US Congress. Photo from the site correspondent. The ratio of Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate may be equal. According to AR, the Senator-Democrat from South Dakota Tim Johnson, who underwent a difficult operation on the brain, continues to be in critical condition. In case of Johnson’s inability to fulfill his duties, his successor will be appointed Governor of South Dakota Mike Rounds, who is a republican.

Hedgehog, rtvi, Newsru.com. Grani.ru collage Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Masks on Friday in the afternoon captured the building in Bolshoi Palashevsky Lane, where Echo-TV, Newsru.com and "Daily Journal" are based. This was reported to the granim.ru issuing editor of the "Daily Journal" Olga Pashkova. According to Pashkova, the police broke into the building and asked the employees of the editorial offices located there to leave the premises.

2006 for astronomy did not do without serious losses. The solar system “ lost ” its ninth planet (Pluto), and NASA specialists lost their faith and the truth of the Mars Global Surveyor ( MGS ) in the Martian orbit for a long time. However, there were incomparably more happy finds.

Money. Grani.ru collage From January 1, government departments are allowed to increase salaries to their employees at the expense of reduced colleagues. According to Kommersant on Friday, the corresponding decree was signed by President Putin.

Boris Berezovsky. Frame NTV The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office turned to the Scotland Yard investigators with a request to interrogate the entrepreneur Boris Berezovsky in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. According to Interfax, the corresponding official request was sent to London on Friday.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/asteroid_risk_021009.html The astronomers presented us with a very dubious New Year's “gift” (what can I say, the uniform was put a pig!) - a new dangerous asteroid. However, for now, you should not particularly worry. Firstly, this asteroid will reach the vicinity of our planet only on October 31, 2041, so there are still decades in stock, and it will be possible to do something ...

Dmitry Kovtun. Shot CNN Scotland-Yard employees are trying to establish the whereabouts of a man who flew from Hamburg to London with businessman Dmitry Kovtun, writes London Times. Having studied the shooting of video surveillance of the airports, the police came to the conclusion that Kovtun traveled with another man, but after arriving in Khitrovo, he disappeared. A person with a passport that the Kovtun satellite presented to the border guards, was not registered in any of the London hotels.

Saddam Hussein in court. Photo by ar Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein can be executed over the next day, Fox News reports citing a source in the American military command. According to the source, the death sentence will be carried out by the end of the year, since the Iraqi government "seeks to quickly execute Saddam." As the interlocutor of the TV channel noted, the American military has already delivered a former dictator to the place where execution will be made.

Vladimir Bukreev. Photo from Newsru.com Former judge Vladimir Bukreev, who pronounced the conviction to Colonel Budanov, was placed for 15 days in a puncture of the investigative insulator #5 of Moscow. According to Prima-News with reference to a marriage to "for human rights", the pretext for this was supposedly the discovery of a SIM-card in Bukreev. Earlier, investigator V. Izleylev refused to provide the protection of 32 volumes of 37 by Bukreev himself.

SPS logo from the site www.sps.ru Mosoblizbirk refused to certify lists of ATP in the elections to the Moscow Region. According to RIA Novosti, citing an employee of the Mosoblisbirkom, the refusal is due to the fact that the ATP did not provide the protocol of the party conference on the nomination of candidates. The deadline for registration of party lists expires on January 25, 2007, however, parties with unnecessary lists will not be allowed to register.

Handcuffs. Photo from News.vl.ru In Chechnya, the head of the Department of the Bailiff Service in the Republic, General Ayndi Zilbukharov, was arrested. According to RIA Novosti, this was announced on Friday by the prosecutor of Chechnya Valery Kuznetsov.

Accident. Photo from the site www.vsluh.ru In the Rostov region, as a result of a collision of a car and KamAZ, a family of five people died, including a one -year -old child, RIA Novosti reports. According to the press service of the Department for the Prevention and Emergency Situations of the Administration of the Rostov Region on Friday, the accident occurred on the eve of about 18.00 on the M-4 highway two kilometers from the city of Mine.

Office '' Gazprom '' in Moscow. Photo by ar Belarus on Friday sends a delegation to negotiations with Gazprom. This was reported by Reuters with reference to a high -ranking source in the Ministry of Energy of Belarus. As the source said, the delegation will fly to Moscow from Minsk at 14.00 local time (15.00 Moscow time). According to him, the delegation is headed by Deputy Minister of Energy of Belarus Eduard Tovpenets.

Handcuffs. Photo from Newsru.com The Supreme Court of the Altai Republic sentenced 10 years in prison 17-year-old Ruslan Kulish, who was accused of the murder of the Omsk journalist Alexander Petrov and his family members. Ruslan Kulisha was given the last word that he refused. Kulish will be served first in a colony for minors, and then in an adult prison.

Vladimir Putin and George Bush in Hanoi. Photo by ar Russian President Vladimir Putin fell into the top three of the worst politicians of the year along with the leaders of the USA and Iran George Bush and Mahmud Akhmadjad. According to Kommersant on Friday, these are the results of surveys conducted among the citizens of the European Union and the United States by the International Institute for the Study of Public Opinion Harris.