What we know about the new epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine Photo: Petr Shelomovskiy / Demotix / Corbis / All Over Press For several days, the city of Debaltseve, located in the Donetsk region, has been the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine. Separatists have tried to surround a Ukrainian army group there by creating “pocket” to cut off its retreat. Information from the battlefield, as always in such circumstances, has been highly inconsistent.

A fire in the building of the Institute for Scientific Information in the Social Sciences (INION) lost one fifth of the institute's library collections. This was announced by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Vladimir Fortov on February 2 in an interview with Rossiya 24. Earlier it was reported that, according to preliminary estimates, about 15% of the library stock was damaged as a result of the fire.

U.S. President Barack Obama has submitted a draft budget for fiscal year 2016 to Congress. Budget expenditures are provided at the level of 3.99 trillion dollars. The budget deficit is planned at $474 billion or 2.5% of the country's GDP. The document contains proposals to increase the tax burden for a number of categories of citizens, as well as to introduce a 14 percent tax on profits that corporations agree to return from abroad to the US tax jurisdiction.

Photo: TMOBILE / Twitter The American operator T-Mobile launched an advertising campaign in which Twitter users receive “personal” messages from Kim Kardashian. Each of these messages contains a selfie of the stars with the post -ceremony: “Directly from my private collection. Your friends will die with envy <3. " Any user of Twitter can get a photo from Kim Kardashian (in fact-from the T-Mobile account).

Photo: Chris Coduto / Icon Sportswire / Corbis / All Over Press On the night of February 1 to February 2, at the Stadium of the University of Phoenix in Glendeil (Arizona), the final game of the US National Football League (NFL), better known as Super Bowl, was held.

From February 3, Svyaznoy Bank reduces the daily cash withdrawal limit from cards to 15,000 rubles. This is stated in a message published on the bank's website. "Other restrictions remain unchanged," the press service of the financial institution said. The daily limit for cash withdrawals at own ATMs and cash points, as well as at ATMs of third-party banks will be 15,000 rubles.

The government agreed to allocate 20 billion rubles from the budget to subsidize mortgage interest rates to support the mortgage market. This decision, two government sources told RBC, was made on February 2 at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. According to the publication's interlocutors, banks issuing mortgages will be compensated by 5-6 percentage points of the rate. It is assumed that the final rate for borrowers will be 13%.

Russian officials have blocked the website and social media accounts of Deti-404 (Children-404), an online community that unites LGBT youths, following charges that it propagates homosexuality and suicide among minors. The crackdown comes roughly a week after a regional court convicted Elena Klimova, Deti-404 ’s founder, of violating Russia’s ban on so-called “gay propaganda” in the vicinity of minors, fining her 50,000 rubles (about $720).

A resident of Vyazma, Svetlana Davydova, who was arrested on charges of treason, retracted her earlier testimony. This was announced by the new lawyer Davydova - Ivan Pavlov. According to Davydov, his client wrote a denial of all her earlier testimony, "because of distrust" of her previous lawyer.

Mosvodokanal reported that the reason for the appearance of an unpleasant smell in Moscow could be a one-time unauthorized discharge of pollutants into the sewer system. At the Kuryanovsk treatment facilities, an excess of indicators for oil products by 2-2.5 times was revealed. Unauthorized discharge occurred in the Western or Southwestern administrative district. Mosvodokanal began checking industrial enterprises that could be a source of pollution.

Surok Phil from the city of Panzatoni in Pennsylvania predicted a long winter in the United States. At the traditional annual ceremony held on February 2, Phil, getting out of the hole, saw his shadow. This, as it is believed, means that winter this year will last another six weeks. The accuracy of Fila’s predictions, according to the Accuweather weather service, is about 80%.

What do we know about the situation in Debaltseve Photo: Peter Shelomovsky / Demotix / Corbis / All Over Press The city of Debaltsevo (Donetsk region) has been for several days - the main point of confrontation in the east of Ukraine. Separatists are trying to surround the grouping of the Ukrainian army in the city, cutting its way to retreat - and, possibly, arrange a "boiler". Information from the front, as always in such cases, comes extremely contradictory.

AFK Sistema acquired from Severstal the former presidential residence near the village of Shuiskaya Chupa in Karelia. This was announced by the head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen. “We persuaded Vladimir Petrovich (Yevtushenkov, the head of AFK Sistema — approx. Meduza) to buy Shuiskaya Chupa. In "Shuiskaya Chupa", according to the governor, it is planned to create a health center. Hudilainen did not specify the amount of the deal.

Soldiers of the volunteer battalion "Aidar" staged a rally at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, demanding explanations about the rumors about the disbandment of the battalion. The protesters blocked Povitroflotsky Prospekt near the building of the Ministry of Defense and set fire to the tires, which were soon put out by the fire brigade. According to the Ukrainian News agency, about 50 battalion fighters gathered at the Ministry of Defense.

Rosneft opened an account in Chinese currency. According to the public procurement website, in January, Rosneft purchased services from a single supplier for opening and providing settlement and cash services for a bank account in Chinese yuan. On the same day, the company made another purchase also from the only provider of settlement accounts and settlement services in US dollars, euros, Chinese yuan, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars.