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Suomen presidentin tärkein tehtävä on hoitaa suhteita Venäjään. Tätä mieltä on useampikin asiantuntija. Presidentti Tarja Halonen on nyt viimeistä kertaa hoitamassa idänsuhteita Moskovassa, mutta millaisen perinnön hän jättää seuraajalleen?

Tutkija Hanna Smith Helsingin yliopiston Aleksanteri-instituutista kuvaa presidentti Tarja Halosen idänsuhteita toimiviksi. Suomalais-venäläisen kansalaisfoorumin puheenjohtaja Kerkko Paananen kehottaa tarkentamaan politiikkaa Venäjän suhteen.

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This sounds too good to be true: a natural substance that keeps you sober no matter how much you drink, neutralises hangovers, and breaks the cycle of alcohol addiction. Extracts of a Chinese variety of the oriental raisin tree (Hovenia dulcis) have been used for 500 years to treat hangovers in China. Now dihydromyricetin (DHM), a component of the extract, has proved its worth as an intoxication blocker in a series of experiments on rats. It works by preventing alcohol from having its usual intoxicating effects on the brain.

"DHM will reduce the degree of drunkenness for the amount of alcohol drunk and will definitely reduce the hangover symptoms," says pharmacologist Jing Liang of the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the research team. "In time, it will reduce their desire for alcohol." Liang first tested whether DHM blocks the clumsiness and loss of coordination caused by drinking too much. To do this, she measured how long it took for treated rats to right themselves after being laid on their backs in a V-shaped cradle.

After she injected rats' abdomens with a dose of alcohol equal to 15 to 20 beers in 2 hours for a human, they took about 70 minutes, on average, to right themselves. However, when an injection of the same amount of booze included a milligram of DHM per kilogram of rat body weight, the animals recovered their composure within just 5 minutes. Rats given heavy doses of alcohol cowered away in corners, whereas those given the extract with their alcohol behaved normally and were as inquisitive as rats given no alcohol at all.

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Redditor TophatMcMonocle has a useful suggestion for ensuring that you learn your new tech products inside and out: keep those manuals in the bathroom, where you are desperate for something to read. If you have been known to ignore the cardinal rule of technology -- Read the Fucking Manual, -- you can use this trick to form better habits: "Put new product manuals in the [bathroom]. Then read them little by little. Within a day, or several days, you will understand the new item's functions without having to have dedicated an afternoon for study." Sure, it is a bit silly, but 90% of tech problems can be solved by reading the manual to begin with -- and as we enter the holiday season, where you are sure to accumulate lots of new gadgets, this bit of strategic placement could come in handy.

General Secretary Kim Jong Il of the Workers Party of Korea provided field guidance to the Kwangbok Area Supermarket just before opening, [the Korean Central News Agency reported from Pyongyang on 15 December 2011]. Kwangbok Department Store which was originally completed in October 1991 has been renovated as a supermarket thanks to the initiative and great loving care shown by Kim Jong Il being considerate of the people's well-being and improvement of their living standard.

The supermarket is a commercial service base capable of providing every convenience for the customers with accurate and rapid service as all of its management activities have been put on IT and digital basis ranging from warehousing to selling. The three-storey supermarket has counters filled with household appliances and electronic goods, such foodstuff as confectionery, milk, tea, soy sauce, soybean paste and oil and such textile goods as children's clothes, toys, Korean dresses, towels, quilts and undergarment.

Going round counters on each floor, Kim Jong Il learned in detail about the varieties of goods, state of display and sales plan. Saying that the supermarket is fitted with display cases, stands and tools and other facilities and furnishings needed for the storage and sales of goods to cater for the tastes of consumers, he expressed great satisfaction over the successful renovation of the commercial service center to be conducive to improving the standard of people's living.

He, calling for meeting the people's need in any case, saw to it that necessary measures were taken. He set forth tasks facing the supermarket in its service. He went on to say: "It is the firm will and determination of the Party to provide the people with things best. Officials should become true servants for the people, who provide them with good things first and worry about their life before anything else." He underscored the need to strive to supply goods to the people before putting them in foreign markets.