On Wednesday, a court hearing was held on Wednesday in the case of the famous dissident Liuzovich, who was arrested on suspicion of incitement to overthrow the socialist system and state power in the country. Liu is known as a scientist and active critic of the government, who participated in 1989 in student demonstrations of protest on Tiananmen Square, reports Radio Liberty .

The collegium of the Supreme Court of Dagestan on Wednesday upheld the decision of the Derbent City Court of December 3, 2009, which canceled the election of the mayor of the city, which took place on a single voting day on October 11, ITAR-TASS reports. According to the election commission, the current mayor Felix Casiahmedov won the election. However, his opponents challenged this decision in the City Court of Derbent.

A 57-year-old citizen of Russia died in a car accident in Geneva, RIA Novosti reports, referring to a diplomatic source in Switzerland. It happened on Tuesday. According to preliminary information, the deceased is an employee of the UN Department, who, however, did not have a diplomatic status. At about 4:00 “BMW car with Geneva numbers, not slowing down, crossed two lanes of road marking, drove into the sidewalk on the left side of the road and crashed into a tree.

Sergei Ignatiev believes that the Russian economy will return to the pre-crisis level (the size of GDP in real terms) earlier than in three years, the business intelligence-gaze IFX.ru writes. “I see no obstacles that our economy reaches a pre -crisis level faster than three years,” Ignatiev said on Tuesday to journalists, noting that this could happen in one and a half to two years. “I think that in 2010 there will be more confident economic growth, maybe 5% and even more,” he said.

The parliamentary opposition of Georgia, outraged by the visit of President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsha to Turkey, demands to put the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as war criminals.

The worldwide overweight champion according to WBC, Ukrainian Vitaly Klitschko the next year wants to fight against the current winner of the WBA title British David Hay and against the former owner of this title of Nikolai Valuev. Moreover, the battle against the Russian boxer is more likely, since Hay first needs to meet with the obligatory contender John Ruise. "I will be interested in meeting both. And with the owner of the WBA Haye title, and, oddly enough, with the losing belt Valuev.

The international rating agency Standard & Poor's confirmed the long-term ratings of Moscow for obligations in foreign and national currency at the BBB level, Finmarket reports with reference to the agency’s press release. The prognosis of ratings is changed to "stable" with "negative". Despite the recent decrease, the financial indicators of Moscow remain high; It is expected that in the medium term, the city will have a relatively high current surplus and moderate debt level, S&P experts note.

Barack Obama signed a law on the US Ministry of Defense for the 2010 financial year . For the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, $ 128.3 billion will be allocated, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the White House press service. The defense budget in the final edition was adopted on December 19 by both chambers of Congress after a multi -month consideration. Compared to the budget of the 2009 financial year, it grew by 3.4%, amounting to 636.3 billion dollars. The budget approval was long.

The press service of the Microsoft Corporation announced that until January 11, 2010, software corrections will be issued that remove “controversial moments” from the Word textual editor software. According to representatives of the corporation, these functions are little used and their modification will not affect the large number of users.

Scientists from Sandia National Laboratory (USA) have created tiny photovoltaic cells - 14 to 20 micrometers thick and small in diameter. They are ten times thinner than conventional solar panels, but surpass them in many respects, MEMBRANA.ru reports with reference to Gizmag . The tiny particles of crystalline silicon, scientists say in a press release, are more efficient and cheaper than standard-sized batteries.

Of the five stock funds that showed the best profitability in the world over the past 10 years, four have earned in Russia. The most profitable was the Swedish Foundation East Capital Russia, who overtook the RTS index more than half, the newspaper Vedomosti writes. According to MorningStar, the leading world provider information on investment funds, from 2000 to December 15, 2009, East Capital Russia brought investors 1524% of income (in dollar equivalent).

Representatives of Jewish communities in Germany accuse Benedict XVI of "rewriting history." Tension is also felt in Rome, under the threat of visiting the pope of the Roman synagogue. This is reported today by Inopressa.ru with reference to the publication in the newspaper La Repubblica . The atmosphere of tension between European Jewish communities and the holy throne is growing due to the fact that the pontiff intends to speed up the process of pronouncing the Holy Pius XII.

The seven-time world champion in car racing in the Formula 1 class Michael Schumacher, apparently, returns to a large sport as a pilot of the Mercedes Grand Prix team. According to the German newspaper Bild , the Red Baron, which will turn 41 in January, at the beginning of this week put his signature under an annual contract and will return to the Royal Races the next season. The partner of Schumacher on the command should be his compatriot Niko Rosberg.

The Saudi journalist Nadin al-Budair published in the Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm an article, which calls for consolidating the woman’s right to have four husbands at the same time in Muslim legislation. The article caused conflicting assessments in the Arab press and can cause new disputes between Muslim traditionalists and reformers up to the trial in court, RIA Novosti reports.

Multiple world and European champion in separate exercises and team, world champion 2005 in the all-around rhythmic gymnastics, 22-year-old Olga Kapranova decided to complete his sports career. “Yes, Olya Kapranova decided to complete her career and is no longer preparing for the new season,” Irina Wiener confirmed in an interview with the whole sport agency. “She had significant reasons for that.