Plot The spread of a new strain of coronavirus “omicron”
The Ministry of Health of Peru reported that four cases of infection with a new strain of coronavirus “omicron” have been identified in the republic, RIA Novosti reports.
“Four cases of the omicron variant have been identified in Peru,” the ministry said in a statement.
These cases are monitored by the National Institute of Health (INS).
It is noted that there is a possibility of detecting the strain “omicron” in two more people.
Earlier, American leader Joe Biden expressed the opinion that a new variant of COVID-19, called omicron, will soon begin to spread in the United States much faster.
WHO Special Representative for the fight against COVID-19, David Nabarro, in turn, said that the number of infected with the new strain of omicron is doubling every two to three days.
The Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft has undocked from the Search module of the Russian segment of the ISS, reports TASS.
On board the ship are Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, as well as Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano.
At approximately 5:18 a.m. Moscow time, it will turn on the engines for braking and descend from orbit.
The lander is expected to land at 6:13 a.m. 148 kilometers south-east of the city of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.
Recall that the Soyuz spacecraft with Misurkin, Maezawa and Hirano on board was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 8. The docking with the ISS took place in automatic mode.
Earlier it was also reported that NASA approved American astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg as part of the sixth crew of the Crew Dragon spacecraft to be sent to the ISS in 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the increasing role of foreign intelligence in the comprehensive security of Russia.
The head of state said this in a video message on the occasion of the Day of the Security Officer, published on the website of the TV channel “Zvezda”.
According to him, first of all, this concerns the operational and qualitative analysis of international information, as well as the development of forecasts for the development of the situation in the world as a whole and in certain regions.
At the same time, Putin also noted the importance of the work of employees of the Federal Security Service and the main Directorate of special programs.
“The state, our people are doing everything necessary for your productive work, for technical operational personnel strengthening of special services, and we need to use this potential to the maximum, confidently solving all the tasks,” the president added.
Earlier, in an interview with the newspaper “Arguments and Facts”, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin said that the agency is interested in cooperation with the CIA on the basis of generally accepted principles of partnership of special services.
The plot is a pandemic of a new type of coronavirus that has spread from China
The European Commission has announced that BioNTech and Pfizer will supply about 215 million doses of the vaccine to the EU countries in the first quarter of 2022, Interfax reports.
“In the first quarter of 2022, Pfizer-BioNTech will deliver an additional 20 million doses of the vaccine (5 million in January, 5 million in February and 10 million in March),” the press release says.
It is noted that this delivery will be additional to the previously planned 195 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech.
Earlier, the chief medical specialist of the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Paul Burton, said that the strains of the coronavirus “omicron” and “delta” can simultaneously penetrate the cells of the human body.
It is noted that simultaneous infection with two strains can lead to the appearance of an even more contagious variant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in 11 months of this year, 61 terrorist crimes were prevented in the country, including 32 terrorist attacks.
The head of state said this in a video message on the occasion of the Day of the Security Officer, published on the website of the TV channel “Zvezda”.
Putin noted that at present, the Russian Federation has managed to achieve a drastic reduction in the terrorist threat.
According to him, over the past 11 years, more than 200 terrorist attacks have been prevented in the country. At the same time, the number of crimes committed in this direction has decreased many times, and the vast majority of them are suppressed at the preparation stage.
“Today, the complex international situation, the nature and scale of modern challenges and risks place increased demands on the work of special services.”First of all, in solving your main, priority task, a tough and uncompromising fight against terrorism,” the head of state added.
He also called for “aggressively and effectively” liquidate the cells of international terrorist groups.
Earlier, two teenagers suspected of preparing terrorist attacks were detained on the territory of Ingushetia. According to the investigation, the young people were private owners of the IG terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation and planned to blow up law enforcement buildings.
Weekly magazine “Arguments and Facts” No. 50. Where are the new buildings going? 15/12/2021 The expert’s answer is 0 + –
— There are no legal grounds to prohibit a patient from taking a phone to the intensive care unit, — says Member of the Council of Public Organizations for the Protection of Patients’ Rights at Roszdravnadzor, MD, Professor Alexey Starchenko. A smartphone is a person’s personal property that is not subject to seizure. The patient is not in a pre-trial detention center. If his condition allows, he has the right to use it. If, when forbidding to take the gadget with you, they refer to the threat of spreading infection, this problem is solved by disinfecting it. Doctors also use telephones in intensive care units.
If you are faced with such a ban, first try to act through the chief physician, and then you can file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office so that she assesses the illegal actions of doctors.
On December 19, due to snowfall at three airports in Moscow, according to the Yandex.Schedule service at 17.00, 29 flights were canceled and eight flights were delayed. So, eight flights were delayed to Vnukovo, seven to Domodedovo, and 14 to Sheremetyevo.
How much snow has fallen?
According to the leading employee of the weather center “Phobos” Evgeny Tishkovets, zand last night in Moscow (according to the VDNH base weather station), 5 mm of precipitation fell, due to which snowdrifts increased from 17 to 23 cm with a norm for this time of year – 15 cm. At another metropolitan weather station – Tushino – the height of the snow cover was 27 cm. The largest snowdrifts were recorded in the Moscow region. In particular, in Pavlovsky Posad – 29 cm, and in Cherusty – 33 cm, Tishkovets wrote on his Facebook page.
As a result of these snowfalls, visibility decreased to 1000 meters, and somewhere less. And this always imposes restrictions on crews,” the meteorologist noted in an interview with Vesti FM.
How much snow will fall in Moscow next week?
Russian frosts are waiting for Central Russia all the coming week, the forecaster noted. A diving cyclone of North Atlantic origin and named by German meteorologists “Neo”, will bring gusts of wind and fleeting charges of snow.
“Over the coming week in Moscow, a total of 7 to 12 mm of precipitation will fall, and the height of snowdrifts will reach 30 cm by Sunday, and up to 32-37 cm on Monday, which is twice the norm and ahead of the climatic calendar by a month,” Tishkovets wrote.
He also noted that Wednesday, December 22, will be the coldest day in the capital region since 1978. On Wednesday night in Moscow, the thermometer will drop to -17…-22 degrees. Nevertheless, from Thursday, “when, under the influence of the anticyclone crest, the weather clears up a little, the air flows will turn from the north to the west, as a result of which the cold will slowly recede. In the morning, the thermometer will show -16…-21, in the afternoon to -11…-16.
On Friday, the snow will be of low intensity (-14…-19 at night, -8…-13 in the afternoon), but on Saturday the snowfall will noticeably intensify, the forecaster noted.The temperature background will return to its climatic channel: in the morning no lower than -8 to -13, in the afternoon from -3 to -8. On Sunday, December 26, it will also be quite snowy, at night it will warm up to -3 to -8, in the afternoon to -1 to -6.
Weekly magazine “Arguments and Facts” No. 50. Where are the new buildings going? 15/12/2021 The expert’s answer is 0 + –
Deputies of the Astrakhan Regional Duma introduced amendments to the law “On personal subsidiary farming” in the State Duma, which propose to give the right to regions to set quotas for the number of personal livestock. “In many private farms there are more than 50 heads of cattle, up to 1000 sheep, 40 horses… This indicates the actual implementation of entrepreneurial activity,” the document says. Its authors suggest that private households register as sole proprietors and pay taxes or “alienate excess livestock”.
“We have already passed dekulakization, and history has shown that it is impossible to act like this,” says expert of the RANEPA Center for Agri-Food Policy, Professor Vasily Uzun. — We have LPH already disappearing. In the 90s, they provided 26% of agricultural products, now much less. Hence the problems of shortage of potatoes, carrots, etc. And now we’re going to threaten quotas? Of course, it is necessary to bring rich private farms to farmers, but not by prohibitions, but by low taxes and simplified reporting. Today, a dozen departments immediately pile on the owner, who has become an individual entrepreneur. In the pursuit of taxes, you can lose both agricultural products and peasants who will leave for the cities.
Scotland is preparing for a large-scale process for the rehabilitation of people executed on charges of witchcraft in the period from 1563 to 1736. The relevant bill was introduced by the Scottish parliamentarians and has already received the support of the administration of the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, reports the Daily Mail.
“Thousands of women accused of witchcraft in Scotland will be posthumously pardoned after almost 300 years,” the newspaper writes.
The petition demanding to start the rehabilitation process was initiated by Claire Mitchell, the Queen’s counsel, the leader of the group “Witches of Scotland”, advocating for the revision of medieval sentences. The project also provides for an official apology on behalf of the government and the installation of a national memorial to the victims of the witch hunt.
How many people in Scotland in the 16th and 18th centuries were accused of witchcraft?
According to the portal “Witches of Scotland” (Witches of Scotland), in 1563 a law on witchcraft was passed in the country, which remained in force until 1736. During this period, according to preliminary estimates, 3,837 people were accused of witchcraft. The vast majority are women (about 84%). Moreover, at some court sessions, the King of Scotland James VI (1566 – 1625) was present personally, as he considered himself an expert in witchcraft and even wrote a book “Demonology” in 1597.
2,148 women and 410 men were executed. Obviously, these figures are approximate, but they give an idea of how many women and men have suffered from this terrible injustice,” write supporters of the rehabilitation of victims of the witch hunt.
What could be accused of witchcraft for?
In medieval sentences there were a variety of charges: creating a storm to sink the royal navy, regular meetings with the devil, divination with the aim of sending a hangover and even night transformations into owls.
In the 16th and 18th centuries, witchcraft was a crime punishable by death.Before the sentence was carried out, the Scots were tortured until they confessed. For example, they deprived of sleep or pierced the skin with needles. Before the execution, they were strangled, and then burned at the stake, so that they would not have to bury the bodies later, writes the portal “Witches of Scotland”.
How is the memory of people accused of witchcraft honored in Scotland?
According to the portal “Witches of Scotland”, in some places in Scotland there are small memorials in memory of the victims of the witch hunt. So, activists of the movement discovered the grave of a certain Aidy from Torriburn, who died in 1704. She was sentenced to be burned at the stake for «malicious spells and sex with the devil», however obviouslyShe committed suicide in prison and was buried under a large stone, writes the Daily Mail. In September 2019, Claire Mitchell and members of the Witches of Scotland laid wreaths at her grave. In the person of Aidy, the Scots honored all the innocently murdered men and women accused of witchcraft.
During the coming week, 7-12 millimeters of precipitation will fall in Moscow, thanks to which the height of snowdrifts will reach 30 centimeters by next Sunday, RIA Novosti writes with reference to the leading employee of the weather center “Phobos” Evgeny Tishkovets.
According to him, last night in the capital, according to the VDNH base weather station, five millimeters of precipitation fell, that is, 8% of the monthly norm. Because of this, snowdrifts have grown from 17 to 23 centimeters, whereas the norm for this time of year is a height of 15 centimeters.
At another Moscow weather station, Tushino, the height of the snow cover reached 27 centimeters, and the largest snowdrifts in the Moscow region were recorded in Pavlovsky Posad and Cherusty – 29 and 33 centimeters, respectively.
Tishkovets noted that on Monday, January 27, the snowdrifts will grow to 32-37 centimeters, which is twice the norm and a month ahead of the climate calendar.
The norm of snow cover height for December 27 is 17 centimeters, and the record for this day is 52 centimeters was set in 1919.
Earlier it was reported that the Hydrometeorological Center extended the “yellow” level of weather danger in Moscow. It will be in effect until tomorrow evening.
Weather forecasters also warned Russians about the increase in the number of extreme natural phenomena. According to Roshydromet, over the last quarter of a century, the number of dangerous phenomena has doubled.
