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Trying Times for Russia’s Nesting Dolls

Under the white walls and blue-and-gold cupolas of the Sergiyev Posad monastery, the row of vendors selling nesting dolls and other traditional Russian handicrafts is noticeably shorter this summer. Usually the cheap folding tables, set up in a double row outside the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church, are surrounded by tourists snapping up the iconic egg-shaped souvenirs, made of smaller and smaller wooden dolls hidden one within the other. But on a recent Thursday afternoon, there were only about a dozen people looking to buy

When Benedict Meets Barack

When Pope Benedict XVI greets U.S. President Barack Obama at the Vatican on July 10, the symbolism and sheer star power of the encounter will keep the pundits chattering away. The photo op alone is worth a thousand words: The 82-year-old man in white, the world’s most recognizable religious leader and head of its largest single denomination comes face-to-face with the charismatic first black President of the world’s last superpower

Asian Film Fireworks for the Fourth

For eight years now, the New York Asian Film Festival has earned “Wow”s and “Huh?”s from Manhattan audiences with its savory mix of action and art-house works from the continent that produces more movies than any other. In its scope and vigor, this is the New York film festival, and it’s run not by a heavily subsidized arts institution but by a few knowledgeable guys from Brooklyn who want to share their enthusiasms with the fanboys of the tristate area.

Does the E.U.’s Airline Blacklist Make Flying Safer?

On the surface, the news that Yemenia Airways, whose jet crashed off the coast of the Comoros Islands on Tuesday, was not on the European Union’s blacklist of airlines deemed lax on safety seems like a good argument for not only maintaining the blacklist, but extending it further.

Outlook For the U.S. Dollar Darkens

Heading abroad from the U.S. this summer? Consider packing a few extra dollars

Jackson’s public viewing set amid speculation on cause of death

More than two dozen television satellite trucks lined the narrow, two-lane road leading to Neverland Ranch early Wednesday, jostling to reserve space for a public viewing of pop icon Michael Jackson’s body that won’t happen for two more days. A law enforcement official told CNN that Jackson’s body will be taken to the ranch, north of Santa Barbara, California, on Thursday in preparation for viewing Friday. The family plans a private service Sunday

Main Line murder case echoes 30 years later

Thirty years ago, a neighbor peered out her window on a Friday evening in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and watched Karen and Michael Reinert gather hailstones. Their mother, Susan, called from the front porch of her modest home on Woodcrest Avenue and bundled the children into her orange Plymouth Horizon hatchback. It was just after 9 p.m.

Airline policies juggle larger passengers

You pay for checking your baggage, for snacks and for extra legroom. Word is one airline has even toyed with charging you to use the toilet.

Russia Cracks Down on Political Art

On June 11, Alexander Shchednov, known in Russia’s art circles as Shurik, was hanging up a collage outside the town hall in the southwestern city of Voronezh. The image showed the face of a coy looking Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s superimposed over the head of a woman in an evening dress, with the slogan: “Oh I don’t know ..

Summer Jobs Make a Comeback, Thanks to the Stimulus

Thomas Hollister Singleton wants a car. Specifically a Dodge Challenger, black. And while it will be several years before Singleton will be able to get behind the wheel of a vehicle — he’s only 14 years old — he is hoping to start saving up with the money he makes this summer working in his first job: helping to clean and maintain classrooms at his school in Strayhorn, Miss