Komsomolskaya Pravda editor-in-chief Vladimir Sungorkin, who announced on Friday that his American visa had been revoked on the basis of the US Magnitsky Act, became the victim of a hoax. This was reported by Ekho Moskvy . The US Embassy told the radio station that it had not sent Sungorkin any notification regarding this matter.

The Human Rights Council under the President of Russia ( HRC ) will propose to the head of state to soften the article of the Criminal Code on libel and remove from the Criminal Code the article on insulting a government official, writes the Kommersant newspaper , which has obtained the text of the proposal. “The interrogation (in the libel case of journalist Elena Masyuk , a member of the council .

The opening of a scientific center for the study of rogue waves will take place on Friday in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, reports the Sakhalin branch of the Far Eastern Federal University. Rogue waves are a new phenomenon that has been actively studied by scientists around the world over the past few years. They are sudden surface waves of extremely large amplitude; cases of such wave heights of 30 meters or more have been recorded. Such waves pose a serious danger to ships and offshore platforms.

Bolivia intends to begin work on studying the possibility of launching a satellite into low-Earth orbit to observe the earth's surface in mid-2013, Ivan Zambrana, director of the Bolivian Space Agency , said on Thursday . “This satellite will cost about $150 million, but the price could be lower,” Venezuelan agency AVN quotes Zambrana as saying. The spacecraft will be designed to help search for minerals, including oil and gas.

In Moscow, additional police forces are being deployed to Lubyanka Square, where an opposition rally not coordinated with the city authorities is scheduled to take place on Saturday. correspondent reported this from the scene An Interfax . According to him, a large passenger bus with police officers and several police cars parked in Lubyansky Proezd. In addition, police officers patrol the underground passages in the Lubyanka Square area, as well as the streets around the FSB building .

The Investigative Committee has completed the interrogation of the brother of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Oleg, whose house was searched on Friday in connection with the theft of 55 million rubles from a trading company. “ Oleg left the interrogation. Subscription. The decree was not given. The case was opened last night,” Alexei Navalny wrote on his Twitter microblog.

The price of sugar fell to a two-year low amid rising sugar cane harvests in Brazil, writes the Financial Times . The price of raw sugar on the ICE exchange fell 4.2% over the week to 18.42 cents per pound, the lowest price since August 2010. Experts say sugar production from January to November amounted to 32.9 million tons, up 6% from the same period last year. Now investors are waiting for news about the harvest in India and Thailand, which are the largest sugar producers.

The main priority of Russian foreign policy during Vladimir Putin’s third presidential term will be integration in the post-Soviet space - this follows from the “Concept of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation” developed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a draft of which was obtained by the Kommersant newspaper . “The absolute priority of Russian foreign policy is integration in the post-Soviet space.

An international team of biologists has found that one of the tropical forests of Panama is home to over 25 thousand species of insects, which is 300 times more than the number of mammal species in this forest, and 80 times more than the number of birds, according to an article published in the journal Science.

December 14, 2012, 19:34 Politics The State Duma divides the awards New Year's bonuses should compensate for low Duma salaries, the staff of the lower chamber assures Maria Makutina , Ekaterina Vinokurova close 100% Duma employees will not receive million-dollar bonuses; New Year bonuses will amount to only about 70 thousand rubles, the leadership of the State Duma apparatus told Gazeta.Ru. Earlier, the media disseminated information about bonuses starting from 420 thousand rubles.

December 14, 2012, 11:09 Business Banks were admitted to the European Union EU ministers delayed the creation of a fiscal union until June 2013, but approved banking supervision Ekaterina Mereminskaya close 100% The EU summit postponed until June 2013 decisions on fiscal and economic integration. The ministers only agreed on the creation of a single banking supervisory authority and hope to launch it in March 2014. Even this decision is called historic by officials.

The State Duma adopted in the first reading an anti-tobacco bill banning smoking in public places starting from 2015, RIA Novosti reports . The corresponding bill was submitted to the State Duma in early October . According to the Ministry of Health, measures limiting cigarette consumption are expected to be introduced in stages: a number of measures will come into force from the moment the bill is adopted, others will be introduced from July 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015.

Over the past 15 years, the share of the middle class in Germany has decreased from 65% to 58% of the total population, Deutsche Welle reports , citing a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the German Institute for Economic Research. In numerical terms, the middle class decreased by almost 6 million, to 47.5 million people. “The reduction in share to 58% does not cause concern.

The Moscow Urban Planning and Land Commission (GLC), created on the initiative of the mayor of the capital Sergei Sobyanin , approved land use regimes and urban planning regulations on the territory of the Moscow Zoo, which involve the construction of a complex of buildings that will house a scientific and educational center, an aquarium, a terrarium, a heat-loving pavilion, a point public catering and a pet store, according to a press release from Moskomstroyinvest.

The Roskomnadzor competition commission for the distribution of seats in the second multiplex has completed: 18 TV channels competed for 10 seats. The Dozhd TV channel was not included in the package of mandatory TV channels. The channel's editor-in-chief Mikhail Zygar reported this on his Twitter microblog . “Everyone around me didn’t believe it, but I’m still offended. I thought: what if,” Zygar wrote. The first frequency in the multiplex went to the REN TV channel .