20 Crasair aircraft will be sold by Sberbank of Russia to pay off the carrier's debt. newspaper writes about this The Vedomosti . According to the publication, the aircraft are collateral for the loan. The East Siberian Bank of Sberbank put up for sale the property of Krasair and Sibaviatrans: three AN-24 aircraft, one AN-32, three Tu-134, one Tu-154B, eight Tu-154M, four IL-86, as well as 31 aircraft engines and one Mi-8 helicopter.

Firing of the main weapons from the newest nuclear submarine of the Russian Navy "Yuri Dolgoruky" is planned for March 2009, Interfax reports with reference to the head of the department of orders and supplies of ships, naval weapons and military equipment of the Ministry of Defense, Vice Admiral Anatoly Shlemov. He also confirmed that the completion of testing and transfer of the nuclear submarine to the fleet will take place in 2009.

Members of the American rock band Aerosmith were forced to cancel their first concert in Venezuela due to the need for Joey Perry, the band's guitarist, to undergo knee surgery, Reuters reports. The group was scheduled to headline the Solid Fest festival in Caracas on February 1st. However, the day before, doctors discovered that 58-year-old Perry had “unforeseen complications” in his knee, which the guitarist injured in March 2008.

European stock exchanges opened on January 16 with an increase in the main indices. Before that, they fell for seven trading sessions in a row, which is a record since 2004. In the first half hour of trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.55 percent to 4,192 points, France's CAC 40 rose 1.88 percent to 3,052 points, and Germany's Dax rose 2.08 percent to 4,426 points. Trading in Europe was influenced by American and Asian traders, who lifted local stock indices.

The American space agency has completed a competition among schoolchildren to name an inflatable lunar station, according to a press release on the NASA website. Now her name is "Resolution" (which means "determination"), in honor of the ship of the famous navigator James Cook, on which he first crossed the Antarctic Circle on January 17, 1773. The name was coined by a ninth grader from New York State.

The ambassadors of the states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia began work in Moscow on January 16, Interfax reports . On Friday they presented their credentials to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev . Dmitry Medoev, who previously served as the plenipotentiary representative of South Ossetia in the Russian Federation, became the Ambassador of South Ossetia to Russia. The decree on his appointment was signed by the President of the Republic Eduard Kokoity three days ago.

An explosion occurred at the Uralvagonzavod military-industrial and carriage-building enterprise, located in Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk region, RIA Novosti reports . According to Interfax , as a result of the incident, four people were killed and three were injured. The wounded were hospitalized. The explosion occurred in one of the foundries of the Ural plant at 13:42 local time (11:42 Moscow time). According to preliminary data, one or more gas cylinders exploded during welding work.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki declared the famine facing 10 million people in the country a “national disaster” and appealed to the international community for $400 million in aid, AFP reports . Kibaki noted that his government has directed all available funds to overcome the effects of the drought that affected many parts of the country last year and to purchase food abroad.

On Thursday, January 15, the Arbitration Court of the French city of Lille allowed the youngest son of Tuvan Senator Sergei Pugachev , Alexander, to acquire a controlling stake in the popular publication France-Soir. reports this AFP . Pugachev's company Sablon International, which already owns 19.9 percent of the publication's shares, received the right to increase its share to 85 percent.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has lowered its forecast for global oil demand for 2009 by one million barrels per day, AFP reports . According to the new forecast, oil consumption at the end of this year will be 85.3 million barrels per day. For comparison, in 2008, according to the IEA, oil demand was 85.8 million barrels per day. Previously, the IEA expected that oil demand in 2009 would grow and by the end of the year it would amount to 86.3 million barrels per day.

Uruguayan Interior Minister Daisy Tourne posted a photo of herself on her Facebook page with the caption, “There is nothing more natural than a woman in the shower,” The Daily Telegraph reports. This photo shows Daisy Tournay in the shower, washing off sand from the beach. The photo shows only the woman’s face and hands, as well as streams of water. Shortly after the photo was published, negative reviews from a number of Uruguayan politicians appeared.

The American bank Citigroup, one of the financial organizations in the world most affected by the crisis, decided to split its business into two parts - Citicorp and Citi Holdings. This is stated in the official press release published on the Citigroup website. Simultaneously with this decision, Citigroup announced losses in the fourth quarter of 2008. During the period October-December last year, the bank lost $8.29 billion. For all of last year, Citigroup's net loss was $18.72 billion.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski will not participate in the alternative gas summit, which is scheduled to take place in Ukraine on January 16. reports this RIA Novosti . Kaczynski was previously named as the organizer of this summit. According to the publication, Kaczynski will be represented at the Kiev summit by the Minister in the Office of the President, Michal Kaminski.

A Paraguayan couple robbed the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and his wife, taking money, jewelry and valuables worth a total of 4 billion CFA francs (6.1 million euros) from their home, AFP reports . It is reported that the criminals worked for the Ngema couple as managers for several years. They took advantage of the owners' two-week absence by stealing several suitcases filled with currency, jewelry and valuable bank papers.

16.01.2009, 18:52:39 version Print | PDA/PDA Israeli soldier on the border of the Gaza Strip. Photo ©AFP Waiting for peace Israel and Hamas negotiate ceasefire Israel and Hamas, through Egyptian mediation, continue to negotiate a truce. Information about this was published on January 16 by various media outlets citing anonymous sources.