US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the need to destroy all the shelters and strongholds of the Taliban both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Otherwise, in both countries they will continue - as Gates put it - "deadly attacks of militants." In an article published in today's issue of the Pakistani newspaper The News, the head of the Pentagon writes that Pakistani Taliban are closely connected with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda.

US Presidential Assistant James Jones and Chairman of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces Admiral Mallen are heading to Moscow to continue negotiations on the conclusion of a strategic offensive weapons agreement (START). It is reported that negotiations will be held on January 21 and 22. They will be attended by assistant to the President of Russia Sergey Prikhodko and the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Nikolai Makarov.

The Moscow City Court will consider today complaints of the parties about the decision of the claim of the President of Chechnya against the human rights society "Memorial". In October, the Tver court of Moscow partially satisfied the lawsuit of Ramzan Kadyrov, deciding to recover 70 thousand rubles from the Memorial and its leader Oleg Orlov.

The Vikings would be surprised at the restraint of the speech of their descendants. The Scandinavian Vikings glorified themselves for centuries not only by military exploits, but also with desperate foul language. One of the striking examples is the Scandinavian "blaspheming songs", Nida.

Will the Minister Rashid Nurgaliev be able to reform the Ministry of Internal Affairs? They are discussing in the Press hour on Friday January 22 at 13 o’clock: Deputy Director of the Agency for Journalistic Investigations, Yevgeny Zashenkov and professor of St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Viktor Egorshin. Presenter: Victor Rezunkov.

What is worse, garbage or its burning? Activists of the Public Movement "Mytishchi against the garbage plant" offer Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, fulfilling the decisions of the Copenhagen Conference, to make an obligation to ban on the construction of garbage engineering plants in Russia.

Hockey. Regular NHL Championship Edmonton - Vancouver 2: 3 (in overtime) Montreal-St. Louis 3: 4 from (in overtime) New Jersey-Florida 2: 0

Independent, free schools are one of the goals outlined in the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly. However, the freedom of each school must be conquered independently, experts believe The problems of the modern Russian school, which has been in a state of modernization for some time, are today actively discussed by the public and the pedagogical community.

Irina Lagunina: Experts say that the best security system that people do not notice is the best. This is true, although sometimes a demonstration of strength and vigilance directly into the face and in the eyes also brings positive results. At least the amateur will be worn out. In addition, a too hidden security system has one very weak place-if a puncture happens somewhere, then people immediately have the impression that there was no system at all.

The total volume of the global economy will increase in 2010 by 2.7% - after a reduction by 2.2% in 2009. This is the last forecast of the World Bank. The volume of GDP of the United States will increase, according to the same forecasts, by 2.5%, the economy of the European Union - by 1%. For Russia, the World Bank experts predict 3.2%growth for 2010.

Biathlon. World Cup. 6th stage. Antholz-Anterselva (Italy) Individual race. Men. 20 km 1. Sergey Sednev (Ukraine) 2. Daniel Mesotich (Austria) 3. Alexis Bef (France) Maxim Chudov (Russia) took 7th place In the overall standings ahead of the Russian Evgeny Ustyugov

Anastasia Kirilenko In the comments on the articles on the futurologist with the ambiguous reputation of Maxim Kalashnikov , whose innovative proposals are considered in the government, readers ask: why is it so much time to devote to the searchlight? Probably, then, thanks to this story, one can understand who and how is engaged in innovation in modern Russia, and assume the result of this work.