Chris Allan / Shutterstock.com The United Methodist Church of the United States, the third Christian organization in this country in the number of believers, announced that in May 2020 a group of so -called “traditional methodologists” will leave it - opponents of recognition of same -sex marriages and the construction of representatives of LGBT to a priestly dignity. It is reported by The Washington Post with reference to the statement of the leaders of the church.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has updated his income statement for 2019. The document is posted on the website of the National Anti-Corruption Agency. It follows from the declaration that on December 27, the President of Ukraine received royalties in the amount of 4.8 million hryvnias (205.9 thousand dollars) from the Kvartal 95 studio, as well as 104 thousand hryvnias (4.3 thousand dollars) compensation for using the trademark.

Russian hockey player Ilya Kovalchuk signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens club. The contract, according to the NHL website, is for a year. Under the terms of the deal, Kovalchuk will receive $700,000 for NHL performances and $70,000 for AHL games. 36-year-old Ilya Kovalchuk is one of the most famous Russian hockey players. Over the years, he played for the Moscow "Spartak" and St. Petersburg SKA. Played in the NHL for the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, and Los Angeles Kings.

Beginning on January 1, Belarusian gas processing plants stopped receiving raw materials from Russia, Interfax reported. One facility told journalists that it was subsisting on gas that had been stockpiled in December. In the course of January 3, the company Belneftekhim told TASS that Belarus had temporarily stopped exporting petroleum products due to the shortage.

On January 3, as the Moscow Exchange opened for the first time in 2020, its index reached its highest point in history. By 1:30 PM local time, the index had grown to 3083.49 points. According to Kommersant , the index has grown primarily due to rising oil mining stocks. Stock analysists therefore linked the Moscow Exchange record to rising oil prices triggered by the U.S. assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian major general and leader of the Quds Force.

In Moscow, Sergei Zapolnov, a participant in a series of single-person pickets in support of the defendants in the “Network” case , has been detained, MBKh Media reports. The police approached Zapolnov, who was standing near the Griboyedov monument with a poster reading "Knock out teeth, get stars", said that the picket was prohibited and asked to show his documents. After Zapolnov refused to comply with the police's request, he was detained "to establish his identity".

Pyotr Kovalev / TASS / Scanpix / LETA Leningrad, a legendary Russian rock band founded in 1997, has appeared in the music festival Coachella’s 2020 lineup. Leningrad (or Ленинград, as the festival named it) is scheduled to perform in the third weekend of the festival (April 12 – 19) alongside Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey, Fatboy Slim, and others.

In the suburbs of Paris, Villejuif, the criminal attacked passers-by with a knife. The attacks were carried out around 2:00 pm local time in and around Haute-Bruyère Park. Four people were injured, according to BFM TV, one of the victims died. Le Figaro reports at least two injured, one of whom died from his wounds. RTL - about two wounded and one dead. The attacker was killed by the police who arrived on the scene. He was reportedly shot at least three times.

The box office of Russian cinema in 2019 amounted to 12.3 billion rubles, the share of films shot in the Russian Federation accounted for 23% of the total number of tickets sold. Such data, Interfax reports, was published by the press service of the Ministry of Culture. In 2018, the total box office of Russian films amounted to 13.8 billion rubles, and the share of viewers was 29%.

Eleven changes to Russian domestic policy that took effect on January 1, 2020

The Turkish parliament approved by a majority of votes a law providing for the dispatch of military personnel to Libya. The document was ratified by the president and published on Friday in the government gazette Resmi Gazete and thus entered into force. The Al-Arabiya TV channel, citing sources , reported that the first group of the Turkish military could go to Libya two days after the adoption of the relevant law.

The series “Witcher”, released on Netflix at the end of 2019, was remembered, among other things, a very binding song “Pay the Witcher with a minted coin”. She immediately became a meme . And now the “minted coin” is also Russian folk. The cover version of the song, which is performed by Bard Lutik in the series, recorded the Omsk Russian folk choir.

Petr Kovalev / TASS / Scanpix / Leta The Leningrad group is included in the number of participants in Soachella - one of the most famous music festivals in the world. A full list of musicians invited to Sochella in 2020 was published in the official Instagram of the festival. It is assumed that “Leningrad” (in Linap, the group was written by Cyrillic) will perform on April 12 and 19 along with Frank Osushen, Lana Del Rei, Fatboy Slim and others.

Universal Pictures The film “Cats” was released - film adaptation of the famous musical Andrew Lloyd Webber from director Tom Hoper. The picture shocked the audience before the exit when the trailer was published - the main characters played by Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Jason Darulo, Taylor Swift, Judy Danch and Ian McCelen, look frighteningly strange.

Handout / EPA / Scanpix / Leta Early on the morning of January 3, Iranian General Kasem Suleimani was killed in Baghdad. He died as a result of a missile and bombing, inflicted by the American Air Force in response to the blocking of the US Embassy in Iraq, of which Washington accused Iran. Suleimani was responsible for organizing Iranian armed operations abroad and was considered one of the most influential people in the power hierarchy of the Islamic Republic.