December 22, 2011, 22:57 Sports Russian chess players lost to the Chinese at the team world championship The Russian women's chess team lost to the Chinese team in the 5th round of the World Team Championship, according to the official website of the competition taking place in Mardin, Turkey. The meeting ended with a score of 0:4. Nadezhda and Tatyana Kosintsev, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina lost to Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue and Tan Zhongyi, respectively.

Sport Tsvetkov: shootouts are fifty-fifty Cherepovets Severstal forward Andrei Tsvetkov, after defeating Avangard Omsk in the KHL championship match ( 4:3 B ), admitted that he practices shootouts in training. “The game turned out to be difficult, but now there was a long break, and this is the first match in the series after a pause,” the Severstal press service quotes Tsvetkov as saying. - It's good that we won. And shootouts are fifty-fifty. I try to pay attention to this in training.”

December 22, 2011, 16:13 Science Text size A A A “Either you are a scientist and have solved the problem, or you are just a talker.” Crystallographer Sergei Krivovichev about himself and science in Russia Nikolay Podorvanyuk close 100% The famous crystallographer, professor at St. Petersburg State University, winner of the Russian Presidential Prize for young scientists, Sergei Krivovichev, spoke in an interview with Gazeta.Ru about himself, his scientific work and his family.

The winner of a prestigious scientific award in the field of astronomy, the Grout Reber gold medal, this year was Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Director of the Astrospace Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute Nikolai Kardashev. The Grout Reber Foundation (the legendary amateur astronomer who built the first radio telescope in 1937) announced this the day before.

Representatives of Duma factions introduced a bill to the State Duma proposing to change the procedure for transferring free mandates of State Duma deputies. Currently, if a deputy resigns or is deprived of his powers, his mandate passes to the next candidate in his regional group. If a deputy from the federal part of the list resigns, the mandate passes to any other candidate.

US Vice President Joe Biden called on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in an emergency phone call, who demanded that the Kurds hand over the country's wanted vice president, to cooperate with all political forces to prevent a resumption of sectarian hostilities, reports Euronews . Iraq's fragile political truce is in jeopardy following the issuance of an arrest warrant for Tarek al-Hashemi. The vice president, who represents the Sunni minority, is accused of aiding terrorists.

December 22, 2011, 11:19 Business Vnukovo lands Kuban Vnukovo suspends service on two flights of Kuban Airlines Anastasia Matveeva close 100% Vnukovo Airport has refused to serve two flights of Oleg Deripaska's Kuban Airlines and is threatening to extend the ban to all flights during the peak New Year season due to debts. The airline calls the airport’s decision “outright pressure.” Previously, flights of Sky Express and Dagestan Airlines were transferred to Kuban.

December 22, 2011, 12:19 Science Astronomers have discovered the fried remains of giant planets Using the Kepler space observatory, astronomers discovered two relatively small planets, “fried” by the dying star of the system - the elderly star “torn off” the gaseous shell of the giant planets and left in their place charred stone cores, RIA Novosti reported with reference to the article, published in the journal Nature.

Leaders of the parliamentary opposition assessed differently the message of President Dmitry Medvedev , in which he announced a course for political reforms, ITAR-TASS reports . “You can express any good wishes, but, as you know, they lead to hell,” said the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov , commenting on Medvedev’s message.

December 22, 2011, 14:48 Society Loan for three years in prison The prosecutor's office demanded three years in prison for Natalya Gulevich Alexandra Koshkina close 100% Natalya Gulevich with lawyer Andrey Shtanko in the courtroom ITAR-TASS The prosecutor's office asked for three years in a general regime colony for the seriously ill businesswoman Natalya Gulevich, accused of loan fraud.

Sport Crouch attracts robbers Crouch became a victim of Robbers Peter Dubinsky England striker Peter Crouch has been targeted by thieves for the second time in five years. Robbers broke into his house last Tuesday, which is located in the village of Mottram St. Andrew in Cheshire, ITAR-TASS reports. Peter himself and his wife Abbey Clancy were not at home at the time of the crime. When the Crouchs returned, they immediately notified the police about the theft.

For our clubs, the final round of the Euroleague regular championship had no tournament significance. CSKA took first place ahead of schedule, and UNICS secured entry into the Top 16 and a place in the third pot during the draw. The army team, however, had additional motivation. If they won in Malaga, they would become the only one of the 24 clubs to pass the first stage without defeat.

December 22, 2011, 10:37 pm Business Italian Senate supports budget cuts of €33 billion Italy's upper house of parliament (Senate) has supported a €33 billion austerity package proposed by the government of Mario Monti , reports Reuters . 257 senators voted in favor, 41 voted against. Last week the package was approved by the lower house of parliament . It assumes an increase in the tax burden on the middle class, the amount of VAT and the retirement age.

Turkey is recalling its ambassador to Paris in response to the lower house of the French parliament passing a bill to criminalize denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire, reports Reuters . The French National Assembly adopted the bill a couple of hours ago . It provides for a year in prison and a fine of €45 thousand for denying genocide. Yerevan, in turn, welcomed the bill adopted by the French National Assembly.

Chairman of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov promises to make ballot boxes transparent. “In the near future, I plan to put forward an initiative to replace translucent boxes at polling stations with transparent ones... Already in the money that we allocated to you for the presidential elections, you must provide funds for the purchase of transparent voting boxes,” — Interfax quotes Churov .