* Russian Culture and Mass Communications Minister Alexander Sokolov will hold a news briefing on state support for historic and cultural museums (11:00 a.m.).
* The Federation Council (parliament's upper chamber) will host:
- a meeting with Presidential Envoy to the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak on socio-economic and political stabilization in the district (2:00 p.m.);
- parliamentary hearings on the oil and natural gas resources of East Siberia and the Far East as the basis of regional development (11:00 a.m.).
* The State Duma (lower chamber) will host:
- parliamentary hearings on the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Russian Family Code (10:00 a.m.);
- a roundtable on traffic security measures in big Russian cities (1:00 p.m.).
* RIA Novosti will host the following news conferences:
- with Kazakh Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia Krymbek Kusherbayev on the preliminary results of the presidential elections in Kazakhstan (11:00 a.m.);
- with Deputy Health and Social Development Minister Vladimir Starodubov on the results of the replacement of social benefits in-kind with cash payments (12:00 p.m.);
- on the formation of the Russian anti-oligarch front and its mission (12:00 p.m.);
- on global climate change in the 21st century (2:00 p.m.);
- on the upcoming elections to the Supreme Council of the self-proclaimed Transdnestr Republic due on December 11 (3:00 p.m.).
* A discussion on the Moscow Duma election results will be held (1:00 p.m.).
* The Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will hold a session on the implementation of state policy in the sphere of tariff regulations (3:00 p.m.).
* The Central House of Journalists will host a news conference on the results of energy reform (2:00 p.m.).
* A session of the organizing committee of the second all-Russia forum entitled, The Health of the Nation is the Basis of Russia's Prosperity, will be held (5:00 p.m.).
* The Gelikon Opera Theater will host an awards ceremony for winners of the all-Russian contest Education Leader 2005 (5:00 p.m.).
ST. PETERSBURG
* St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko will go to North Korea and Vietnam.
TBILISI
* A Tbilisi court will begin hearings in the case of Vladimir Arutyunyan, the man accused of attempting to assassinate U.S. President George Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on December 5, 2004.
LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend the 13th session of the council of foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (December 5-6).
BAGHDAD
* The trial of Saddam Hussein is expected to resume.
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