Washington will not support Russia's initiative to create an independent UN mechanism to investigate chemical attacks in Syria, US Permanent Representative to the world body Nikki Haley said. The text of her speech was published on the mission's website. "We will not accept any Russian proposal that undermines our ability to get to the truth or politicizes what should be independent and impartial," Haley said.

Banks report a significant increase in credit cards issued to citizens last year. But almost a quarter of these credit cards are not used by clients at all and are not even activated. The share of issued credit cards (excluding those issued to replace old ones) that were never activated by the client was 24% in 2017, the Equifax credit history bureau told Vedomosti. BKI specialists analyzed the credit histories of 66.5 million people.

2017 can definitely be called the year of the world of digital currencies: all cryptocurrencies together (there are already about 1,500 of them) were approaching $800 billion in capitalization, and Bitcoin crossed the $300 billion mark. But the beginning of 2018 became a cold shower for investors in cryptocurrencies, which fell significantly in price (however, there were serious falls before, and Bitcoin not only recovered, but then grew by an order of magnitude).

The fight against extremism is becoming a universal tool: following the politically “infidel” citizens, feature films are becoming victims of settling scores – in fact, we are talking about a new tool of censorship. The controversy surrounding the sudden postponement and then sudden return of the children's film about Paddington Bear to cinemas had barely died down when a new scandal broke out.

Rostelecom , together with the special services, is preparing to repel possible cyber attacks on the video surveillance system on the day of the presidential elections. This was stated by the company's president Mikhail Oseevsky, TASS reports . "Of course, we are preparing for possible incidents on March 18," Oseevsky noted. According to him, there is "no doubt" that all attacks will be repelled. Presidential elections will be held in Russia on March 18.

January 24, 2018, 08:50 / Business / News RBC learned about Putin's support for the idea to transfer hazardous waste disposal to Rosatom undefined Vedomosti Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the idea of ​​the Ministry of Natural Resources to appoint Rosatom as the federal operator for the disposal of hazardous waste of the first and second hazard classes.

The difference between the prices of new housing in the cheapest areas within the boundaries of old Moscow and the average market prices is gradually decreasing. This is the conclusion reached by experts from the company "Miel-new buildings" after calculating the dynamics of changes in average weighted prices in the ten cheapest areas of Moscow over the past two years.

On the second half of Wednesday, January 24, Volga received a written notice from the Ministry of Culture about the revocation of the distribution certificate for the film The Death of Stalin, a representative of the film company (it was supposed to distribute this film in Russia) told Vedomosti. Volga began notifying movie theaters about the cancellation of the film's screening, he added. "The Death of Stalin" is a satirical comedy by British director Armando Iannucci.

Sberbank's virtual mobile operator "Let's Talk" is coming to Moscow. It offers the first 10,000 subscribers 1,500 minutes of calls and 20 GB of mobile Internet for 499 rubles per month. The offer is very good - similar packages from regular mobile operators (i.e. those who have their own networks) cost somewhere from 800 rubles. Those who do not receive SIM cards with the promotional tariff may receive 50 minutes and 500 MB per month from Sberbank for free.

Following their meeting in Kiev, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker expressed concern over the "lack of progress in Russia's implementation of the provisions of the Minsk agreements in the security sphere." This was stated in a statement by the press service of the Ukrainian president.

January 24, 2018, 18:49 / Economy / Photo Photo.

Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who oversees the fuel and energy complex in the government, considers Alexander Novak to be the best energy minister in the world, TASS reports. Dvorkovich said this at a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Our best energy minister in the world... I can say with confidence that this man brings in a significant portion of the income of the Russian Federation,” he explained. The Davos Forum is held from January 23 to 26.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a resolution "On the humanitarian consequences of the war in Ukraine". The document, in particular, urges Russia to "cease all financial and military support for illegal armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions". PACE demands that Moscow implement its previous recommendations - "to end military aggression against Ukraine and restore its territorial integrity".

TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak, who plans to participate in the Russian presidential elections, intends to go to the United States in early February. One of the key points of the visit may be participation in the National Prayer Breakfast, where US President Donald Trump is also expected, the BBC Russian Service reports , citing sources in Sobchak's headquarters. The headquarters has not officially commented on this information.

Investors invested 4.06 billion euros in Russian commercial real estate in 2017, according to estimates from experts at Cushman & Wakefield. According to their data, last year's figure exceeds investment volumes in 2016 by 27%, although it is still a long way from the record investment level of 10 million euros achieved in 2013.