The Russian company VSMPO Avism, the world's largest titanium manufacturer, and the American Boeing Corporation signed an agreement to supply Titan products. As stated in a joint message from companies, the total cost of a contract designed for 2011-2015 will be more than $ 1 billion. VSMPO Avisma and Boeing have been cooperating since 1997.

In the county of West Yorkshire, the famous English artist Pat Kerkwood died. She was 86 years old. On stage, she made her debut at the age of 14. Such stars of the West End and Broadway as playwright Noel Kauard, American composers, Kol Porter, Leonard Bernstein and others collaborated with her. In 1948, she was seen in the company of Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, but the actress always denied that she had an affair with the prince.

The authorities of Colombia approved the humanitarian operation to free the three hostages, which are held by the left rebels. The operation plan was proposed by the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. A plane with Red Cross employees should take hostages in a place in advance with the rebels. The ex-candidate of the President of Colombia, also hostage by Ingrid Betankur, Clara Rohas, her three-year-old son and former Colombian senator Consuelo Gonzalez, can be released.

For the first time, the radical Palestinian group “Fath Ul-Islam, defeated this year in Lebanon, has appeared in the Gaza Strip, Radio Liberty correspondent in the Middle East region Rovshan Huseynov. The statement of the group, widespread in the gas sector, states that its militants, over the past two weeks, fired at the southern territory of Israel twice.

France and Bangladesh exchanged critical remarks on diplomatic channels due to the fact that two ancient statues of the Hindu god Vishnu disappeared into the airport of Dacca, the capital of Bangladesh, on the eve of the transportation to France. Together with other artifacts should be exhibited in Paris. The Cabinet of Ministers Bangladesh decided to suspend the sending of exhibits to France until the police find the missing statues.

A book was published under the curtain of 2007, which is to a certain extent summarizing-ideological and cultural-stylistically-not only this year, but the last few. These are the "Spirits of the Time" of Leo Rubinstein. The book is 63 of the chapter.

In the presidential election in Kenya, the current head of state MVAi Kibaki leads. The 76-year-old kibaki, running for a second term, received, according to preliminary data, about 47 and a half percent of the vote. His main enemy, the opposition candidate Ryal Odga - is 5 percent less. The elections were attended by observers from the European Union and a number of international organizations. Western journalists reported a poor organization of voting and chaos in some polling stations.

In Kosovo, the two main Albanian parties agreed to form a government, the main purpose of which will be the proclamation of the independence of the region. The cabinet will form the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo, who received most places in parliament in the November elections. The Serbian minority of Kosovo was boycotted.

A police officer was killed in Grozny. Unknowns shot a policeman several times, after which they disappeared. Their search is carried out.

In the championship of the English football premiere league, a traditional hot Christmas period began, during which the teams play almost every day. Here are the results of the environment with the participation of leaders: "Sunderland" - "Manchester United" - 0: 4 "Portsmouth" - "arsenal" - 0: 0 "Chelsea" - "Aston Villa" - 4: 4 "Derby" - "Liverpool" - 1: 2 The situation after 19 rounds: Manchester United - 45 points, Arsenal - 44, Chelsea - 38, Liverpool - 36 (18 matches).

The popular Italian composer and songwriter Luchio Dalla in an interview with the Catholic newspaper Petrus expressed admiration for the Pope Benedict XYI and spoke out in support of the secular general church organization OPUS Dei, which some Catholic priests consider the “new heresy”. According to the most popular Italian musician, he was never a communist or Marxist, but performed at communist holidays, since he was paid for this.

The leaders of a number of human rights and political organizations of Russia demand immediately to suspend the service in the army of the coordinator of the opposition movement "Defense" Oleg Kozlovsky. In contacting the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Defense and the Military Commissariat of Moscow notes that Kozlovsky was drafted into the army illegally, as it suffers from a serious illness.

The Pakistan confirms the message about the death of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the Cad court sentenced the participants of the French Order Zoe organization to 8 years of hard labor Julia Latynin about the situation in the North Caucasus and the coverage of events in the region in the Russian media