The US Congress elections have become the main theme of Western media on Wednesday. The New York Times writes that the Democrats gained control over the House of Representatives and took away places from at least three Republican senators. This was achieved on a wave of discontent among voters by President Bush and the war in Iraq during the most difficult battle for Congress since the Republicans firmly settled there 12 years ago.

Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Nikolai Pankov said on Wednesday that in the coming years, the Russian armed forces are waiting for serious changes for the better. Increased military funding will begin to begin mass re -equipment of the army, according to a high -ranking military. “In the 90s, there were practically no purchases of new equipment and weapons. And now this article in the budget is growing steadily.

On Wednesday 8, the State Duma in the first reading approved a bill exempting from paying an income tax on the amount of the so -called “maternal capital”, a targeted aid of 250 thousand rubles, which from January 1, 2007 will be paid to Russians who gave birth to second and subsequent children.

Matches of the 27th round of the Russian Football Championship among the teams of the Premier League will take place on Wednesday, following which the metropolitan CSKA can prematurely win the gold medals of the current championship, and their fellow countrymen from Torpedo-fly out of the premier league. The army team will play in Samara with local "wings of the Soviets", and their only real competitor - the metropolitan "Spartak" - in Ramensky with the "Saturn" near Moscow.

The wedding of the Hollywood star of Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes in the medieval Italian castle "Castello Odescalchi" (Castello Odescalchi) on Lake Brachchano near Rome, ITAR-TASS with reference to the Roman newspaper Messaggero . Earlier it was reported that the wedding will be held on November 18 . As the Italian newspaper clarifies, marriage celebrations will last three days. On November 16, the castle will be held in the castle with a preservation party involving many world stars.

People in airplanes sometimes arrange interesting things-someone is trying to get out of the cabin, someone arranges drunken fights. Moreover, not only the usual troublemakers - football fans rage in flight. The rowing on board the aircraft is periodically arranged by stars, officials and, even police officers . Ordinary citizens also periodically "relax" in flight. As a rule, all emergency situations in the cabin, with the exception of intruding actions, are associated with alcohol.

In the Far Eastern Partizansk, uninterrupted supply of heat and water began. This was announced at a meeting at the first vice-governor of the region, Alexander Kostenko. The meeting was the final stage of work to normalize the situation in the city, tens of thousands of inhabitants of which freezed for almost a month due to the fact that local authorities refused to pay debts to power engineers.

The International Jewish Organization Center of Simon Vizenthal continues to “hunt” for the last surviving Nazi criminals to betray them to a fair court. There are no more than five people, and they lead a serene life, because over the past 60 or more years their crimes could have been updated.

The American superstar Britney Spears announced a divorce from her husband Kevin Federlin after two years of marriage and two months after the birth of their second son. In the documents for divorce, the singer indicated that "insoluble contradictions" arose in their family.

The parishioners of one of the largest American religious communities - the Evangelical Church - a repentant letter of the President of the National Association of the Evangelists Ted Haggard, where he admits sin of lies and apologizes for forgiveness from the flock, met. This is the most significant in recent years of the moral fall of an authoritative American religious leader, the Radio Liberty commentary notes.

In the electoral legislation of Russia, the norm on the minimum appearance of voters for elections may be canceled. Such a proposal was approved by the working group of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building to amend the electoral legislation. As the head of the committee Vladimir Pligin explained, it is proposed from the Basic Law on Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights to exclude the norm on a minimum turnout of 20%.

The newly-made WBO champion in heavyweight is the American Shannon Briggs released a press release in which he announced his desire to unite all the belts and promised his compatriots to rid this weight category from the dominance of boxers from the former USSR. “I don’t have a doctoral degree,” I could hardly finish high school, but I agree with Dr.

Despite the threats of sanctions on the part of the UN Security Council, Iran is determined to advance in the nuclear region, the Supreme Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.

Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg at a meeting on Wednesday adopted an appeal to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika with a request to conduct checks of football organizations and the judicial corps for corruption. According to Interfax , deputies from the United Russia faction, who made a decision for consideration, ask the prosecutor's office to take measures, up to the prosecution of the perpetrators to criminal liability.

In Amsterdam at night, unknown people shot a grenade launcher in a printing house printing the leading Dutch newspapers Volkskrant , NRC Handelsblad and Truw . According to Dutch radio, no one was injured. The grenade pierced the hole in the wall of the building, three windows are knocked out from the explosion. According to one of the printing staff, the sound of the explosion was heard throughout the building. So far, no traces of attackers have been discovered.