Seven days in photographs, October 24-30, 2009

The first Russian fatalities from the H1N1 virus were reported this week. On October 29, the Russian Health and Social Development Ministry confirmed the fifth victim of the swine flu pandemic.

The number of swine flu cases in Russia continues to grow, with some 70 cases of the H1N1 virus confirmed in Moscow alone during the past two days.

An inspection by Maltese officials showed the Arctic Sea was not carrying any illegal cargo and the vessel will continue its voyage after repair works. In the photo: The Arctic Sea with a new name painted by alleged hijackers.

A plenary session of Russia's Supreme Court on October 29 asked the Constitutional Court to rule on whether capital punishment could again be legal in Russia from January 1. In the photo: A prison in Vologda, northwest Russia.

In February 1999, the Russian Constitutional Court introduced a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, ruling that no court could sentence criminals to death until all courts had switched to jury trials. In the photo: A colony for life-sentence convicts on Ognenny Island in the Vologda Region, northwest Russia.

On October 26, RIA Novosti broadcast an online lecture by astrophysicist Dr. John Mather, who shared the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics with George Smoot of the University of California for their collaborative work on understanding the Big Bang.

Dr. Mather spoke on the Big Bang Theory, the James Webb Space Telescope, and this year’s Nobel Prize awards.

The "Michael Jackson’s This is it" documentary made $2.2 million in North America alone on the first night of release October 27. Sony, the distributor, said the first night’s box office was “unprecedented” for a documentary.

On October 27, famous Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani arrived in Moscow.

The designer visited the Emporio Armani boutique at Moscow’s GUM department store, where he presented his Autumn-Winter 2009/2010 collection. He also unveiled his Armani Prive collection in Moscow, as well as the Giorgio Armani men’s collection at the Barvikha Luxury Village outside Moscow.

Mikhail Youzhny won the 20th Kremlin Cup final.

The tennis tournament with the prize money worth $2,080,500 took place on October 17-25.