On January 2, 2012, it became known that Germany President Christian Wulf tried to stop the scandalous publication about him in Bild and even threatened the chief editor of the newspaper. A little later it turned out, writes Deutsche Welle that in the summer of 2011, the president tried to stop the article telling about his childhood and about his half -sister, with whom he has not maintained contacts for many years.

Criticism and publicist Benedict Sarnov turned 85 years old. He was congratulated on the anniversary of the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana Medvedeva. "You devoted your life to the study of the creative heritage of Russian writers of the 20th century. Your books and journalistic works are popular not only among specialists, but also with a wide range of readers," the telegram says. Benedict Mikhailovich Sarnov was born on January 4, 1927 in Moscow.

Japanese investment bank Nomura has released an assessment of the major geopolitical risks facing the world in 2012. The Global FX Outlook 2012 report lists 10 geopolitical issues that will move markets in the new year. Among them are the presidential elections in Russia and Vladimir Putin’s new course, the threat of the collapse of the eurozone and a possible repeated downgrade of the credit rating of the United States, RBC reports .

According to the experts of the Main Space Intelligence Center, the falling of fragments of the Fobos-Gront spacecraft can occur on January 15, Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin, official representative of the press service and information of the Russian Aerospace Defense Troops, told Interfax . "As of Wednesday morning, the fall of fragments of the Fobos Grunct apparatus is expected on January 15, 2012. The final date of their fall may change under the influence of external factors," Zolotukhin said.

The coordinator of the Left Front movement, Sergei Udaltsov, was released from the Nagatinsky Zaton police department, he was met by several dozen supporters and civil activists, Radio Liberty reports. On the Internet there was a live broadcast of this event on the website of Novaya Gazeta. On Wednesday afternoon, Udaltsov was discharged from the hospital, where he was after the cessation of the dry hunger strike he declared. All days of arrest, the opposition was in the hospital in custody.

An earthquake of magnitude 4.8 on Wednesday occurred in Tuva, there is no information about destruction and victims, the geophysical service of the SB RAS reports. The epicenter was in the Kaa -Khemsky district - 51.73 latitude and 96.30 longitude, time according to Greenwich 13.08 (17.08 Moscow time). The regional GUMChS reports that the earthquake is registered at 21.05 (17.05 Moscow time).

Maniac Andrei Kudla, who terrorized the city of oil workers for three years, was strangled after the New Year in the psychiatric hospital where the court was placed, the Omsk-Press agency reports. On January 2, the former turner of the Baranov factory named after Baranov Andrei Kudla tried to leave the medical institution in the Omsk Psychiatric Hospital. At six in the morning, Kudla went to the nurse and said that he was going home to celebrate New Year's holidays.

The tiger from the visiting zoo "Liger" on Wednesday attacked a three -year -old child in the Amur Region, a representative of the regional EMERCOM Raisa Kopyrina told RIA Novosti . The child somehow went into the cage to the predator. Suddenly, the tiger attacked the baby and hit him on his head with his paw. The child delivered a neurosurgical department of the Amur Regional Clinical Hospital of the city of Blagoveshchensk. He has an open head injury and torn body wounds.

The former first deputy prosecutor of the Moscow Region, Alexander Ignatenko, who was detained by the Polish special services, accused in the "gambling case" and put on the international wanted list, was arrested on Wednesday by decision of the District Court in the Polish city of the New Sonch, the head of the press service of the court of Lucin Francak told RIA Novosti . "The district court in the new Sonch decided to temporarily arrest the Russian citizen Alexander I.

The Russian youth team in hockey has become the finalist of the World Cup among players not older than 20 years old. In the semifinals, the Russians defeated the owners of the tournament, peers from the Canadian team - 6: 5. At the same time, Canadians inferior with a score of 1: 6, but they were able to throw four goals in a row and almost saved the meeting. In the final match, which will be held on January 6, the Russian youth team will play with Sweden.

In one of the military units of Yekaterinburg, on the night of January 1, the body of a military service soldier was discovered, Interfax was told in the prosecutor's office of the Central Military District (CVO). In the IC of Russia, they added that the soldier was found "hanging on a water pipeline in a loop made of a waist belt." Life News reports that the deceased - 22 -year -old Andrei Tyuzov served in military unit 61423 in Yekaterinburg for only six months.

The police in Browsville (Texas) shot an 8-grader who waving a gun at school. According to Brownsville Herald , and the school’s focus noticed that the student brought a weapon to school and called the police. It is still unknown whether he managed to use weapons, but the 7-grader, 12-year-old Miguel Grimaldo, who was at the school at the time of the incident, told Assotiated Press that he had heard three shots. The policeman saw a schoolboy in the lobby and shot.

19 sailors who were aboard the Irina emergency refrigerator are climbed on Wednesday morning on board the Tatarstan refrigerator who came to the rescue. This was reported by RIA Novosti in the press service of the Far Eastern Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia. At the Vladivostok vessel "Irina" the engine stalled, the steering was spoiled and the flow appeared.