The NATO military unit created during the Cold War has already completed its main tasks. Today, without obvious purposes, it only causes unnecessary friction. The new American President Barack Obama will have to rebuild the alliance, writes Inopressa with reference to The International Herald Tribune . The tasks of organizing the Cold War were a joint defense in the event of a possible aggression.

US Finance Minister Henry Polson said that so far I would not want to spend the remaining half of $ 700 billion allocated by Congress to save the economy, preserving them in extreme cases, as well as to give great freedom of action of the new administration. The head of the American Ministry of Finance told about this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal . Polson said that the financial system is stabilizing.

Vladimir Putin left the presidential chair, but does not intend to abandon the traditional communication on television with the regions of the country. The next “direct line” of Putin’s premiere will be held in December, but this time a new television format was invented for Putin. The broadcast will be organized by only one television company - VGTRK. Meanwhile, his predecessors in this post never allowed themselves this, writes Kommersant .

Leading British playwrights and actors Tom Stoppard, Michael Frane and Kenneth Bran began a campaign for saving the mansion A.P. Chekhov in Yalta. It was in this house that the famous writer wrote some of the most famous works, including three sisters and cherry garden, notes The Independent . The building was at risk of collapse due to friction between the Russian and Ukrainian authorities.

Australian scientists have refuted the golden rule of advertising, according to which, in order to ensure success, “zero” models should take part in the rollers, as they attract the largest number of buyers. Having studied this issue, researchers from the University of Queensland, came to the conclusion that in fact, everything is exactly the opposite: exhausted models avert consumers from a product advertised on TV and in the media.

Natives of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russians most often become objects of attacks by activists of radical-nationalist organizations this year in Russia, human rights activists say. The Uzbeks suffer from extremism more than others. “For the period from January to mid -November 2008, at least 269 attacks on the basis of Xenophobia were recorded, the result of which 114 dead and at least 357 injured were,” said Alexander Brod, director of the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights.

Ukraine and Georgia are unlikely to be able to block the accession of Russia to the WTO, according to the head of the representative office of the European Commission in the Russian Federation, Mark Franco, Interfax reports. "Ukraine and Georgia are members of the WTO, and theoretically they could block Russia's entry into this organization," he said on Tuesday.

On Monday, early in the morning, 33 km of the Zelenogradsk-Claiped highway in the Kurshskaya Spit National Park of the Kaliningrad Region, the Lexus SUV shot down a one-year-old Kaban female, reports REGNUM.RU . According to traffic police officers, the cause of the accident was the driver of a foreign car of the speed limit, as well as adverse weather conditions.

The recently created Israeli company Innowattech, one of the owners of which is the famous Technion - the oldest technological institute in the city of Haifa, has developed a way to produce electricity from the roadway. To do this, you only need to use the pressure on it correctly, reports Newsru Israel with reference to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

In the first half of 2009, a recession will come in Russia: GDP growth rates will fall by 1.8%, in a number of industries a fall can reach 30%, BFM.ru reports with reference to the forecast of Raiffeisen Bank.

On Tuesday in Moscow, at about 9:30 near the metro station "Serpukhovskaya" lampposts as a result of an accident fell on cars. According to Newsmsk.com , the cause of the car accident was the inattention of the driver of the cargo "Gazelle". The man handed over in reverse and at the same time hooked a roadside column. From the blow, the lamppost collapsed onto the road, dragging two adjacent poles along. The foreign cars passing by fell directly under heavy concrete structures.

In Tbilisi, the day before, an attempt was made to desecrate the two graves of famous representatives of the Armenian community, buried near the local Armenian temple Surb Norazhen (Church of the Mother of God). This was reported by REGNUM in the press service of the Armenian Center for Cooperation of Georgia (ACSG).

The Government of the Russian Federation plans to adopt amendments to the legislation in the near future to simplify the mergers and acquisitions of banks, the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stanislav Voskresensky said at a conference of the Russian Business Association. His words are given by RIA Novosti .

Repair of a large Adron Collider will cost 25-35 million Swiss francs-that is, $ 21-29 million. The installation will resume the work no earlier than June 2009, they are confident in the leadership of the International Nuclear Research Center (CERN) in Geneva, according to the London newspaper The Times . Earlier, the project manager Buck Lin Evans promised to repair a collider by May .

The newly elected Sejm of Lithuania at a prolonged almost until the morning of the first plenary meeting elected three deputy chairman of the parliament representing the party of the ruling coalition.