The Les Transmusicales festival in France showed what kind of music will be hot in 2009 A dashing Canadian girl of impressive size shakes her bust, bangs cow bells and shouts comical chants about Brigitte Bardot into the microphone. Subtle French youths scream at the top of their lungs about nothing and throw a reckless disco with the help of guitars.

Golden Idea Prize winners announced The laureates of the national award "Golden Idea" were awarded in Moscow at the President Hotel - for the eighth time. This prize, established by the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) “to stimulate the development and production of the latest competitive domestic weapons and military equipment,” is awarded annually for merits and achievements in the field of military-technical cooperation with foreign countries.

The gas powers again failed to agree on a charter and other conditions for creating a common organization The seventh meeting of energy ministers within the framework of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries will take place on December 23 in Moscow. Nine of the thirteen (not counting Russia) main forum participants have already confirmed the arrival of their delegations to the event. Of the major players in the gas market, there is no confirmation from Nigeria, Malaysia and the UAE.

Mortgage arrears increased more than sixfold Russians began to pay less on mortgage loans. According to Central Bank statistics, over three quarters the volume of overdue debt increased 6.2 times, to 5 billion rubles. Market participants explain this by the very liberal mortgage conditions that existed back in 2007. In their opinion, despite the crisis, by the end of the year the volume of non-payments will increase slightly.

Moscow will publish a list of offices not subject to “small privatization” The conditions for the privatization of offices by small and medium-sized enterprises developed by city officials are nothing more than a formality. Since the Moscow authorities have already compiled lists of premises that are not subject to alienation from city property and are subject to transfer to entrepreneurs only on a lease basis.

The Duma refused to fight corruption the Venezuelan way Deputies of the State Duma yesterday approved in the second reading an anti-corruption package of bills introduced by President Dmitry Medvedev based on his plan to combat corruption. A new version of the law “On Combating Corruption” was adopted, as well as amendments to the constitutional law “On Government” and a number of other regulations.

Russian GLONASS-M seven years old We are not talking about the seven years that have passed since the adoption of the federal target program “Global Navigation System”, but about the second launch of a series of three GLONASS-M satellites (the launch is planned for 13:43 Moscow time on December 25 this year), which should operate in orbit for at least seven years, and not three, like previous devices.

German intelligence helped the US defeat Saddam Today, Frank Walter Steinmeier, head of the German Foreign Ministry and candidate for the post of Federal Chancellor from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the upcoming parliamentary elections in autumn 2009, faces an unpleasant procedure. His testimony will be heard by a special Bundestag commission investigating the activities of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) before and during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Russian clubs advance to the next rounds of European Cups On Tuesday and Wednesday, four of our teams secured their further continuation of the fight for continental trophies. The capital's Dynamo in the men's Champions League guaranteed participation in the playoffs, Lokomotiv-Belogorye and Uralochka reached the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup, the girls from Leningradka made it to the top 16 of the Challenge Cup.

Global cargo aviation revenues will fall by $5.4 billion in 2009 The current year has become a turning point in the global air cargo transportation market. Cargo airlines' revenues have been declining since mid-2008, according to the latest quarterly report published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Georgia is waiting for a change of power in the United States Today, the third round of consultations on security issues in the Caucasus ends at the Geneva Palace of Nations. It is planned that the delegations of the UN, OSCE, European Union, Russia, USA, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia will arrive in the conference room at 11 o'clock.

The driver of the bus that crashed in Israel committed 22 violations Human error appears to be the cause of a terrible road accident in Israel on Tuesday. Yesterday, Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz actually blamed the bus driver for the incident.

Astronomers have discovered water vapor, heavy clouds and weather phenomena on the distant planet HD 189733b. As reported by Nature magazine, scientists previously found traces of carbon dioxide and methane in the exoplanet's atmosphere. The planet with the simple name HD 189733b is located in the constellation Vulpecula at a distance of 63 light years from Earth. It is similar in size to Jupiter, but much hotter.

Russia and Kazakhstan are looking for new allies The scandalous intrigue is unfolding on the eve of a three-day informal summit of several CIS countries starting tomorrow in Kazakhstan. Firstly, the format of the meeting itself looks very vague - it is not a CIS summit, not a EurAsEC summit , and not a CSTO summit.

Astronomers are trying to determine the date of birth of Jesus Christ When to celebrate Christmas is not as idle a question as it might seem. According to the Evangelist Matthew, a miraculous star appeared in the sky, which led three wise men (wise men) to the baby Jesus. They presented Christ with gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh. Scientists believe that the Persian priests could have been sages. Regarding the star, the opinions of historians and astronomers differ.