Animal farming has proven too harmful to humanity Ministers of the environment from 187 countries who gathered last week in Poznan, discussing issues of combating global warming, decided to pay special attention... to agriculture. Agriculture and transport are recognized as the main culprits of atmospheric pollution with greenhouse gases. Moreover, livestock farming accounts for 18% of all harmful emissions.

Kevin Lewis and Oded Aharonson, graduates of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), have shown that climate changes on Mars in ancient times were caused by changes in the planet's orbit and that exactly the same relationship could have occurred on Earth. In photographs of the Martian surface taken by the American Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists were able to see and measure layers of rocky formations in four craters located in the Arabian Land region.

Chemicals have a catastrophic effect on the stronger sex Scientists have dispelled the last doubts, if anyone still had them, - men are increasingly ceasing to be the stronger sex. The masculine gender is in danger. This is evidenced by an analysis of the results of more than 250 scientific studies conducted by the charity group ChemTrust. Scientists observed a variety of animals, ranging from fish, turtles, birds to polar bears and whales.

The Moscow City Duma approved the 2009 budget The Moscow City Duma yesterday approved the most modest budget since the 1998 default. Moreover, this forced frugality, apparently, was not easy for the drafters of Moscow’s main financial document. At least, as the head of the city’s finance department, Yuri Korostelev, noted with regret yesterday, Moscow is accustomed to pursuing an active investment and social policy.

Dmitry Medvedev launched the procedure for reformatting the Federation Council A bill on a new procedure for forming the Federation Council was submitted to the State Duma yesterday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. On December 5, in his first presidential address to the Federal Assembly, he first noted the need to change the system of appointing senators.

The European Union is seducing the countries of the former USSR The heads of state and government of the 27 European Union member countries will gather today in Brussels for a two-day summit. They will discuss ways to overcome the economic downturn, the fate of an ambitious climate change plan threatened by the financial crisis, and the prospects for ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU's essential constitutional framework.

New program of the Lithuanian government The new Prime Minister of Lithuania, Andrius Kubilius, began his work as head of government with a three-day working visit to Brussels, where a two-day EU summit opens today. Two days earlier, on December 9, Kubilius took the oath of office as head of the cabinet after the new Lithuanian Seimas approved the center-right government's program. It provides for decisive measures to reduce state budget expenditures in order to combat the financial crisis.

Security academics were suspected of discrediting the authorities The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (SC) yesterday, at the request of the Prosecutor General, decided to liquidate the all-Russian public organization “Academy of Security, Defense and Law Enforcement Problems” (ABOP). This structure had nothing to do with the Russian Academy of Sciences, but it established 73 types of orders, medals and award badges identical to state awards.

And this year the Triumph Award has found worthy laureates This year's Triumph Award, as almost always, was without discoveries, scandals or surprises. Every year at a press conference, Radio Liberty columnist Marina Timasheva asked the jury: “Why didn’t they give the prize to Boris Pokrovsky?” She achieved her goal, the oldest Russian director, the 96-year-old founder of the Triumph Chamber Musical Theater, finally received it.

Kovalev played an anniversary game Hockey. NHL. Regular season. “Philadelphia” – “Islanders” – 4:3, “Montreal” – “Calgary” – 4:1 – Kovalev “M” (0+2), Andrey Markov “M” (1+1) , “Nashville” – “Vancouver” – 1:3, “Colorado” – “Los Angeles” – 6:1 – Frolov “L” (0+1) . Russian Alexei Kovalev played the anniversary, 1100th game in the NHL regular championship, making two assists. As a result, his Montreal achieved a home victory over Calgary.

The state is ready to support insolvent mortgage borrowers From the beginning of next year, Russians who have lost their jobs should receive a deferment from paying interest on mortgage loans. This is the opinion of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who yesterday called on the government to settle all the necessary formalities as soon as possible. The Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending (AHML) will help unemployed citizens.

Russian Dreams in Miami In parallel with the world's largest contemporary art fair, Art Basel-Miami Beach, the Russian exhibition Russian Dreams opened at the Bass Museum in the resort city of Miami Beach. This is the third visit of Russian art to the prestigious fair. The most ambitious and noisy.

Vladimir Putin established an anti-crisis government Prime Minister Vladimir Putin began yesterday's government meeting with social care for citizens - he talked about the restructuring of mortgage loans and the availability of kindergartens, where compensation will now be not only for those citizens who use public preschool institutions, but also for those who prefer private ones . However, a sensation was soon born - Mr.

The Ministry of Health and Social Development threatens outdated pharmaceutical enterprises with new technical regulations Financial difficulties caused by the crisis will not save the Russian pharmaceutical industry from the need to transfer production to the international quality standard GMP (good manufactured practice). On the contrary, this transition will begin next year, and not in 2010, as previously planned.

Switzerland joined Schengen, but may leave Today at midnight, that is, from December 12, the Swiss Confederation, whose parliament just yesterday elected 66-year-old representative of the Radical Democratic Party Hans-Rudolf Merz as the new president of the country for 2009, is lifting controls on the borders with neighboring countries. The country is officially part of the Schengen zone, which covers 22 of the 27 EU countries, as well as Iceland and Norway.