One of the pioneers of electronic music, founder of the German group Tangerine Dream, Edgar Frese, died at the age of 70, AFP reports on January 24 with reference to the band's official website. The site administrators commented on the musician’s death with his own quote: “There is no death, there is simply a change of cosmic address.” Edgar Wilmar Frese was born in 1944 in the city of Tilsit in East Prussia (since 1946 - the city of Sovetsk, Kaliningrad region).

US President Barack Obama, who will be on a state visit to India on January 25-27, will not go to the city of Agra, where the Taj Mahal mausoleum is located, TASS reports. The American president will arrive in the Indian capital on the morning of January 25 and will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visit program also includes meetings with businessmen from the two countries, President Pranab Mukherjee and other politicians and a joint radio appearance.

The first combat groups of militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic entered the outskirts of Mariupol. “The first combat units entered the outskirts of Mariupol with fighting and secured positions, the offensive continues,” a source in the DPR Ministry of Defense told Interfax on January 24.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs asked Russia to provide an inventory of humanitarian supplies delivered to the conflict zone in Donbass, TASS reported on January 24. “Since August, Russia has sent 11 convoys that have reportedly delivered 14.5 tons of humanitarian aid to non-state actor-controlled areas of Donbass. The UN asked for a full inventory of the assistance provided, as well as information on how it was distributed,” the organization’s report says.

Russian tennis player Maria Kirilenko will get married on January 24, said Vice-President of the Russian Tennis Federation Yevgeny Kafelnikov. “Which sensation is louder: Seppi’s victory over Federer yesterday or Masha Kirilenko’s wedding today (I’m invited)? It’s not even being discussed,” Kafelnikov wrote on his microblog on Twitter.

The number of people killed as a result of the shelling of Mariupol reached 27 people, including two children; 97 were injured, Interfax quoted the statement of the Secretary of the Mariupol City Council Andrey Feday on January 24. “Already 27 dead (including two children), 97 wounded (including 5 children),” he wrote on Facebook.

The DPR militia headquarters reports that the village of Krasny Partizan near Donetsk has come under the control of the militia. “Militia units liberated the village of Krasny Partizan, located between Donetsk and Gorlovka. It was occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Right Sector,” Interfax reported on January 24.

The head of EU diplomacy announced that the escalation of violence in Donbass will lead to a serious deterioration in relations between the European Union and Russia, RIA Novosti reported on January 24.

The authoritative British publication BBC Music Magazine has announced the list of finalists for the annual BBC Music Magazine Awards, awarded for the best work in the field of recording. In 2015, among the nominees in the “Instrumental Music” category was a solo disc by Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev. As the jury who selected candidates for the award noted, this is not an ordinary solo album by Mikhail Pletnev.

On January 24, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that in the past 24 hours the militias had gone on the offensive along the entire line of battle in Donbass, RIA Novosti reports.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro found new signs of a foreign conspiracy against his country, suspecting the ex-presidents of Mexico, Chile and Colombia of involvement in these plans, RIA Novosti reported on January 24. Former Mexican leader Felipe Calderon, Chilean Sebastian Piñera and Colombian Andres Pastrana are due to take part in an opposition seminar in Caracas next Monday.

A verdict has been handed down in the case of the Tu-154 crash at Domodedovo Yesterday a verdict was rendered in the criminal case regarding the Dagestan Airlines Tu-154M accident, which occurred on December 4, 2010 at Domodedovo Airport. Only the crew commander, Zakarzha Zakarzhaev, who received a three-year suspended sentence, was held responsible for the death of two passengers and the crashed plane.

The prosecutor's office of the Donetsk region classified the shelling of Mariupol as a terrorist attack, RIA Novosti reported on January 24. The press service of the prosecutor's office of the Donetsk region reported that the DPR militia launched a fire strike from the Novoazov direction on residential areas of Mariupol, knowing for sure that Ukrainian military personnel were not stationed in these areas.

The number of victims of the shelling of Mariupol has increased to 20 people, RIA Novosti reported on January 24 in a statement by the head of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Donetsk region.

FAS suspects four poultry farms in the Astrakhan region of cartel conspiracy The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for the Astrakhan Region (Astrakhan OFAS) opened a case against four poultry farms in the region on the grounds of concluding an oral agreement leading to the establishment and maintenance of selling prices for chicken eggs. “Wholesale prices for eggs from four business entities - four poultry farms located in the Astrakhan region - are changing synchronously.