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The mayor of Reykjavik has called for the Icelandic capital to cut its ties with Moscow over Russia's nationwide ban on homosexual propaganda. Last month, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, signed a law that stigmatises gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality. In response, Jón Gnarr, who was one of Iceland's top comedian's before becoming mayor of the city in 2010, filed a motion in a city council meeting last week to end his city's relationship with Moscow. Since 2007 Reykjavik and Moscow have been "sister cities".

On a blazing summer afternoon in Moscow, Stefania, an Italian professional in her early 30s, manages to look picture-perfect. In a belted tangerine dress, with an impeccable manicure and glossy hair, she fits right in to a local culture that celebrates ultra-feminine style. “You have to dress bright, like a traffic light – high heels, short skirts, hair, nails – to attract men’s attention,” she explained. “Dating in Moscow is a war, and your looks are your only weapons.” Yet even as she turns heads in the street, Stefania admits that her love life is a struggle. “Dating Russian men...

....the real traitors who have done so much to destroy America are buying politicians of both parties, using their undue influence to gut any effort at real regulation, all the while earning fat bonuses in their corner offices at megabanks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi Group, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. No need to extradite those guys in order to prosecute 'em. They're right here in the USA. All that's lacking is a will to bring charges for things like mortgage fraud, derivative fraud, collusion, lying under oath, etc. But Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder,...

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MOSCOW — A bill that stigmatizes Russia’s gay community and bans the distribution of information about homosexuality to children was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house of parliament Tuesday. More than two dozen protesters were attacked by anti-gay activists and then detained by police, hours before the State Duma approved the Kremlin-backed legislation in a 436-0 vote. The bill banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” still needs to be passed by the appointed upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, but neither step is in doubt. The measure is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian...

Chechen lawyer Dagir Khasavov fled Russia after receiving death threats following his calls for Sharia law to be introduced in the country. The Russian Political Immigrants society announced on Friday that he swiftly left the country, BBC reported. The lawyer left for “a European country” after receiving threats. His son, Arlsan Khasavov, wrote in his blog that his father was provoked, possibly by Chechen authorities, to make him a “ritual sacrifice” before the inauguration. Khasanov gave an interview to Ren TV on April 24, where he said that Muslims in Russia do not want to go to secular courts and...

An alleged CIA agent has been briefly detained in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer, Russian media report. The alleged agent was held overnight before released to US officials, Russia's Federal Security Service said. He is said to have been working as a secretary at the US embassy in Moscow. The man was reportedly arrested with a large sum of money, technical devices and written instructions for the agent he had tried to recruit. He was named as Ryan Fogle, said to be a third secretary at the US embassy in Moscow. There is no comment...

MOSCOW – The U.S. Secretary of State’s motorcade often halts traffic when he travels abroad, but today it proved no match for columns of Russian tanks, ICBMs and armored personnel carriers. Secretary John Kerry arrived in Moscow for meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but he had to cool his heels at the airport for about 30 minutes because a rehearsal for an upcoming military parade was blocking his route downtown. Every May 9, Russians celebrate Victory Day, marking their triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II. Moscow hosts an annual parade in Red Square...

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The Polonium Diversion At least a dozen people have been contaminated by the rare radioactive isotope Polonium 210. The list includes Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB who died from a dose of Polonium 210 in London on November 23rd; Andrei Lugovoi, a former colleague of Litvinenko in the KGB, who met with Litvinenko at the Pine bar of the Millennium Hotel in London the day he became ill, November 1st; Dmitry Lugovoi, Lugovoi’s business associate, who also attended that November 1st meetings; 7 employees of the Millennium Hotel; Mario Scaramella, an Italian security consultant, who dined with...

Ramón Mercader from Barcelona killed Trotsky with an ice axe in Mexico City. On 20th August 1940, the exiled Leon Trotsky was fatally wounded at his home in a suburb of Mexico City when an ice axe was driven into his skull. He cried out to his guards as they burst into his study, ‘Don’t kill him! He must talk.’ Despite struggling fiercely, and even managing to bite the hand of his assassin, Trotsky died the next day, and the man who wielded the murder weapon was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He insisted throughout his trial and his...

Prayers go out to the famlies of the 4/8 Red Wings crew lost when their Tu-204 overshot a runway yesterday in Moscow- yet with no passengers on-board this one could have been a whole lot worse:[YouTube]

On the night of December 24, Roman Catholics and members of several other Christian denominations celebrated Christmas Eve. In the late hours of December 24, the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in Russia – the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin – was full of people. With an exclamation of the priest, “Christ is born!”, which was joyfully repeated by the people, the holiday mass began.

U.S. President Barack Obama (silhouetted in car window) and his family return after his re-election, to the White House in Washington, November 7, 2012. MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited newly re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Moscow next year.​​Mr. Putin’s outstretched hand contrasts to the cold shoulder offered President Obama four years ago, at the time of the American’s first election. At that time, Europe was swept with Obama-mania. But the Kremlin responded to Barack Obama’s election by announcing that Russia would install missiles in Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost territory. Alexander Romanovich, a Duma deputy who is...

Turkey seized "objectionable cargo" aboard the Syrian passenger plane which it intercepted en route from Moscow to Damascus on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, according to an AFP report. "There is illegal cargo on the plane that should have been reported" in line with civil aviation regulations, Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. "There are elements on board that can be considered objectionable," he added, without elaborating. The confiscated cargo might be missile parts, NTV news channel reported. The plane, carrying 35 passengers on board, would be allowed to leave soon, Davutoglu said. Meanwhile,...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/houston/press-releases/2012/russian-agent-and-10-other-members-of-procurement-network-for-russian-military-and-intelligence-operating-in-the-u.s.-and-russia-indicted-in-new-york Russian Agent and 10 Other Members of Procurement Network for Russian Military and Intelligence Operating in the U.S. and Russia Indicted in New York Defendants Also Include Texas- and Russia-Based Corporations; 165 Persons and Companies ‘Designated’ by Commerce Department U.S. Attorney’s Office October 03, 2012 BROOKLYN, NY—An indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging 11 members of a Russian military procurement network operating in the United States and Russia, as well as a Texas-based export company and a Russia-based procurement firm, with illegally...

AFP - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was expected in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian leaders on his first major foreign visit since the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will host Zardari for talks on Thursday at the Kremlin where officials from the two countries were also expected to sign agreements on cooperation in agriculture, aviation and energy, a spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Moscow told AFP. "Economics will be the focus of the visit," said the spokesman, Raja Abdul Qayyum. The three-day visit to Russia will be Zardari's first...

When a biographer sets out to understand a president, he naturally begins with mentors, the people who helped shape his character, career and worldview, notes author Paul Kengor. But when it comes to explaining Barack Obama, the establishment media has shown virtually no interest in delving into the life of the man the president himself held up as a guiding and affirming voice at every major point in his life.

Communism has continued to swallow countries because resistance to Communism fell away after 1991.The adoption of a private property system in Russia did not signify the triumph of capitalism. It signified a new kind of danger which involves the subversion of capitalism through capitalism itself argues sovietologist J.R. Nyquist.

Moscow city courts have upheld a ruling that in essence bans gay pride parades in that city for 100 years. The decision was rendered this week and already the Russian LGBT community is planning to fight it. In response to Moscow's earlier ruling that they would ban gay pride parades for 100 years, Russian LGBT rights leader Nikolay Alekseyev had sought a permit to have pride parades in Moscow each year until 2112. Moscow's municipal courts denied his request and now the appeal of that verdict has been lost. LGBT to challenge in European Court of Human Rights Alekseyev and...