The Russian Football Union, summing up the results of the past year, held a ceremony during which the winners of the past season were named. The main prize - the best player of 2007 - was awarded to the midfielder of Zenit and the Russian national team Konstantin Zyryanov. Having moved to Zenit St. Petersburg in the spring of this year, Zyryanov quickly won a place in the main team of Dick Advocaat and became its leader.

Best Art Books of 2007 Russia. 20th century in photographs. 1900--1917. Multimedia complex of contemporary arts. -- M., 2007 Compiled by F. Yakubson with the participation of the director of the IDF O. Sviblova, the director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation S. Mironenko, as well as many historians and museum employees, including A. Ippolitov, M.

The Prime Minister of Belarus involved his Russian colleague in the fight against “American imperialism” Belarus yesterday used an ordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers of the union state to settle political scores with the United States. The Belarusian authorities found it very offensive that the US administration decided to extend the so-called “Belarus Democracy Act of 2004” for another two years.

Leonid Fedorov and Vladimir Volkov present their new album “Romances” The New Year's performance of the Fedorov-Volkov duet is becoming a good tradition. For the third year in a row, on the eve of the holiday, musicians are organizing a concert-presentation on the occasion of the release of a new record. With the program of the album “Romances”, they, as before, will perform on the stage of the Central House of Artists on December 29.

Most Russians will stay at home on New Year's Eve The rich selection of New Year's entertainment that has appeared in the last decade is not able to break the long-standing Russian tradition. New Year in our country remains a home holiday, and it is customary to celebrate it with family.

Nigerian authorities continue to add to the list of victims of an oil pipeline explosion in a small town near Lagos. As a result of the explosion and fire that broke out, at least 50 people, mostly women and children, were burned alive. The cause of the explosion could have been a fight that broke out after thieves cut a hole in a pipe to drain fuel. In Nigeria, one of the world's seven largest oil exporters, the activities of criminal groups specializing in oil theft are widespread.

United Russia members in the Moscow City Duma are preparing a new bill to recall a deputy Moscow's United Russia members will begin the New Year by preparing a mechanism for cleansing the parliamentary ranks . As Moscow City Duma Chairman Vladimir Platonov told reporters yesterday, next year the faction of the party in power will submit for consideration a bill on the procedure for recalling a city parliamentarian.

Former "Afghans" again suspected of contract killing Public organizations of veterans of the Afghan war, which in the 90s became famous for the protracted bloody internecine war that claimed dozens of lives, again found themselves at the center of a criminal scandal.

Next year, negotiations between Russia and the European Union will resume on concluding a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. In 2007, Warsaw blocked this process in response to a ban imposed by Russia on the supply of meat products from Poland. The coming to power in Poland of the government of Donald Tusk, inclined to dialogue with Moscow, made it possible to talk about unblocking the situation.

The “Return” chamber music festival was created by violinist Roman Mints and oboist Dmitry Bulgakov. In 2000, they created the cultural development fund of the same name, and “Return” became a brand for various programs. Among them is the “Return” subscription.

Israeli intelligence services carried out a secret operation, thanks to which 40 Jews fled from Iran to the Jewish state. At Tel Aviv International Airport late the day before yesterday they were met by excited relatives. Some of them have not seen each other for more than 40 years. According to the press service of the Jewish agency Sokhnut, with the help of which the flight was organized, the refugees flew from Tehran to a third country, and from there they got to Tel Aviv.

In 2007, Russia again failed to become a member of the WTO “Joining the World Trade Organization remains a priority of our foreign economic policy,” said the new Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Elvira Nabiullina, summing up the results of the year. True, lately there has increasingly been a feeling that this process will last forever . Negotiations have been going on for 13 years, and no one can predict when they will end.

The US presidential campaign resembles the election of the “chairman of the globe” Following the results of 2007, former first lady 60-year-old Hillary Clinton and Senator from Illinois 46-year-old Barack Obama are leading the Democratic presidential race in the United States.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, nature, cars and airplanes will bring the most trouble to the country. On the eve of Rescuer Day, which is celebrated on December 27, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu yesterday held a traditional press conference dedicated to the results of the outgoing year, forecasts of disasters and the plans of the rescuers themselves for the coming year.

Yesterday, the South Korean government authorized an investigation into allegations of financial fraud brought against the winner of the December 19 presidential election, Lee Myung-bak . The 66-year-old leader of the great country's conservative opposition party Hannara, a former mayor of Seoul and a successful businessman, received almost 49% of the vote in the election. However, this did not protect him from investigation.