Alaska residents collected 45 thousand signatures for the free sale of marijuana. This was reported by Reuters with reference to the organizers of the initiative. This number of signatures is enough to put the issue of legalizing marijuana to a general vote in the summer of 2014. The authors of the initiative propose that the authorities allow citizens over 21 years of age to possess up to one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana.

The leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, appeared in public for the first time since April 2013. reported this on January 9 The Associated Press , citing the local press. 87-year-old Castro yesterday attended the opening of the art studio of artist Alexis Leyva in Havana.

The American company Northrop Grumman, commissioned by the US Air Force, has completed the restoration of the B-2 Spirit of Washington bomber, damaged by a fire in the engine compartment in February 2010. According to Flightglobal, the American company took almost four years to carry out repair work due to the absence of a production line of B-2 aircraft, which was closed in 2000. The cost of restoring the aircraft has not been disclosed.

The Severodvinsk shipbuilding enterprise Sevmash will lay down two new Project 955A Borei strategic nuclear submarines in 2014, RIA Novosti reports , citing a source in the military-industrial complex. The laying of the ships will be timed to coincide with the holidays: Submariner Day on March 19 and Russian Navy Day, which is celebrated on the last Sunday in July. According to the agency's source, the tradition of naming the Borei project submarines the names of Russian princes will continue.

In the Stavropol Territory, a composite sketch of a suspect in organizing the murder of five men, whose bodies were found in cars, was compiled. agency reported this on January 9 ITAR-TASS , citing sources in law enforcement agencies. The agency's interlocutors did not disclose how they became aware of the suspect's characteristics. Details about his identity have not been disclosed. Meanwhile, journalists learned the name of one of the dead: taxi driver Alexander Grinchenko.

Iraqi insurgents during clashes with government forces. Photo: AP A suicide bomber blew himself up at an army recruiting station in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The terrorist attack killed 13 people and injured more than 30, Reuters reports , citing police data. The incident took place at Baghdad's small Muthanna airfield, which is used by the army. The bomb was detonated in a line of volunteers who were about to apply to join the armed forces.

A 55-year-old resident of the village of Sofievskaya Borshchagovka, located in the suburbs of Kyiv, died in a battle with criminals who specialized in robbing the apartments of homosexuals. This was reported by GorodKiev.com.ua . As the police said, the robbers, immigrants from the CIS countries aged 21 and 22, met men who preferred same-sex relationships on the Internet. Having made a new acquaintance, they met the victim and offered alcohol to which they added sleeping pills.

The American edition of The Huffington Post will launch a separate World Post portal dedicated to international events. Among the authors of blogs on the site will be world leaders and major businessmen, The Guardian reports. World Post will publish blogs by the Dalai Lama, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, architect Frank Gehry, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, writer Orhan Pamuk and others.

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have discovered that white sharks Carcharodon carcharias can live much longer than previously thought. The work was published in the journal PLoS ONE about it briefly , and you can read on the institute’s website. The study was conducted on white shark tissue collected from 1967 to 2010 by the US National Fisheries Agency ( NMFS ).

Cinema in the traditional sense to which we are accustomed is coming to its end, says Martin Scorsese. The 71-year-old director outlined his thoughts on the future of the industry in an open letter to his 14-year-old daughter Francesca, which was published by the Italian publication l'Espresso.

New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is set to expand into the space currently occupied by the American Folk Art Museum. This is reported on the museum's website. By demolishing the neighboring building, the museum plans to expand its own area by 30 thousand square meters. The project involves the construction of a special building for displaying large sculptures, as well as a five-story building that will house art galleries.

A car with the bodies of two people was found in the Stavropol Territory, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the operational headquarters of the regional department of the FSB. There was an explosive device next to the car; sappers destroyed it. It is not specified in which area of ​​the region the car was found.

The Security Police stopped the criminal proceedings against the chairman of the Socialist Party of Latvia (SPL), member of the European Parliament Alfred Rubiks for his statements about the repressions of 1949. Apollo reports this with reference to the LETA agency. As the police noted, Rubiks’ statements “did not correspond to historical facts” and were provocative in nature, but did not go beyond the scope of the right to freedom of speech.

A court in Yekaterinburg found Ura.ru editor-in-chief Aksana Panova guilty of all charges. This was reported on Twitter by Znak.com. The verdict will be announced later on January 9. Panova was accused of extortion and abuse of power; in total, the final charges amounted to three episodes. One of the charges, as the judge said at a hearing on Thursday, was reclassified from extortion to a more lenient article about coercion into a deal.

The NBA club Brooklyn Nets, which includes Russian basketball player Andrei Kirilenko, rose to eighth place in the Eastern Conference - the last one, which gives the right to participate in the playoffs. This happened after Brooklyn’s victory in the match with the Golden State Warriors on the night of January 9 (102:98), the official NBA website reports. Kirilenko spent 18 minutes on the court in the game against Golden State and scored eight points.