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LA STAMPA

Dognapped!? Russian Tycoon Offers Top Cash For Pooch Vanished From Genoa Hotel

A prized Russian Toy Terrier pure breed has gone missing at a 5-star hotel in the Italian port city. The owner, a Russian chemicals tycoon, has put up 10,000 euros to have his skinny pup back -- and demanded lie-detector tests for hotel employees.

Russian Toy Terrier
Russian Toy Terrier

Worldcrunch NEWSBITES

GENOA – We know, more or less, what Johnny looks like? He's small, with skinny legs, big ears, short, black hair; and, more or less, when and where he was last seen: the afternoon of August 17, in a luxury hotel room in the center of the this Italian port city.

Johnny is a Russian Toy Terrier owned by the family of Stanislav Rybchinsky, a Russian chemicals tycoon. The family purposefully planned a sojourn of their summer vacation at the Grand Hotel Savoia in Genoa, knowing it is both super-deluxe for the humans and dog-friendly for their beloved pup. But on Aug. 17, around 1.30 p.m., the Rybchinskys left the hotel and left the dog - who was feeling sick - alone in the room. When they came back at 6 p.m., Johnny was gone.

The Rybchinskys contacted the Italian police, the Russian consulate in Genoa and the embassy in Rome. They demanded that all hotel staff take a lie detector test, a request they were not granted, and offered a reward of 10,000 euros to anyone who found the missing dog. So far the search has been futile, though several people came by with other Toy Terriers, before being turned away by the family who could not be fooled.

According to Pierluigi Castelli, of the Genoa Italian Dog Association, Johnny may have been stolen by homeless people for use when begging for change on the sidewalk. Castelli alerted the local vets and the other 103 branches of the Italian Dog Association. Still, no Johnny.

Read the full article in Italian by Pierangelo Sapegno

Photo - tibchris

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Geopolitics

Why The World Still Needs U.S. Leadership — With An Assist From China

Twenty years of costly interventions and China's economic ascent have robbed the United States of its global supremacy. It is time for the two biggest powers to work together, to help the world.

Photograph of Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden walking side by side in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California​

Nov. 15, 2023: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden take a walk after their talks in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California

Xinhua/ZUMA
María Ángela Holguín*

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — The United States is facing a complex moment in its history, as it loses its privileged place in the world. Since the Second World War, it has been the world's preeminent power in economic and political terms, helping rebuild Europe after the war and through its growing economy, aiding the development of a significant part of the world.

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Its model of democracy, long considered exemplary around the world, has gone through a rough patch, thanks to excessive polarization and discord. This has cost it a good deal of its leadership, unity and authority.

How much authority does it have to chide certain countries on democracy, as it does, after such outlandish incidents as the assault on Congress in January 2021? The fights we have seen over electing a new speaker of the House of Representatives or backing the administration's foreign policy are simply incredible.

In Ukraine's case, President Biden failed to win support for the aid package for which he was hoping, even if there is a general understanding that if Russia wins this war, Europe's stability would be at risk. It would mean the victory of a longstanding enemy.

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