Voting was suspended on the website of the project "Name of Russia. Historical choice - 2008" exhausted by flash mobs . It is reported that this was done "for technical reasons" and temporarily. At the moment, more than 2.4 million votes have been processed. Nicholas the second - 275,065 votes, in second place Joseph Stalin - 273,877, in the third - Vladimir Lenin from 188,372 votes retained.

The former head of the South Korean group of Samsung companies Lee Kun Hu was sentenced on July 16 by the Seoul Court to three years in prison. He also has to pay a fine of $ 109 million. Lee Kun Hi led the company for 20 years and left his post in April 2008, when suspicions of serious violations arose. The court concluded that the 66-year-old Kun Hi is guilty of tax evasion. He was also accused of undermining confidence, but in this case his guilt could not prove.

Kiev may become the place of the first meeting of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Alexy II , Yuri Bogutsky, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine, said at a briefing in Kiev.

Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnodar Territory on Wednesday in the final and third - reading adopted a bill providing for a ban for children and adolescents to leave the house at night unaccompanied by adults, a representative of the Legislative Assembly press service told RIA Novosti .

The Israeli police are investigating another suspicion against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, also associated with a gratuitous loan . " According to investigators, 15 years ago, the head of government took 75 thousand dollars from the businessman, which he still has not returned, reports Newsru Israel with reference to the Israeli Gaaret newspaper.

Officials of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) are opposed to the famous amputant runner from South Africa Oscar Pistorius take part in the relay at the 2008 Olympics, RIA Novosti reports. “The final decision will remain with the South African Athletics Federation and the South Africa of the National Olympic Committee,” said IAAF Secretary Pierre Weiss.

On Tuesday, the main intrigue of the XVII International Art Festival "Slavic Bazaar in Vitebsk" was resolved. The winners of the competition of young pop song performers, traditionally held as part of the famous MUZ holiday in the city in the Western Dvina, were announced on the stage of the regional Philharmonic, ITAR-TASS reports. The awards were awarded to the laureates by the chairman of the jury, a famous French composer, author of the musical "Notre Dame de Paris" Riccardo Kochchiant.

Lebanon solemnly met five militants , which Israel exchanged his two soldiers on the bodies. As ITAR-TASS reports, resistance fighters were met as national heroes. The President of the Republic Michelle Suleiman personally headed the solemn ceremony held at the Rafik Hariri Beirut International Airport.

The term of detention of 15 Russian fishermen, arrested two months ago in Spain, is now extended for an indefinite time. The fishermen of the Arkhangelsk trawl fleet (ATF) were detained on charges of drug smuggling. They tried to work on the unloading of a foreign ship, on which the police discovered 4 tons of hash. “The term of detention expired on July 14, and we hoped that our fishermen would simply deport, regarding their actions as an administrative offense,” Interfax told in ATP.

The Bavarian concern of the BMW in the fall of 2008 will launch on sale in Russia a new version of its sedan 3 series. “Today, cars are becoming more and more like each other. Manufacturers are guided by style and comfort, thereby erosizing the target audience. The updated 3rd series has gone in the direction of more comfort.

The atypical case of the "spontaneous hostel" in the usual metropolitan apartment was recorded by employees of the State Tax Inspectorate (GNI) of the Podolsky district of Kyiv. According to the Ligabusinessinform agency in the press center of the State Tax Inspectorate in Kiev, the inspection received an application from an concerned resident of a residential building, which is located on Pravda Avenue.

The results of genetic examinations of the bone remains, which are supposedly belonging to the children of Nicholas II, will be announced on Wednesday in Yekaterinburg, the head of the Sverdlovsk Bureau of the forensic expertiza Nikolai Nevolin told RIA Novosti . "The results will be announced at 11:00 Moscow time. An investigator of the Prosecutor General Vladimir Solovyov, who is investigating the death of members of the royal family, arrived in Yekaterinburg," he said.

The Moscow police detained two gypsy children who robbed the Bulgarian singer Bedros Kirkorov at the station. The theft, whose victim was the father of the pop artist and producer Philip Kirkorov, was committed on Wednesday night at the Moscow Leningrad Station. Little-year-old thieves stole 18 thousand rubles from Kirkorov, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the head of the press service of the Moscow Internal Affairs Directorate on railway transport Tatyana Agapova.

The Israeli police arrested the 61-year-old resident of Jerusalem Joseph Dech. A factory for the production of drugs and a weapon warehouse was equipped in his apartment. Now the father of eight children and grandfather 50 grandchildren are accused of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, reports Newsru Israel with reference to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

While the city authorities in Kyiv are busy building hotels and hostels for football fans who will go to Kyiv to see Euro 2012, the socialist service of the Kyiv University of Economics and Law announced that the people of Kiev are ready to help with housing for football fans for free. This very social service conducted a survey (among 420 respondents), from which it was concluded that 36% (151 people) of the capital's residents are ready to shelter the guests of the championship at home.