Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Russian colleague Dmitry Medvedev Russian bloggers comment on the message of President Medvedev to the Federal Assembly, in which he gave generally a positive assessment of his rule, but proposed to conduct large -scale political reforms. The network authors loyal to the Kremlin noted that the presidents are not a response to civil protests, since the message was probably prepared for a very long time, and after December 10 did not change.

Victor Rezunkov: Tomorrow, December 24, in Moscow and in St. Petersburg, as well as in many other cities of the country, the opposition rallies will be held. I will not list the list of cities - it will take a lot of time. Those who wish to find out where and when protests are held, you can advise you to go to the Novaya Gazeta website, there is a list.

France urges Turkey to remain calm and not to inflate the diplomatic conflict that arose in connection with the approval of the lower house of the French parliament of the bill on criminal punishment for denying the fact of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan accused France of the massacres of the inhabitants of its then colony Algeria, saying that the French colonialists burned the Algerians in furnaces.

Vladimir Kara-Murza: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev submitted a bill to the state Duma on simplifying the registration of parties. In accordance with the document, since 2013, the minimum party number should be reduced from 45 thousand to 500 people. From the new law, the requirement for parties to have regional branches in half of the regions of Russia will be excluded. The number of signatures necessary for the president’s post is reduced.

A photo of a burned car, which is officially distributed by the Syrian agency Sana In Damascus, the number of victims of two explosions at the headquarters of the Syrian security services increased to forty. About 150 people were injured. Such information was provided by France Presse by the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Syria, Jihad McDissi.

Representative of Russia at the UN Vitaly Churkin Russia on Friday introduced the corrected version of the Syria resolution project in the UN Security Council. The representative of Germany at the UN Peter Wittig said that the document was not reflected in the requirements of Western countries in connection with bloodshed in Syria. Western countries advocate the introduction of sanctions against Syria, including the embargo for the supply of weapons.

Hockey. NHL. Regular championship "Los Angeles"-"Anahaim" 3: 2 (in a series of shootouts) "Kalgary" - "Detroit" 3: 2 "Winnipeg" - "Montreal" 4: 0 "Nashville" - "Columbus" 6: 5 "Ottawa" - "Florida" 4: 3 (in overtime) "New York Rangers"-"New York Ilanders" 4: 2 Toronto - "Buffalo" 3: 2 "Edmonton" - "Minnesota" 4: 1

In the north of Baikalia, the energy supply of 17 settlements with the exception of the city of Kirensk and the village of Makarovo has been restored today. It is reported by ITAR-TASS with reference to the Ministry of Emergencies. The energy supply of Kirensk and the Kirensky district was violated on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday as a result of emergency shutdown of the high -voltage power line. The main reason for the malfunction was the wear of the insulators.

What slogans will come to the rally on December 24, dissatisfied Petersburgers? We discuss with the leader of the St. Petersburg organization of the Movement "All -Russian Civil Front" (OGF) Olga Kournosova and journalist Vladimir Gryaznevich.

The United States condemned a series of terrorist attacks in Iraq, as a result of which at least 69 people died on Thursday. According to the White House, Vice President Joe Biden expressed to President Iraq Jalyal Talabani support in his desire to stabilize the situation in the country. It is still unclear who stood behind yesterday's 16th explosions in Baghdad.

Since December 26, the Central Bank of Russia reduces the refinancing rate by a quarter of the percentage point - to 8% per annum. This is the first decrease in the rate this year, earlier it, on the contrary, increased twice from the level of 7.75%. For comparison, the current base rate in the United States is installed in the range from zero to 0.25%, in Japan - from zero to 0.1%, and for 17 countries of the eurozone at 1%per annum.

In the capital of Syria Damascus, two mined cars were blown up by suicide bombers about two security headquarters. Syrian state television reported that Al-Qaeda was behind explosions. Syrian human rights activists, referring to eyewitnesses, report an intensive shootout after explosions.

In Colombia, at least 11 people were killed in the fuel pipeline on Friday, more than forty were injured. About 30 houses were destroyed in the district. The incident occurred in the department of Risarald, 170 kilometers southwest of the capital of the country of Bogota. The destroyed pipeline, through which gasoline and diesel fuel were transported, belongs to the Ecopetrol national oil company.