The US Treasury announced the imposition of sanctions against the Venezuelan state oil and gas company PDVSA and the freezing of the company's assets in the amount of $7 billion. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin noted that the sanctions would be lifted in the event of a transfer of power in the country to an interim president or democratic elections. PDVSA is a wholly state-owned company. Its revenues make up a significant part of Venezuela's budget revenues.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that from February 1, the minimum wage in the country will be increased by 11% - from 586 to 650 euros. According to authorities, this measure will affect about 600,000 people. In the last decade, the Greek economy has experienced serious difficulties, the country was saved several times from default only by emergency assistance from international creditors.

In Moscow, a 15-year-old teenager who was hospitalized a few days ago with burns to 98% of his body died in the hospital. The Investigative Committee announced the arrest of a 16-year-old minor who was with the victim at the time of the incident. The teenager received burns on the evening of January 24 as a result of an incident at the entrance of a house on Berzarina Street. According to a TASS source, the victim said that he was doused with liquid and set on fire by unknown persons.

In Yekaterinburg, member of the State Emergency Committee Alexander Tizyakov died. He was 92 years old. In 1991, during the State Emergency Committee's speech, Tizyakov was the president of the Association of State Enterprises and Facilities of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR. Like other members of the State Emergency Committee, Tizyakov was accused of treason and was amnestied in 1994.

The number of victims of the riots in Venezuela, continuing over the past week, has reached 35 people. This was reported by the local human rights organization Observatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad Social. The loss of life was recorded in ten regions of the country. Most of the dead - ten people - in Caracas. during the demonstrations .

Dmitry Feoktistov / TASS / Vida Press On January 25, the Ministry of Economic Development reported that the Russian economy at the end of 2018 increased by 2%. “What we have achieved over the past few years is progressive and stable growth,” said the head of the department Maxim Oreshkin. For the ministry, these were the first good news about the forecast for GDP over the past six months. The agency began 2018 with a forecast of 2.1%, but then twice adjusted it.

On January 28, the police detained the suspect in the abduction of the picture of Arkhip Kuindzhi “Ai-Petri. Crimea". The canvas was taken out of the Tretyakov Gallery the day before. The theft was unusual: the thief simply took the picture from the wall in front of other visitors to the museum and left. Medusa recalled other strange cases of abduction of works of art. Spoiler: Not all stolen works were returned.

The captain of the Russian seiner "Nord" Vladimir Gorbenko, who was detained in March 2018, is missing, his lawyers said. According to lawyer Maxim Mogilnitsky, Gorbenko left the house on Saturday afternoon, since then his whereabouts are unknown, he did not contact his relatives. Another lawyer for Gorbenko, Dmitry Shcherbina, said that relatives had reported the disappearance to the Melitopol police. The same appeal was filed by Gorbenko's lawyers in Kyiv.

Mikhail Japaridze / TASS / Scanpix / Leta Police officers at the entrance to the Tretyakov Gallery after the theft After the theft of the picture, Kuindzhi Tretyakov Gallery will strengthen security measures . In the near future, all the paintings of the museum at temporary exhibitions will be equipped with electronic security sensors, the Ministry of Culture said.

@chtozaimya on Twitter Cartons containing nine eggs each. On January 8, a photograph of a carton with nine eggs was published on the Russian social portal Pikabu. Russian eggs are usually sold in groups of 10; selling nine eggs at a time would be like selling a carton of 11 in the United States.

Politician Alexei Navalny filed a lawsuit against the Moscow Chamber of Advocates demanding that it punish the lawyer assigned to him when considering the application of the Federal Penitentiary Service to extend the probationary period in the Kirovles case.

On January 26, it became known about the death of the Selezny Kryakva, who was called the most lonely duck in the world. Trevor lived on the small island of Niue in the Pacific Ocean-2400 kilometers northeast of New Zealand. He was named so in honor of the speaker of the Parliament of New Zealand , Trevor Mallard . Trevor was the only craft on the island. No one knows exactly how the bird turned out to be there, but it is believed that it was brought there during a storm about a year ago.

Your Browser Does Not Support the Audio Element. A bouquet of flowers in another time zone, a full refrigerator without your participation. Why do you need a service of personal assistants The leading podcast “Two at the price of one” Sasha Polivanov and Ilya Krasilchik discuss who the personal assistants are and whether they are needed in ordinary life.

Tesla founder Elon Musk is known for his love of memes and anime . This time he went even further - and published a photo of himself with a flamethrower in his hands (the frame resembles Hollywood action movie posters). In the caption to the picture, Musk offered to conduct a Meme Review - this is the transfer of the most popular YouTuber in the world, PewDiePie. In it, the blogger makes reviews of fresh memes. Of course, the photo of the Mask itself has become a meme. Again!

Roskomnadzor is checking Procter & Gamble and Burger King for compliance with the law on the localization of personal data of Russians in the Russian Federation. This was announced by the acting deputy head of the department Yuri Kontemirov. The inspection is planned, Kontemirov stressed, adding that its results will be known in the second half of February.