The Russian national ice hockey team defeated the US national team in the semifinal match of the Youth Ice Hockey World Championship. In the final, the Russian team will meet with Finland, who had previously beaten the Swedish team. The match ended with the score 2:1. American hockey player Christian Dvorak opened the scoring in the ninth minute. The Russian national team responded with two goals in the second period - Pavel Kraskovsky and Yegor Korshkov scored.

Real Madrid have sacked Rafael Benitez and appointed Zinedine Zidane in his place. Benitez worked in his post for only six months. During this period, Benitez managed to help Real Madrid advance in the Champions League, but the club fell behind the leaders in the Spanish Championship and lost to Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid's main rival in Spain. After 18 games in the Spanish Liga, Real Madrid are in third place with 37 points.

Moscow and St. Petersburg again led Russia in xenophobic hate crimes last year, according to a new report by the Sova Human Rights Center. In Sova's 2015 report on xenophobic hate crimes throughout Russia, the organization recorded 3 murders and 26 injured in Moscow, and 3 murders and 14 injured in St. Petersburg. There was also noticeable violence in Moscow oblast (5 injured), Samara oblast (3 injured), and Novosibirsk oblast (3 injured).

General Igor Sergun, the man in charge of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia's General Staff (known as the GRU) since 2011, died unexpectedly today at the age of 58. The public learned about the death in a telegram of condolences signed by Vladimir Putin, addressed to Sergun's relatives, published on the Kremlin's official website.

The Russian monopoly Gazprom has stopped buying gas from Turkmenistan. This was reported by the company "Turkmengaz".

The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, Igor Sergun, has died. This became known from a telegram with condolences, which were expressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the relatives of the deceased. The text of the telegram was published on the official website of the Kremlin.

A new conflict between the two main states of the Islamic world. Short Photo: Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA / Leta Saudi Arabia on January 3 announced the breakdown of diplomatic relations with Iran. The reason was the attack on her embassy in Tehran: the demonstrators set fire to the building of the diplomatic representation after the Shiite preacher Nimr al-Remyr was executed in Saudi Arabia.

Shiites arranged mass demonstrations against Saudi Arabia. Photo gallery Photo: Hasan Jamali / AP / Scnapix In many Muslim countries, on January 2, mass performances began against Saudi Arabia, where, on charges of incitement and the police resistance, the Shiite preacher Nimr al-Remyr was executed. The shares were held in Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Bahrain, as well as in the east of Saudi Arabia, where Shiites live.

Bahrain, following Saudi Arabia, severed diplomatic relations with Iran. Iranian diplomats were given 48 hours to leave the country. Saudi Arabia announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Iran on January 3. The reason was the attack on the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran. It was committed after Saudi Arabia executed Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The execution of al-Nimr sparked mass protests from the Shiites.

Turkey decided to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization and appeal to international courts in connection with the imposition of Russian sanctions and pressure on Turkish business in Russia. This was announced by the Minister of Economy of Turkey Mustafa Elitas. The minister claims that Turkish businessmen are being pressured in Russia to transfer their stakes in the business to Russian partners. “In trade, too, there must be a moral basis.

Mark Zuckerberg decided to create "simple artificial intelligence" to manage his home and organize his work more efficiently. The development of the system will be the personal task of the founder of Facebook for 2016. According to Zuckerberg, he will teach the computer to recognize speech in order to turn music and lights on and off in the house, as well as control the air temperature.

UBS bank predicts that in the first half of 2016, Brent oil will fall in price to $30 per barrel due to an excess supply in the market. Dominic Schneider, Head of Commodity Markets, said prices will stabilize in the second half of the year due to lower US oil production. At the auction on January 3-4, oil prices went up because of the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which was caused by the execution of a Shiite preacher convicted in Saudi Arabia for inciting unrest.

The Islamic State (an organization recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia and banned) has published a video of the murder of five hostages, whom the militants call "British spies." The hostages admit that they were carrying out reconnaissance missions at the behest of the British authorities. In the video, a masked gunman delivers a "message" to British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Archaeological results of 2015 Photo: Alper çuğun / Flickr (CC by-NC 2.0) In 2015, the world was shocked by the mass destruction of ancient monuments in the territory captured by the militants of the Islamic State (the organization was recognized as terrorist and prohibited in Russia).

Moscow police have released six activists detained at a picket in support of Kirill Barabash, a suspect in the People's Will Army case. Administrative protocols were drawn up against five detainees for violating the procedure for holding a public event. Another activist was released without drawing up a report. OVD-Info reports that at least one of the five protocols was drawn up under two parts of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code.