Egypt decided to close the Rafah border crossing on the border with the Gaza Strip from Thursday, RIA Novosti reports citing the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram. The decision to close the border was made after the transfer to both sides of the wounded Palestinians who suffered as a result of the Israeli military operation in the Palestinian enclave stopped. At the same time, the Egyptian authorities admit that, if necessary, in isolated cases, the border crossing may be opened in the future.

An elderly woman sits on the edge of a chair, looks at one point and quietly says: “What else could I do? After all, no one needs - neither the state, nor the family, nor herself. Old age is not life. The therapist she was sent to by her children after two suicide attempts sighs and doesn't know what to say. He doubts that the woman can be dissuaded from a third attempt. The federal program for helping the older generation has not been working for four years.

Letting artists stage operas has become a good thing - especially after the success of Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" by the famous video installer Bill Viola in the Paris Opera Bastille. Now the scandalous Russian artist Oleg Kulik has been entrusted with turning Claudio Monteverdi's baroque oratorio Vespers of the Virgin Mary into an opera - again at the Châtelet theater in Paris. The premiere took place on January 24th. Known as the Dog Man, Kulik has always shocked with bold decisions.

The Supreme State Council (SSC) of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, which will meet in Moscow on Tuesday by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Alexander Lukashenko, is expected to approve a joint Russian-Belarusian anti-crisis plan, presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.

The Russian government has asked Transneft's subsidiary, Transnefteprodukt, to calculate the possibility of creating a reserve of oil products in order to minimize the consequences of price fluctuations in the domestic market, Alexander Zlatnikov, Vice President of Transnefteprodukt, told reporters.

Belarus asked Russia for a new loan, the amount of which could amount to "several tens of billions of rubles," said Sergei Prikhodko, assistant to the president of the Russian Federation for foreign policy. “It was about additional requests from Belarus to receive additional resources, naturally on a return basis,” he said after the talks on Thursday. “We are talking about several tens of billions of rubles,” he added.

Iran, with the help of its launch vehicle, launched the first national satellite Omid (Hope) into near-Earth orbit, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday, citing Iranian TV. The launch is timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. The order to launch was given personally by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The research satellite was launched into orbit by the Safir-2 (Messenger) rocket designed by Iranian specialists.

Daria, a 27-year-old Muscovite, an advertising manager at a large media holding, had an abortion, persuaded her young man Semyon, temporarily unemployed. The failed father explained it simply: “What kind of children are there when there is a crisis in the yard? To feed yourself." The girl did not argue for a long time: firstly, she was also threatened to be sent on an indefinite unpaid leave, and, secondly, she was afraid of a break in relations.

In Belarus, the devaluation caused a rush of demand - to get rid of the national currency, people took all imported goods off the shelves (see Newsweek No. 5, 2009). In Russia, the picture is different: the ruble is weakening, but there is no hype in stores - even discounts and bonuses do not attract buyers. Of course, in Belarus, the devaluation was rapid, and everyone got scared.

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3 Lulin) is approaching the Earth, and by the end of February its brightness will reach its maximum - outside the cities the comet can be seen with the naked eye. In the photographs, the comet shows two tails, however, as Vladimir Surdin, a senior researcher at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of Moscow State University, explained to RIA Novosti, this is nothing more than an illusion.

**Anastasia Kuzmina especially for runewsweek.ru** The Museum of Modern Art hosts the exhibition of Angel Orenzanz "Weightlessness". The name fully reflects the atmosphere of this exposition, the visitor finds himself as if in a dream, where no laws and restrictions of reality apply. During his long career, Orensanz gained fame in the United States and Europe, and his work reached Russia only a few years ago. Weightlessness combines many of the genres in which this artist works.

Breast cancer plagued the family of Briton John (not his real name) for three generations. Women fell ill with it, not having time to live up to 30 years. “Treatment is terribly difficult, and it doesn’t save everyone,” says John’s mother. - I underwent a year course of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. I will remember this forever." However, a lot has changed in medicine in three generations.

The International Court of Justice will rule on the border dispute between Ukraine and Romania on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reports citing the press service of the court.

Residents of the Earth during February 3 and 4 can see fireballs in the sky: parts of two American rockets once launched into space will enter the atmosphere of the planet - the Centaur upper stage weighing two tons and the second stage of the Delta III rocket weighing 2.5 tons, RIA reports. News with reference to the American Space Debris Research Center.

It was not easy to get through to Alexander Glukhov. Shota Utiashvili, spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, told Newsweek on Tuesday evening that a Russian sergeant who fled to Georgia had gone to the movies and was unable to speak. The next day, Glukhov went to McDonald's. After that, he gave several interviews and explained that one of the reasons for the escape was the difficult conditions of service, and specifically the lack of a bathhouse in the military unit.