When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Russia

Real Criminals Jump On The 'Free Pussy Riot' Bandwagon

KOMMERSANT (Russia) LIFE NEWS (Russia)

KAZAN - Investigators found the bodies of a 76-year-old retired woman and her 38-year-old daughter in an apartment in Kazan. Both women appeared to have been stabbed to death.

Heinous as the crime was, it wouldn't have bound to generate national press coverage, except for what police found on one of the apartment walls. Someone, presumably the murderer, had written “Free Pussy Riot” in English with the women’s blood, Kommersant reports. The enormous red letters covered almost the entirety of the wall, as you can see in this photo from Life News.

None of the investigators actually think that the murder was committed by Pussy Riot supporters. Investigators consider the crime the work of either someone high on drugs or mentally ill. The murder most likely took place between August 24 and 26.

Petr Verzilov, husband of one of the members of Pussy Riot, said that this was provocation on the part of those who would like to discredit the group. He compared it to another act last week when a group of vandals calling itself “The People’s Wave” chopped down several crosses that marked memorial sites, including some at churches that were destroyed during the Soviet Union.

The group who cut down the crosses announced that the actions were revenge against the Russian Orthodox Church for locking up the women from Pussy Riot, Kommersant reports.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Economy

How A Xi Jinping Dinner In San Francisco May Have Sealed Mastercard's Arrival In China

The credit giant becomes only the second player after American Express to be allowed to set up a bank card-clearing RMB operation in mainland China.

Photo of a hand holding a phone displaying an Union Pay logo, with a Mastercard VISA logo in the background of the photo.

Mastercard has just been granted a bank card clearing license in China.

Liu Qianshan

-Analysis-

It appears that one of the biggest beneficiaries from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to San Francisco was Mastercard.

The U.S. credit card giant has since secured eagerly anticipated approval to expand in China's massive financial sector, having finally obtained long sought approval from China's central bank and financial regulatory authorities to initiate a bank card business in China through its joint venture with its new Chinese partner.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

Through a joint venture in China between Mastercard and China's NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, dubbed Mastercard NUCC, it has officially entered mainland China as an RMB currency clearing organization. It's only the second foreign business of its kind to do so following American Express in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the development is linked to Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting on Nov. 15 with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco, part of a two-day visit that also included dinner that Xi had with U.S. business executives.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest