Worldcrunch
? Wai!* Welcome to Thursday, where leaked documents show how some countries are lobbying to change a key report on climate change, Moscow announces new full lockdown and the world’s first robot artist is arrested over spying allegations. Meanwhile, German daily Die Welt looks at the rapprochement between two leaders currently at odds with Europe: […]
The arch-conservative Ibrahim Raisi’s election to the Iranian presidency is pushing its regime closer to Russia and farther from the West — and leaving a big question mark on relations with China.
In an unprecedented push to make vaccines obligatory, Moscow’s mayor has told employees in the city that they will lose their jobs if they don’t get vaccinated, Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad reports Monday in the latest move to try to curb the COVID-19 crisis spreading in the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin had already […]
London is taking a hardline against Moscow since Trump’s departure left Putin increasingly isolated.
As close as the two countries may appear, for Russia, Iran is simply a pawn in its chess game with the West.
The attempted assassination and subsequent arrest of Alexei Navalny, and accusations of state corruption, have sparked a new protest movement in Russia that may force Vladimir Putin to consider the ‘Belarus option.’
Political chaos in Kyrgyzstan, revolution in Belarus, war in Nagorno-Karabakh: three decades after the collapse of the USSR, Vladimir Putin’s “near abroad” is currently marred by instability.
The imposition of quarantine and self-isolation has hit migrant workers hardest of all. They have nothing to live on in Russia but have no way of returning home.
For decades, Stanley Greene risked his life to photograph wars and their atrocities. He also loved capturing women’s surrounding mystery, beauty and strength.
MOSCOW — Following a series of demonstrations against the political class that began across Armenia on April 13, the country’s prime minister Serzh Sargsyan has resigned. His duties are being temporarily carried out now by First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. In Moscow, the events in Armenia have prompted a public reaction from Maria Zakharova, […]
The White House national security team presented Trump with three options, leading to an unprecedented purge of 60 Russian spies, which caught Moscow off-guard.
Techno scene in Belarus faces a youth tempted by emigration, pricey vinyls and the KGB lurking in the shadows. But the nights in Minsk are still something truly remarkable.
Even a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, people were lining up in Red Square to get a glimpse of Vladimir Lenin: the Communist leader’s embalmed body remains on display inside the mausoleum.
Beyond the beltway, far from America’s heartland: the most unlikely of incoming U.S. presidents is daily bread for the international press. See what they’re saying.
Since the inauguration of the Orthodox cathedral and the Russian cultural center in the French capital on Oct. 19, questions about the use of the site for more sinister purposes have been raised.
The nine gilded onion domes of the Annunciation Cathedral are one of the inimitable features of Moscow“s Cathedral Square, the central square of the Kremlin.
Putin Playing Nice, The World Tour by Worldcrunch
The Tsar Bell on the grounds of Moscow“s Kremlin is the biggest bell in the world, but it has never rung. During a fire in 1737, before the bell’s decoration was completed, guards threw cold water on it, causing a slab to crack off. The bell is so huge — look at the man on […]
H Efimerida ton Sintakton, April 9, 2015 Before Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow Wednesday, European commentators warned that Greece could become Russia’s “Trojan horse” against Brussels. But Greek newspaper H Efimerida ton Sintakton instead described the “revival of Greek-Russian relations” as a “historic opportunity for the two […]
Russian researchers have been doing a rather unusual study that compares DNA across countries with political affinities. A patriotic take on the old nature v. nurture question.
SIMFEROPOL — One year after Russia annexed Crimea, oyster farmer Sergey Koulik is exultant about both the future and the past. “Russian Crimea means new markets, more business and state funding,” he says. “Crimea’s return to the mother country is a good history lesson for all of Europe.” Koulik owns the only oyster farm in […]
MOSCOW — I’m going to share my own observations about myself, yes, but also about my neighbors in the countryside. I spent last summer in a 100-year-old house outside of Moscow. In between writing articles, I maintained two beehives and pruned old apple, cherry and currant trees. I harvested. I made jam and extracted honey. […]
The Russian capital has invested in new mobile applications aimed to better aid and involve citizens. The results are mixed: parking app is good, democracy app not so much.
MOSCOW — The war in eastern Ukraine is being fought on several fronts — with deathly weapons and munitions on the one hand, and with competing interpretations of reality on the other. As the conflict drags on, it’s increasingly becoming a propaganda war. From the beginning, the Russian media has taken an active part in […]
The country’s old imperialist ambitions are back. If you are inside or outside, and trying to understand Vladimir Putin’s 21st century Russia, keep that in mind in making your calculations.
The competing sides, both globally and regionally, will never see Ukraine’s reality the same way, so deep are the historical and cultural divides. Analysis from Kiev.
MOSCOW — While the barricades in Kiev were still smoking, while the dead were being identified and the wounded were being treated, EU foreign ministers publicly declared for the first time that they held Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych responsible for the bloodshed. In Moscow, however, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov stuck to Russia’s traditional […]
Destination: Moscow. Setting out from Beijing, I had the choice of two passenger railway lines to connect to the famed Trans-Siberian. One of the lines, the K19, goes through the border town of Manzhouli, while the other, the K3, arrives via Mongolia. Beijing-Manchuria: familiar, strange and quiet For most Chinese railway passengers, it is a […]
MOSCOW — In the wake of last weekend’s anti-immigrant riots in Moscow and the burning of a produce warehouse, the Russian government still seems to be holding on stubbornly to the idea that the problem is simply uncontrolled migration from the post-Soviet states. The government has made frequent tweaks to the immigration laws in the […]
MOSCOW — Since the first traffic camera was installed in Moscow in 2008, a new kind of traffic violation has been born — license-plate camouflage. The cameras capture license plate numbers, which is how drivers who break traffic laws are identified. Tickets are then sent by mail. More than 60% of traffic tickets are now […]
SCOTLAND’S MOMENT OF TRUTHThe time has come for Scottish voters to decide whether they want to live in an independent Scotland or remain part of the United Kingdom. Polling stations will be open until 10 p.m. local time ,and the results are expected by tomorrow morning, though the counting could take longer than usual, as […]
MOSCOW — The city of Moscow is covered with graffiti, and proudly so. Members of the “Best City On Earth” project have said they will paint street art on 150 buildings by September. Meanwhile, there is graffiti at the Faces & Laces urban culture festival in Gorky Park, as well as an exhibition of a […]
Worldcrunch MOSCOW – AFP photographer Olivier Morin snapped a breathtaking picture of World champion Usain Bolt just after he crossed the finish line, winning the 100-meter final at the Moscow world championships on Sunday night. See the photo HERE.
MOSCOW – Honestly? Stanislav opens his eyes wide. “I swear!” he exclaims, “I gave him water, a glass of water to be precise. He often passes by to go to the smoking area by gate 31.” That is where the flights for Italy depart. We station ourselves by the smoking area for almost an hour, […]
BUENOS AIRES – A wooden dance floor, that familiar tempo of the music, a gesture of invitation. And the dance begins, counter-clockwise… It does not matter whether it is the El Fulgor de Villa Crespo club or the Sunderland de Villa Urquiza or a dance hall in Moscow or Beijing. The tango has the same […]
MOSCOW – June marks the end of Russia’s smoking free-for-all. A new law forbids smoking in offices and hospitals, on beaches, in public transport, on train stations, and on the stairways in apartment buildings. Even advertisements for tobacco products are now illegal, and in one year’s time cigarettes also will be banned in cafes and […]
MOSCOW – Natasha writes “Frank, 11:20 a.m.” on a slip of white paper and hangs it on the pin board behind the counter next to “Nina and Katya, 10.55 a.m.,” “Sergei, 11 a.m.” and other names. Then she opens an antique cabinet filled with dozens of old alarm clocks and watches, all different, but with […]
RIA NOVOSTI, KOMMERSANT, THE MOSCOW TIMES (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – At least 38 people have died in a fire that broke out early Friday at a psychiatric hospital outside of Moscow. The death toll may rise further as many are still believed to be in the one-story facility in Ramenye, 120 kilometers north of Moscow. […]