The unusual parcel almost bit an American postal worker, reports Sydney Morning Herald . Employees of the Mail sorting department in the American state of Miluoi drew attention to the strange sounds that came from one of the parcels. Looking closely, the postal workers found that a alligator made strange sounds, which was rapidly gnawing through the walls of the parcel into which it was packed.

How to become Chubais? Such a question was asked by the head of the RAO UES by students of the Moscow Energy Institute. Anatoly Chubais came to the MASI on the International Student Day to talk with his future colleagues about the prospects of Russian electric power industry. The event was announced in advance as a lecture on the topic "RAO UES and the Russian economy. Dialogue about the future", reports Newsru.com.

Journalists of Reuters found out a curious detail. It turns out that the name of the operation "Iron Hammer", which takes place in Baghdad, was actually invented by the Nazis during the Second World War. Recall that the American army began a military operation under the code name "Iron Hammer" this week. Sentkom states that the military set the main goal of the operation the destruction of partisans, who settled on the outskirts of Baghdad.

The former chairman of the board of the NK Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky denied the fact of transferring to him any note through his lawyer Olga Artyukhova.

The English group Def Leppard comes to Russia as part of its world tour in support of the last album "X", published last year. The team will perform on November 24 in the Moscow DS "Luzhniki". This hard-rock group appeared in 1977 in Sheffield (Yorkshire). The fathers of the founders of Def Leppard were Pete Willis (Guitar), Rick Sadvedzh (BAS) and Tony Kenning (drums). At the "birth" the group is called Atomic Mass. Later, Joe Elliot (vocals) joined the musicians.

On November 28 and 29, in Moscow, the performance of Philip Glass, a man -legend, will take place for the first time, who, during his lifetime, received the status of a classic. The orchestra of Philip Glass, led by the maestro itself, will perform music for the film 'Koyaniskazi'.

Russia cannot turn a blind eye to the problems of compatriots in Latvia and Estonia, but is inclined to constructively work with the authorities of these countries to solve the problems of the "non -citizens". This was stated on Tuesday by the chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Kasyanov, summing up the results of the official visit to Finland.

The Department of External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate announced the invariability of the Russian Orthodox Church in dialogue with the Vatican .

For the first time since the end of the war in Iraq on Tuesday, the supply of electricity to Baghdad was completely stopped, the Saudi News Agency SPA reports. According to the Deputy Minister of Electricity Amad al-Ani, the termination of the current is caused by the "technical factor": for unknown reasons, the current supply between the cities of Samarra and Baji, associated with Baghdad, RIA Novosti has been interrupted.

The charitable match for hockey with the ball of the Arkhangelsk sports team "Vodnik" with the Orenburg "Lokomotiv" will be held on November 26 with the blessing of the bishop of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogorsky Tikhon (Stepanov) at the Stadium "Trud" in Arkhangelsk.

13 people died as a result of the an-12 aircraft of the Sudanese airline Saria, which executed an internal flight from the capital of the country of Khartom to the south of the country, ITAR-TASS reports with reference to Sudanese television. According to the Russian embassy in the capital of Sudan Hartum, the An-12 exploded on November 17 at 15:45 in the city of VAU in the south of Sudan, about a thousand kilometers from Hartum, when landing at the airport of this city.

The Japanese authorities distributed a warning to all citizens of the country living beyond its borders about the possibility of terrorist attacks against them from the militants of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, Interfax reports.

Winter comes to the metropolitan region. According to ITAR -TASS in Roshydromet, this afternoon in Moscow will be snow, in some places - strong. Now in the capital minus 2-4 degrees, in the region-from zero to minus 5, the wind is southeast, moderate. By noon, the air temperature in the capital will be from zero to minus 2, in the suburbs it will be from minus 3 to plus 2. The wind will increase a little, the cloudy weather will remain. Forecasters warn of ice on the roads.

During 2003, 337 troops were killed as a result of crimes and incidents in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Interfax reports. This was stated by Minister of Defense of Russia Sergey Ivanov on Tuesday, speaking at the training camp of the leading composition of the military department. "The main causes of the death of people were suicides - 35%, 23%were killed from violations of safety requirements, violations of the rules of the road and the operation of vehicles - 10%," said Ivanov.

In Turkmenistan, the release of pardoned in connection with the celebration on the night of November 21-22, 2003 of the night of forgiveness began. Since December 29, 1999, the law "On the annual amnesty and pardon on part of the Holy Day" Gydyr Gijes "has been in force in Turkmenistan, according to which convicts for minor crimes come to freedom under amnesty and pardon.