The kingdom of Nepal will soon become a republic. According to the agreement reached by the government of the country with the movement of Maoists, Nepal "will become the federal democratic republic, and this decision will enter into force after the first meeting of the parliament, " Interfax reports. The debate lasted more than two months.

The very next morning after Christmas, a significant part of the French begins to post ads on the sale of their gifts on the Internet. According to Le Figaro , this trend is intensifying every year. So, having not yet unpacked gifts, 36% of the French are already going to resell them-these are the data of the survey conducted by TNS-Sofres for the EBAY online auction. “This phenomenon acquires a stable nature. Starting on December 24, people begin to sell their gifts.

The Minister of Natural Resources, Yuri Trutnev, who demanded to initiate a criminal case against the authors of the Ural Information "URA.RU", changed his mind to do it. As stated in the official message of the Ministry , the agency published clarifications regarding the previously posted article "Sensation! The Minister of the Russian Federation - the beneficiary of the large Ural enterprise." Now Trutnev has no complaints about them.

In the sea near the territorial waters of Thailand, the bodies of 22 illegal migrants from Myanmar were discovered. According to preliminary data, 18 adults and four children died as a result of the crash of the vessel, on which they secretly tried to move to Thailand. According to the coastal guard of the Thai province of Ranong, in the area of ​​which there was a tragedy, none of the dead were found with them any identity certificates, ITAR-TASS reports.

The authorized state body excluded from the budget of the Sakhalin-1 project for 2008 the expenses for the preliminary design of the gas pipeline in China. The estimate was reduced to $ 1.2 billion - 30% less than the declared amount. Analysts believe that the project participants will not allow Gazprom bypassing gas, and it is more profitable to supply it to Europe with monopolies, where gas can be sold almost twice as much as in China.

On Monday, the College of Criminal Cases of the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Levan Qintsadze, accused of abduction and murder of Levan Kaladze, to 25 years in prison. As Interfax was informed in court, Kinzadze was convicted of Kaladze’s abduction in order to extort money and murder. The brother of the Georgian football team and the Italian “Milan” Kakha Kaladze Levan was abducted in 2001.

The dispute of Kazakhstan with foreign investors of the project to develop the Kashagan oil field was completed: the AGIP KCO consortium agreed to pay the state a fine of up to $ 4 billion and increase the share of Kazmunaygaz from 8.33% to 16% due to other participants, except Exxon. The agreement reached does not provide for immediate payment of the fine, Reuters said.

The first day of the meeting of the State Duma of a new, 5th convocation, turned into a scandal. After the election of the speaker and his deputies, the elections of chapters 32 Duma committees began, 26 of which were eventually headed by the United Russia.

According to state statistics, 22.3 million Russians live today behind the poverty line, that is, they earn less than 3809 rubles. Officially, over the past two years, there has been a tendency to reduce the number of poor: now there are 1.9% less than in 2005. However, "New Izvestia" write that such calculations do not reflect the real picture.

In Canada, at the age of 82, the famous jazz musician Oscar Peterson died. According to the mayor of the city of Mississauga in Ontario, where an outstanding pianist has recently lived, Peterson died on Sunday. According to some reports, his kidneys refused. For many decades, Peterson has been considered one of the best jazz pianists in the world. He was one of the most recorded musicians in the history of jazz.

The side effect of aggression was recognized by humor Professor Sam Schuster from the British University of Norfolk and Noridge. Therefore, he believes, men joke more often, sharper and tougher than women who have less testosterone. According to New Izvestia , the British psychologist made this conclusion, analyzing the reaction of both sexes to his unusual hobby - riding a single -haired bicycle along the streets of the city of Newkasl in northern England.

The employee of the company "LUKOIL" Alexander Tsygankov, who was unexpectedly detained in Libya at the end of November, should be released in the coming days. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov, said this to journalists following reporters. Recall, a month ago, in the Libyan office of the "daughter" of the oil company Lukoil Overseas, searches were searched and computers were seized. On November 25, the head of the office was detained in Tripoli - Alexander Tsygankov.

In France, at the age of 97, the famous writer Julien Grack died. He died on December 22. In recent years, the writer, whose real name was Louis Poerier, had a solitary person in the family house in the village of Anger. The house in the Loire Valley, where he was born, Grack left only a few days before his death, when he was hospitalized in a local hospital. The writer was born in 1910.

In Yekaterinburg, a verdict was sentenced to a maniac from the Federal Security Service, obvious in a series of rape, robberies and murders. The Ural District Military Court sentenced the 23-year-old employee of the Federal Security Service (FSO) Roman Kullin, who was accused of rape and killing six girls, reports Justmedia . The court found Bloody guilty of committing the murders and sentenced to life serving a sentence in a general regime colony, Uralinformburo reports.

By the end of 2008, the first domain using the Cyrillic alphabet can be registered in Russia, said Andrei Romanov, director of the RUD Domain Coordination Center. “By the end of next year, registration of top-level domains in national languages ​​may be deployed, in particular, the Russian Internet community can be delegated by the Domomena of the Russian Federation,” Romanov said at a press conference in RIA Novosti .