Leading Russian representatives of winter sports have reached the decisive stage of preparation for the 2010 White Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. One of those who is seen as a real contender for medals at the Games is Turin silver medalist luger Albert DEMCHENKO. Vremya Novostei correspondent Olga ERMOLINA spoke with him within the walls of the newly opened Sochi-2014 information center. -- Banners with your photo are already decorating Olympic Vancouver.

Russia and Bulgaria have returned to the idea of ​​energy partnership By the new year, Russian-Bulgarian energy cooperation, which after the change of government of the Balkan country in the summer found itself in a deep crisis, acquired accelerated dynamics. Yesterday, according to Bulgarian media, an unscheduled meeting took place in Moscow between Energy Ministers Sergei Shmatko and Traicho Traikov.

Chinese authorities yesterday criticized Western diplomats calling for the release of prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that “some countries or employees of their embassies have made so-called statements on this issue, which we consider as gross interference in China’s internal affairs.” In particular, the US Embassy made a similar appeal.

CONCERTS Tom Harrell (trumpet, USA) and Igor Butman (saxophone). House of Music , December 25, 19.00. “Bi-2”, Elka, Animal Jazz, Tokio, “Megapolis”, Tesla Boy. Maximum Happy Birthday Party. Milk , December 25, 19.00. "Kalinov Bridge". "XO" , December 25, 20.00. "Caste". “16 tons” , December 25, 21.00. Oceana (Germany). A mixture of jazz, funk, blues and reggae. “B1 Maximum” , December 25, 21.00. "Black Obelisk" "XO" , December 26, 18.00. Tatiana Zykina.

At the closing of the spielzeit'europa 2009 festival in Berlin they showed Impromptus by Sasha Waltz Although the greatest success at the spielzeit'europa was Pina Bausch's The Seven Deadly Sins (“sold out” was on the poster two months before the tour), and the biggest stir was caused by Sylvie Guillem in Lepage’s project, choreographer Sasha Waltz has no competition. As a guarantor of stability, relevance and, of course, a full hall, regardless of whether old or new work is shown in it.

The court declared illegal the refusal to initiate criminal proceedings against the senator's nephew The Tushinsky District Court of Moscow recently declared illegal the refusal to initiate a criminal case against the nephew of Federation Council member Aslambek Aslakhanov, MUR employee Mansur Aslakhanov. He is a victim in a scandalous case of abuse of power by employees of the Mitino police department.

Politicians about the results of the year Vremya Novostey correspondent Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA asked Russian politicians to sum up the results of the year. Oleg MOROZOV, first vice-speaker of the State Duma, deputy of the United Russia faction: -- As for the work of the Duma, the central place in the past year was occupied by anti-crisis activities jointly with the government.

The outgoing literary year was, in my opinion, not very successful. First of all, boring and monotonous. The authors, deservedly recognized (many years ago or more recently) by the public and critics, carefully published works in poetry and prose, ensuring the smooth operation of magazines and publishing houses. In turn, prizes were distributed. The decisions of the panels of judges did not cause any special storms.

Gasol will remain with the Lakers until 2014 Basketball. NBA. Regular season. "Orlando" - "Houston" - 102:87, "Detroit" - "Toronto" - 64:94, "Milwaukee" - "Washington" - 97:109, "San Antonio" - " Portland - 94:98, Phoenix - Oklahoma - 113:117, Miami - Utah - 80:70, New Jersey - Minnesota - 109: 103, “New Orleans” – “Golden State” – 108:102, “Denver” – “Atlanta” – 124:104, “Sacramento” – “Cleveland” – 104:117 (OT).

Dmitry Medvedev summed up the year Yesterday, Dmitry Medvedev summed up the results of the year live on three main federal TV channels - First, Rossiya and NTV. One of the main results was a fundamental change in the format of communication between the head of state and the population.

The construction of multi-storey parking lots in Moscow will take ten years The management of the Moscow construction complex has outlined new deadlines for the implementation of the notorious city program “People's Garage”. Deputy Mayor Vladimir Resin told reporters yesterday that it will take at least ten years to provide the entire city car park with parking spaces.

Year of Ingushetia in the North Caucasus President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov yesterday complained about the shortcomings of the judicial system, which make the fight against corruption extremely difficult. “There are no results,” the President of Ingushetia admitted in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The premium season will continue with the Golden Eagle As usual, film awards start with film critics. The White Elephant, the national film press awards, is the first to announce its winners. It is followed by “Golden Eagle”, and only then “Nika”. It happened that three awards celebrated the same people, but this year the clash promises to be serious. The film community has been divided for a long time, and now it has to separate itself.

On December 23, the UN Security Council, at the request of Uganda, imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea. She was accused of transferring weapons to Islamist groups in neighboring Somalia. They do not want to recognize the legitimate transitional government of Somalia, which has international support. Although Eritrea denies the accusations, out of 15 Security Council member countries, only Libya voted against the embargo, while China, which has the right of veto, abstained.

Sherlock Holmes will hit theaters on December 31st I think that the advertising campaign for the film "Sherlock Holmes", aimed at regular movie theatergoers, that is, sexually anxious and aggressive teenagers, creates the wrong impression among potential viewers. They might think that the film, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson, is just a cheap fare filled with fights and stunts. And they will be very wrong.