Russia

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AK-47 Turns 60
AK-47 Turns 60
Jul 7, 2007 7:39 AM CDT

AK-47 Turns 60

(Newser) - In 1941, while hospitalized for wounds received fighting the Nazis, Russian soldier Mikhail Kalashnikov designed a rifle that combined the best of the American M1 and the German StG44.  The "Avtomat Kalashnikov," first produced in 1947, became known as the AK-47.   It is prized by...

Putin Wants in on Missile Shield
Putin Wants in on Missile Shield
Jul 3, 2007 5:07 AM CDT

Putin Wants in on Missile Shield

Russian premier pushes plan for joint anti-missile defense system in lieu of bases in Poland, Czech Reppublic

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin yesterday pushed his proposal for cooperating with the US on a joint missile defense system, part of which would be built on Russian soil, the Washington Post reports. The offer, first broached in Germany last month,  was welcomed by President Bush as he and the Russian premier ...

Billionaires Flee Putin's Russia
Billionaires Flee Putin's Russia
Jul 2, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Billionaires Flee Putin's Russia

For mainly Jewish oligarchs, wealth and power has given way to prison and exile

(Newser) - A cadre of 50 or so Russian businessmen struck it rich when the USSR's state-owned industries went up for grabs. But most of these billionaire oligarchs are now in prison or have fled, hounded and hectored by the KGB-style tactics of president Putin. The Guardian profiles 7 deposed plutocrats, who've...

Bush, Putin Get Off to Chummy Start

Russian leader's brief visit to Maine starts with lobster, protests

(Newser) - The US-Russia mini-summit kicked off with flowers and kisses, but the subtext was less collegial. Vladimir Putin presented bouquets to the current and ex-First Ladies, then joined the Bush family for a lobster and swordfish dinner last night in an atmosphere that exceeded his expectations. "We could not have...

Putin Puts in at Kennebunkport
Putin Puts in at Kennebunkport
Jul 1, 2007 7:23 PM CDT

Putin Puts in at Kennebunkport

Russian president insists visit is social, though tensions remain high

(Newser) - Russian president Vladimir Putin touched down in New Hampshire this afternoon for what the US and Russia are both calling a social visit to President Bush's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. But the BBC reports both sides hope to use the meeting as an opportunity to warm their countries' recently...

Russia Stakes Claim to Oil-Rich Arctic Territory

Kremlin claims underwater shelf links huge chunk to Russia

(Newser) - Russia has claimed a massive, oil-rich chunk of the Arctic, despite international laws that block ownership of the territory. The Kremlin based its move on scientists' insistence that an underwater shelf links Russia to 460,000 square miles of the North Pole, which contains 10 billion tons of oil and...

US Eyes Blair as Mideast Envoy
US Eyes Blair as
Mideast Envoy
Jun 21, 2007 7:25 AM CDT

US Eyes Blair as Mideast Envoy

Soon-to-be-former PM would focus on groundwork for a Palestinian state

(Newser) - Outgoing British PM Tony Blair may step into a new role as a Mideast envoy focusing on the development of a viable Palestinian state, the Washington Post reports. Blair would concentrate on economic and governance issues; he would represent the quartet of world players involved in Mideast peace efforts—the...

Europe Seeks Mars Test Volunteers

Wanted: 12 people to live in a mock-up 'spacecraft' for 500 days

(Newser) - The European Space Agency is recruiting 12 volunteers to spend 17 months living and working in a series of interconnected modules that simulate an inter-planetary mission to Mars. The 'spaceship' is 19,250 cubic feet and is located at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

Atlantis Heads Home
Atlantis Heads Home
Jun 19, 2007 7:10 PM CDT

Atlantis Heads Home

13-day mission concludes; rain may delay landing in Florida

(Newser) - Space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station today and set out on the final leg of its 13-day mission. The seven astronauts' final preparations for landing included making sure the craft's heat shield was ready to re-enter the atmosphere before landing Thursday—or later if the weather doesn't...

Mo$cow: World's Priciest City
Mo$cow: World's Priciest City
Jun 18, 2007 4:29 AM CDT

Mo$cow: World's Priciest City

London second, Seoul third in worldwide survey

(Newser) - Moscow is the world's most expensive city for expats, according to an annual human resource study. A cup of Muscovite coffee can run more than $6, and lodging in the Russian capital can send foreign workers from rubles to rags. London placed in the survey, which compared costs of living...

Sarko Looks Blotto at G8
Sarko Looks Blotto at G8
Jun 13, 2007 9:23 AM CDT

Sarko Looks Blotto at G8

After lunch with Putin, French boss sways and slurs at press conference

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin may have tested out some liquid diplomacy at the G8 summit. After a long meeting with the Russian leader, freshly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy showed up late to a press conference and appeared inebriated, fumbling for words, giggling, and swaying at the podium.

Police Nab 'Ninja' in Italy
Police Nab
'Ninja' in Italy
Jun 13, 2007 5:42 AM CDT

Police Nab 'Ninja' in Italy

Black-cloaked, bow-wielding bandit preyed on farmers 14th-century-style

(Newser) - A weeks-long manhunt in northern Italy for an elusive "ninja"-styled thief ended yesterday after cops pursued the robber as he fled through cornfields on a bicycle, the BBC reports. The culprit, his head wrapped in a black bandanna, had stolen onto several isolated farms at night and robbed...

G8 Concludes with AIDS Pledge
G8 Concludes with AIDS Pledge
Jun 8, 2007 3:22 PM CDT

G8 Concludes with AIDS Pledge

World leaders renew $60B pledge to fight disease in Africa

(Newser) - Global leaders renewed their vow to spend $60 billion to help fight AIDS, TB, and malaria in Africa today as the G8 summit wrapped up. But they set no deadlines for delivering the relief, leading critics to question the pledge. "I think it is deliberately the language of obfuscation,...

Bush Tries to Calm Russian Fury Over Missile Shield

'The Cold War is over,' says the president

(Newser) - Russia has nothing to fear from a US missile shield in Eastern Europe, President Bush insisted in a speech in the Czech Republic today aimed at smoothing Vladimir Putin's ruffled feathers en route to the G8 summit. The Russian president threatened over the weekend to aim nuclear warheads at Europe...

Putin Rattles Nuclear Sabre
Putin Rattles Nuclear Sabre
Jun 4, 2007 5:32 AM CDT

Putin Rattles Nuclear Sabre

Threatens to aim nukes at European cities

(Newser) - Russia is threatening to aim nuclear missiles at major European cities for the first time since the Cold War, the Daily Telegraph reports. Vladimir Putin's provocation, on the eve of the G-8 summit, was the latest in an increasingly strident string of anti-western pronouncements in response to US plans to...

Lugovoi Claims Brits Killed Litvinenko

Accused Russian says poisoned expat was a British agent killed by his handlers

(Newser) - The man Britain has charged with killing former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko says that British Intelligence is behind the poisoning. At a dramatic news conference yesterday, Andrei Lugovoi, also former KGB, claimed that Litvinenko was a British agent who was killed by his handlers. And he accused Boris Berezovsky, a...

US and Russia Lock Horns over Kosovo, Missile Shield

Cold War fault lines rumble at prelim G-8 summit

(Newser) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Condi Rice butted heads during a sit-down with G-8 foreign ministers yesterday, over US plans to grant Kosovo independence and build a missile defense shield in the region. The entire group endorsed freeing Kosovo from Serbian control, the Washington Post reports, except...

Russia Tests New Missile System
Russia Tests New Missile System
May 30, 2007 4:00 AM CDT

Russia Tests New Missile System

Russian nuclear arsenal can now circumvent defense shields

(Newser) - Russia tested a new line of missiles yesterday that the Kremlin claims can penetrate any defense system. Putin took the opportunity to reiterate his warning that the US plan to to deploy an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic will turn the region into a "powder keg,...

Estonia Attack Prompts Cyber Security Blitz

Experts from all over studying how to soup up digital security

(Newser) - In the wake of what some are calling the first digital act of war—when hackers using as many as a million computers attacked Estonia's  web-based infrastructure—cyber security experts from all over Europe and the US are huddling to study how to prevent future disasters, reports the New York ...

Moscow Gay Rights Activists Arrested After Bloody Melee

Activists were petitioning for the right to hold a gay-pride parade

(Newser) - Gay-rights protesters petitioning the mayor of Moscow to lift the ban on gay-pride parades  yesterday were punched and kicked by anti-gay extremists shouting "death to homosexuals."  About 20 protesters were detained by police.

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