The Russian State Duma is recommended to ratify the European Social Charter. This decision was made on the eve of the Committee of the Lower House of Parliament on family, women and children. At the same time, the government postponed the ratification of three obligatory articles of the document, which guarantees the rights to social security, to social and medical care and the right of migrant workers and their families to protect and assistance.

The Swedish Institute for Combating Infectious Diseases confirmed on Wednesday the first case of the disease in the country by the flu A/H1N1. The virus of the new flu was discovered by a 50-year-old resident of the capital of Sweden, who visited Chicago some time ago. “When suspicions of influenza arose, measures were taken to isolate the patient. None of her surroundings was infected,” said the epidemiologist Annika Linde.

On May 13, a general -ceiling rally of military factories of Primorye will be held in Vladivostok. People intend to draw attention to the problem of delayed salaries. At some enterprises, the “defense industry” employees have not seen money for five months, Interfax reports. The action will take place before the start of the working shift, at 7:30 local time (0:30 in Moscow), at the passage of the 92nd ship repair plant, the trade union of which came up with the initiative of the rally.

On Tuesday, the Japanese company Kayaba Industry and its European division KYB Europe filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Arbitration Court to protect the reputation against Russian citizen Oleg Tikhonenko. According to the Vedomosti newspaper, in 2008 he received three patents in Rospatent for the so -called “useful models” of shock absorbers, which are essentially an improvement of existing structures. And now it requires compensation from the companies in Japan, the USA and Germany.

In the city of Kansk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, the storm wind damaged more than 30 multi -storey houses. As reported on Wednesday in the GO, emergency and PB of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, destruction occurred on Tuesday, when the first impulses of Western winds were registered in the city to 27m/s.

US banks began to demolish housing from bankrupt. So, for example, the Texas Guaranty Bank of Austin was forced to act. Having decided that it is much easier to destroy the buildings than to sell, he demolished 16 new and partially built houses in the abandoned city of Victorville, located near Los Angeles, BFM.ru reports with reference to The Wall Street Journal.

The Italian Auto Concert Fiat converted the Ducato Panorama minibus for the needs of Pope Benedict XVI , the Blagovest-info reports with reference to the Autoblog.com website. On April 28, the pontiff in this car went to the Abruzzo region, which suffered from a destructive earthquake. Ducato Panorama gathers in the province of Abruzzo in partnership with Peugeot and Citroen.

On the eve of Victory Day, Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General Valentin Varennikov , passed away. He died in Moscow at the 86th year of his life. "The military leader died in the hospital named after Burdenko, where he underwent a course of treatment after a difficult operation made a few months earlier," the Russian military leaders reported on Wednesday. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev expressed his condolences to the relatives and friends of the general, ITAR-TASS reports.

The crisis hit the auction houses: the traditional auction for the sale of the work of impressionists and modernists held by Sotheby's House in New York, ended with the lowest results since November 2001, Interfax notes. So, the two most expensive lots were not sold - the canvas of the Pablo Picasso brushes and the bronze figurine of the cat of the work of Alberto Jacketti. The total cost of each of these lots, as expected by experts, could amount to 16 to 24 million dollars.

Russian champion Kazan Rubin reached the final of the Russian Football Cup. On Wednesday, at the metropolitan stadium named after Eduard Streltsov, Rubin defeated Moscow with a minimum score. The only ball in the 49th minute from the program of Sergei Rebrov was scored by the midfielder Alexander Ryazantsev, powerfully breaking through the crossbar.

The bill allowing same -sex marriages approved the city council of Washington (District of Colombia). Now the decision of the city authorities should be supported by the US Congress, in which case it will gain legal force. During the vote in the city council of Washington, only one of its 13 participants opposed the new law, reports BBC on Wednesday.

In the United States, the second case of the death of a person infected with the influenza virus A/H1N1, also known as pork flu is registered. This happened earlier this week in Cameron County (Texas), the Texas public health department said. "A woman from Cameron, suffering from a chronic disease, died earlier this week," the department pointed to his website. No other information about the woman has yet been given.

The diplomatic scandal between Russia and NATO is gaining momentum. The Russian Foreign Ministry can already give a tough response to the expulsion of employees of the Russian Permanent Protection at NATO - Viktor Kochukov and Vasily Chizhov. According to the diplomatic tradition, such steps are symmetrical. True, in Russia there is no NATO structure, equivalent to Brussels Russian Permanent Protection, writes "News Time" .

After the successful start of the X -Comix “X -Men: Start. Wolverine”, which raised $ 160 million in the first weekend rental, 20th Century Fox announced the start of work on a new franchise series, The Holywood Reporter reports. Now, Hollywood plans to make a film about one of the most popular Marvel anti -heroes, the mercenary of Deadpool, whose role in Rosomakh was played by actor Ryan Reynolds.

The Russian automaker GAZ GAZ signed an agreement on the sale of the British enterprise LDV of the WestStar Malaysian company. As reported on the official website of Gaza, the purchase of an enterprise became possible thanks to the support that the British government will provide LDV. The British authorities will allocate LDV short -term loan in the amount of £ 5 million under the guarantees of the Malaysian company to maintain the activities of the enterprise during the process of transaction.