The Council of Management of the American Film Academy decided to increase the number of nominees for the Oscar in the category of “Best Film of the Year” from seven to ten, which will make the laureate selection process more objective, reports The Los Angeles Times . According to the publication, the rules for choosing new members to the Academy may also change. Currently, the Council of Managers sends to potential members, famous actors and cinema figures, invitations to join the Academy.

The British actress Charlotte Rampling, nominated in 2016 at Oscar for the best female role (45 years), called the Boycott prize racist in relation to the White, reports The Guardian . “We will never know for sure, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve the final list,” commented the actress with the lack of African American among the Oscar nominees in acting and directorial categories.

US Secretary of Defense, Astton Carter, said that in the near future the American authorities will transfer to Iraq an elite 101st Airborne Division, which will fight against the Islamic State terrorist organization (IG, prohibited in Russia), Politico reports . “The soldiers of the glorified 101st division will be deployed in Iraq in the near future and will enter the battle against IG.

The socio-political movement “Open Russia”, created with the support of the ex-head of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky, launched the Open Elections project, whose purpose is to support candidates in the State Duma of the Russian Federation in single-mandate districts, Kommersant reports.

Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, accused of killing a family in the Armenian city of Gyumri, fully pleaded guilty in court in Armenia, RIA Novosti reports. On January 22, at a court hearing, the final part of the indictment was read out. To the question of the presiding judge, Permyakov said that he understands the essence and legal qualifications of the prosecution and he pleaded guilty in everything. Permyakov is charged with the commission of crimes under paragraph “a” of part 2 of Art.

The Council for Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation asked for the leadership of the Tretyakov Gallery and the Ministry of Culture to exhibition of the work of Valentin Serov, Interfax reports with reference to the deputy chairman of the HRC Evgeny Bobrov. Such a request is due to the fact that many people could not see the exhibition, which is closed on January 24.

In St. Petersburg, the flu epidemic was officially announced. This is stated in the resolution of Rospotrebnadzor signed on January 21. According to the agency, in the city the incidence of influenza has reached an epidemic level. The epidemic threshold for influenza and SARS in St. Petersburg was exceeded by almost 30% at the beginning of the week, but the epidemic in the city was not declared. Among adults, the excess was insignificant, basically it was noted among children 3-6 years old.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the Syrian leader Bashar Assad to resign, according to FT. According to the publication, the corresponding proposal was transferred to Assad by the head of the GRU Igor Sergun. It is noted that Sergun was sent to Syria a few weeks before his death. As FT writes, probably, it was about the fact that it was time for Assad to give way. The newspaper claims that the President of Syria angrily abandoned such a proposal.

The administration of the Primorsky Safari Park plans to place in the aviary next to the Tiger Amur and Kozl Timur of the Far Eastern leopard, but after the monthly quarantine passes, the Park press service reports. The two-year-old male, who arrived from the Prague Zoo, was the first of the predators that they plan to bring to the Safari Park. Safari Park is a member of the European program to reproduce the Far Eastern, or Amur, Leopard, in which a couple of leopard will appear in the zoosad.

On January 21, collapsed in relation to the American and European ones: the official dollar and euro rates set by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation immediately increased by almost 4 rubles.

US Secretary of State John Kerry stated during the Davos meeting that the sanctions imposed by the United States against Russia could be lifted for several months. Kerry’s statements comment on Bloomberg , look especially optimistic in the light of the fact that the US Department of Finance extended sanctions against Russia, no further than in December.

The head of the unregistered Party of Progress Alexei Navalny claims that during the organization and holding of a rally in Grozny in support of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and President Vladimir Putin, two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation were violated. Navalny expressed his opinion in the complaint that he filed on this occasion in the Russian Investigative Committee.

Marine biologist David Gruber and robotics Robert Wood solved the problem of collecting samples of corals and other sea creatures at great depths. Where acvalangists cannot penetrate, scientists use robots, but their previous models were too bulky and powerful, and their solid manipulators destroyed delicate corals. Gruber and Wood designed an underwater robot with soft fingers made of silicone rubber with fiberglass and Kevlar.

Grigory Gritsenko Oil processing plant Photo: Promreg.ru The pricing war in the global oil market, unleashed more than a year ago by the Arab OPEC countries, cannot yet achieve the goal that its organizers set to force other world oil producers, mainly Russia and the United States, and reduce its production and export.

The snow storm, which began on the evening of January 22, forced the American airline to cancel 2696 flights on Friday and 2901 flights planned for Saturday, it was said that the Flightaware website says. At the same time, according to the site, the number of canceled flights continues to increase: the weather forecast for the coming days is unfavorable: on January 22-23, with an ongoing storm, up to 60 cm of snow will fall.