Journalist Oleg Lurie , arrested at the end of January 2008 on suspicion of extortion, declared his innocence. According to Lurie, the investigation was unable to find evidence for any of the episodes charged to him. newspaper about this . the Kommersant Lurie's lawyer Elena Prokopenko told Oleg Lurie, we recall, is accused of fraud and extortion.

The 24-hour news channel Vesti-24, which until now has been broadcast without advertising, will begin selling advertising time on February 5. This decision, Vesti editor-in-chief Dmitry Mednikov said in an interview with the Interfax agency , is connected with the plans of the channel's management to bring it to self-sufficiency by the end of 2009. The Vesti 24 television channel began broadcasting within the VGTRK holding on July 1, 2006 and was cable for the first six months.

On Sunday evening, Israeli troops killed a Lebanese citizen on the Israel-Lebanon border, and another Lebanese was wounded, the BBC reported . The incident occurred in the border village of Gazhar. According to representatives of both states, the shooting cannot be regarded as a military clash. The Israeli and Lebanese sides have different opinions about what happened.

04.02.2008, 12:27:17 version Print | PDA/PDA Alexey Frenkel in the courthouse. Photo by AFP Alexey Frenkel was left without his main lawyer Stories Murder of the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank 01/24/2008 Alexey Frenkel was put in a punishment cell for poor discipline The main lawyer of banker Alexei Frenkel , accused of organizing the murder of First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Andrei Kozlov , refused his defense.

04.02.2008, 19:24:36 version Print | PDA/PDA Sir Ian Wilmut and Dolly the Sheep. Photo by AFP Stolen Honors The creator of Dolly the sheep is accused of appropriating the results A sheep named Dolly was born on July 5, 1996. She had three “mothers”: from one of them, nuclei containing Dolly’s genetic profile were obtained, from another - eggs, and the third sheep became a surrogate mother and carried the future celebrity. The nucleus was removed from the egg of the second “mother”.

From 20 to 23 February at the Moscow Art Center, Sotheby's will hold a pre-auction exhibition of key lots from the upcoming auction of Russian contemporary art on March 12, 2008 in London. According to preliminary estimates, the auction volume will be from 2.6 to 3.8 million pounds sterling ($5.2-7.6 million), according to a Sotheby's press release . In total, about 150 works of art will be put up for auction in March.

England football coach Fabio Capello has named Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard as team captain for the friendly match against Switzerland (6 February). At the same time, the question of the captain of the England national team in the long term has not been finally resolved, writes the Daily Mirror.

On February 3, the second round of presidential elections took place in Serbia. According to the interim vote count, the majority of voters gave their preference to the Democratic Party candidate Boris Tadic. His opponent, candidate from the Radical Party of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic, admitted defeat and congratulated Tadic on his victory. The re-election of Boris Tadic means that Serbia will continue to strive for NATO and EU membership.

Russian stock indices on the morning of February 4 rose strongly following the global stock markets. By 11:18 Moscow time, the RTS index rose by 1.89 percent to 2,007.44 points, again breaking the 2,000 point mark. The MICEX rose by 2.13 percent to 1,675.42 points. The shares of Norilsk Nickel, Lukoil and RAO UES of Russia are growing in price more than others.

English retail chain Woolworths has withdrawn its "Lolita" crib for little girls from sale after a parent organization said the name may be associated with Vladimir Nabokov's controversial controversial book, AP reports. Woolworths said the store's website that sold the cribs was unaware of the product's name being linked to the famous writer's novel and its two film adaptations.

Persians in space Chronicle of a satellite taking off On February 4, Iranian media reported the opening of the first space center in the country's history, from which Iran will be able to launch its research satellite completely independently in March 2009. Iranians are proud, experts are doubtful, and Western countries and Israel are worried. Past April 2003 is established The Iranian Space Agency (ISA) .

Russian graduates of British universities appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to open branches of the British Council, the Gazeta newspaper wrote on Monday. The open letter, signed by more than 150 people, expresses fears that the closure of representative offices will “damage the image of Russia” and will be “a blow to the interests of millions of Russians.” According to the newspaper, the letter was sent to the Kremlin last week.

Ukrainian tax officials who carried out an inspection of the Karapchivo distillery discovered a large shortage, ZIK reports . According to accounting data, the balance of ethyl alcohol should be 607 thousand 684 liters. However, it could not be found in the factory storage facilities. Seven containers, according to the agency, turned out to be empty, in four tax officers found only a small amount of alcohol, one container, as it turned out, was filled with water.

US forces in Iraq were allowed to pursue representatives of the country's deposed leadership and terrorists even if they crossed the border into Iran and Syria, The New York Times reported on Monday, February 4 . This became known from document a secret 2005 regulating the activities of American troops in Baghdad and central Iraq. The document was published on the Wikileaks website .

On the eve of the Berlin Film Festival, the creators of "The Inhabited Island" - Fyodor Bondarchuk, Sergei Melkumov, Dmitry Rudovsky and Alexander Rodnyansky - decided to show the press the first episodes from the film. No one was allowed on the set, and amazing rumors circulated about the cost of the film. They were confirmed: $36.5 million. And now we know where they were spent.