On December 12, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky published an article “The Battle of Yeltsin: How Can We Learn the Lessons of Our Own History”, in which he supported film director Nikita Mikhalkov, who criticized the Yeltsin Center.

Real Madrid and Portugal player Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or as the best player of the year according to France Football magazine. France Football Ronaldo received the Golden Ball for the fourth time. In 2013 and 2014, he received this award as the best player in the world according to FIFA (in these years the award was combined with the FIFA Player of the Year award). The Ballon d'Or was established in 1956 by France Football magazine as an award for the best player in Europe.

Update : Protocols were drawn up against the participants of the action regarding violation of the procedure for holding a public event. By 02:00 Moscow time, all detainees, according to OVD-Info , were released from the police. In Moscow, police detained 15 people on Gorbaty Bridge near the Russian government building who had come there to read aloud the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The detainees reported this to OVD-Info. At first, 13 people were detained.

The New York Times - about the main candidate for the post of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Photo: Kristoffer TripPlaar / Alamy / Vida Press A month after the US presidential election, the key member of the Donald Trump team is still not determined - a Secretary of State responsible for foreign policy.

A 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft was sold for 692 billion rubles in accordance with a new government directive that canceled the previous price of 710.8 billion. This is stated in the message of the Federal Property Management Agency. The directive with the package price of 692.39 billion was adopted on December 7 (on the same day the sale of shares to a foreign consortium was announced).

The Islamic State terrorist organization handed over the body of Alexander Prokhorenko, a special forces soldier who died in Syria in March 2016, in exchange for six captured militants. This is reported by Gazeta.Ru with reference to an unnamed representative of the Syrian Kurds. According to the publication, after the death of Prokhorenko, Russia asked the leadership of the Kurdish "People's Self-Defense Units" (YPG) to assist in the extradition of his body.

How is the attack on the largest city of IG and what is happening with its inhabitants. Photo report by Maria Turchchenkova In October 2016, a battle for Mosul began in Iraq - a military operation to liberate the city from the militants of the Islamic State. Mosul is the largest city under the control of IG. The offensive on the city is carried out by the forces of the Iraqi army and the Kurdish detachments with the support of the international coalition led by the United States.

"Medusa" studied the article on the influence of "big data" on the elections and says that it is wrong with it Photo: Drew Angeerer / Getty Images / AFP / Scanpix / Leta In early December, the Swiss edition of Das Magazin published an investigation dedicated to the role of “big data” in the victory of Donald Trump in the US election. It caused a great resonance: some readers willingly believe in the effectiveness of the so -called psychological micro -turreting, others doubt it.

Photo: Evgeny Pavlenko / Kommersant building of the European University in St. Petersburg Rosobrnadzor stopped the license of the European University in St. Petersburg (EU)-one of the main non-state universities of the country. The university did not comply with the regulations issued by the supervisory authorities. Until December 14, EU should transfer his students to other educational institutions.

The U.S. District Court on December 12 dismissed a demand for a recount in the Pennsylvania presidential election filed by the Green Party. The court decision states that there are at least six grounds for rejecting the application.

How students were checked at interviews in Amazon Photo: proctoro / vimeo Amazon has a reputation for not the best place to work. In 2015, former employees of the company said that many even crying at workplaces there. In December 2016, two developers, who at the same time tried to get a job in Amazon, were convinced that the company was not soft for future employees.

Andrey Zakhtey, a defendant in the case of preparing terrorist attacks in Crimea, wrote a statement to the Investigative Committee about torture by FSB officers. This was reported by Mediazona with reference to his lawyer Ilnur Sharapov. In a statement, Zakhtey says that he was detained by FSB officers on the night of August 7 in the village of Suvorovo (he earned a private cab and came there to pick up passengers).

Indian scientists have discovered a new species of spider called Eriovixia gryffindori, after the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter. And all because it has an unusual shape: the spider looks like a brown pointed hat. This allows him to pretend to be a dry leaf and hide from predators. As one of the scientists said , he was very fond of the Harry Potter books when he was a teenager. “When we discovered this tiny spider, I thought about the Sorting Hat,” said Javed Ahmed.

At a reception in the Kremlin on December 9, they noticed Dmitry Utkin, known by the call sign Wagner, the commander of Russian mercenaries who, according to journalists, fought in the Donbass and Syria. The reception was timed to coincide with the memorable date of the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland.

Photo: Marco Longari / AFP / Scanpix / Leta In Gambia, in early December, presidential elections were held, at which, with an advantage of a little more than three percent, the opposition candidate Adam Barrow won. The current leader of Yaa Jamme, ruling in 1994, suffered an unexpected defeat - and, even more unexpected for this African country, recognized him and decided to peacefully transfer power to the winner. This is first.