The elected US President Barack Obama announced his appointments to key posts in the US intelligence services. At the same time, he spoke about the importance of intelligence to ensure the security of the country, but stated that under him the activities of the special services will change somewhat: in particular, they will cease to use the torture that were practiced under President Bush.

Russia lost six cases in the European Court of Human Rights in the claims of the residents of Chechnya, who accused the Russian authorities of disappearance and death of their relatives in 2002. Now the state is obliged to pay the victims more than 700 thousand euros.

Due to the sharp cooling and reduction of Russian gas supply through the territory of Ukraine, a number of European countries are forced to use their own reserves for heating. On the territory of Ukraine, the authorities were forced to limit the supply of gas to industrial enterprises so that the fuel was enough for residents. “Naftogaz of Ukraine”, however, assured that it guarantees uninterrupted gas supplies for the population of Ukraine throughout the heating period.

Due to the accident at the heating main in the Central District of Volgograd, about 40 thousand inhabitants of the city were left without heat, "at 15:30 (Moscow time) on Friday in the area of ​​Zemlyansky Street ... Volgograd there was a breakthrough of the heating main. 223 residential multi-storey buildings are left without heat," the press service of the Southern Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergencies told Interfax .

The power structures of South Ossetia have information on the preparation of the Georgian side of a number of provocations regarding South Ossetian power structures and the Russian military contingent. This was reported on Friday by the State Committee on the information and press of South Ossetia. "The Georgian side is actively preparing to conduct a number of provocations against the Russian military contingent in RUO and the South Ossetian law enforcement agencies ...

Ukraine sold Russian gas to European consumers at a price high. According to BBC , Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made such charges on Friday. According to him, the difference settled in unknown structures. "Last year, when we supplied gas to Ukrainian consumers for $ 179.5, the Ukrainian consumer received the same gas at a price of $ 320 per thousand cubic meters," said the Russian leader at a meeting with the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller.

Two serious accidents involving regular buses occurred in different regions of Russia in two days. One of them occurred the day before in the Gryazinsky district of the Lipetsk region on the 21st kilometer of the Lipetsk-Gryazi highway. As a source in local law enforcement agencies said on Friday , the Mitsubishi car collided with a tangent with Ikarus, which was 41 passenger. As a result, the bus overturned to the ditch. Three passengers were hospitalized from the scene with injuries.

A group of international observers, created to control the transit of Russian gas throughout Ukraine, arrived in Kyiv and began work. In the work of the commission, on which the resumption of the transit of Russian gas to Europe depends, representatives of Gazprom, as well as European companies - consumers of Russian gas, should take part. So far, however, it is unclear whether the Russians are part of the commission, ITAR-TASS reports.

The Pentagon managed to strengthen measures to safely storage and move their nuclear warheads and restore the faith of the allies into the ability of the United States to effectively carry out nuclear deterrence. This, according to ITAR-TASS, said at a briefing for journalists, the former US Minister of Defense, the chairman of the Special Study of Storage Safety Storage Storage Supply, James Schlezinger.

In Azerbaijan, a man abducted a car that belonged to his own brother. The offender simply did not know that his relative had just acquired a new vehicle. Baku police managed in hot pursuit to reveal a curious crime in which his native brothers were the victim and accused, reports News-Azerbaijan . Currently, the professional hijacker Bagir Bayramov has been detained and is already exposed in several thefts.

A resident of Mexico won a competition among the victims of the hooking of officials, winning a prize of $ 22 thousand. The victory was brought to her by regular ordeals for seven various instances that issued the necessary permission to buy medicines. On Thursday, Mexican Cecilia Velazquez received a prize of 300 thousand pesos (22 thousand dollars) for the victory in the government competition to overcome the most odious and meaningless bureaucratic obstacles, AFP reports.

Israel will continue the military operation in the gas sector, despite the UN Security Council resolution , calling for an immediate truce. The country intends to take advantage of the "right to protect its citizens," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Missile shelling this morning against citizens in the south prove that the UN resolution is not applicable and will not be respected by Palestinian terrorist organizations," Olmert RIA Novosti quoted.

On Friday, the transit of Russian gas to Armenia through the territory of Georgia was stopped due to damage to the main gas pipeline. According to the Georgian authorities, the pipeline section in the Gardabansky district was damaged in four places. Corrosion on the gas pipeline led to a serious leak, "therefore, this morning we decided to disable gas supplies to Armenia," said Georgian Energy Minister Alexander Khetaguri.

In the Tula region in the city of Donskoy, as a result of an explosion of household gas in a residential building, one person died. Six more were injured. According to news agencies, a 100-year-old woman was killed. Under the rubble there may be another person.

The first black holes appeared in the universe, and only then galaxies formed around them, scientists say. A group of astrophysicists from the German University of Max Planck and the US National Observatory in Socorro made a similar answer to one of the most important issues of modern astronomy. Modern science established that in the center of most galaxies there are black holes - special cosmic objects with maximum internal gravity.