Biometric data of bank customers in Russia will be provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. This is provided for by the bill on the biometric system and the remote identification of citizens adopted by the State Duma in the second reading on December 15, the newspaper Vedomosti writes .

The Commissioner of the US Federal Election Commission Matthew Pitersen, whom President Donald Trump nominated for the position of district judge, withdrew his candidacy. He did this after he could not answer the hearing to basic questions rightfully, writes New York Times. Petersen had experience only by administrative law, and not in trial, he did not answer one question after another.

The video game market is the most dynamic and innovative part of the entertainment industry. For several years he has been competing with the film business in terms of income-the final winner is difficult to determine due to the lack of a general methodology for comparing the two spheres. In any case, the main game hits have long caught up with Hollywood blockbusters in the cost of production (hundreds of millions of dollars) and sales (sometimes more than a billion).

The Supreme Court softened the verdict to the former head of the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Countering of Corruption (GUEBIPK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Denis Svugrobov. This was reported by the RAPSI correspondent from the courtroom. Sugrobov was reduced by the term of imprisonment in a colony of strict regime from 22 to 12 years. The Moscow City Court sentenced Svugrobov to 22 years in prison in April 2017.

Researchers from Stanford University in the United States were able to successfully experience a device on mice that suppresses the activity of the brain that precedes impulsive behavior. The work is published in ProChedings of the National Academies of Sciences , its summary is given on the university’s website. The work studied the behavior of the adjacent core of the brain - this area is responsible, among other things, for the feeling of pleasure from thoughts about a possible reward.

Employees of ministries and state corporations practically stopped accepting New Year's gifts, especially in the form of baskets, after the case of the former Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev, convicted of a bribe from Rosneft. It is reported by The Bell. “The baskets are impossible at all, in any form, neither with food, nor with wine, nor even with flowers - they already shy away from them at the entrance,” the assistant to one of the ministers told the publication.

Hyperloop One set a capsule speed record for the Hyperloop transport system. According to Wired, the record was set last week. The tests took place at the Devloop training ground, which is located in the desert in Nevada. On a plot of 500 meters, the capsule accelerated to a speed of 387 kilometers per hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=uuduqnovkpry The previous Hyperloop One record was set in the summer when the capsule was dispersed to 310 kilometers per hour.

Estonia is going to become the world's first country to hold a national ICO. The country plans to release a token called Estcoin (Estcoin). This program should stimulate the development of electronic residency - a project according to which foreign citizens can create an Estonian company per day and manage it remotely. But how will this ICO work?

The US administration officially accused North Korea of ​​being responsible for the attack of the Wannacry virus, due to which hospitals, banks and computers in various institutions around the world suffered. Advisor to US President Donald Trump on internal security, Tom Boster wrote about this in his column for the newspaper Wall Street Journal. Bossort indicated that the widespread attack, behind which the DPRK costs, cost billions.

A sharp decline in industrial production in Russia in November 2017 affected the limited series of industries and is “local”. This is stated in the report of the Ministry of Economic Development "Picture of Industry", published on December 19. The materials noted that in the extractive sector the decline is associated with the unusually warm weather and the responsible fulfillment by Russia of obligations to restrict oil production as part of the OPEC agreement.

On December 18, the National Commission on Information Technologies and Freedom of France (CNIL) accused Facebook of illegal data exchange with the WhatsApp messenger. The regulator believes that the collection of “business analytics” leads to a violation of the French data protection law. The Cnil decision is a new turn in the conflict of social networks and the European authorities. The collection of "business analytics" reveals user data.

The Moscow authorities agreed on a rally for “honest and free elections”, outlined by the opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov on Sunday on December 24 on Academician Sakharov Avenue. This was announced by the head of the capital's regional security department, Vladimir Chernikov, Interfax reports.

Jaron Lanya. Photo: Arne Dedert / EPA Jaron Lanya is one of the creators of virtual reality technology. The VPL Research company, which he created in the 1980s, produced devices such as VR shit and a data glove. In the 90s, the company went bankrupt, Sun Microsystems bought its patents. Several founded startups were bought by Oracle, Adobe and Google. Since the mid-2000s, it has been working in Microsoft Research.

Last week, December 17, several American media talked about the UFO study program conducted by the Pentagon, and also showed two videos where the pilots haunt unidentified objects in the airspace. One of them gave an interview, the former head of the “secret” department of the American Ministry of Defense also talked with the press. Republic gathered all the main thing that the United States may be known about whether the UFO was visited by the land.

In December 1991, almost 75-year existence of the Soviet Union, which had obvious economic reasons, but perceived by many as a global catastrophe, was summed up in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. World history, including our country, knows many examples of the appearance and collapse of states that depend little on the behavior of elites or individual rulers. For example, the emergence and decay of Kievan Rus also had quite clear economic reasons, moreover, external.