The house where former US President Bill Clinton spent his childhood will receive the status of a national historical museum in early 2011. this The Luxist portal reports . The two-story wooden house, built in 1917, is located in Hope, Arkansas. The Clinton family moved here in 1938 and by 1946 had purchased the property outright. The future president lived here with his grandparents until he was four years old (until 1950). The house belonged to the family until 1956.

Tourist tents have disappeared from shops in Minsk, RIA Novosti reports . The disappearance of the tents from sale coincided with the preparation of opposition representatives for protests that are to take place in the Belarusian capital after the presidential elections. Oppositionists believe that the sale of tents was banned by government officials who wanted to prevent the appearance of a tent city on one of the squares in Minsk.

On December 17, the new composition of the Russian Television Academy was determined. It included almost twice as many people as the previous one, the press service of the foundation reports . The new academy consists of 555 people: television top managers, TV presenters, directors, cameramen, producers, sound engineers, designers and other specialists. The previous composition of ART consisted of 289 people.

Russian clubs found out their opponents in the 1/16 finals of the Europa League. Moscow's Spartak will play with the Swiss Basel, St. Petersburg's Zenit will meet with another Swiss club, Young Boys, Moscow's CSKA will face the Greek PAOK, and Kazan's Rubin will play with the Dutch Twente. The draw for the first round of the Europa League playoffs took place on Friday, December 17, in Nyon, Switzerland. The first matches of the 1/16 finals will take place on February 17, 2011.

Owners of the special edition of Bulletstorm will be the first to have access to beta testing of the third part of Gears of War. According to Eurogamer, the publication will cost $60. The timing of beta testing for Gears of War 3 has not been specified. The first-person shooter Bulletstorm was announced in the spring of 2010. The game is being created by the Polish studio People Can Fly. Previously, the studio released the shooter Painkiller.

The volume of mergers and acquisitions in 2010 increased for the first time in three years, with the role of emerging markets becoming much more prominent. reports this Reuters . Global M&A volume grew 20 percent year-on-year to $2.25 trillion. Developing countries accounted for about 17 percent of the market. Most transactions took place in the energy sector. It is expected that the volume of mergers will continue to grow next year.

Former member of the board of the Bundesbank Thilo Sarrazin received several million euros from the sales of his scandalous book “Germany - Self-Liquidation,” which was published on August 30, Welt reports. In a late-night talk show on the ZDFneo TV channel, host Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre noted that “Germany - Self-Liquidation,” which sold 1.2 million copies in Germany alone, brought the author about three million euros.

Sberbank refused to publish lists of employees dismissed for offenses. According to Interfax , the credit institution removed this section from its official website. Sberbank noted that this section “fulfilled its educational function.” However, as the agency reports, the bank reserved the right to resume publication of blacklists. A list with the names of employees dismissed from Sberbank for violations of the Labor Code appeared in August of this year.

The Swiss bank UBS wrote an explanatory note regarding information published by various media about the dress code of employees of a financial institution. reports this Reuters . The UBS note stressed that the rules governing the appearance of bank employees were interpreted by journalists "inaccurately and incorrectly." In particular, we are talking about some articles published in The Daily Mail and FT Deutschland . Both publications focused on dress code items related to underwear.

Indian authorities widely used torture during interrogation of detainees in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and American diplomats were aware of this since 2005, but remained silent. This is evidenced by published by WikiLeaks materials , The Guardian newspaper writes on December 16 . The Americans, in turn, received data from the Red Cross.

The government does not intend to create an organization similar to the Olimpstroy state corporation to prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. reports this Interfax with reference to First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov .

17.12.2010, 12:54:53 version Print | PDA/PDA SSJ-100. Photo ©AFP Olympic modernization Aeroflot will accelerate the renewal of its fleet with aircraft not yet put into service The Sochi Olympics could be a watershed moment for the Russian civil aviation industry. The Olympics will force domestic aviation to adapt to modern standards - and, above all, to significantly update its outdated fleet.

The Nikulinsky Court of Moscow chose a preventive measure in the form of arrest for five men suspected of attacks on police officers committed on December 15, RIA Novosti reports citing the court’s press service. A native of Chechnya, Ruslan Magamedov, three immigrants from Dagestan, Kurban Magomedov, Adim Dzhmiev and Murad Aliev, as well as a citizen of Turkmenistan, Ramidin Kurbanmagomedov, are accused of using violence against a government official.

Microsoft on December 16 launched a new email platform, Active View, for its Windows Live Hotmail email service. With its help, some of the service's emails have become fully interactive, according to the official Windows Live blog . In terms of functionality, emails on the new platform are almost identical to web pages: you can search, fill out forms, and navigate through various tabs without leaving the email window.

Russian Railways (RZD) expects to transport about 250 million passengers a year on the Small Ring of the Moscow Railway (MK MZD) starting from 2016. This statement was made by the head of the capital construction department of Russian Railways, Alexey Tikhonov, Interfax reports . According to Tikhonov, in 2013, 40 trains per day will run on the Moscow Railways, and in five years - a hundred trains. In total, it is planned to build about 30 stopping points on the Small Ring.