American pop singer Lady Gaga topped the list of stars who are more active in charity work than others. rating The Celebs Gone Good , consisting of 20 points, was compiled by DoSomething.org. The singer took first place in the top for the second year in a row and, according to Billboard, was recognized for her efforts in the fight for gay rights, initiatives to eradicate AIDS and poverty, as well as the creation of her own charity, the Born This Way Foundation.

Russian tennis player Anna Chakvetadze, who has not competed since June 2011, is completely healthy and will resume playing in 2012. This was reported by the official website of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Chakvetadze said that it will be difficult for her to return to a high level, but emphasized that she has enough motivation to do so. The athlete said that she will resume performances in January.

In Vologda, by a court decision, the former director of the regional branch of the Bank of Moscow, Nikolai Golubin, and his son Sergei were taken into custody, reports the regional investigative department . They are suspected of creating a criminal community that caused damage to a credit institution in the amount of 400 million rubles.

Hackers from the Anonymous association published data on more than 50 thousand credit cards and more than 47 thousand email addresses obtained during the hacking of the servers of the private intelligence company Stratfor. This was reported in a report by Identify Finder, a company that deals with information security issues.

The Central Election Commission has approved the procedure for video broadcasts from polling stations during the presidential elections, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes. The CEC resolution has not yet been published on the commission’s website. In accordance with the decision of the commission, almost every site will have two web cameras from which a live broadcast will be conducted.

Astronomers have discovered the “inhibited” remains of a supernova - an X-ray pulsar located in the cloud remaining from the explosion. Two articles dedicated to the research appeared in the journals Astronomy and Astrophysics ( here ) and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ( here ). The main object of the study was the pulsar SXP 1062, located at a distance of 180 thousand light years from Earth in the constellation Tucan.

Astrophysicists have discovered warm water vapor in protoplanetary disks around stars in the constellation Taurus. This is the first discovery of its kind. The researchers' paper will appear in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics , and its preprint is available on arXiv.org. As part of the work, scientists conducted a spectral analysis of the radiation of several dozen stars.

Russian figure skating coach Elena Chaikovskaya advised Tatyana Tarasova to “quit work and shoot herself.” Tchaikovskaya did not like Tarasova’s criticism of the dancers Kristina Gorshkova and Vitaly Butikov, who train with Tchaikovskaya. Tarasova expressed her opinion on the air of the NTV-Plus television channel, writes the Soviet Sport publication. Tarasova, who is an honored coach of Russia in figure skating, comments on the national championship taking place these days in Saransk.

28.12.2011, 16:14:35 version Print | PDA/PDA Collapsed plaster in one of the buildings in Kyzyl. Photo by RIA Novosti, Maxim Fedorov Harmless nine points No one was injured as a result of a strong earthquake in Tuva On December 27 at 23:21, an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 occurred in the Republic of Tuva. The epicenter, the strength of the tremors in which reached 8-9 points, was located about a hundred kilometers from the capital of Tuva, Kyzyl.

The new investigator in the case of Sergei Magnitsky, Boris Kibis, suggested that his mother abandon attempts at posthumous rehabilitation of her son in exchange for the termination of the criminal case against him, according to the website Law and Order in Russia, which covers the investigation into the circumstances of the death of the lawyer. This proposal is contained in a telegram from the Ministry of Internal Affairs received by Natalya Magnitskaya about a week ago.

Representatives of the research company Baird Equity Research positively assessed the launch of the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, reports Gamasutra. According to analysts, the game's success indicates the "health" of the online gaming market in the US and Europe. Expert Colin Sebastian suggested that by the end of March 2012 the game would sell 3 million copies. However, he doubted that next year the number of paid users will be approximately 1.5-2 million people per month.

Dan Aykroyd will star in the comedy "Dog Fight", according to The Wrap. The film is about two rival politicians who are fighting for a seat in the US Congress from North Carolina. The film will star Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. There is currently no information about who Aykroyd will play. It is known that Aykroyd, Ferrell and Galifianakis will produce the film together. The opponents are choreographed by Jay Roach.

The Legislative Assembly of the Vologda Region confirmed Oleg Kuvshinnikov, who had previously served as the acting head of the region, as governor. reported this on December 28 Interfax . Kuvshinnikov's candidacy, proposed by United Russia , was put to the vote by presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko . According to cherinfo.ru, 29 deputies voted for Kuvshinnikov, three abstained.

In Moscow, a businessman from India was wounded with a traumatic pistol. reported this on December 28 RIA Novosti . An unknown attacker attacked Indian Vinad Kumar at approximately 21:00 on December 27 near house 12 on Sumsky Proezd. The criminal shot Kumar at least seven times, after which he fled in a light-colored VAZ car. According to the Interfax agency , the foreigner received an open head injury. However, according to Life News, he himself was able to call an ambulance and the police.

Official representatives of the United States and Israel began to negotiate what could become a common reason for them to attack Iran, writes The Daily Beast. The need for such consultations arose after a speech by US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta , who on November 11 warned of “unforeseen consequences” of such a military action.