in Makhachkala In the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, the founder of the leading independent publication of the republic, the Chernovik newspaper, Khadzhimurat Kamalov, was shot dead. Investigators have already linked his murder to his professional activities.

In Zhanaozen (a city of regional subordination in the Mangystau region of Kazakhstan, in the southwest of the country) riots occurred. This is stated in the message of the General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan. According to the department, a group of people disrupted the celebration of Independence Day (which is celebrated in the republic on December 16) in the central square of the city.

Scottish R&B and soul singer Emeli Sande has been named a 2012 Brit Awards Critics' Choice winner. According to Gigwise, the 23-year-old singer was ahead of singers Maverick Sabre and Michael Kiwanuka in a vote by music critics and representatives of the UK recording industry. Emeli Sande has only two singles to her name so far - “Heaven” and “Daddy”. The first reached number two in the UK charts, and the second took 21st place.

Belarusian scientists are ready to create the world's best spacecraft. This was stated by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on December 16 at a seminar for senior government officials, Interfax reports . “Today we have come to the production of our own spacecraft,” Lukashenko said. “We agreed that the apparatus will be the best in the world.” The President also expressed gratitude to Belarusian scientists who participate in space developments.

16.12.2011, 17:06:20 version Print | PDA/PDA Rustam Tariko. Photo by RIA Novosti, Sergey Guneev Deal according to standard Russian alcohol holding bought Italian wine house Vodka producer Russian Standard has bought a blocking stake in the Italian wine house Gancia. The Russian company is already making plans to capture a large share of the sparkling wine and vermouth market - the head of the holding, Rustam Tariko, hopes that Gancia will become a leading brand both in Russia and in the world.

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra a new passport to replace the one seized by the previous authorities. The Nation reported this on Friday, December 16, with reference to the head of the Thai Foreign Ministry, Surapong Tohvichakchaikul. According to Tohvichakchaikul, Shinawatra does not pose a threat to the security of Thailand and can return to the country from the UAE, where he has lived for the past few years.

India has acquired an additional batch of Russian Su-30MKI fighters, Interfax reports . On December 16, 2011, in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , protocol number two to the intergovernmental agreement of 2000 was signed, providing for the supply of additional kits to India for the licensed assembly of 42 Su-30MKI. Previously, India signed three contracts with Russia for the supply of a total of 230 Su-30MKI fighter jets.