The UK House of Commons has passed a bill allowing the government to begin the process of leaving the European Union. 494 deputies voted in favor of the document, 122 voted against. The bill will now go to the House of Lords for consideration. In June 2016, the UK held a referendum to leave the EU. 52 percent of those who voted supported this proposal. In January 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not start the procedure without parliamentary approval.

TV journalist and coordinator of the Open Russia movement Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., who was hospitalized with symptoms of poisoning and was in a critical condition, came out of a coma. This was stated by his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov. “So far he cannot speak, but he communicates consciously by blinking his eyes,” the lawyer wrote on Facebook. Prokhorov stressed that Kara-Murza's condition remains grave.

Dmitry Pravikov, deputy head of the Information Security Center (CIB) of the FSB, is suspected of taking a bribe, Kommersant reports, citing sources. According to the newspaper, Dmitry Pravikov headed the information technology department at the CIB, which was engaged in technical expertise. The case against him is connected with “claims under some act that he signed, with a meager amount,” an unnamed top manager from the IT industry told Kommersant.

The governor of the Ryazan region, Oleg Kovalev, will resign in February 2017, Dozhd TV channel reports, citing sources close to the presidential administration. According to the channel, Kovalev's place will be taken by State Duma deputy from United Russia Nikolai Lyubimov, who previously worked as the vice-governor of the Kaluga region and the mayor of Kaluga. Lyubimov told Dozhd that he was not aware of his upcoming appointment.

Director Kirill Serebrennikov will make a film about Viktor Tsoi. This was announced by the film company Hype Film, which will produce the picture. The film will be set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, "when 18-year-old Viktor Tsoi is preparing and recording his first album." "He plays the bass guitar in the group" Palata N6 ", sings in trains and for the first time meets those who will play crucial roles in his life," the press release says. Who will play Viktor Tsoi is still unknown.

The ceremony of presenting the award "For fidelity to science", established in 2014 by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, took place in Moscow. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrey Zaliznyak, widely known for his work with Novgorod birch bark letters and as a critic of the “new chronology” of Anatoly Fomenko, won in the nomination “Popularizer of the Year”.

The EU Foreign Service issued a statement in which it called the verdict on Alexei Navalny in the second Kirovles trial "an attempt to silence another independent political voice in Russia." The statement also said that Navalny's sentence "virtually removes him from the political arena" and "raises serious questions about the fairness of the democratic process in Russia." On February 8, in the Leninsky District Court of Kirov, the review of the case on the embezzlement of Kirovles funds was

In Russia, they argue about homeopathy. The Russian Academy of Sciences called homeopathy a pseudoscience , but many people write: but homeopathy helps me. Based on the disputes on the Internet, the writer and TV presenter Tatyana Tolstaya wrote a Facebook post about science and pseudoscience.

Alexey Navalny and Peter Officers again received conditional terms in the Kirovles case. Report "Medusa" Photo: Evgeny Feldman On February 8, oppositionist Alexei Navalny was again found guilty of the Kirovles case. Politics, together with entrepreneur Peter Officer, sentenced respectively to five and four years conditionally and 500 thousand rubles of a fine. The verdict of Judge Alexei Vthirin almost literally repeated the text of 2013 - only the final part changed.

Maria Kruglaya from Moscow maintains an unusual Instagram account — the girl collects screenshots from Yandex.Maps with funny geographical names in Russian. Kruglyaya also collects toponyms in history. It turns out very funny. Krugly's Instagram is inspired by the sadtopographies project , which collects sad toponyms in English. sad lake death road

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) will officially propose to the Russian Biathlon Union to refuse to host the 2021 World Championships in Tyumen, IBU Vice President Viktor Maigurov said after an extraordinary congress of the organization. “If the RBU does not agree to give away the tournament, then the IBU will unilaterally take away this right,” he said.

Entrepreneur Andrey Palkin was elected a deputy from United Russia in 2016 and turned out to be the richest in the Duma. He made his fortune of one and a half billion rubles on the construction of inexpensive housing in the Arkhangelsk region. The declaration of the deputy found 59 apartments and 200 vehicles. According to the law, Palkin had to get rid of the business, but it was not easy.

The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) will continue to insist on the pseudoscience of homeopathy "until it puts things in order," said the organization's president, Vladimir Fortov. This is reported by the agency "Moscow". Fortov explained that "homeopathic medicines do not pass the required system of tests," while it takes "a lot of time, money, and so on" to launch a conventional drug on the market.

Rectors and students of St. Petersburg universities - about the appeal with a request to transfer the St. Isaac's Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church Photo: Alexey Danichev / Sputnik / Scanpix / Leta On February 7, a group of rectors of universities in St. Petersburg signed a letter in support of the transfer of the St. Isaac's Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church.

During an independent audit of the financial activities of the Russian Authors' Society (RAO) for 2016, signs of money being withdrawn using illegal schemes were revealed, the Vedomosti newspaper writes, citing the organization's new management. When checking payments for 295 million rubles, "signs of fictitiousness" were found in 75 percent of cases.