** What to expect in the coming hours. Announcement of events ** In Moscow: The second federal investment forum will continue to work. (10:00) The visit of the Mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Moscow continues. During the work of the mission, consultations with representatives of Russian economic departments under Article 4 of the Charter of the IMF will be held. The visit will last until December 7.

Throughout all two hours, law enforcement officers did not comment on what was happening in the Yekaterinburg regional television company “The Fourth Channel”, where the 29-year-old traffic police officer Andrei Novgorodov, who recently resigned from the bodies, captured the hostages. Relatives of hostages did not know anything about what was happening inside.

In Haiti , militants who captured the bus with 11 children, released hostages for a small ransom, Gazeta.ru reports. The bus with children was captured on the main road in the suburbs of Port-o-Prens. At first, the bandits demanded a large amount of money, but then agreed to $ 4 thousand

In the Tokyo National Museum, on Friday, the largest exhibition of drawings and engravings of the famous Japanese artist Katsusika Hokusai (1760-1849) (1760-1849), which presented more than 500 of his works, reports RIA Novosti, was opened. The traditional "Ukyoe" engravings, printed from wooden boards, illustrated books, sketches on fans, and vertical scrolls, are demonstrated. Hokusai went through more than two dozen pseudinimi.

The issue of the return of Chechen refugees from Georgia to his homeland was discussed at the Russian Embassy in Georgia, the agency news agency reports. The meeting was attended by the representative of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation Alexander Rostovtsev, director of the Department of the Ministry of Refugees and the resettlement of Georgia, Jaba Maglakelidze and the head of the Supreme Commissioner of the UN Supreme Commissar (UN UN) in Georgia, Navid Khussain.

** President of the Russian Federation and his administration ** President V. Putin held a meeting with the head of the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) V. Cherkesov . The meeting discussed the organization of more efficient work of the FSKN. ** Government of the Russian Federation ** Government -decided on the formation of the Government Commission on the issues of the fuel and energy complex and the reproduction of the mineral resource base.

The Chinese government accused the power of the province of Jilin, where the petrochemical plant exploded on November 13, in short -term informing the public administration of environmental protection about this accident. According to the deputy head of the Van Yuitsin department, his department from November 14 to 17 did not receive any messages from the local authorities about the leak of 100 tons of benzoline -containing substances into the Sungari River, reports Reuters.

Max Weber “Polit.ru” publishes an article by the largest German philosopher and sociologist Max Weber “ The transition of Russia to pseudo -democracy”, written in 1917 at the time of the establishment of a new political system in Russia, which the author calls the “pseudo -democracy” and sequentially exposes the main illusions regarding Russian constitutionalism. The Russian translation of the article was published in the new issue of the journal "Cosmopolis" (2005. No. 3 (13)).

The Cuban police detained a Polish journalist who met with dissidents. As diplomats and human rights activists reported on Friday, the authorities are going to deport Anna Bikont, an employee of one of the most popular Polish newspapers Gazeta Wyborcza, Gazeta.Ru reports with reference to Reuters. According to one of the Polish diplomats, Biscount came to Cuba on a tourist visa and did not have permission for reporting.

** Themes of the day ** From the federal level, the central media noted that President V. Putin has introduced a bill to the State Duma yesterday , which should facilitate the receipt of Russian citizenship to former citizens of the USSR. According to presidential amendments to the 14th article of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" , the deadline for its receipt under a simplified scheme may be extended before January 1, 2008.

Since March 2 next year, a new 10-dollar bill has been introduced in the United States. As Interfax with reference to the press release of the US Treasury, on this day the new 10-dollar banknotes of the 2004 series will begin to be distributed to the federal reserve system of the United States and will appear in commercial banks. In the United States, the bill will appear in circulation on the same day.

On December 2, on Friday, as part of the final party of the All-Russian club tour, Winston Clubbin'clouds will visit Moscow legend, one of the most honored world DJs and producers, founder of Wave Music Label Francois K.). François K. produced albums Kraftwerk, U2, The Cure, Eurythmics, Diana Ross. It was he who created the sound of "Personal Jesus" and the entire Depeche Mode "Violator" album. As a DJ François K.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday instructed the government to prepare a bill to reduce the term of military service on draft up to one year, Kommersant writes. In parallel, amendments to the current legislation should be developed, involving the abolition of most current delayed deferrals and the introduction of benefits for admission to universities for the contractors who have served at least three years.

At yesterday's meeting of the European Central Bank, the refinancing rate in the eurozone was increased by 0.25% to 2.25% (since 2003, the rate remained unchanged at 2.0%). The Chairman of the ECB Jean-Claude Trisha again clearly made it clear that the series of increase is not planned, and this disappointed investors, analysts noted by Brokercreditservis IR. Many investors continue to hope for a further increase in the rate in 2006 by at least another 0.5%.

On Friday, the United States has been executed by a thousandth death sentence since the restoration of the death penalty in this country in 1976. 57-year-old Kenneth Lee Boyd, convicted of killing his wife and father-in-law in 1988, received a deadly injection at 2.5 local time. This happened in the city of Roles, North Carolina. “The execution of Kenneth Boyda did not make this world better and safer,” said the lawyer of the convicted person Thomas Maher.