The constant representative office of the Russian Federation at the UN requires the dismissal of two employees of the Reuters news agency for an article regarding the Russian employee of the joint mission of the UN and the African Union in Darfur (Yunumid). The Permanent Protection calls the material a "model of dirty journalism" and insists that its author Louis Sharbono, as well as the editor, be dismissed for distortion of facts.

25 years ago, on December 17, 1989, the first issue of the cult animated series "Simpsons", which became the longest in the history of American cinema (more than 550 episodes), as well as a series with the largest number of star guests, was released on the FOX channel. During the existence of the sitcom, more than 500 famous personalities who voiced either animated themselves or specially invented by the characters participated in it as invited celebrities.

The beginning of this week for visitors to the Walmart supermarket, located in the city of Charlotte in North Carolin, began with an unusual adventure. On Monday, December 15, a forest deer wandered into the store. The appearance of the animal caused considerable excitement, both among workers and among buyers. After a short chase, the deer was caught at the store, laid on the floor and immobilized.

Elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation will be held according to the mixed system. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the relevant law at the beginning of 2014. Now, to participate in the elections, new parties will have to collect signatures of at least 200 thousand voters.

The investigating authorities of the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Moscow completed an investigation into a high-profile criminal case against the accused of rape of athlete Alexander Emelianenko, the press service of the IC of the Russian Federation reports.

The Pentagon confirmed the increase in the Russian borders of the US military presence, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the representative of the American defense department. Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Colonel General Viktor Bondarev, said that the information in the media about the increased activity of the Russian army was published to divert attention from the increase in NATO forces near the Russian border.

Hong Kong and New York in the third quarter of 2014 headed the rating of the world's most expensive trade real estate markets, Moscow took the eighth line, the CBRA consulting company said. "Hong Kong (4.327 thousand dollars per square foot (0.929 square meters - ed.) Per year) left far behind him New York (3.57 thousand dollars per square foot per year). Moscow in this ranking was in 8th place (706 dollars)," the Novosti quoted RIA Novosti .

On December 17, US President Barack Obama made a historical statement: the American leader admitted that the sanctions against Cuba did not bring results, and therefore the White House decided to radically revise relations with the Cuban authorities. Now the United States intends to build a political dialogue with an island state in a new way. "Today, the United States is changing relations with the people of Cuba.

The Mars -Road of the American aerospace agency NASA Curiosity discovered the carbon -containing molecules in samples extracted from ancient stone, researchers said on Tuesday. Gas methane particles are also found, which is associated with the activity of microorganisms on Earth.

The Olympic Committee of the United States confirmed the intention to nominate one of the cities for holding the 2024 Summer Olympics, the committee’s official website reports. Four American cities-Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington nominated their candidates for the right to accept games. The committee will make the final decision on the Candidate city after next year. The application for the summer Olympics of 2024 in Rome will also submit Italy.

It is not necessary to introduce rigid regulation of the foreign exchange market in Russia, decisions should be based on market mechanisms, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting with the participation of the government’s economic bloc, the Central Bank and the leaders of the country's largest companies. The prime minister suggested "as quickly as possible" to put things in order in the foreign exchange market.

World banks, after the “shock devaluation” of the ruble that happened this week, began to turn off operations related to ruble instruments or with Russian counterparties. About this, according to Inopressa.ru , writes the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal . Large western financial institutions began to introduce restrictions on ruble operations this week. They take these steps in order to protect themselves from further fluctuations in the ruble.

The Adler District Court of Sochi of the Krasnodar Territory sentenced the 39-year-old local resident Martiros Demerchyan . He was found guilty of false denunciation of law enforcement officers. Demerchyan worked at the Olympic construction site, and once after the "conversation" with the operatives in the police station he was taken to the hospital with serious injuries of internal organs. The victim claimed that the police raped him with a crowbar.

Roscosmos and children's camp "Artek" will jointly popularize the astronautics and develop additional education in the field of space. This was announced on Wednesday by the head of the Federal Space Agency Oleg Ostapenko, who signed an agreement on cooperation with the General Director of the Artek MDC.

The judicial authorities of the Cambodian province of Sianuquille issued an order to Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky, according to which he is obliged to leave the private island of Ko-Dek-Kul, where he lives at present. This was reported on Wednesday by The Cambodia Daily newspaper. The publication clarifies that this decision was made at the request of the former business partner of Polonsky Nikolai Doroshenko, who also claims to be the island.