The head of the work on the creation of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, the physicist-physicist Abdul Kadir Khan was released on February 6 from house arrest. Recall that he has been under house arrest since 2004. It was reported that during the interrogations, Khan admitted to the transfer of nuclear secrets to Iran, DPRK, Libya and Malaysia. In June 2008, the scientist said that he was simply forced to speak with similar confessions.

Russia won the right to hold the European Beach Volleyball Championship in 2009. The corresponding decision was made on the Council of the European Confederation of Volleyball, whose headquarters are located in Luxembourg. According to ITAR-TASS, citing a source in the All-Russian Volleyball Federation , the continent championship will be held from September 16 to 20, 2009 in Sochi. It will take part in the 16 strongest male and female teams of the continent.

The disappearance of humanitarian aid in the Palestinian gas sector is a confiscation made by mistake. With such explanations, as ITAR-TASS reports, the Hamas movement made, promising to return the goods. This was stated today by the official representative of the Islamist Fausian Barkum. Recall that on Wednesday it became known that the Hamas police confiscated the UN warehouse in the gas sector of the blankets and food, which were intended for distributing the needleers of the enclave.

In St. Petersburg, for the fifth time, the theater festival "Five evenings", bearing the name of the outstanding playwright Alexander Volodin, opens. On the first evening, the Lysvensky Drama Theater will show the play "Dulsinea Tobos". The guests are provided with a scene of the Lensovet Theater, ITAR-TASS reports. It was in this theater that the People's Artist of the USSR Alice Freindlich shone in the role of Dulsinea.

The Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill on Friday removed the seals from the working offices of his predecessor Alexy II in two patriarchal residences in Moscow - in the Holy Danilov Monastery and Pure Lane. "His Holiness Cyril first entered the office of Alexy II ... to continue to work there as a new patriarch," the priest Vladimir Vigilyansky "Interfax-religion" quotes the head of the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Moscow District Military Court on Friday completed a judicial investigation in the case of the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. On this day, new unexpected details surfaced on the process. It turned out that the pistol from which Politkovskaya was killed previously appeared in another case - about the attempt to kill for a certain citizen Omarov in Dagestan.

Somali pirates agreed to free the Blue Star Egyptian Trading Complex for ransom. This was reported with reference to the statement of the shipowner by Reuters on Friday. “After the negotiations that lasted several days between the company and the pirates, consent to pay the ransom was paid,” RIA Novosti quotes the words of the representative of the company -owner of the vessel Abdel Rachman Avva.

From the "house of Sutyagin" in Arkhangelsk, the highest wooden structure on the planet, which was called the new miracle of the light, a pile of garbage remained. The 40-meter tower, built by a local entrepreneur in the early 90s, demolished, states "Channel One" . Over time, the building was dilapidated and began to pose a threat to neighbors. Last year, the Arkhangelsk court recognized the construction of the non -compliance with security standards and decided to demolish it.

Latvia, which is experiencing the strongest economic decline in the EU, may not be enough funds for the payment of unemployment benefits in 2009, a representative of the Ministry of Welfare of Ilon Yurshevsk told reporters on Friday. The level of unemployment in Latvia by the end of 2009 can grow to 14%, and the number of unemployed can reach 130 thousand people. In January 2009, the unemployment rate in Latvia was 8% or 87 thousand people. In total, 2.3 million people live in the republic.

The bill proving to tighten punishments for crimes related to pedophilia will be considered at the spring session of the State Duma. About this, Interfax reports, said the head of the Duma Committee on Legislation, Chairman of the Association of Russian Lawyers Pavel Krasheninnikov. "At present, two alternative bills have been introduced - from" United Russia "and the LDPR.

From Washington, Americans are waiting for actions proportional to shocks in everyday life - actions of urgent, courageous and wise, notes on the pages of The Washington Post, US President Barack Obama.

On Friday in Moscow, a draw was the draw of the tennis quarterfinals of the Federation Cup between the national teams of Russia and China. On Saturday at 14:00 Moscow time, the meeting on the courts of the Olympic will open Svetlana Kuznetsova and Yan Ji, and then the rackets will be crossed by Elena Dementieva and Zhang Shuai. On Sunday, the game day will begin at 13:00. In single matches, Dementiev will play with Yan, and Kuznetsov with Zhang.

The famous Hollywood actor Jude Law, who played more than one hero-lover, will appear in his new film in the image of a transvestite. The actor will put on a black dress, tights, a wig, will make up and will look like a supermodel Minx, writes Newsru Israel . The director of the film Rage is Sally Potter, who made films such as Orlando, the Man who Cried, Rage and others.

Presidential amendments to the Law "On Political Parties" were submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on Thursday. We are talking about proposals to reduce the party minimum necessary for registration of parties, as well as the rotation of the party leadership, reports Echo of Moscow .

In 2008, the Russian Federation lost more in the eyes of other peoples than any country in the world, BBC reports with reference to the results of an annual survey conducted by order of the television company. As follows from the results of a study conducted by analysts from Globescan , the number of supporters of the positive influence of Russia in the world decreased by 7% and amounted to 30%, while 42% regarded the role of the Russian Federation rather as a negative (in 2007 - 34%).