The meeting of the Six on Iran at the level of political directors - deputy foreign ministers, scheduled for early next week, is canceled at the initiative of Western partners, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, RIA Novosti reports . According to him, the agreement on a meeting of the “six” to work on a resolution on Iran was replaced by a proposal for Deputy Minister Sergei Kislyak to meet with his French counterpart in Paris together.

The current president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez announced his intention to visit Cuba after the presidential election, RIA Novosti reports. "I am very sorry that I could not take part in the celebrations on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Fidel Castro. After the victory in the upcoming Sunday of the presidential election, I promise to fly to Cuba," the official letter of Cuban’s leadership says. “I am always next to Fidel, and on the side of the Cuban people,” Chavez said.

The Ministry of Health of Italy stated, referring to the British Health Agency, that the condition of the Italian Mario Skramella, who met with the deceased Alexander Litvinenko, is far from as difficult as the British newspapers described today, RIA Novosti reports. The Ministry of Health of Italy also confirmed that, based on the last data, at the moment, nothing threatens the health of the population in Italy.

The number of victims of the Durian typhoon in the Philippines increased to 469 people, more than 300 are listed as missing, AP reports. The province of Albai suffered most of all of the typhoon. The giant village, which went down the slopes of the volcano, Maine, buried several villages under tons of stones and dirt. Rescuers believe that as the rubble is analyzed, the number of victims of the elements will grow.

Vladimir Putin signed a law establishing the procedure for the application by military courts to the military personnel of disciplinary arrest, RIA Novosti reports. According to the Kremlin’s press service on Saturday, the law “On legal proceedings on materials on gross disciplinary offenses when applying disciplinary arrest and disciplinary arrest” enters into force on January 1, 2007. The law was adopted by the State Duma on November 15 and approved by the Federation Council on November 24.

The average salary in the Russian Federation in three years should reach a level of 25,000 rubles, RBC reports. This opinion was expressed by the speaker of the State Duma, chairman of the United Russia party Boris Gryzlov in Yekaterinburg. According to him, soon the State Duma will adopt the bill "On increasing the minimum wage." “In disputes with the government, we laid the necessary resource for doubling the minimum wage in 2007,” Gryzlov emphasized.

At least 40 people were killed and 86 were injured today as a result of a series of explosions in Baghdad, reports Reuters with a reference to sources in the Iraqi police. In the center of Baghdad, three cars stuffed with explosives exploded almost simultaneously. Brigades of doctors and rescuers work on the spot. Doctors do not exclude that the number of victims may increase. A few hours earlier in Baghdad, the truck crashed into a bus stop, 18 people died, eight were injured.

The “small dose” of Polonia-210 was found in the body of the wife of Alexander Litvinenko, reports Ar . According to a representative of the British health protection agency, threat to her health is not great. Since the year, it became known that significant traces of Polonia -210 were found in the body of Mario Skramella, an Italian businessman who had lunch with Litvinenko on the day of his poisoning on November 1. The data obtained during the autopsy of the body of Litvinenko .

Elizabeth Pleetin In October, Microsoft decided to translate Windows into the language of Chilean Mapuchi Indians. Mapuchi, in response, filed a court at Microsoft, accusing the company of linguistic piracy. They believe that it was necessary to first agree on the use of their language with the heads of communities. Mapuchi are ready to go to the end, Microsoft does not give comments, the court of Santiago will make a decision next week.

Representatives of the right-wing forces gathered today at a rally in the center of Budapest demanded the speedy resignation of the government and Prime Minister Ferenc Durchan, Gazeta.Ru reports with reference to ITAR-TASS.

The anti -government demonstration continues near the Palace of the Livan government in Beirut, RIA Novosti . The Livanese opposition, led by the Shiite movements of Hizball and Amal, announced today the day of the start of public speaking for the government of national unity. The opposition organized tent towns in the center of Beirut, called "towns for national unity", as opposed to "tents of independence" of the "cedar revolution".

As a result of the tragic incident, about 20 people died in the suburbs of Baghdad, 15 were injured, RBC reports. In the city of El-Vahad, 35 south of the Iraqi capital, the truck at high speed drove into the crowd of people standing at the bus stop. The police cannot yet confidently say whether it was an accident, a deliberate collision or a failed attempt to attack. There were no obvious obvious technical malfunctions that could cause an accident.

The UN Human Rights Committee returned to the Anti -Israeli Line Treditional for structures, demanding from Israel to compensate Livan damage caused as a result of a counter -terrorism operation against Hizballa, MIGNEWS reports. The Committee proposes to create an international mechanism that will determine the size of the indemnity, similarly to payments established for Iraq for the invasion of Kuwait in 1990-1991. Recall that then the amount with nine zeros was set.

President of Poland Lech Kachinsky expressed concern with political cooperation between Germany and Russia and called on Berlin to choose a more critical approach in relations with Moscow, AP reports. In an interview, Kacinsky said about the growing concern of the Polish government in that the close Russian-German partnership could ultimately leave Warsaw overboard important political and economic agreements.

During today's joint international operation, the special services detained 46 kilograms of heroin on the Ukrainian-Russian border, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the press center of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). At the checkpoint across the state border, Novoazovsk at 5.00 (6.00 Moscow time) was detained by a truck with 46 kilograms of heroin.