A large photograph of France President Jacques Shirak, in whose right ear is a small hearing aid, is printed in the fresh issue of the popular French weekly Pari-Match, which appeared on sale on Thursday, RIA Novosti reports. According to the journal publication, this picture was taken on June 2 this year during the meeting of Shirak with US President George Bush, which took place as part of the Evian Eight Summit.

In Australia, new passports with a laser image of a jumping kangaroo - a national symbol of a green continent are introduced. On the laminated page of the document, which indicates data on the owner, there is now a laser image of a kangaroo, which jumps if you look at it at different angles of inclination.

Russian Andrei Kirilenko became the most effective player in the match of the National Basketball Association "Utah Jazz" - Houston Rockets. In a duel, which was the day before, Utah won with a score of 83:76, and Kirilenko scored 23 points, made six rebounds and four assists. It is worth noting that the Russian becomes the most effective in his team in three out of the last four matches. The best in Houston was the Chinese Yao Ming, who sketched 20 points into the opponent’s basket.

The Government of Germany was missing $ 3.5 billion in 2003 due to the fact that it could not raise taxes from prostitutes and financed absurd projects, such as a bridge for cyclists with a width of two lanes. This year the federal office of the audit (local accounting chamber) has reasons for discontent - the auditors analyzed the budget expenditures and prepared an impressive list of stupid things and absurdities.

George Bush on Thursday evening, in a complete secrecy at an atmosphere of complete secrecy, arrived in Baghdad. This was reported by American television channels. According to FoxNews , the presidential Boeing landed at the Baghdad airport in the evening on Thursday. The White House announced his trip, which kept secret and surrounded by increased security measures only when the Air Force-1 aircraft landed under the cover of darkness at Baghdad airport. Bush will meet with American military.

"Torpedo" (Moscow) - "Villarreal" 1: 0 (0: 2) The Moscow Torpedo Torpedo in the reciprocal match 1/32 of the UEFA Cup was not such an insoluble task. After the loss of Villarreal in a guest match with a score of 0: 2, Muscovites on the artificial field "Luzhnikov" had to score more than two goals. In the course of the meeting, the torpedoes had a sufficient number of assholes, but only one managed to realize. The owners simply did not have enough technical skill at the final stage of attacks.

The leadership of the World Council of Churches (VSC) decided to convene representatives of 36 different denominations in January next year. The conference participants will have to discuss how these churches could cooperate with each other, the Blagovers-info reports with reference to the ENI . The meeting will be held in the Lebanese city of Antelias, chaired by the moderator of the Arctician Catholicos of the Kiliki Aram I ( Armenian Apostolic Church ).

"Ajax". "Milan." 0: 1 Andrei Shevchenko brought victory to Italians, scoring the only goal in the match. In the 51st minute, he took a pass on his chest, which the Brazilian Kafu made him, and then left Bogdan Labon on the goal of the goalkeeper of the Dutch. Thus, the Ukrainian account has already 18 goals in the Euro -Tourniers as part of Milan, which is only two less than the leader of the club Jose Altafini.

"Chelsea" - "Sparta" - 0: 0 Three weeks ago, Sparta lost to Besiktash, and in the championship of the Czech Republic the Prague Club also lost not the strongest opponent. Recall that the Czechs did not have Peter Johana and striker Marek Knisl. Thus, on the eve of the match with Chelsea, the Czechs remained with one striker Mikhalik. Meanwhile, Chelsea approached this match as a favorite, defeating Lazio in the last round - 4: 0.

The Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth II presented on Thursday the Order of the British Empire football player David Beckham. In the ceremony of the official award in the Buckingham Palace, in addition to Beckham himself, his wife Victoria, as well as the grandfather and grandmother of the football player, took part.

Russian skiers Larisa Lazutin and Olga Danilova sent a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in connection with the decision of the International Sports Arbitration Court in Lausanne and the Supreme Federal Court of Switzerland, who upheld the decision on their disqualification. The lawyer of Russian skiers Anatoly Kucheren told Interfax on Thursday that a violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms L. Lazutina and O.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Italy Silvio Berlusconi became the laureate of the symbolic prize "The worst interlocutor" awarded to him by the Association of Foreign Press in the UK. Because of their sharp statements, the Italian prime minister has repeatedly criticized both Italian and foreign media, Interfax reports. The “best interlocutor” was recognized by Hans Blix, who previously headed the UN inspectors for disarmament in Iraq.

According to the results of the current year, the Russian minimumity will receive a record amount of income from privatization and use of state property - 131 billion rubles. The first deputy minister Alexander Braverman explained that the planned budget task will be overfulfilled by 50%.

The head of the board of RAO "UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais on Thursday confirmed the information that Gazprom owns the shares of RAO "EES of Russia". At the press conference in Interfax, the head of the RAO, answering the question of the number of shares located at Gazprom, replied: "They say 10%." Chubais said that the appearance of new shareholders from RAO does not bother him.

Yesterday, the CEC first took advantage of the new norm of the electoral law, applying to the Supreme Court with a request to remove from the distance of the candidates of Yuri Shefler (the first number in the Kaliningrad region) and Nikolai Lugovsky, a single -mandate from the Communist Party of the Communist Party on the list of ATP. The symptomatic occasion for attacks on the candidate of Shefler, writes "Independent Gazeta" : he is the accused in the criminal case.