Three Japanese electrical companies - Matsushita, known for the brands of Panasonic and Technics, as well as Hitachi and Canon - announced the creation of a joint enterprise for the production of flat monitors. It will be formed on the basis of the Hitachi unit, whose shareholders will now become two other participants in the alliance.

The Pope Benedict XVI, by tradition, is treated on Tuesday with the message “City and the World” from the balcony of the Cathedral of St. Peter. Last year, he called for a peaceful way to resolve conflicts in Iraq, Holy Land and other countries. The current appeal is broadcast by 95 television channels in 57 countries. The Catholic Church unites a billion one hundred million believers.

Mikhail Kasyanov expects to collect 2.5 million signatures in his support in Moscow, the Youth Movement Congress "Our"

The program is maintained by Andrei Shari. Andrei Sharry: The editor-in-chief of the website "Cococosz Times" Islam Termshev hopes that most of the archives and the information content of the resource that has been attacked by hackers can be restored. An independent Internet site, which spoke about the situation in the North Caucasus and raised human rights problems, has long caused the attention of Russian authorities and power structures.

Kalmyk saigas, unlike deputies, is not destroying politics, but ecology Russia was covered by an epidemic of the Federal Branches of Legislative Assembly. The victim of the Amur governor Nikolai Kolesov became the regional council. The Ivanovo Regional Court in the claim of a certain 18-year-old citizen recognized the regional parliament as legally incompetent. On December 21, the People’s Khural Kalmykia blossomed.

The Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth, the second turned to the nation with the traditional television Christmas message. According to our correspondent Natalya Golitsyna, the second Christmas message of Elizabeth the second-the 50th in a row, so his television broadcast began with a fragment of the black and white recording of her first message of 1957.

The governors who did not provide the turnout were removed from the posts so that the rest would be afraid A wave of personnel purges swept through the regions of Russia after the Duma elections.

The Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union called the best player in the country of 2007 the Zenit midfielder and the Russian national team Konstantin Zyryanov.

The second round of peaceful Israeli-Palestinian negotiations was held in Jerusalem. It was reported that he was seriously complicated by the recent decision of Israel to build hundreds of houses in the occupied territories. The head of the Palestinian delegation Ahmed Kores told the Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni that Israel must choose between the road to the world or the expansion of Jewish settlements.

In Germany, a huge Internet network is revealed in the spread of children's pornography. The prosecutor's office said that she was checking 12 thousand people suspected of downloading or possessing similar materials. The investigation that lasted several months indicates possible suspects in 70 countries. The investigation began after the Berlin company that provides access to the Internet was worried about the huge flow of data transmitted through it.

Former Prime Minister of Thailand Taxin Shinavatra, expelled from the country as a result of a military coup in the fall of last year, intends to return to his homeland in the near future. This was announced by the shinavatra at a press conference in Hong Kong - in connection with the victory in the parliamentary elections in Thailand, his supporters from the Party of Summaryness.

In Iraq, 33 people became victims of two explosions on Tuesday. In the city of Baija, north of Baghdad, a mined truck exploded near a residential quarter. At least 23 people were killed- mainly civilians, another 77- were injured. According to the US military, 10 people died and 5 were injured as a result of a terrorist committed by a suicide bomber during a funeral in the province of Dihyal, also north of Baghdad.

In the west of Nepal at least 6 people died when the bridge collapsed across the Bheri River. Dozens of people are missing. According to the police, this happened near the remote mountain village of Chkhinchu. Rescuers are directed to the place of the tragedy.

A senior employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Komi Igor Turshatov was detained in Syktyvkar. According to the Investigative Committee at the prosecutor's office of the republic, he was charged with abuse of office. Since December last year, Turschatov led the Office for the Combating of Economic Crimes.

For the first time, the Christmas Mass was here in 2001, when emergency teams still tried to dig out the remains of the dead and raked the ruins of the collapsed buildings, says Radio Liberty in New York, Vladimir Morozov. Together with them, the Catholic priest Brian Jordan, who has been conducting Christmas service here every year.