The news sounds absurd, but it cannot be ignored: Chuck Norris has died.

“To the world, he was a martial arts master, an actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family,” his relatives said in a statement. The cause of death has not been disclosed and may never be. That alone has sparked a strange curiosity: what on earth could have killed Chuck Norris?

Apparently, time. Carlos Ray Norris was 86. Of those years, 67 were spent practicing karate. In one of his final videos, he is still boxing, still moving lightly, still insisting that he never grows old.

Norris began his journey in the mid-1950s, while serving in the US military in South Korea. That was where he first took up karate. He returned home with a black belt and quickly turned his skill into a business, opening a chain of karate schools. By the mid-1970s, he had become a six-time world champion.

Along the way, he met Bruce Lee, to whom he taught the spinning kick, and Steve McQueen, who encouraged him to try acting. That advice changed everything.

His first film, a low-budget Hong Kong action movie released in 1974 under titles such as The San Francisco Massacre or The Yellow-Faced Tiger, was so bad that it never reached American screens. Yet a few years later, after Norris had become a star, it was rediscovered and shown in cinemas purely because of his name. In other words, the film did not make him famous; he made the film famous.

Then came Walker, Texas Ranger. With it, Norris stopped being just an action star and became something else entirely: a cultural figure.

In Russia in the 1990s, few people understood what a Texas Ranger actually was. Even now, his legal status, powers, and place within American law enforcement remain somewhat obscure. Was he a policeman? A prosecutor? Something in between? It hardly mattered. Everyone knew who Chuck Norris was. He was a Texas Ranger. The role did not define him, but he defined the role.

For many of us, his films were not just entertainment. They were part of a specific time.

I remember a sanatorium called Porechye in 1991, where I stayed with my parents. It was a place of endless boredom. There was a small, dirty beach by a narrow river. The canteen food was poor. The sports equipment was broken. Adults seemed permanently exhausted.

But there was a cinema.

The film itself was chaotic, with fights, acrobatics, and a final confrontation in an abandoned theater. But what it gave was something else: the feeling that fear could be overcome.

That was the essence of Chuck Norris.

On screen, he was calm, almost understated. A man with stubble and kind eyes, lifting weights, hitting the punching bag, drinking juice, reassuring everyone around him. When things went wrong, he appeared and quietly set them right.

In the uncertainty of the Russian 1990s, that mattered. The worse the world seemed around us, the more important it was to believe that somewhere, justice still existed, even if only in American films. And if it existed somewhere, perhaps it could exist for us too.

How many boys took up martial arts because of him? It is impossible to say. Some used those skills well, others less so. But the image he projected was always the same: discipline, restraint, and a sense of order in a chaotic world.

Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep with a teddy bear, he sleeps with a real bear.

A king cobra once bit Chuck Norris. After five days of agony, the cobra died.

These jokes spread across languages and cultures, turning him into something close to a myth. Not many people become the subject of an entire genre of humor. He did.

In Russia, he remained a familiar figure. He appeared on Channel One’s cooking show Smak, gave interviews, and seemed surprisingly accessible. He was not just a distant Hollywood star, but someone who had, in a strange way, become part of our own cultural landscape.

Perhaps that is why the news of his death feels so peculiar. It is not just the passing of an actor, but of a figure who, for many, symbolized a certain kind of certainty.

So who will divide by zero now?

It is tempting to imagine him arriving at the gates of Heaven, meeting Saint Peter. One wonders who would step aside first.

Rest in peace, Carlos Ray Norris.

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team

Chuck Norris, the martial arts champion and action film star who became a pop culture phenomenon through his roles in numerous Hollywood classics and a wave of internet memes celebrating his legendary toughness, has died at 86.

The actor passed away Thursday morning following a medical emergency on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, his family confirmed in a statement posted to his Instagram account.

“While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace,” the statement read. “To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family.”

Born Carlos Ray Norris on March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma, the future action star grew up in poverty before enlisting in the US Air Force, where he was stationed in South Korea. There, he began studying martial arts, eventually earning black belts in multiple disciplines and winning six world karate championships. He went on to found two major martial arts systems – American Tang Soo Do and the Chuck Norris System.

His acting career began after he gave private karate lessons to Steve McQueen, who encouraged him to give it a shot in Hollywood. His breakout role came when playing the villain to Bruce Lee’s hero in the 1972 classic ‘Way of the Dragon,’ featuring their legendary Colosseum fight scene which has become one of cinema’s most iconic battles.

The 1980s established Norris as an action icon after he starred in ‘Lone Wolf McQuade,’ ‘Missing in Action,’ ‘Code of Silence,’ ‘Delta Force’. His superstar status was further cemented through his role as Cordell Walker in ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ which ran for nine seasons in the 1990s.

In the 2000s, Norris experienced a cultural renaissance when ‘Chuck Norris Facts’ became an internet sensation. The memes playfully exaggerated his toughness with lines like “When the boogeyman goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris” or “Superman wears Chuck Norris pyjamas.” Norris embraced the phenomenon, even authoring his own book of ‘facts.’

A devout Christian and social conservative, Norris was also known for his philanthropy and his friendship with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom he visited in Budapest in 2018 and bonded with over shared values. A statue was erected in Norris’ honor in Budapest in 2024.

The actor was also popular in Russia and visited the country on several occasions, including in 1992 to act as referee at a kickboxing event. In 1995, he became the co-owner of the Firebird nightclub in Moscow and later opened his own establishment in the Russian capital dubbed the “Chuck Norris Enterprise Club Beverly Hills.”

In 1997, he also visited Russia as an honorary guest at a prestigious national Thai boxing and kickboxing tournament and famously had dinner with Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Norris is survived by his wife Gena, whom he married in 1998, his five children and 13 grandchildren.

The Oscar-winning documentary ‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’, about day-to-day life inside a Russian school, violated privacy laws concerning minors, Russian human rights officials said on Wednesday.

The Russian Human Rights Council, a presidential advisory body, said parents alleged that Pavel Talankin, a former videographer at a school in the small town of Karabash in Russia’s Ural Mountains, and US filmmaker David Borenstein included footage of children in their film without consent.

Talankin filmed various extracurricular activities as part of his job and took the video archive with him when he left Russia in 2024. The film he made with Borenstein using the footage won an Academy Award on Sunday.

Russian officials alleged that the documentary violated the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects children from “arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy.”

The council said it filed a complaint with the US Motion Picture Academy and UNESCO, arguing that the film “violated international standards for the protection of children’s rights and commonly held ethical principles regarding the handling of materials depicting minors.”

The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival to widespread acclaim, winning several awards, including a BAFTA.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has condemned the exclusion of celebrated Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova from an upcoming dance festival in Rome.

The cancellation came just days ahead of the Bolshoi Theater star's appearance at the Les Etoiles gala, which brings together leading dancers from the world’s biggest ballet companies.

Days earlier, culture and foreign ministers from several European countries, including Ukraine, had issued a joint statement opposing Russian participation at the event.

Salvini, however, insisted that Italy’s support for Kiev in the conflict against Russia should not extend to canceling artists.

“Art, culture, music, and sport have the mission of bringing peoples and cultures together, not exacerbating ongoing conflicts,” he told RTL radio on Tuesday.

By expelling Russian ballerinas or painters, we don’t resolve the conflict. We simply complicate it.

Russia’s ambassador to Italy, Aleksey Paramonov, condemned the move, accusing Italian officials of “pandering” to the Ukrainian government.

“Italy isn’t the only place in the world,” he told La Repubblica on Tuesday. “Prominent figures of Russian culture are… welcome in many other countries – sovereign and free from the dictates of the European Union and the ruling clique in Ukraine.”

Earlier this year, Italy’s Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino suspended a performance by Zakharova and her husband, world-renowned violinist Vadim Repin, citing “ongoing international tensions.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned that cancellation, calling it “profoundly uncharacteristic for the Italian spirit,” comparing it to Ukraine’s long-running campaign of purging the Russian culture and language from its education and public life.

The real name of the mysterious street artist, who has been hiding under the alias ‘Banksy’ for years, is David Jones, Reuters has claimed, citing the results of its own investigation.

Banksy’s identity has fueled speculation since his first graffiti appeared in 1999. He has become one of the world’s most famous artists, with his artworks popping up in various locations around the globe, including conflict hot spots, selling for millions of dollars at auctions and being frequent targets of thieves.

In its article on Friday, Reuters noted that Banksy’s actual name had been first mentioned by the Daily Mail in 2008, which identified him as Bristol-born artist Robin Gunningham.

According to the agency, he had since then changed his ID and now carries a passport with the name ‘David Jones.’

It’s one of the most common first and last name combinations in the UK, with 6,000 people bearing it in 2017, it stressed. It’s also the birth name of iconic British rock legend David Bowie.

The journalists said that they also got clues about the artist’s real name after looking into the circumstances of several of his graffiti appearing in Ukraine in 2022.

There is no evidence of Robin Gunningham entering the country, but there is data on David Jones crossing the Ukrainian border, they stressed. He had been accompanied by photographer Giles Duley and co-founder of the band Massive Attack and artist Robert Del Naja, who had been previously suspected of being the one behind the Banksy nickname, according to the journalists.

The date of birth in David Jones’ passport matches that of Robin Gunningham, a source told Reuters.

The agency said that they forwarded the results of their investigation and questions to the person they believe to be Banksy, but he “didn’t reply.”

The artist’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, also declined to confirm his identity, but urged the journalists against publishing the report, arguing that it would violate his client’s privacy, interfere with his art and endanger him.

The head of the sports division of Italian state broadcaster RAI has stepped down after a gaffe-filled commentary during the Olympics opening ceremony, the company announced on Thursday.

Paulo Petrecca has faced anger from the network's journalists even before the latest embarrassment due to his reported close ties with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had already been accused of turning news channels into “TeleMeloni.”

During the live RAI coverage of the Olympics opening, seen by more than nine million people, Petrecca mixed up the venue, mistook Italian actress Matilda De Angelis for US singer Mariah Carey, and confused International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry for the daughter of the Italian president.

RAI’s leadership has dealt “enormous damage to the image and reputation of the company” that the sports boss’ resignation will not fix, journalists’ union Usigrai said in a statement on Thursday. Unlike Petrecca, the broadcaster’s top leadership has not taken responsibility, it stressed.

The union is set to resume striking once the Games are over.

Stefano Graziano, leader of the Democratic Party group on the RAI oversight commission, has welcomed the news chief’s resignation, but said it “came too late.”

Petrecca is the emblem of ‘TeleMeloni’ and of the government’s approach to prioritizing political affiliation and proximity over merit and the valorization of professional skills.

Even before the recent controversy, Petrecca reportedly feuded with his studio’s editorial staff, who had rejected his plans, citing huge spending and over-reliance on outsourcing.

The Italian opposition has argued that despite his resignation, RAI is still stacked with other Meloni appointees, according to ANSA news agency. The Italian prime minister’s right-wing government has rejected the criticism, arguing that the broadcaster was long dominated by the center-left.

The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Luc Tardif, has said he would like Russia and Belarus to return to international competition “as soon as possible.”

Since 2022, the International Olympic Committee has banned Russian and Belarusian national teams and allowed some individual athletes to compete under neutral status after passing a strict vetting process. The sanctions applied to the 2024 Paris Olympics and the current 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

“We want as soon as possible Belarus and the Russians back. Because first, it will mean that the world will be a little bit better,” Tardif told a press conference in Milan on Thursday.

“We try to keep the politics away from our competition, but sometimes that’s not so easy,” he lamented.

Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western nations of exerting pressure on sports federations to exclude Russian athletes for political reasons. President Vladimir Putin has said the IOC leadership is “flagrantly flouting the Olympic ideals they should be defending,” while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of engaging in “sports aggression.”

Pavel Bure, the former NHL great and special representative of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, recently argued that “without Russia, the level of the world championship has significantly decreased.”

Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain was the victim of homicide and did not kill himself, according to media reports citing a new investigation.

The grunge superstar died on April 5, 1994, aged 27, in his Seattle home. The official police probe concluded that Cobain had died of a shotgun wound to the head and ruled his death a suicide.

The murder conclusion follows a review of autopsy findings and crime scene materials by a team of independent forensic scientists, launched and financed by Nirvana fan Michelle Wilkins, the leader of the “Who Killed Kurt?” research group.

The evidence suggests that Cobain, who had struggled with a drug addiction, was incapacitated by a heroin overdose before being shot and the scene staged, Wilkins told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. Autopsy findings showed brain and liver necrosis consistent with oxygen deprivation from overdose, she said.

The team noted that Cobain’s left hand, wrapped around the gun’s barrel, was clean of blood, and blood staining on his shirt hem suggested that his body may have been moved. Investigators also concluded that the shotgun would not eject a shell with his hand on the forward barrel, yet a spent shell lay opposite the expected ejection direction.

The Sun also cited an alleged eyewitness who claimed he saw Cobain “being manhandled by three men into the greenhouse” before hearing a gunshot half an hour later.

The team has called on Seattle authorities to change Cobain’s cause of death to “undetermined” and reopen the investigation.

Public challenges to the suicide ruling emerged within days of Cobain’s death. Critics claim the rock star could not have injected the lethal heroin doze and then shot himself.

Cobain was survived by his wife, musician Courtney Love, and their daughter, Frances Bean, who was 20 months old at the time.

As Cobain died without a will, his estate passed in full to Love and the child. At the time of his death, the estate was valued at approximately $50 million, comprising songwriting royalties, publishing rights, and personal assets, equivalent to about $109 million in today's money.

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at the Super Bowl LX halftime show by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, calling it one of the worst ever.

The performer, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, delivered an exclusively Spanish-language set in front of 70,000 spectators, supported by numerous Hispanic dancers. He was joined by another Puerto Rican pop star, Ricky Martin, as well as Lady Gaga, the only one to sing in English. The performance concluded with a parade of Latin American and Caribbean nations' flags while Bad Bunny held up a football inscribed with “Together we are America.”

Trump, who is facing an intense backlash from left-wing celebrities and activists over his crackdown on illegal immigration, took to his Truth Social platform later in the day, describing the halftime show as “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!”

“It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence… This ‘Show’ is just a ‘slap in the face’ to our Country,” he wrote.

The president also questioned Bad Bunny’s rapping skills, saying that “nobody understands a word this guy is saying” and called the dancing “disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World.”

The Trump administration previously backed the alternative All-American Halftime Show by Turning Point USA, which was staged by the Conservative NGO in memory of its founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last year. It featured Kid Rock and country signers Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett as well as a lot of pyrotechnics.

Bad Bunny’s show set an all-time Super Bowl record of 142.3 million viewers, while Turning Point USA’s rival performance was watched by 5.7 million people, according to the live stream.

More Africans should have the opportunity to tell Africa’s story to the world through cinema, Mehret Mandefro has told RT.

Mandefro is an Emmy-nominated producer and screenwriter and managing director of the Realness Institute, a Cape Town-based non-profit supporting filmmakers from the Global South.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Inventing the Future: Plots and Stories’ forum at the National Center Russia on Saturday, she said Africa, rich in culture and myth, has a vast and well-developed cinema industry but has long lacked opportunities for distribution beyond the continent.

Mandefro said that as the world becomes more connected through the internet and social media, Africa now has a chance “to be heard” and “tell her story” herself.

“For a long time Africa’s stories haven’t been told by Africans,” Mandefro noted. “I think of stories as medicine… so I think the value of having a conversation where more African storytellers get to define what is known about Africa has been very healing.”

Mandefro suggested global cinema is entering a new age where everyone, including Africans, can tell their story, benefiting both domestic industries and foreign investors.

Speaking on a panel about education through stories, Mandefro said cinema is crucial for making sense of complex geopolitics, science, and culture, providing clear guidance when information overload makes it hard to separate fact from fiction.

The ‘Inventing the Future: Plots and Stories’ forum is an initiative of the Russia National Center and part of the 2nd International ‘Inventing the Future’ Symposium. The 3rd symposium, which will take place in November, will focus on global cooperation in science, culture, and art.

The Global South’s rich culture and history could help shape the future gaming industry, Indonesian gaming executive Ivan Chen has told RT.

The interactive media innovator is CEO and founder of Anantarupa Studios, a pioneering Indonesian developer established in 2011 and known for Lokapala, the country’s first locally made eSports MOBA game.

“Our history and culture is very rich. We have 1,300 ethnic groups – so we have a lot of stories to begin with,” he said, noting that Western firms increasingly draw on well-known Asian stories, but “we still have a lot of stories that haven’t been told.”

Chen acknowledged funding and infrastructure remain major hurdles for turning the Global South’s cultural wealth into games but said collaboration with Western counterparts could bridge the gap.

Speaking at a panel on stories in cinema and gaming, Chen said games let nations tell their stories, connect cultures, and drive social impact across other sectors. He predicted the video game market will keep expanding, having already outpaced the film industry fourfold over the past five years.

The ‘Inventing the Future: Plots and Stories’ forum is an initiative of the National Center RUSSIA and forms part of the II International Symposium ‘Inventing the Future.’ The III symposium will take place in November 2026 and will focus on global cooperation in science, culture, and art.

For most Russians, the release of the series ‘PONIES’ about American spies in Moscow in 1977 went largely unnoticed. It’s not that people lost interest in American series; in recent years, the number of Cold War-themed movies has surged. However, many found it amusing to watch the clip in which the main character, speaking with a thick Russian accent, gets into a heated argument with a crafty egg seller.

Those who did watch the series praised it as the most hilarious portrayal of the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the humor was unintentional. 

We won’t criticize the actors and their Russian accents – Emilia Clarke made a reasonable effort to at least say the words with the correct inflections. Still, it’s quite amusing that when preparing the main character for her mission, her “non-Moscow” accent is explained by claiming she’s from Belarus.

Even funnier are the inconsistencies that we notice from the very first scene, where two American spies complain about working outside on “the coldest day of the year.” And what do we see? Streets barely covered in snow, and the characters dressed in light coats. For comparison, it’s currently around -20 C in Moscow, and people navigate the streets bundled up in fur coats and parkas.

This sets the tone for the entire series. Here are just a few odd moments from the spy drama:

— A US Embassy secretary points to the street, claiming that all Muscovites “know that Moscow is a dump.” While everyone has their own preferences when it comes to cities, this comment does an injustice to Budapest, where the series was actually filmed.

It looks particularly strange when characters explicitly name the location where the action takes place, yet what we see onscreen doesn’t look anything like the real place. For example, famous Moscow landmarks like St. Basil’s Cathedral pop up in the middle of ordinary residential areas, rather than the historic central district. 

— The protagonist complains that milk in the USSR has to be boiled and is like mayonnaise. In Russia, sweetened condensed milk is still popular and is used in desserts, but it looks and tastes nothing like mayonnaise.

— The head of the CIA station in Moscow insists that the KGB never employs female agents, and would not expect this from the Americans either. Perhaps the creators wanted to flatter Soviet intelligence, but in reality, the KGB actively utilized women in both foreign and domestic espionage. One such agent, Zoya Voskresenskaya, became famous – though not as a spy, but as a children’s author.

— Later, the same CIA agent claims that all KGB cars have a smudge on the windshield due to an issue at the state car wash, adding meaningfully: “because it’s Russia.”

— A Russian character says that in Russia, there is a saying: “Life is unbearable, but death isn’t so pleasant either.” This might sound convincing to someone who is only familiar with Russian culture through TikTok videos about Dostoevsky, but in reality, Russians aren’t a nation of emo teenagers. This proverb does not exist.

— Gaining the trust of a particularly malicious KGB agent, the main character mentions that her husband died in December, “before Christmas.” This could have made for an interesting plot twist, raising suspicions about her, since in Russia, Christmas is celebrated in January. However, the KGB agent merely notes that a good Soviet citizen shouldn’t even know about Christmas. In the 1970s, the authorities still viewed Orthodox Christianity with skepticism, but the active campaign against religion had ended.

— Later, the same KGB agent concludes that the woman is disloyal to the Soviet regime because she has a tattoo with numbers on her arm. “Why be loyal to a country that sent you to a concentration camp?” he asks. That’s a fair question. But prisoners in Soviet Gulags didn’t have their numbers tattooed – this was a Nazi practice. 

— A smuggler at a market (which, by the way, is located in the courtyard of a residential area) claims that ‘napevy’ (singsongs) are a kind of universal way of singing in Morse code, known to every Russian. While Pioneers and radio enthusiasts in the USSR knew Morse code, it was not common knowledge.

— All the vendors at this market, just like the prostitutes at a large secret brothel, speak English fluently. While foreign languages were taught in schools, most adults in the 1970s learned German in school. Even today, only around 30% of Russians speak English.

— The Russian characters complain about shortages of everything, constant lines in stores, and hunger. While Moscow in the 1970s wasn’t exactly a land of luxury, the last famine in the Soviet Union occurred in 1947, and noticeable shortages of everyday goods didn’t begin until the late 1980s.

Finally, the series seizes every opportunity to criticize absolutely everything Soviet – from Aeroflot pilots to the quality of linens and chocolate. Undoubtedly, Soviet industry and services had their issues. But according to the creators of ‘PONIES’, things in the USSR were so bad that the country should have collapsed within a week.

One episode from ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ remains popular in Russia, in which Jason Bourne arrives in Moscow and hands his fake Russian passport to the border guard. Instead of his name and last name in Cyrillic, we see gibberish: ‘LSHTSHFUM ASHF’.

Some find this stupid, others think it’s funny. However, it’s an understandable mistake: An English-speaking audience likely wouldn’t notice it, and hiring a Russian-speaking consultant for such small issues probably seemed too tedious, especially back in 2005.

An anachronism was spotted in the Netflix docudrama ‘The Last Czars’. In one scene, they show Moscow as it was supposed to be in 1905… and then we see Lenin’s Mausoleum on Red Square. This is harder to accept. Understanding that the burial place of the leader of the October Revolution couldn’t have existed 12 years before the revolution which he led doesn’t require expensive consultants or extensive research – just a bit of attention to the subject matter. 

Russians have long stopped being offended by comical Russian villains and stereotypes about Russia and the USSR. Some even like the unrealistic villains. You can find photos of Ivan Drago in many gyms. The problem with ‘PONIES’ and similar movies and series isn’t their offensiveness – it’s their willful ignorance.

The creators of the series clearly conducted some research – they knew Elton John visited Soviet Moscow, they knew the name of the American ambassador at that time, and other small details. Yet they still had to invent bizarre and unrealistic things. 

The only possible explanation is that American studios view their audiences as fools and doubt that they would find a spy drama engaging without contrived plot twists and stereotypes. So the ones who should feel bad about this aren’t Russians whose culture is misrepresented, but Americans who pay to watch. 

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been added to the ‘kill list’ maintained by Ukraine’s state-backed Mirotvorets website, which publishes the personal data of individuals it labels as enemies of the state.

The website accuses Infantino of “humanitarian aggression against Ukraine” and “systemic support and cooperation” with Russia, as well as helping to spread Russian “propaganda.”

It also notes that in 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Infantino the Order of Friendship.

Ukrainian officials have attacked Infantino for expressing hope in a recent interview that Russian football players could again be allowed to participate in international competitions. He said such bans and boycotts create “more frustration and hatred.”

Russian athletes were barred from most global sporting events, including FIFA and UEFA competitions, following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022.

Moscow has denounced the bans as discriminatory and a violation of the Olympic Charter.

“Sports and the Olympic movement should never be politicized,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Mirotvorets, which operates independently but maintains close ties to Ukraine’s security services, has been branded a “kill list” after multiple people featured on it were later murdered or died under suspicious circumstances. Each entry notably includes a “date of elimination” field beneath the subject’s birthdate.

The Russian Embassy in Germany has accused the Mannheim Philharmonic of “canceling” Russian culture after a concert by eminent violinist Vadim Repin was abruptly called off. The decision was reportedly prompted by a request from Ukrainian diplomats.

In a statement on Thursday, the Russian Embassy said that “it is with great disappointment that we learned from German media of the decision by Mannheim Philharmonic’s management to cancel the concert by world-renowned virtuoso Russian violinist Vadim Repin scheduled for February 22, 2026.”

Russian diplomats expressed particular dismay at what they characterized as an “overtly political step taken in the wake of a coordinated smear campaign targeting [Russian] culture by the Ukrainian embassy” in Germany.

According to the statement, the move fits a pattern of “cancel culture that has been so prevalent” across the EU of late.

Earlier this month, Italy’s Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino similarly canceled a ballet performance by Repin and his wife, ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, citing “ongoing international tensions.”

The Russian Embassy in Italy accused the venue of bowing to political pressure from Ukraine.

In November 2025, Politico reported that acclaimed German pianist and conductor Justus Frantz had come under fire at home after receiving the Order of Friendship from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Frantz, a veteran of Europe’s classical music scene, has long promoted cultural cooperation between Russia and the West.

Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, a number of prominent Russian artists, especially those who have publicly supported government policy, have had events canceled in the EU. Their European colleagues who have refused to denounce Russia have also faced professional repercussions.

The animated film ‘The Three Sisters’ by veteran Russian director Konstantin Bronzit has been nominated for an Academy Award, according to the Oscars website.

Based on a Montenegrin legend, the animated short follows three aging, unmarried sisters living alone in separate cottages on a remote island. Their quiet routines are disrupted when a sailor rents one of the houses, sparking rivalry and a transformation that brings unexpected vitality and joy into their lives.

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced on Thursday, with the ceremony scheduled to take place on March 15 in Hollywood. ‘The Three Sisters’ is one of five contenders for the best animated short film award.

Bronzit, born in 1965 in St. Petersburg, is a leading figure in Russian animation and has worked for decades at the Melnitsa Animation Studio. His films, often marked by humor and social nuance, have earned wide recognition at international festivals. The Academy previously nominated two of his animated shorts, ‘Lavatory – Lovestory’ in 2009 and ‘We Can’t Live Without Cosmos’ in 2016.

Moscow has condemned restrictions imposed on Russian cultural figures abroad as Russophobic censorship, warning that efforts to “cancel” Russian culture will ultimately fail.

Russia has produced a number of Oscar-winning films over the decades. The Soviet Union won its first Academy Award in 1943, when ‘Moscow Strikes Back’ took best documentary feature. Four Russian or Soviet films have won in the best international feature category, including ‘War and Peace’ (1969), ‘Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears’ (1981), and ‘Burnt by the Sun’ (1994), directed by Nikita Mikhalkov.

Legendary Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani – best known simply as Valentino – has died at 93, his foundation announced on Monday.

The founder of an eponymous haute couture empire, he built his reputation on impeccably constructed gowns and refined silhouettes, promoting timeless, classical beauty over trend-driven fashion.

No cause of death has been disclosed, though it is widely described as natural causes. His body will lie in state at the foundation’s headquarters in Rome on Wednesday and Thursday. The funeral will take place at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri on Friday.

Valentino studied haute couture in Milan and Paris before founding his own line in Rome in 1959. In 1960, he met long-time partner Giancarlo Giammetti, who handled business while Valentino led design, turning the house into an internationally recognized brand.

Valentino’s empire later expanded to ready-to-wear, menswear, and accessories. The label was sold to an Italian holding company for an estimated $300 million in 1998, but Valentino remained in design until 2008. He retired after a final haute couture show celebrating his 45-year fashion anniversary, where every model wore ‘Valentino red’ – a color which became his signature.

Tributes streamed in following the news of his death. Maison Valentino, the official account of the fashion house, pledged to honor his memory through new creations, praising “his unique style and innate elegance.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called Valentino an “eternal symbol of Italian high fashion.” The family of Giorgio Armani, a fellow fashion icon who died last year, described Valentino as “an undisputed master of grace and elegance, for whom Armani held great admiration.”

Like in most countries, the holiday season in Russia is a time for family-friendly movie premieres. However, in Russia, the celebrations last at least a week after New Year, so there’s an even bigger demand for family entertainment. 

Competing for the attention of parents and children are fairy tales, comedies about getaways from the city, and the long-running movie franchise ‘Yolki’ which has released new installments almost every year since 2010. But not this year. 

In early January, Cheburashka 2, directed by Dmitry Dyachenko, broke Russia’s box office into the global conversation. In its first week of release, the film ranked third worldwide in theatrical box office charts, outperforming many international competitors. Within just two weeks, Cheburashka 2 crossed the five-billion-ruble mark, becoming only the second film in Russian history to do so. The only other movie to ever reach that milestone was its predecessor.

At first glance, the success of a sequel about a mysterious furry creature from a Soviet children’s cartoon may seem puzzling. But Cheburashka’s story – which began with a book, grew into a beloved animated series, and evolved into a record-breaking live-action franchise – taps into something deeper than nostalgia. Beneath its family-friendly surface lies a reflection of Soviet and modern anxieties, loneliness, and the enduring need for kindness and connection.

Soviet friendship blues

On December 31, 1969, a new cartoon was released by Soyuzmultfilm. According to the plot, a fruit seller at a market opened a box of oranges and discovered a creature “unknown to science.” The creature was sleepy, and when the seller tried to set it upright, it fell over twice. “Fell over again, eh? You’re quite a cheburashka,” the fruit seller remarked. [In Russian, a play on words – Cheburashka is derived from “cheburakhnut’sya”, i.e., to “fall over”] That’s how the creature got its name. Soon after, Cheburashka met a lonely crocodile, inspired a grumpy old woman to become kind, and even went to school.

Based on a book by Eduard Uspensky, the cartoon ‘Gena the Crocodile’ quickly became a hit in the USSR. To be fair, there wasn’t much competition; Soviet animation was in its infancy, and the year lacked major family movie releases. It wasn’t just about the market, however. People were attracted by the cartoon’s unique animation style, the earworm songs, and the famous author, Eduard Uspensky. But above all, they loved the memorable main characters.

In contrast, Cheburashka embodies childlike optimism. Cheburashka is the only one who is not afraid of the rat – the assistant of the film’s antagonist, old lady Shapoklyak – simply because he doesn’t know that rats are considered scary. Worried that he might not fit in, he nevertheless strives to connect with everyone. Viewers are enchanted by his childlike sincerity and lines like, “Let me carry the bags, and you can carry me!”

The characters’ experiences and aspirations reflect real issues in the USSR at the time. By then, the post-war demographic boom had subsided, and birth rates had been steadily declining. Additionally, a new wave of urbanization and industrialization was underway, causing families across the country to relocate to other cities or even different republics in the Soviet Union.

Everyone had trouble making new friends. Kids struggled as they changed schools, often moving to places with fewer peers, while adults found it tough to connect due to the challenges of moving and adapting to new places in a country that was still recovering from the aftermath of World War II.

Emotional resonance and vibrant animation secured Gena and Cheburashka a place in popular culture. They became toys and mascots for Russia’s Olympic team, graced postage stamps, inspired popular jokes, and even saw international adaptations, like the Japanese series ‘Cheburashka Arere?’ which retold the story of the House of Friends in short episodes.

Bridging the generation gap with fur

During the 2023 holiday season, Cheburashka returned to the big screen – not as a cartoon, but as a live-action animated comedy. Other things changed as well. 

This time, Cheburashka doesn’t arrive in a box of oranges; instead, the creature is swept into Russia by a powerful tornado from an orange grove. Gena is no longer a crocodile but a grumpy janitor in a botanical garden trying to mend his relationship with his estranged daughter. Old lady Shapoklyak has transformed into the head of a corporation aiming to buy out the chocolate shop owned by Gena’s daughter. 

Rather than sticking to the original plot with minor tweaks or updates – as is common in live-action remakes of classic cartoons – the creators opted for a completely new story.

The original Soviet cartoon no longer reflects Russian society; people aren’t as isolated as before. Both kids and adults can connect through social media, interest-based communities, etc. Today’s pressing issues revolve around strained generational bonds, the quest for individuality in a globalized world, and finding genuine, meaningful connections.

Gena has changed, too. The creators believed that an awkward, intelligent Gena wouldn’t be as appealing to modern viewers. 

The filmmakers knew that many Russians feel sentimental about the beloved Soviet cartoon, and they could’ve gone the safe way by relying on a star-studded cast and sticking to the old plot. But instead, they decided to create an entirely new storyline. 

Critics had mixed reviews about the CGI and music but praised everything else about the movie. Even though ‘Cheburashka’ was marketed as a holiday film, viewers continued to flock to movie theaters well after the holidays. In five months, the comedy grossed nearly seven billion rubles, making it the highest-grossing Russian film and placing it among the top 20 global box office hits of the year.

Analysts believe that the recently released sequel could break box office records.

Cheburashka’s secret

The global “remake trend” has reached Russia. But not every new take on a beloved classic is a success. 

‘Cheburashka’ stands out because its creators updated the story, but didn’t change the essence. The endearing creature from afar remains just as innocent, kind-hearted, optimistic, and friendly as ever. The film doesn’t attempt to explain Cheburashka’s origins, complicate the creature’s character, or subvert expectations. 

Modern viewers – even those who typically favor realistic and gritty narratives – need such unapologetically kind and uplifting characters. That’s why Cheburashka is universally beloved. 

Recently, a member of the State Duma jokingly suggested that Cheburashka might be Jewish, claiming that in 1969, oranges in the USSR were imported only from Israel, so the mysterious creature must have gotten into one of those boxes. Not everyone found the joke amusing. Some argued that Cheburashka originated in Russia and can only be Russian; others noted that Cheburashka’s nationality is irrelevant – the furry creature belongs to the whole world.

Hollywood actor Matt Damon has accused Netflix of encouraging filmmakers to simplify movies to suit distracted home audiences, arguing that streaming-era viewing habits are reshaping how films are written and structured.

During an interview with popular American podcaster Joe Rogan aired on Friday, Damon, who is currently promoting his new Netflix film The Rip, compared the experience of watching movies in theaters with home viewing and discussed how phone-distracted audiences are influencing filmmaking decisions.

Damon, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting, likened the movie theater experience to “going to church,” where “you show up at an appointed time.” He contrasted this with watching films at home, saying viewers are often distracted by their surroundings and unable to give movies the same level of attention, a shift he said is now affecting how films are made.

“Now, [Netflix is] like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes?’ We want people to stay tuned in,” he said. “And it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.”

The film industry has undergone significant changes in recent years amid the rapid expansion of streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO Max. These platforms have reshaped how films and television content are produced, distributed, and consumed, as audiences increasingly shift toward on-demand viewing at home.

The trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when widespread theater closures pushed viewers further toward streaming. The rise of binge-watching has also influenced how content is structured, while the growth of streaming has coincided with a decline in cinema attendance, particularly for non-blockbuster releases.

US toy maker Mattel has released the first autistic Barbie doll, expanding its flagship line as part of what the company says is a broader effort to showcase diversity and inclusion.

The doll was developed with guidance from the autistic community over more than 18 months, Mattel said. It is the newest addition to the ‘Barbie Fashionistas’ line, which already includes dolls representing people with type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome, and blindness, and is designed so that more children “see themselves in Barbie.”

According to Mattel, the doll’s eyes gaze slightly to one side, reflecting how some autistic people “avoid direct eye contact.” She has bendable elbows and wrists to allow repetitive physical movements such as stimming and hand-flapping, and comes with accessories including a fidget spinner, noise canceling headphones, and a tablet with symbol based communication apps. The company said the doll also wears a loose fitting dress intended to reflect “sensory sensitive” clothing preferences.

“It’s yet another step in making the Barbie brand a more inclusive reflection of the children who play with it,” Mattel said.

Mattel has also released a doll wearing a hijab as a tribute to Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first American athlete to compete at the Olympic Games while wearing the headdress.

Other toy manufacturers have made similar efforts. In 2016, Lego released a minifigure of a young man in a wheelchair as part of its ‘Toys Like Me’ drive.

A 12-year-old Russian chess prodigy scored a stunning upset over the reigning world champion at the World Blitz Championship in Doha, Qatar. Sergey Sklokin, a significant rating underdog, beat 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju on Friday.

Sklokin is merely a FIDE Master, two rungs below the grandmaster title in chess. Blitz is played at a time control of just three minutes for the entire game, plus a two-second increment per move, making time management as crucial as strategy.

The decisive moment came on move 70. With just eight seconds on his clock, Gukesh inexplicably rejected a straightforward rook exchange that would have led to a drawable ending and decided to keep the pieces on the board. However, he misplayed the position and Sklokin capitalized, forcing a resignation from Gukesh ten moves later.

Ahead of the defeat, Gukesh, who is the youngest classical world champion in history but is not known as a strong blitz player, had stated that he did not have a “lot of expectations” for the rapid and blitz events, aiming instead to “experiment, enjoy and play chess with the aim of having fun.”

Vice President of Russia’s Chess Federation Sergey Smagin, meanwhile, has said that Sklokin’s victory was “very pleasing,” but noted that the blitz format often allows lower-rated players to surprise top-ranked masters.

“Sergey Sklokin is a good boy; we’ll see what his future holds. He still has a lot of work to do. But in any case, victories like these are nice,” Smagin told Match TV.

French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91, her foundation said on Sunday. She was a 1950s and 1960s sex symbol, later becoming a fervent animal rights activist and outspoken critic of mass immigration and what she called the “Islamisation” of France.

Bardot was reportedly hospitalized earlier this year, and her foundation denied rumors of her death in November. On Sunday, it announced she had died, although no cause of death was disclosed.

Bardot starred in such movies as ‘Contempt’, ‘A Very Private Affair’, ‘And God Created Woman’, ‘Viva Maria!’, among others. She was affectionately known as BB in France.

She walked away from the spotlight in 1973 and devoted much of the rest of her life to animal rights activism, founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.

In her 2003 book ‘A Scream in the Silence’, Bardot criticized what she called the “Islamization of France,” and the country’s immigration policy.

Jordan Bardella, the head of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally mourned her on X as a fervent French patriot and a woman of heart, conviction and character. Bardot’s husband Bernard d’Ormale, her fourth, is a former adviser to the political party.

The British Imperial War Museum has turned “woke,” replacing an exhibition of military medals with an LGBTQ-themed tour, Lord Michael Ashcroft, who owns the historic collection, has said.

Until recently, the London museum had exhibited the ‘Extraordinary Heroes’ gallery, which included a collection of Victoria Cross and George Cross medals, the highest British military and civilian honors.

However, earlier this year, the institution announced it would replace the gallery with a tour titled: ‘Exploring LGBTQ+ Stories in Times of Conflict’. Around a third of the exhibits are related to transgenderism, according to the Daily Mail.

“This was part of the reason the Imperial Woke Museum kicked out over 200 Victoria Crosses telling the incredible stories of the bravest of the brave,” Lord Ashcroft said in an X post on Friday. “It is beyond parody.”

According to some critics, the museum’s decision is an attempt at re-framing history towards a more woke narrative.

The Imperial War Museum has defended its decision, arguing that Lord Ashcroft’s 15-year loan of his medal collection expired in September, and maintained there was no connection between the lapse and the new LGBTQ tour.

Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of UK-based advocacy group Don’t Divide Us, told The Telegraph on Sunday that the people behind such proposals are attempting to rupture Britons’ “sense of belonging to a common past and culture.”

Russians are diving into a renaissance of vintage, Soviet-style Christmas ornaments ahead of the festive season. RT has visited factories across the country to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the traditional manufacturing process.

Decorating Christmas trees remains a ritual of family bonding in Russia as New Year’s Eve celebrations remain largely unchanged since the Soviet era. While USSR-era toys and ornaments are a source of nostalgia for older generations and are often passed down within families, it is increasingly younger enthusiasts who are seeking out vintage decorations dating back 50 or even 100 years.

WATCH RT’s Anastasia Volodina report:

Rudeness, advertising, and pedophilia. That is the short list of reasons why children should not be on social media. The longer list barely fits into one column.

The wisest people on Earth, I have concluded, live where kangaroos, koalas, and wombats roam. Australia has banned children under 16 from registering on social media. Platforms are now required to delete children’s accounts, even those pretending to be adults, and to pay fines for harm caused to minors. From January, Malaysia will introduce a similar ban. The European Parliament is openly discussing following Australia’s example.

Well done.

The ideal parental world is one where children do not have access to social media. Or Roblox, for that matter. I would gladly cooperate with Australia. Bear and kangaroo, side by side.

This idea is not exotic or radical. France already requires parental consent for children under 15 to join social networks. Belgium bans social media for children under 13. Norway and Germany have introduced various forms of parental control. The trend is obvious. Within a year or two, children may largely disappear from social media. I am convinced that some countries will go further and restrict children’s access to the internet altogether.

Still, any parent who actually raises their child, rather than handing them a smartphone at six months and forgetting about them, understands why children should be kept off social media and why internet use must be strictly limited.

The problem has two sides.

The first is wasted time. A child glued to a phone is not developing. It does not matter whether they are gaming, chatting, or watching brainless bloggers who resemble them in every way. The result is the same: time is squandered. Years meant for learning and growth are spent on Roblox, TikTok, and endless chatter with strangers. We already see the consequences of growing up with phones. There is no need to list them again.

Parents who spend all day scrolling while 'raising' children should be ashamed.

Yet instead of admitting this, many boast: “I’m teaching my child technology early!” Or: “They used to chat in the yard, now they chat online. What’s the difference?” They accuse critics of being stuck in the past, while proudly presenting their laziness as progress.

There is a quote attributed to Steve Jobs. He allegedly said his children were not allowed to use computers, because it takes two weeks to become an advanced user, but a childhood spent staring at screens costs something far more valuable: time for real development.

Unlimited communication is disastrous. Children degrade not because they fail to go outside, but because they now spend all their time among underdeveloped, tongue-tied interlocutors. I am speaking, of course, about children addicted to the internet.

The dangers are not theoretical.

Yes, there are paedophiles and scammers. Anyone who still doubts this is naïve. I hear such stories constantly. Recently, a subscriber told me that his daughter was asked by a “donor” on Roblox to photograph her sleeping father naked. She went straight to him. Another man mocked this story in the comments. The next morning, he wrote privately: his own son had been asked to send a photo in his underwear to gain access to a Telegram chat.

I remember a woman describing how a recruiter joined a children’s hockey team chat and invited ten-year-old boys to auditions. They were instructed to film full-body videos – in underwear. These stories are endless. Even a smart teenager can be confused. A greedy, weak, or frightened child may comply for a promised $60.

And yet, this is not even the biggest danger.

My daughter once secretly created a Telegram account. It was with her father’s knowledge, but not mine. I discovered it by accident. She had joined chats devoted to a husky named Bandit. Children aged seven to ten were arguing whether the dog in recent videos was the same one. My daughter expressed an opinion. In response, she was told: “You stupid creature, wash the pus out of your eyes!” This abuse continued relentlessly. Over a dog.

Another time, I discovered that my daughter had been posting videos on Likee for six months. I cried all night. The content was awful: messy hair, chaos in her grandmother’s house, dogs jumping around, everything upside down. She pretended to be an actress. Hundreds of subscribers appeared and some were adults. Others insulted her appearance daily. Her self-esteem collapsed.

Then there is consumption and distorted beauty standards. Eight-year-old girls in makeup and heels. Filters. Videos explaining that a girl should only date boys with sports cars and giant bouquets. I saw a child declare that she would never clean, because her future husband would pay for services. This is not innocence. This is marketing.

And marketing knows exactly how to find children.

Social media today is a wild frontier where even adults struggle to orient themselves. Why should children roam there? Why should they face pedophiles, scammers, malicious peers, aggressive advertising, and constant humiliation. Especially when they could be studying, playing, or simply growing up?

There is no convincing answer to that question.

Chris Rea, the singer of the holiday classic ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, has died at the age of 74. 

British star Rea was best known for his 1986 hit, which became a seasonal favorite in the UK and regularly returned to the charts during the holiday season. The song was featured in numerous festive adverts and continues to be a staple of Christmas playlists. 

“He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness,” his family said in a statement.

Two of his most successful albums were ‘The Road to Hell’ (1989) and ‘Auberge’ (1991), both of which topped the UK albums chart. 

Rea faced significant health issues in later years. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had his pancreas removed in 2001. He also suffered a stroke in 2016 but continued to record and perform afterward. His final studio album, ‘One Fine Day’, was released in 2019.

Rea is survived by his wife Joan and their two daughters. 

A British museum has called for Father Christmas to be “decolonized,” arguing that the traditional Santa Claus promotes colonial and patriarchal ideas and should instead “learn about different cultures.”

On Sunday, British media outlets drew attention to a blog post by the publicly funded Brighton and Hove Museums group, which claims that the story of a “white, Western Santa who judges all children’s behavior” reinforces colonial assumptions of cultural superiority, particularly through the “naughty or nice” list.

The post, titled ‘Decolonizing Father Christmas’ and written by the museum’s Joint Head of Culture Change, Simone LaCorbiniere, questions Santa’s role as a moral authority, claiming he cannot fairly assess “Indigenous children practicing their own cultural traditions.”

The museum suggested that the story of Father Christmas threatens to erase indigenous cultural practices and histories and criticized the traditional portrayal of Santa supervising elves, insisting that it reinforces ideas of hierarchy, authority, and marginalization.

The blog urges parents to “challenge the colonial gaze” by rejecting the naughty and nice list, describing it as a “Western binary,” and instead proposes reframing Santa as a “more diverse character who celebrates cultural exchange.”

It also proposes portraying Santa as working alongside elves as an equal, including people from around the world in his workshop, and introducing “Mother Christmas” to show that “men don’t have to be in charge.”

The blog post, originally published in 2023 but still available on the museum’s website, has sparked a fresh wave of backlash, with politicians and commentators ridiculing the proposal to decolonize Santa.

Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of Don’t Divide Us, told The Telegraph on Sunday that those behind such “laughable” proposals are trying to “rupture our sense of belonging to a common past and culture” and should not be getting public funding or official endorsements from “witless museums.”

A spokesman for the museum said people were “free to agree or disagree” with the blog post.

Animated film ‘The Three Sisters’ by veteran Russian director Konstantin Bronzit has been shortlisted for an Academy Award, according to the Oscars website.

Based on a Montenegrin legend, the animated short follows three aging, unmarried sisters living alone in separate cottages on a remote island. Their quiet routines are disrupted when a sailor rents one of the houses, sparking rivalry and a transformation that brings unexpected vitality and joy into their lives.

Final nominations for the 98th Academy Awards will be announced in January, with the ceremony scheduled to take place on March 15 in Hollywood. ‘The Three Sisters’ has been shortlisted in the best animated short film category.

Bronzit, born in 1965 in St. Petersburg, is a leading figure in Russian animation and has worked for decades at the Melnitsa Animation Studio. His films, often marked by humor and social nuance, have earned wide recognition at international festivals. The Academy has previously nominated two of his animated shorts, ‘Lavatory – Lovestory’ in 2009 and ‘We Can’t Live Without Cosmos’ in 2016.

Moscow has condemned restrictions imposed on Russian cultural figures abroad as Russophobic censorship, warning that efforts to “cancel” Russian culture will ultimately fail.

Russia has produced a number of Oscar-winning films over the decades. The Soviet Union won its first Academy Award in 1943, when ‘Moscow Strikes Back’ took best documentary feature. Four Russian or Soviet films have won in the best international feature category, including ‘War and Peace’ (1969), ‘Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears’ (1981), and ‘Burnt by the Sun’ (1994), directed by Nikita Mikhalkov.

A large replica of the Statue of Liberty collapsed in southern Brazil on Monday after strong winds hit the region. Authorities and the company that owns the structure have stated that no injuries were reported.

The incident occurred in the city of Guaíba, near Porto Alegre, as severe weather swept across the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Wind gusts in the area reportedly exceeded 90 kilometers per hour, according to Brazil’s civil defense agency, which had issued emergency alerts warning residents to remain indoors.

The statue stood in the parking area of a Havan retail megastore. The company said in a statement that the 24-meter-tall statue was blown off its 11-meter-tall base. 

WATCH: Replica of the Statue of Liberty topples due to strong winds in Guaíba, Brazil pic.twitter.com/pMxN7KLu5y

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) December 15, 2025

Havan said the installation carried the required Technical Responsibility Annotation (ART) and had been in place since the store opened in 2020. It added that a technical inspection will be conducted at the site to determine the causes of the incident and recommend further measures.

Guaíba Mayor Marcelo Maranata has confirmed that no one was hurt, while praising the rapid response of store employees and emergency services, who secured the area shortly after the collapse.

Back in 2021, a similar incident took place at another Havan store in Capao da Canoa, which also had a Statue of Liberty replica in the parking lot. That structure was toppled during a cyclone with winds between 70 and 80 km/h. The incident resulted in no injures, only causing material damage. The statue was then put back in its place just 72 hours after falling.

As reported by local media, the replica statues weigh in at about 3.6 tons and are made of fiberglass.

US President Donald Trump has announced the engagement of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., to Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson during a White House Christmas reception on Monday.

Footage shared on social media shows the president stepping aside at the podium as the couple stood together, prompting applause from guests. Trump Jr., 47, then addressed the crowd, thanking Anderson for saying “yes” and wishing attendees a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Anderson also spoke briefly at the event, thanking the president and first lady for hosting the reception and calling the weekend “the most unforgettable” of her life. She said she felt “the luckiest girl in the world” as she prepares to marry Trump Jr.

The personal life of Trump’s oldest son has regularly gained media attention. He was previously married from 2005 to 2018 to model Vanessa Haydon, with whom he shares five children. After their breakup, Trump Jr. was seen with former Fox News host and current US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle. The couple dated for six years and had an announced engagement in 2022, but parted ways in December last year, according to Page Six. 

Anderson, 39, is the daughter of philanthropists Harry Loy Anderson Jr. and Inger Anderson, and is involved in mental health advocacy and conservation projects in Florida.

Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele have been found dead at their home in Brentwood, California. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has said the incident is being investigated as an apparent homicide. 

Authorities responding to a medical aid call found the bodies of 78-year-old Reiner and his 68-year-old wife on Sunday inside a home they owned. TMZ and People reported that they had suffered wounds consistent with a knife attack.

LAPD chief detective Alan Hamilton said Sunday evening that investigators were not actively seeking any suspect or person of interest as the inquiry continued. He said police would interview members of the family, stressing that “no one has been detained” and that “no one is being questioned as a suspect.”

There has been speculation, however, that the couple’s son Nick may be the culprit, according to People magazine, a popular American weekly that focuses on celebrity news. According to later reports, he is being questioned by police, although they have not confirmed that he is an official suspect.

Reiner had a five-decade Hollywood career, first gaining fame playing the role of Michael “Meathead” Stivic on ‘All in the Family’ (1971-1979) before directing hits including ‘This Is Spinal Tap’, ‘The Princess Bride’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally’. He shifted into drama with ‘Stand by Me’ in 1986, and earned an Oscar nomination for “A Few Good Men” (1993), which starred Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise.

Reiner was also a political activist and a critic of US President Donald Trump. He co-founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which brought the court challenge that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage. He also led anti-smoking campaigns and briefly weighed a run against then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 before deciding against it for personal reasons.

Iceland has become the fifth country to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 after Israel was cleared to take part, joining Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

The move was announced on Wednesday by Iceland’s public broadcaster RUV, which said it will neither send a performer to Eurovision nor air the show next year.

RUV linked the boycott to widespread public opposition in Iceland to Israel’s presence in the competition and to what it described as the failure of contest organizer European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to address concerns raised by member broadcasters. The network said it had urged the EBU to allow a formal vote on Israel’s eligibility, but the request was rejected.

“It is clear that neither joy nor peace will prevail regarding the participation of RUV in Eurovision,” the broadcaster said in a press release.

Several broadcasters had earlier urged the EBU to bar Israel over the war in Gaza and allegations of voting manipulation during the 2025 contest, which some networks argued boosted Israel’s result.

Eurovision organizers have insisted that Israel meets the contest requirements and will remain eligible to compete in 2026. The EBU has introduced new rules aimed at limiting political or government influence over entries and voting after repeated disputes related to the Gaza conflict.

Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals last week, also citing Israel’s participation and the EBU’s refusal to revisit the issue. Spain’s exit drew particular attention because it is one of Eurovision’s five major financial contributors, while Ireland remains the show’s most successful country by wins.

The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to take place in Vienna in May, following Austria’s victory this year.

The EBU has banned Russia from Eurovision since 2022, citing the Ukraine conflict. Moscow responded by launching its own annual song competition, Intervision, which debuted in September.

US pop singer Katy Perry and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have confirmed their long-rumored relationship by posting joint photos and videos on social media. The posts show the pair together in several settings in Japan, ending speculation that had been building for months.

Trudeau resigned as leader of the Liberal Party in January and stepped down as prime minister in March, ending his nine-year tenure. He has long courted controversy, from domestic scandals to foreign‑policy posturing.

In 2023, Trudeau had to apologize after the Canadian Parliament honored a Ukrainian veteran who had served in a Nazi-affiliated unit during World War II – an incident that drew significant domestic and international criticism. While condemning the mistake, Trudeau also used the moment to reiterate his broader criticisms of Russia, despite the widely recognized role that Soviet soldiers played in defeating Nazi Germany. Earlier this year, the politician again emphasized his aggressive stance toward Moscow, arguing that Kiev is “fighting to protect the rules-based order that keeps us all safe around the world.”

Since first being seen together in July, Perry and Trudeau have appeared publicly several times, including dining in Montreal, having drinks at a bar Trudeau frequents, and attending her Montreal concert with his daughter.

Earlier this year, Perry announced her separation from actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she has a daughter. She was previously married to English comedian and actor Russell Brand for two years. Similarly, in the summer of 2023, Trudeau ended his 20-year marriage with Sophie Gregoire, with whom he shares three children.

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has been telling users that its owner is smarter and more physically fit than anyone in the world, according to media reports. Many of the posts were later deleted, renewing questions about the bot’s objectivity.

Musk’s social network X on Thursday was reportedly flooded with examples of Grok praising the billionaire, calling him “strikingly handsome,” lauding his “lean, athletic physique” and describing his intellect as “genius-level.” The bot also claimed Musk could beat Mike Tyson in a boxing match, ranked him above Leonardo da Vinci, said he was funnier than Jerry Seinfeld and even suggested he would rise from the dead faster than Jesus.

Musk addressed the issue on X on Thursday, saying Grok had been “manipulated by adversarial prompting into saying absurdly positive things” about him. “For the record, I am a fat retard,” he added. 

This comes amid growing scrutiny of Musk’s AI venture, particularly the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 4, which Musk described at its July release as “the smartest AI in the world.”

Users have noted that the bot frequently echoed Musk’s public political views, prompting concerns about bias. It has referenced “white genocide,” questioned Holocaust death tolls, and reportedly made derogatory remarks about politicians. xAI, the Musk-founded startup that develops Grok, has attributed most of these outputs to “unauthorized modifications” or rogue employees.

The rollout of the new chatbot version came as the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk’s SpaceX had agreed to invest $2 billion in xAI, which is positioning itself to challenge rivals such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, systems Musk has accused of having a liberal bias.

Russian figure skating star Petr Gumennik has been added to the ‘kill list’ run by Ukraine’s state-backed Mirotvorets website, which publishes the personal details of individuals it labels as ‘enemies’ of the state.

According to a November 9 entry, Gumennik is accused of “war propaganda” and “attacks on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and deemed “complicit” in Russia’s alleged “crimes” against the country.

The entry featured Gumennik’s photos alongside other Russian public figures previously listed by Mirotvorets and included a mention of his father, Oleg Gumennik, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Under the current Kiev regime, the Ukrainian church affiliated with the ROC has faced raids, arrests, and bans over alleged ties to the Kremlin.

Vladislav Dikidzhi, Russia’s reigning men’s singles champion and a potential replacement for Gumennik in Milan, was added to the website the same day under similar accusations.

Commenting on the listings, legendary Russian coach Tatyana Tarasova said the athletes were likely targeted for their Olympic prospects, and condemned the publication of their personal data as “a violation of all human rights.”

Mirotvorets, which operates independently but maintains close ties to Ukraine’s security services, has been branded a “kill list” after multiple people featured on it were later murdered or died under suspicious circumstances. Each entry notably includes the targeted person’s “date of elimination” field directly beneath the birthdate.

The site has recently added numerous Russian and foreign figures accused of ties to the Russian government or of spreading pro-Russian views. Earlier this year, filmmaker Woody Allen, Hollywood actor Mark Eydelshteyn, and even a group of Russian children – the youngest just three years old – were added.

Russian officials have denounced Mirotvorets as extremist. Western media and institutions have also criticized the website, while human rights and press freedom groups condemned it for publishing personal data of journalists and civilians, warning it poses threats to safety and due process.

A driver for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has said he was conscripted into the Ukrainian military after being detained during her recent visit to the country.

Dmitry Pishikov was part of Jolie’s entourage during her surprise trip to Ukraine last week, but was detained by draft officers after being stopped at a military roadblock.

“At this checkpoint they detained me for some reason, without providing an explanation, and asked me to drive with them to clarify some details. By deception, it turns out,” Pishikov told local broadcaster TSN in an interview published on Friday.

He was taken to a local draft center, where he was held on false pretenses, he added.

“‘Ten minutes, there’s a small detail, we’ll let you go as soon as we clarify’, they said. They lied,” he told the broadcaster, adding that he was still “a little outraged” by the conscription officials’ actions.

He told TSN that as of Friday, he was at a military training facility and will “undergo training and serve in the army.”

Ukraine has intensified its draft campaign amid manpower shortages and battlefield setbacks in the conflict with Russia.

It has also led to international criticism. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has accused Kiev of carrying out an “open manhunt,” in which men “are often beaten, in some cases beaten to death.”

Igor Kastyukevich, senator for Russia’s Kherson Region, the Ukrainian-controlled parts of which Jolie visited, condemned the trip as just “another PR stunt exploiting hunger and fear.” No visits by Hollywood stars “using American and European taxpayers’ money” will help ordinary people, he told TASS.

Estonia’s foreign and culture ministries have both voiced fierce opposition to a planned Limp Bizkit concert, accusing the rock band’s frontman Fred Durst of making “pro-Russian” comments during the time he was married to a woman born in Crimea.

On Friday, the organizers announced that the American rock group would perform at an open-air arena in Tallinn on May 31, prompting an immediate backlash from multiple government officials.

“Those who justify Russian aggression and the occupation of a neighboring state are not welcome in Estonia,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, as cited by ERR.

A spokesperson for the ministry added that those who do not fully support Ukraine’s territorial integrity “have no place in Estonia, nor in Estonia’s cultural space.”

Among Durst’s alleged transgressions, listed by Estonian media, were his past remarks about missing his fans in Russia and considering acquiring citizenship there.

During a tour in Russia in 2015, he was also photographed unwrapping a banner handed to him by a fan that read, “Russia = Crimea. Welcome!”

He also once described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a man with clear moral principles.”

The controversial Ukrainian database of state enemies Mirotvorets – often dubbed a ‘kill list’ – cited the same alleged “crimes” when it added Durst in 2020, around the time Limp Bizkit performed in neighboring Latvia and Lithuania.

In recent years, Estonia, like Latvia and Lithuania, has adopted an increasingly confrontational stance toward Russia and aligned closely with Kiev.

In July, the historic Russian-language theatre in Tallinn was renamed and forced to adopt a “neutral” Estonian name as part of a broader cultural purge.

Moscow has repeatedly branded the hardline strategy pursued by the Baltic nations as ‘Russophobic’. However, as Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in May, such policies have only succeeded in “making their citizens’ lives more difficult and sometimes even unbearable.”

A fully functioning, used golden toilet, titled ‘America’ that was once stolen from a British palace, has been put up for auction at Sotheby’s with a guide price of $10 million.

Billionaire New York Mets owner Stephen Cohen purchased the 18-karat throne, unveiled in 2016 by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, from the Marian Goodman Gallery in 2017. 

The 103-kilo participatory piece was installed as an actual public toilet in the Guggenheim in New York before being flushed out into the open last week, when a press release from Sotheby’s lifted the lid on the artwork’s listing in its fall contemporary art sale. 

The auction house is hoping for a level of buzz similar to Cattelan’s previous work, ‘Comedian’, a duct-taped banana that sold for $6.2 million last year.

Five anonymous experts confirmed to the outlet that Cohen is the consignor for the auction. However, both Sotheby’s and the Marian Goodman Gallery declined to comment on the specifics of the transaction.

The golden toilet has a controversial history. An identical piece was famously offered to the White House during Donald Trump’s first term in 2016 as an alternative to a requested Van Gogh painting. The sculpture first captured public attention when it was displayed at the Guggenheim Museum, drawing over 100,000 visitors eager for the unique experience.

It made headlines again in 2019 when it was stolen from Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, in a smash-and-grab heist that took thieves less than five minutes and resulted in water flooding the historic site. While the original piece’s whereabouts remain unclear, the version being auctioned is the only existing copy.

A surprise visit by Hollywood star and former UN humanitarian ambassador Angelina Jolie to Ukraine on Tuesday was disrupted by draft enforcers, who detained a member of her entourage and conscripted him, according to local media reports.

The incident reportedly took place at a military roadblock near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk in Nikolaev Region, while Jolie’s convoy was en route to a part of Kherson Region controlled by Kiev.

Despite telling officials he was transporting an “important person,” a member of Jolie’s group – identified in some reports as her driver and in others as a bodyguard – was detained by military recruitment officers.

Jolie apparently went to the draft center in person to try to secure his release, according to footage circulating on Telegram. TASS sources said she even attempted to contact the office of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to resolve the issue.

Ukrainian military sources initially told TSN that Jolie’s presence at the center was unrelated to the detainment, claiming she had simply “asked to use the restroom.” Officials then stated that the man, identified as a Ukrainian citizen born in 1992 and a reserve officer without grounds for deferment, was held for further mobilization processing.

Kiev’s draft enforcers have faced intense criticism over viral videos showing men being dragged into vans by officers – a tactic which has become known as “busification.”

Public outrage has surged, with numerous reports of violent encounters and even fatalities linked to forced mobilization.

Last month, British journalist Jerome Starkey reported that his Ukrainian translator was “press-ganged” into service at a routine checkpoint. “Your friend has gone to war. Bang, bang!” a soldier reportedly joked.

Jolie previously visited Ukraine in April 2022, shortly after the escalation of the conflict, at a time when multiple celebrities, such as actors Ben Stiller and Sean Penn, toured the country.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has alleged that Hollywood stars were paid through USAID, Washington’s now-defunct channel for funding political projects abroad, to promote pro-Kiev narratives.

Ukrainian streaming platforms have begun removing episodes from the Game of Thrones fourth season featuring a Russian actor, according to local media reports. The move follows a decision by Ukraine’s Culture Ministry to blacklist Yury Kolokolnikov, whose global profile has risen in recent years.

In August, the ministry added Yury Kolokolnikov to the list of individuals allegedly posing a threat to Kiev’s national security. It noted that the actor, who also works as a director and producer, had appeared in films reportedly financed by the Russian state budget.

Several other productions featuring the performer including the third season of The White Lotus, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and the superhero action film Kraven the Hunter have also disappeared from Ukrainian streaming platforms. Screenshots published by local media on Saturday show the message: “This content cannot be viewed in Ukraine.”

The State Film Agency has also instructed distributors and media companies to remove certain films and TV series from broadcast and streaming catalogs, Kommersant Ukraine reported on Saturday. The agency is reportedly holding talks with international platforms about the possibility of restricting access to the banned titles as well.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Russian artists have faced mounting restrictions abroad. Initially, Russian films were withdrawn from international festivals, screenings were canceled, and actors and directors were disinvited or blacklisted from cultural events across the West. Moscow has denounced these bans as “Russophobic censorship,” warning that attempts to “cancel” Russian culture will ultimately fail.

In Russian culture, fear has never been just an emotion – it’s a way of making sense of the world. Where Western horror often pits the individual against some invading evil – the ghost, the vampire, the creature in the dark – Russian horror sees evil as something earned, deserved, or even necessary. The monster doesn’t come from the outside. It’s sent as punishment, or reminder.

The Russian language is full of proverbs about fear: “Fear has big eyes,” “The eyes fear but the hands keep working,” “Two deaths can’t happen, but one is inevitable.” Fear, in these sayings, is not paralysis but duty – an emotion to be mastered, not escaped.

Pagan roots: Demons of order, not chaos

Before Russians had psychology or theology, they had the forest. And the forest had rules. Fear in ancient Rus’ wasn’t about the unknown; it was about forgetting what you were supposed to know. A farmer who worked at noon, a woman who bathed on the wrong day, a hunter who mocked the spirits – all risked punishment. The early Russian imagination didn’t invent chaos, but personified discipline.

The creatures of Slavic folklore were never purely evil. The Bannik, a hairy old man who lurked in the bathhouse, might scald you alive – but only if you broke his rules. The Poludnitsa, a pale woman with a sickle who appeared at midday, punished those who labored too long in the sun. Likho, the one-eyed hag of misfortune, followed the greedy and the proud. Even the devilish Chort could be tricked into serving a clever peasant.

Each monster embodied a kind of social control. Every story whispered the same warning: don’t be arrogant, don’t be careless, don’t try to outsmart the world. Fear, in this early form, was a survival strategy.

When Christianity took root, these creatures didn’t disappear; they were baptized into the moral order. Pagan dread merged with Christian guilt, and terror found its theology. Evil was no longer a misstep in ritual – it became sin. Yet the core remained: fear was not rebellion against the divine but recognition of it.

That is why, even today, Russian horror rarely celebrates the act of resistance. The earliest demons taught a simpler lesson: fear keeps the world from falling apart.

If the early spirits of Russian folklore punished mistakes, their successors punished intentions. The next generation of monsters acquired faces, motives, even philosophies. They no longer embodied the rage of nature – they tested the soul.

Two of them – Baba Yaga and Koschey the Deathless – survived every cultural upheaval. They’re Russia’s oldest recurring villains and, paradoxically, its first moral teachers.

Koschey, the skeletal sorcerer who hides his soul inside a needle, the needle inside an egg, the egg inside a duck, the duck inside a chest, is less a character than a warning. His elaborate chain of protection isn’t about immortality – it’s about denial. He’s the prototype of a man who thinks he can postpone judgment. In Russian folklore, that’s the ultimate sin: trying to cheat fate rather than accept it.

Baba Yaga is harder to categorize. She lives in a hut on chicken legs that spins with the wind, an image of restlessness itself. Sometimes she devours travelers; sometimes she rescues them. She scolds, tests, bargains – a trickster grandmother who decides who deserves to live. Her evil always has a reason.

Together, they form the moral spine of Slavic horror: the idea that punishment isn’t arbitrary. Even a witch obeys rules. And every curse, like every miracle, has its logic. In this world, a strange moral mechanism that rewards humility and punishes arrogance.

And as stories evolved, the monsters began to fade, leaving only the rules behind. The next figures to inherit this world were no longer witches or demons but people – heroes who suffered under the same invisible laws.

In the bylinas, the epic songs of early Rus’, terror moved from the forest into the heart.

The moral of these stories – every gift carries its punishment. And where Western knights slayed dragons, Russian heroes struggled against inevitability.

Even the great disasters of history followed the same logic.

When the Mongol invasion burned cities and annihilated entire regions, chroniclers saw it not as chaos but as correction – a divine punishment for collective sin.

By the end of the Middle Ages, Russian fear had completed its transformation. What began as terror of the forest had become awe before the moral universe – fear not of monsters, but of meaning itself.

Ghosts and guilt: The birth of moral horror

By the nineteenth century, Russian fear had grown up. What once punished the sinner in the bathhouse now punished him in his conscience. Horror did not live in the forest anymore, but in the mind.

The Enlightenment had promised reason and progress, but the Russian soul wasn’t so easily tamed. Rational optimism soon cracked under its own contradictions. What filled the gap was mysticism – polite, urban, and deeply anxious.

The salons of Saint Petersburg began hosting séances. Aristocrats flirted with Freemasonry and spiritualism. Even Emperor Alexander I, haunted by the chaos of the Napoleonic wars, found solace in prophecy and divine visions.

From that world of candlelit parlors and nervous faith came the first masterpieces of Russian horror. A prime example is Pushkin’s story ‘The Queen of Spades’, one of the first pieces of Russian literature that became famous in Western Europe. In the story, a card player is haunted by a ghost that reveals winning cards to him. Ultimately, he betrays the ghost’s trust and becomes insane. 

‘Viy’ became very popular, embedding itself in Russian culture and inspiring multiple screen adaptations. For some time, Russian writers continued to explore themes of mysticism and evil spirits, often setting the stories in rural areas. This influence extended to music as well, exemplified by Mussorgsky’s ‘Night on Bald Mountain’, inspired by traditional witches’ sabbaths on “bald mountains.” 

These stories terrified readers not because they described demons, but because they suggested that demons might be right. They blurred the line between guilt and destiny – between punishment and justice.

The shift from folklore to literature was the shift from fate to conscience.

Dostoevsky’s murderers and madmen inherit the logic of ancient Rus’: every crime carries its own retribution, every secret a sickness that must reveal itself. In his novels, there are no ghosts left to fear – only the unbearable weight of being alive.

Russian horror thus became something unique: not a genre, but a diagnosis.

Maniacs and myths: Soviet and post-Soviet fears

The Soviet project promised to banish fear by erasing its causes. No God, no demons, no uncertainty – only progress. Officially, there was nothing left to be afraid of. The future was planned, the present under control. Horror, as a genre, simply didn’t fit.

Censorship kept horror films off screens, but the atmosphere often did the job better than fiction. The whispering neighbors, the midnight knock, the vanishing of friends – these were everyday Gothic tropes dressed in bureaucratic gray.

Only in the late Soviet and post-Soviet years did the genre return – not from the studios, but from the streets. Real horror had escaped fiction. Serial killers appeared in headlines: Vladimir Ionesyan, nicknamed ‘MosGas’, tricked his way into apartments by posing as a gas worker; Sergey Golovkin, “the Fisher,” raped and murdered boys near Moscow. The last was executed in 1996 – the final death sentence in Russia’s history.

The myths changed too. When information censorship collapsed, fear turned into rumor. People whispered about AIDS-infected needles hidden in cinema seats, about alien autopsies under Moscow State University, about a secret subway system built for the Kremlin elite. If folklore once kept villagers from wandering into the forest, urban legends now kept city dwellers from touching escalator rails.

The new demons wore human faces – policemen, criminals, doctors, strangers. Their motives were senseless, their violence random. For the first time in centuries, Russians faced horror with no moral explanation, no cosmic order, no promise of redemption.

Fearless anxiety: The modern condition

Modern Russia no longer trembles. It scrolls. The ancient monsters have become mascots and memes; witches sell herbal tea on Instagram, and Koschey stars in children’s cartoons. Fear has been commercialized, softened, stripped of transcendence.

In cinema, horror never reached blockbuster status. A few cult directors revived folk motifs, but audiences treated them as fantasy, not warning. The real horror migrated elsewhere: into true-crime documentaries, political thrillers, and nightly news.

Information wars have taught Russians skepticism and irony. Every rumor is suspect, every catastrophe half-believed. Fear doesn’t paralyze, it exhausts. What began a thousand years ago as superstition has ended as fatigue.

And yet, somewhere in that fatigue lies continuity. Russians may not fear demons anymore, but they still live with the feeling that the world is ruled by forces beyond them – whether cosmic, political, or digital.

The monsters have gone, but the logic remains: that fear is not chaos, but proof of order – a faint reminder that the universe is still watching.

A video circulating on social media shows thieves stealing priceless French crown jewels from the Louvre in broad daylight on Sunday.

In a short cellphone video, a person wearing a bright yellow vest can be seen tampering with a display case at the world-famous museum in Paris.

According to France 24, the thieves drove up to the Louvre on scooters, entered the Galerie d’Apollon using an extendable powered ladder, and broke through the window and display cases with angle grinders.

Donc on peut braquer le musée le plus connu de la planète en gilet jaune un dimanche matin en pleine journée. 🤦🏻‍♂️#Braquage #LMDL #Louvre pic.twitter.com/1Dljy85oIn

— Noesis (@EntreDeMondes) October 19, 2025

The Culture Ministry said eight artifacts were stolen, including a necklace Napoleon gave his wife, Empress Marie Louise, and the diadem of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the thieves were likely hired to steal specific items or carried out the crime to sell the gems for money laundering purposes.

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to recover the artifacts and bring those responsible to justice. He added that the Louvre will tighten its security measures.

The robbery that took place at the iconic Louvre Museum on Sunday is an “intolerable humiliation” for France, president of the right-wing National Rally party Jordan Bardella has said.

The heist took place at around 9:30 a.m. local time, when a group of masked intruders used a truck-mounted basket lift to reach a window on a facade of the museum, officials said. The gang entered the Apollon Gallery and escaped on motorbikes within four to seven minutes, leaving one item – reportedly the crown of Empress Eugenie – damaged and found outside.

“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture. This heist, which allowed thieves to steal the Crown Jewels of France, is an intolerable humiliation for our country,” Bardella, who’s also a member of the European Parliament, wrote on X. “How far will the decay of the state go?” he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the robbery as a “very professional” operation, emphasizing that the stolen items have “inestimable heritage value.” Culture Minister Rachida Dati said no injuries were reported and that investigators are reviewing CCTV footage, the equipment used for the break-in, and interviewing staff.

The Apollon Gallery has housed what remains of the French Crown Jewels since the late 19th century, including items formerly belonging to Napoleon’s family and Empress Eugenie.

The Louvre Museum in Paris has been closed for the day after a robbery on Sunday, local officials have said. Unconfirmed media reports claimed that several criminals stole nine pieces from the Napoleonic jewelry collection.

The incident was reported by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who said on X that “a robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum.” She added that there are no reports of injuries and that a police investigation is underway. The minister provided no further details.

The museum itself said that it will remain closed for the day due to “exceptional reasons.”

👀 This morning, the Louvre in Paris was broken into and Napoleon's jewels were stolen. pic.twitter.com/BBfU9mWOKu

— Conflict Radar (@Conflict_Radar) October 19, 2025

The newspaper Le Parisien reported, citing a preliminary investigation, that several hooded criminals broke into the world’s most visited art museum through a building where construction work is ongoing, and then used a freight elevator to access a room in the Apollo Gallery, which houses part of France’s historic royal jewelry.

Le Parisien said that one of the stolen items, which appears to be a broken crown of Empress Eugenie, the spouse of Napoleon III, was found outside the museum.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez later told reporters that the entire heist took only seven minutes, meaning the criminals “had been clearly scouting.” He acknowledged that the authorities “can’t prevent everything,” adding that there is “great vulnerability in French museums.”

The last theft from the Louvre dates back to 1983, when two Renaissance metalwork pieces – a ceremonial helmet and breastplate — were stolen. They were recovered in Belgium in 2021.

The most famous Louvre robbery, however, happened in 1911, when an Italian tradesman named Vincenzo Peruggia stole Leonardo da Vinci’s 'Mona Lisa', hiding it under his smock. The painting was missing for two years, a heist that helped make it the world’s most recognized artwork.

The Louvre attracts around 9 million visitors each year, and houses more than 615,000 objects, including about 35,000 artworks on public display, spanning from ancient civilizations to the 19th century.

Spanish police are investigating the disappearance of a tiny Picasso painting that vanished while being transported from Madrid to Granada, according to local media.

Valued at €600,000 ($640,000), the gouache and pencil artwork titled ‘Naturaleza muerta con guitarra’ (Still Life with Guitar), was intended for display at an exhibition organized by the CajaGranada Foundation. However, the piece – created in 1919 and measuring 12.7cm by 9.8cm – never arrived.

Owned by a private collector in Madrid, it was part of a consignment of loaned exhibits that arrived by van on Friday, October 3. While deliveries were unloaded and checked, some packaged works had not been numbered, complicating verification. The following Monday, artworks under video surveillance were unpacked.

The foundation reported the painting’s disappearance to the police. Spanish media suggest that the van may have stopped overnight near Granada, with two individuals aboard possibly taking turns guarding its valuable cargo.

Born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain, Pablo Picasso’s works have frequently attracted thieves due to their high value. The most costly theft occurred in February 2007, when two Picasso paintings worth around $54 million were stolen from his granddaughter’s home. One of France’s largest ever art robberies involved 118 pieces of his work being stolen from a museum in Avignon in 1976.

Cinema has been coined “the seventh art” by Italian film critic Ricciotto Canudo. But, as an art, cinema differs from others as it is in a constant and difficult dilemma: to choose between industry and real art. Industry needs to make cash. Art must, as Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky wrote in his book ‘Sculpting time’, prepare us for our own death.  

Forget Netflix and Hollywood, forget productions that divert us from essential questions and pervert crowds by engaging them to think about absurd causes they shouldn’t worry about. Light, easy entertainment is of course always needed but can’t be a priority. We offer here a different and free interpretation of two enigmatic masterpieces that help understand the meaning of our lives. One for men, one for women.

Because, as the French say, “age before beauty,” but also because the one concerning women is existentially more important, we’ll start with men and a primordial work from 1979.

‘Stalker’, by Andrei Tarkovsky, is the loose adaptation of ‘Roadside Picnic’, a novel by famed Soviet sci-fi writers the Strugatsky brothers. The writers didn’t like the result, because the mystical Tarkovsky removed all the phantasmagorical and magical substance of the book in order to make a quasi-religious movie that requires a thorough examination. Not only because this film is endless (to such an extent that most lazy viewers fall asleep), but also in order not to get tricked by the sci-fi aspect of the project. In reality, the core meaning of the movie is much simpler than it seems.   

The ‘Stalker’ is an ordinary man. He’s a total loser, even. He lives in a slum not far from some railway station with his wife and daughter, he doesn’t have a job, and he’s already been in jail. His world is far from glamorous.

The opening scene, in black and white, shows him sleeping in a bed with his wife and daughter, as a train passes by. He gets up and prepares to leave. His wife gets hysterical, realizing where he’s going and that he’s facing prison again. But he goes. He has to.

He meets two men in a gloomy bar: a scientist and an alcoholic writer. These two hired him to take them into the mysterious, anomaly-ridden ‘Zone’, and within it, into the ‘Room’, which, according to some legend, fulfills your heart’s desire. The writer, running out of creative ideas, wants to find inspiration there. The scientist wants to understand the inexplicable. Entering the Zone is outlawed, because wandering around there could be fatal. No one knows what happened there – perhaps a nuclear disaster – but the fact remains that trying to enter it is likely to land you in prison. The three men manage, not without difficulty, to get there.

Suddenly, the film switches from black and white to color. Interesting symbolism: is it because they entered the magical Zone? No, not at all. They wander through the Zone, more or less heading toward the famous Room. The Stalker guides, gives orders, throws clamping nuts to check for gravity anomalies and other dangers barring the way ahead. Of course, nothing ever happens. The Zone is just a huge abandoned lot. After many philosophical and religious considerations (a PhD thesis could be written about these), the men arrive in front of the Room. The writer refuses to enter and make his wish. The scientist has a bomb – what he really wants is to destroy the Room because he can’t stand his inability to understand it. He and the Stalker fight, then realize that all this makes no sense. And then they end up sitting like idiots in front of the door to the Room they will never actually enter. Back to ordinary life, the film switches back to black and white.

Beyond Tarkovsky’s very interesting and complex mystical considerations throughout the film, the message is actually very simple: a man, to have meaning in his life, must have a mission. The writer has to write, the scientist to understand (or destroy out of frustration), and the Stalker... Well, he also, however much of a loser he is, has one mission in his life: people think that he is the only one who can guide them, even though he knows perfectly well that the Zone is not dangerous. He says it at the end: it is the only way for him to find happiness and freedom. He is a loser, but he is a guide for some. At the end of the film he cries next to his wife, worrying that from now on people will “lose hope” in the Zone.

Hence the shift from black and white to color and back: a man’s life as meaning only while he’s on a mission. To do, and to give hope. All three of the characters are, in their own way, trying.

Let’s move on to women. ‘Ghost in the Shell’ (the 1995 anime, not the Hollywood cinematic garbage with Scarlett Johansson), by Japanese filmmaker Oshii Mamoru, is arguably the greatest animated film ever made. Working on an adaptation (a very lose adaptation, as in the case of ‘Stalker’) of the eponymous manga, Oshii made out of it a work that no one in the Western world could have accomplished from an aesthetic and poetic point of view.

The film opens with the creation of the female cyborg Motoko, who will then join the police force. Counter-intuitively, the inspiring opening soundtrack is a traditional Japanese wedding song. Motoko is a cyborg whose only human part is her ‘ghost’, that is, her deep intelligence (not the cyber-augmented one), her heart, basically: her soul.

A dark hacker case quickly unfolds. Major Motoko, now a member of the anti-terrorist unit, is tasked with finding this man that no one can identify but who seems invincible and is known only as the ‘Puppet Master’. It turns out that the hacker isn’t a person, but, according to its own words “a living, thinking entity that was created in the sea of information.” An AI. It is therefore everywhere and nowhere. But it must be destroyed.

What initially appears to be a cyberpunk thriller for brainless geeks turns out to be a very poetic philosophical metaphor of loneliness.

The scenes where Motoko wanders alone in the city or dives in the city bay, hounded by her own reflection or fleeting glances of some kind of doppelgänger, are only the expression of the profound malaise of this woman, no matter how beautiful, intelligent, talented... no matter how truly strong and independent she is. Because what is left for her – apart from her job, which is clearly not ideal? Well, it’s very simple: the contemplation of the void.

The contemplation of the void, like the basset hound that looks at Motoko from a bridge as she wanders through the city, a basset hound that director Oshii Mamoru personally considers a symbol of loneliness. Motoko has a soul, but she cannot reproduce. That is the true theme of the film. As she points out to her colleague Batou, she can’t even get drunk, since her body doesn’t react to alcohol. If something so physiologically trivial is outside her reach, then the complex biological process of procreation is a definitive impossibility. She is a woman, with feminine aspirations, stuck in a robotic body that prevents her from realizing them.

Motoko is the hero of the movie, and she’ll obviously do anything to fulfill her official mission. In a life-and-death battle with the Puppet Master ​​controlling a futuristic walking tank, and while saved in extremis by Batou, what is Motoko’s final decision? To merge with the AI. In other words, to create a new individual. Reproduction. That is the core meaning of life for a woman.

In conclusion, let’s get back to the Stalker, to complete the picture. At the end of the film, his wife has an almost three-minute monologue in front of the camera, in which she recounts her first encounter with the Stalker and their miserable existence, against which everyone had warned her. She chose to be with him anyway. Because happiness only exists in a dialectic tension with unhappiness. And without this dialectic, there would be no hope. Hope, yes. That’s what the Stalker wants to give and what Motoko aspires to. The last images of the two films? The Stalker’s daughter. And Motoko rebuilt as a new, younger girl.

American actress Diane Keaton has died at the age of 79, a family spokesperson confirmed to People magazine.

She passed away in California but the cause of death has not been made public, and her family her family has requested privacy, according to the magazine.

Keaton was best known for her roles in ‘Father of the Bride’, ‘The First Wives Club’ and her Oscar-winning performance in ‘Annie Hall’. She also appeared in ‘The Godfather’ trilogy as Kay Adams.

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles in 1946, she adopted her mother’s maiden name, Keaton, for her professional identity. She rose to prominence in the 1970s, frequently collaborating with Woody Allen.

Keaton never married but had well-known relationships, including with Allen, Al Pacino, and Warren Beatty.

Her career spanned more than five decades and included roles in comedies, dramas and ensemble films. In 2024, she starred in Summer Camp, which marked her last film appearance before her death.

Keaton is survived by two children, daughter Dexter and son Duke, whom she adopted in midlife.

Filmmaker Zelda Williams has condemned the continued circulation of AI-generated videos of her father, the late actor and comedian Robin Williams, in a strongly worded post shared on Instagram.

Robin Williams, known for his roles in ‘Dead Poets Society’, ‘Good Morning Vietnam’, and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’, died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63. His wife later revealed he had unknowingly been battling Lewy body dementia, which may have contributed to his depression at the time of his death.

“Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” Zelda wrote on Tuesday. “Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t.” 

“If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop.”

In her latest statement, she expressed deep frustration with the trend of digitally reviving deceased individuals for online content. “To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to ‘this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that’s enough’, just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening,” she wrote.

Williams described AI-generated videos as a process that mindlessly reuses and reprocesses the past for consumption. She likened it to being at the end of a grotesque production line, endlessly fed recycled content while those who started it profit and indulge without consequence.

Zelda has previously criticized the use of artificial intelligence to replicate her father’s voice and image. In 2023, she called such recreations “personally disturbing” while supporting a campaign by the labor union of media professionals and actors against the use of AI in entertainment.

The man who claims his appearance as a naked baby on the cover of Nirvana’s iconic album ‘Nevermind’ was child pornography has lost another lawsuit against the band.

’Nevermind’, Nirvana’s most successful album, was released in 1991; it included the hit song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Its cover features four-month-old Spencer Elden swimming towards a dollar bill attached to a fishing hook.

Elden, who is now 34, initially filed a lawsuit against the band in 2021, claiming that his name has been “forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor.” The next year, US District Judge Fernando Olguin dismissed the case because it was submitted after the ten-year filing limit, but did not address the substance of the allegations.

On Tuesday, Olguin threw out the case for the second time, saying that no reasonable jury would find the cover of ‘Nevermind’ to be pornographic. The image was more like a “family photo of a nude child bathing,” he argued.

"Neither the pose, focal point, setting, nor overall context suggest the album cover features sexually explicit conduct,” the judge ruled.

Nirvana’s lawyer Bert Deixler said in a statement that his team was “delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations.”

A law firm representing Elden’s interests told the Rolling Stone on Wednesday that they “respectfully disagree” with Olguin’s decision and plan to appeal against it. “As long as the entertainment industry prioritizes profits over childhood privacy, consent, and dignity, we will continue our pursuit for awareness and accountability,” it said.

US hip hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison for transporting former girlfriends to engage in prostitution. The Bad Boy Records founder was also fined $500,000.

Combs’ former partners, singer Cassie Ventura and a woman identified in court as Jane, testified that he abused them and forced them to participate in alcohol- and drug-fueled “freak-off” sex parties.

In July, the jury convicted Combs on two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution, but acquitted him of sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor backed the sentence. “While nothing can undo the trauma caused by Combs, the sentence imposed today recognizes the impact of the serious offenses he committed,” he said in a statement.

Combs rose to prominence by producing several big-name artists in the 1990s, such as The Notorious B.I.G., and later launched his own solo career, winning three Grammys. He has been described as one of the wealthiest people in hip-hop, with his net worth reportedly reaching $1 billion by 2022.

US streaming giant Netflix has lost about $15 billion in market value after billionaire Elon Musk accused the platform of “woke bias” and urged his followers to cancel subscriptions.

Netflix shares fell 4.3% in a day and a half to $1,140 by midday Thursday, cutting its market cap to $483 billion from $498 billion on Wednesday, trading data showed.

The drop came after Musk called on users to boycott Netflix over the animated show ‘Dead End: Paranormal Park’, which features a transgender character. Although canceled in 2023 after two seasons, the show remains available on the platform with a TV-Y7 rating for children seven and older.

Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids https://t.co/uPcGiURaCp

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2025

Musk’s campaign began on Tuesday when he reposted a clip on X showing one of the show’s characters identifying as transgender. “Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, is pushing pro-transgender on CHILDREN. This show is advertised for 7-YEAR-OLDS,” the account said. Musk replied: “this is not ok.”

He later reposted messages from users claiming to have canceled Netflix and accused the service of pushing “LGBTQ+ propaganda.” On Wednesday, he wrote: “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.” In another post, he said: “Transgender propaganda isn’t just quietly lurking in the background on Netflix. They are actively pushing it on users.”

Netflix has not responded to Musk’s remarks. The company has previously defended controversial content on free speech grounds, including in 2020, when its film ‘Cuties’ drew outrage for sexualized depictions of underage actors.

By Thursday’s close, the firm had pared some of the losses, ending at $1,161 a share with a $493 billion valuation. While stock is down 4% this week, it remains up 30% year-to-date. Analysts expect Musk’s campaign will not weigh on the company long-term, suggesting that Netflix shares are too costly to be seriously affected by online backlash.

Think ‘Sesame Street’ but with death, depression, and existential dread. At first glance, it looks like any other children’s cartoon: Round, brightly colored animals teaching kids to share, be polite, and cross the street safely. But Russia’s most beloved animated series, ‘Smeshariki’ – released internationally as ‘KikoRiki’ and in the US as ‘GoGoRiki’ or ‘BalloonToons’ – hides something stranger.

Beneath the cheerful surface lies a world of heart attacks, suicide jokes, and meditations on the meaning of life. In Russia, a country where fairy tales have never shied away from darkness, it’s no wonder this cartoon became both a cultural phenomenon and an internet cult.

The birth of Russia’s ‘two-level’ cartoons

Soviet animators worked under conditions that would have killed off most creative industries: Bad equipment, tiny budgets, and a censor breathing down their necks. The idea of ‘adult animation’ didn’t exist in the USSR, but animators still found ways to keep parents entertained. They slipped in jokes about bureaucrats and social misfits – you can spot them in the Soviet ‘Winnie the Pooh’ or in ‘The Adventures of Captain Vrungel’. Others went darker, with unsettling works like ‘Hercules at Admet’s’.

The point was never to create a double audience on purpose. It was survival. When you can’t openly critique society, you hide commentary in a cartoon about animals, wizards, or a talking fish. That habit – speaking to children and adults at once – became second nature to Russian animation.

A cartoon with no villains

Smeshariki – a mash-up of the Russian words for ‘laughter’ (smekh) and ‘little balls’ (shariki) – premiered in 2004 and quickly became a national hit. It ran for nearly a decade, spawned three feature films, an educational spin-off called ‘Pincode’, and even a movie-within-a-movie anthology. The franchise bled into video games, public-service ads, and piles of merchandise. Internationally, it reached 23 countries, including the US.

On the surface, the characters look like any others: A bouncy rabbit named Krosh, his anxious hedgehog sidekick Yozhik, the dreamy poet-sheep Barash, and others.

They live in Flower Valley, a self-contained world with no villains, no battles, and no real outside contact.

That lack of villains is crucial. Every conflict comes from the characters’ own flaws or mistakes, not from some evil force. The episodes almost always reset to a cheerful status quo – yet more than once, the stories veer into territory that’s unnervingly heavy for a preschool cartoon.

When the cartoon turns dark

At its most unsettling, Smeshariki feels less like a children’s cartoon and more like a fragment of Russian literature. Behind the cheerful colors unfold stories about death, loss, and the absurdity of existence.

Take Pin, the eccentric penguin inventor. In ‘Close to Heart’, he works himself into such an emotional frenzy that he suffers a heart attack. He tries to numb his feelings to avoid another one, only to collapse again. Temporarily paralyzed, he sits helplessly as his poetic friend Barash – who, in the same episode, has been abducted by aliens – dances in front of him. It’s a surreal, almost nightmarish sequence about fragility, helplessness, and the limits of control.

Or consider ‘The Magic Pot’. Yozhik, the timid hedgehog, wanders the forest at night, marveling at glowing fireflies. One flickers weakly, its light fading for good. Desperate, Yozhik seeks help, but the moose professor Losyash explains that nothing can be done: The light is gone forever. Only Barash can help, by carrying the firefly into his magic pot, a world of imagination where it still shines. The episode was dedicated to one of the show’s own creators, who died during production – a hidden memorial disguised as a bedtime story.

Then there is ‘The Meaning of Life’, one of the bleakest half-hours ever slipped into a children’s cartoon. Barash sinks into existential despair. “What’s the point of washing up in the morning? To feel awake. But what’s the point of being awake?” he asks. His search for meaning leads him on a perilous journey toward a mystical figure named Kuzinatra. Though he never reaches her, Barash concludes that the value lies not in arriving, but in paving the way for those who will follow. After narrowly escaping death, he accepts life’s absurdity with a kind of weary peace.

And those are only the highlights. Across its run, Smeshariki quietly touches on themes far removed from playground morality:

• Identity (Butterfly)

• Addiction (That Sweet Word 'Honey')

• Prostitution (Mountains and Candy)

• Internet dependency (Telegraph)

• Propaganda (Truffle)

• Suicide (Valhalla)

Layered over all this are sly nods to cinema both Russian and global – ‘Stalker’, ‘The Matrix’, ‘Terminator’, ‘Forrest Gump’, ‘Night of the Living Dead’, even Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’.

To children, these are just curious adventures. To adults, they read like allegories of workaholism, escapism, and death – a philosophical undercurrent running beneath the cheerful colors and round little animals. It’s unsettling, fascinating, and impossible to ignore.

For children, the unsettling storylines pass by as just another quirky adventure. The bright colors and slapstick humor soften the blow, and most kids never notice the philosophical undertones.

Adults, however, have turned Smeshariki into a phenomenon of its own. Online forums are full of lengthy essays unpacking the hidden meanings of particular episodes – whether they’re allegories of workaholism, grief, or existential futility. At the same time, the show has spawned a thriving meme culture, where its round, bouncy characters get pasted into bleak jokes about depression, burnout, and politics.

What makes this dual reception even stranger is the stance of the creators. Officially, Smeshariki remains labeled as children’s programming. It airs on kids’ channels, sells plush toys, and runs educational spin-offs. The writers and producers rarely acknowledge the darker interpretations, insisting it’s just a cheerful series for preschoolers. Yet the internet seems determined to prove them wrong – seeing in the show not only a cartoon, but a mirror of Russian life itself.

Why Russians give children tragedy

To understand why Russian parents don’t flinch at letting their kids watch a cartoon about death and despair, you have to look beyond animation – back to school literature.

Generations of Russian children grow up reading Ivan Turgenev’s ‘Mumu’ (1854), the grim story of a mute serf forced to drown the only creature he loves – a little dog – at his mistress’s command. For outsiders, it seems brutal to assign such a tale in middle school. But in Russia, it’s considered formative: An early lesson that life is unfair, loss is inevitable, and cruelty exists even in domestic settings.

The same applies to Alexander Pushkin’s works. Fifth graders encounter ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila’ as a lighthearted fairy tale, but adults recognize the sly sexual jokes and satire buried in the verse. Later, students read ‘Eugene Onegin’ as a romantic novel, only to discover years later that it is also a biting commentary on social vices. In Russian culture, stories are designed to unfold in layers – innocent on the surface, biting underneath.

Seen this way, Smeshariki isn’t an outlier at all. It’s the latest expression of a cultural habit: To wrap existential dread and satire inside the safe package of a children’s tale.

It carries the same double code that has shaped Russian culture for centuries: Teaching children kindness while quietly preparing them for life’s cruelty.

This is why the show’s strange mix of whimsy and despair resonates so deeply. For Russian audiences, a bedtime story that touches on mortality or existential dread isn’t a contradiction. It’s a continuation of a cultural tradition that runs from Pushkin’s sly verse to Turgenev’s drowned dog. Childhood, in this view, isn’t a protected bubble. It’s the training ground for the world outside.

Perhaps the strangest thing about Smeshariki is not that it hides death and despair inside cheerful little animals – but that Russian parents wouldn’t have it any other way.

Russian figure skaters Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik have won the qualifiers for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games after standout performances in China on Sunday. Both are set to compete as neutral athletes in next year’s Games in Italy due to ongoing Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia.

Gumennik racked up 262.82 points to capture the men’s singles title at the ISU Olympic qualifier in Beijing, cruising to victory by a commanding 34-point margin. He swept both the short program and free skate with a string of clean quadruple jumps and top-level spins and step sequences.

Relive Petr Gumennik's golden performance at the ISU Skate To Milano Figure Skating Qualifier!#MilanoCortina2026 #SkateToMilano #OlympicQualifier #FigureSkating pic.twitter.com/cbFOVW3Fgw

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) September 21, 2025

His win came a day after fellow Russian Adeliia Petrosian, praised for her graceful jumps and expressive style, captured the women’s title with 209.63 points, with a Michael Jackson-themed short program and Argentine tango-style free skate.

Adeliia petrosian you will be top 10 in the olympics. #TRUST pic.twitter.com/W9cMPJGPq1

— m (@m120204) September 20, 2025

The wins do not guarantee Olympic participation, however, as Petrosian and Gumennik are awaiting a decision from a special International Olympic Committee (IOC) commission. In a September 19 press release, the IOC said the body will verify whether the athletes comply with sanctions on Russia, which require them and their staff not to support Russia’s military operation against Ukraine, have no ties to Russian military or security agencies, and meet all anti-doping standards.

Moscow has condemned the bans, accusing Western nations of pressuring sports federations to exclude Russian athletes for political reasons.

Russian pair skaters and ice dancers have been banned from this year’s Olympic qualifiers. The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will run from February 6 to 22.

Vietnamese pop star Duc Phuc, who won this year’s Intervision song contest in Moscow on Saturday, has announced plans to donate part of his 30-million-ruble prize (around $358,000) money to Russian charity.

The Hanoi-born artist won the Vietnamese version of The Voice in 2015 and has since released many hits in his home country, where he is widely recognized for his philanthropic work.

“I’ll share a little secret. I want to find a charitable foundation in Russia and donate the prize money I receive to it,” the singer said during an appearance on the show Let Them Talk on Channel One.

Phuc represented his country with the ballad ‘Phu Dong Thien Vuong’, which earned the highest scores from both the jury and the audience. It received 422 points, while the runners-up, the Nomad Trio from Kyrgyzstan, earned 373 points. Dana Al Meer of Qatar came in third with 369 points.

The contest was held at Live Arena, a major concert venue located just outside Moscow. This year’s Intervision brought together performers from more than 22 countries, including China, India, Cuba, Serbia, Egypt, Belarus, and Brazil.

Russia revived Intervision, a Soviet-era competition, after it was banned from the Eurovision Song Contest due to the Ukraine conflict.

Since then, Moscow has promoted it as an international event that aims to remain free from political influence.

Vietnamese artist Duc Phuc triumphed at the Intervision contest in Moscow on Saturday night with his song ‘Phu Dong Thien Vuong’.

The track, which mixes rap with folk music, was inspired by the story of mythical Vietnamese hero Thanh Giong, a boy who defeated invaders riding an iron horse.

Phuc received 422 points, while the runners-up, the Nomad Trio from Kyrgyzstan, earned 373 points. Dana Al Meer of Qatar came in third with 369 points.

Singer Shaman (Yaroslav Dronov), representing Russia, asked the jury not to vote for him, arguing that his country had already won by hosting Intervision.

A total of 22 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa were represented at the event at Moscow’s Live Arena.

The 28-year-old, who has been learning Russian, added that he wants to master the language so that he can collaborate with local musicians.

The Hanoi-born artist won the Vietnamese version of The Voice in 2015 and has since released many hits in his home country.

Russia revived Intervision, a Soviet-era competition which was held from 1965 to 1968 and again from 1977 to 1980, after it was banned from the Eurovision Song Contest due to the Ukraine conflict.

“Culture and music have no borders, and today’s event showcases the unifying power of art,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message to the participants. The organizers have said that next year’s competition will be hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Vietnamese singer Duc Phuc won the Intervision song contest in Moscow on Sunday.

The international jury awarded Phuc the prize for a performance that blended elements of folk singing and rap. Artists from 22 countries took part in the event.

Phuc received 422 points, while the runners-up, the Nomad Trio from Kyrgyzstan, earned 373 points. Dana Al Meer of Qatar came in third with 369 points.

“Thank you so much. It is an honor to be here,” Phuc said on stage, thanking his supporters and the audience.

The Hanoi-born artist won the Vietnamese version of The Voice in 2015 and has since released many hits in his home country. 

In Moscow, he performed the song Phu Dong Thien Vuong, inspired by a mythical Vietnamese folk hero.

The organizers said the contest draws inspiration from a Soviet-era competition of the same name and aims to celebrate friendship and cultural diversity.

Singer Shaman (Yaroslav Dronov), representing Russia, asked the jury not to vote for him, arguing that his country had already won by hosting Intervision.

Russia revived the competition after it was banned from the Eurovision Song Contest due to the Ukraine conflict. Moscow has since promoted the revamped Intervision as a “depoliticized” event.

“Culture and music have no borders, and today’s event showcases the unifying power of art,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message to the participants. The organizers said that next year’s competition will be hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Singers from 23 nations have gathered in Moscow for the Intervision international music festival. The event is aimed at becoming a “universal platform for dialogue between civilizations based on the mutual enrichment of national histories and traditions,” according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Russia was excluded from Eurovision due to tensions with the EU over the Ukraine conflict. It now seeks to provide an alternative based on “universal values,” President Vladimir Putin has said. “Traditional values are already fading into the background... It is time to bring them back to the international agenda,” he stated earlier this month.

The festival is being held at the Live Arena Moscow – a major concert venue just outside of the Russian capital. The song contest includes performers from Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

This live feed has ended.

US comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has been pulled off the air indefinitely over comments he made about the assassination of conservative organizer and podcaster Charlie Kirk.

Nexstar Media Group said on Wednesday that its stations affiliated with ABC will “preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show.”

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, head of Nexstar’s broadcasting division.

Airing Kimmel’s show is “simply not in the public interest at the current time,” Alford added, saying the decision was made “in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.” A spokesperson for ABC later confirmed that Kimmel’s show will be pulled indefinitely.

Kirk was killed by a sniper on September 10 while speaking to students at a college in Utah. Prosecutors charged Tyler Robinson with the murder, saying his own family described his views as left-leaning and pro-LGBTQ. According to prosecutors, the suspect confessed to killing Kirk in text messages to his transgender romantic partner.

🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: Now, Disney ABC is CANCELING Jimmy Kimmel "INDEFINITELY" due to him lying that the Charlie Kirk assassin was MAGA, per WSJ.

This came right after the ABC affiliates canceled Kimmel via Nexstar.

FAFO, LOSER! pic.twitter.com/gGjwtzvdMX

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 17, 2025

During his opening monologue on Monday, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

He went on to accuse conservatives of “doing everything they can to score political points” and mocked comments US President Donald Trump gave to the media.

Conservative public figures, including Vice President J.D. Vance, have blamed “left-wing extremism” for political violence. Dozens of people have since lost their jobs or been suspended for mocking Kirk or justifying his murder.

Hollywood icon Robert Redford, a celebrated actor, director, and pioneer of the independent film movement, has died aged 89.

In a statement on Tuesday, Redford’s publicist Cindi Berger said the screen legend had passed away at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah. 

“He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy,” said Berger, without disclosing the cause of the actor’s death.

Redford rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s for his charisma, rugged good looks, and compelling performances in films such as ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969), ‘The Sting’ (1973), and ‘The Way We Were’ (1973). In 1976, he starred in ‘All the President’s Men’, a political thriller in which he portrayed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward as he and Carl Bernstein uncovered the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Beyond acting, Redford’s influence stretched behind the camera and into the art world. He founded the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, platforms that enabled emerging filmmakers and championed independent cinema, helping to launch films such as Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992) and Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Sex, Lies, and Videotape’ (1989).

He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ‘Ordinary People’ (1980), which also took Best Picture honors. Redford later received an honorary Oscar in 2002, recognizing his contributions as an actor, director, and champion of independent cinema. 

In May 1988, Redford traveled to Moscow as part of a ten-day Soviet tour, where he opened a mini festival of his films. A long-time environmental activist, he also moderated a workshop on global environmental issues such as ozone-layer depletion, organized jointly with the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

In 2015, Redford also addressed the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Climate Change while urging world leaders to take action on the issue.

A longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, Redford in 2019 accused US President Donald Trump of dictator tendencies and attempts to establish a “monarchy in disguise.” The actor is survived by his wife and German artist, Sibylle Szaggars, and two daughters. Two sons predeceased him.

Secretive street artist Banksy could be unmasked by a UK police probe into his new mural in London, The Telegraph has reported. Known for his politically charged and socially critical works, Banksy has kept his identity hidden for more than 25 years.

Banksy confirmed authorship by posting a picture of the mural on Instagram, his usual method of claiming his works.

Police said they are investigating the mural as possible “criminal damage,” as it was painted on a Grade II-listed building of historical significance.

If the case goes to court, Banksy would be required to disclose his real name, the report said. It is not the first probe involving Banksy’s art, although previous proceedings preserved his anonymity through court arrangements and proxies. However, it is the first criminal investigation, which experts say could potentially force him to reveal his identity.

Defend Our Juries, a group behind Saturday’s protest, praised the mural, saying it “powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed” by the government ban.

Banksy's work of art on the Royal Courts powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed by Yvette Cooper on protestors by proscribing Palestine Action.

When the law is used as a tool to crush civil liberties, it does not extinguish dissent - it strengthens it.

📸: @CallumJParke pic.twitter.com/uHC0RXOv0p

— Defend Our Juries (@DefendourJuries) September 8, 2025

Banksy’s identity has fueled speculation since his first artwork appeared in 1999. He has become one of the world’s most famous artists, with his works selling for millions of dollars at auction and often targeted by thieves. Over the years, Bristol artist Robin Gunningham and Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja have been floated as possible identities, but none have been confirmed.

Legendary Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani has died at the age of 91, his company announced on Thursday.

According to La Repubblica, the clothier died at his home on September 4 after months of convalescence following a secret hospital stay.

“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” the fashion house said in a statement.

“Il Signor Armani, as he was always respectfully and admiringly called by employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones,” the Armani Group added.

At the time, the company said he was “currently recovering at home,” without specifying his condition.

Known in Italy as “Re Giorgio” (King Giorgio) Armani was famed for his meticulous attention to detail, overseeing everything from the cut of his jackets to the placement of advertising campaigns. He often checked models’ hair himself before they stepped onto the runway.

Armani’s business generated some $2.7 billion in annual revenues. His minimalist elegance transformed global fashion, making his name one of the most recognized in the world.

Born in 1934 in the northern Italian town of Piacenza, he did not initially set out for a career designing clothes. After studying medicine and serving in the military, he began working in 1957 as a window dresser at Milan’s historic La Rinascente department store – a move that would start his lifelong association with Italy’s fashion capital.

Armani’s long list of honors included being named a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2021, one of the nation’s highest distinctions. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and in 2002 was appointed a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Armani Group said a funeral chamber will be set up in Milan on Saturday and Sunday for well-wishers to pay their final respects; a private funeral will follow at a later date.

The major international rock festival SandlerFest 2025 will kick off in Moscow this weekend, bringing together more than 150 bands from all around the world.

The annual progressive music event will take place on Saturday and Sunday August at Moscow’s VDNKh exhibition center, spanning six stages including five free-access venues – Rock Panorama, Orion, Acoustics, New Generation, and a master-class zone – alongside ticketed access to the Green Theatre.

The festival will feature a wide array of tribute bands and a fusion of styles, bringing together artists from the US, UK, Cuba, and other countries.

Free stages will host tributes to Metallica, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and other legendary acts, alongside new artists and workshops, according to organizers.

The rock fest will kick off on Saturday with the Day of the Legends, and will feature Marco Mendoza – who played bass for Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Journey and others rock legends in his decades-long career – on the main stage. “His show is fire, virtuosity and energy that every cell of the hall feels,” the festival organizers said.

The festival’s first day will culminate with a commemoration of Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and heavy metal legend who passed away last month, just weeks after his final performance at the ‘Back to the Beginning’ concert in his hometown Birmingham, UK.

The program includes an exclusive documentary about Ozzy’s life and music, along with 15 minutes of silence and 76 gong strikes – one for each year of his life.

The annual festival started in 2019 under the name Russian Woodstock, inspired by the legendary Woodstock Music & Art Fair, held in the US in 1969. In the years since, it went from being a tribute band fest to the biggest progressive rock music festival in Russia.

Tickets are now on sale here.

One of Ukraine’s largest propaganda channels on Telegram has denounced the record success of Russian children’s cartoon ‘Masha and the Bear’ in the country as its “cringe of the day.”

The beloved kids’ show, based on the shenanigans of a mischievous little girl named Masha and a retired circus bear – has risen to the top-10 in worldwide popularity since it launched in 2009.

“Cringe of the day. The YouTube channel of the Russian cartoon ‘Masha and the Bear’ is the most popular among all children’s channels in Ukraine,” the ‘Trukha’ (‘Rot’) Telegram channel wrote on Wednesday.

“In 2025 alone, Russians could earn $2.4 million from Ukrainian viewers. Not bad donations for the enemy army, right?” it wrote.

According to data published by the Telegram channel, at least 18 million Ukrainians are subscribed to the ‘Masha and the Bear’ YouTube account. In total, the cartoon’s channel currently has 52.7 million subscribers from around the world.

“Do you show Russian content to your children? Is it okay for you?,” Trukha wrote.

Ukraine has increasingly restricted the use of the Russian language, and moved to sever cultural ties with Russia after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev.

Moscow has long accused the regime of mistreating the Russian-speaking population.

Russia’s main concern in Ukraine is to “to protect the rights of the ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking people who believe they belong to Russian culture and Russian history,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday.

Film star Woody Allen has been added to the list of Ukraine’s enemies maintained by the notorious state-linked Mirotvorets (Peacemaker) website for participating in a Russian cinema event.

The 89-year-old actor and director appeared via videolink on Sunday at Moscow International Film Week, where he spoke about his career and long-standing ties to Russia.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has denounced his participation, calling it “a disgrace and an insult to the sacrifice of Ukrainian actors and filmmakers,” while the Lviv National Academic Theatre canceled upcoming performances of Allen’s stage musical Bullets Over Broadway in protest.

Orwellian: Woody Allen had been added to Myrotvorets hit list, which is linked to Ukrainian security services. https://t.co/hsKmm7gt8E

— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) August 25, 2025

The site, which is nominally independent but closely linked to Ukrainian state security services, publishes the personal details of individuals it claims are “enemies” of Ukraine. It has been branded a “kill list” after multiple people whose names appeared on it were later murdered or died under suspicious circumstances.

Allen defended the artistic exchange, telling the Guardian that “when it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong.”

But, whatever politicians have done, I don’t feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help.

Mirotvorets has targeted a wide range of international figures in the past. Earlier this year, Hollywood actor Mark Eydelshteyn and Russian hockey star Alexander Ovechkin were added to the database. The list has also included prominent Americans such as US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and journalist Tucker Carlson.

Russian officials have condemned the site as extremist, while its operators insist it is a legitimate tool for defending national security.

Moscow will host a major international rock festival, where musicians and fans from around the world will gather to honor Ozzy Osbourne, the Black Sabbath frontman and heavy metal pioneer who passed away last month.

The self-described ‘Prince of Darkness’ died on July 22 after years of battling Parkinson’s disease and other ailments. His death came less than three weeks after a farewell reunion concert with Black Sabbath in his hometown of Birmingham which raised millions for local charities.

His legacy will be at the heart of Moscow’s Sandlerfest – a two-day progressive music event – where musicians and fans plan a collective tribute. The festival’s opening night on Saturday, August 30, at the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VDNKh) will feature a powerful dedication to the rocker.

Bringing together more than 150 music groups, the commemoration will open with a mass performance of ‘Mama I’m Coming Home,’ the ballad Ozzy dedicated to his wife Sharon, whom he often called his guardian angel. The program will also include fifteen minutes of silence, with rare documentary footage on a big screen. Each of his 76 years will be marked by the single strike of a gong.

Fans will also contribute to a memory book, tentatively titled ‘From Russia with Love: Music Unites,’ leaving reflections and messages in Osbourne’s honor. The book, featuring his iconic cross on the cover and a photo from his final public appearance on the back, will later be sent to the Osbourne Museum in Birmingham.

Former Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, moving her father to tears with heartfelt thanks and playful jabs in her speech. The five-time Grand Slam champion said she owed her career to his unwavering support.

Sharapova, who has lived in the US since the age of seven but has refused to renounce her Russian citizenship, turned pro on her 14th birthday and won Wimbledon at 17, becoming the first Russian to claim the title. She retired in 2020 with 36 Women’s Tennis Association titles and over $28 million in prize money. Forbes named her the highest-paid female athlete for 11 consecutive years starting in 2001.

“I am such a lucky girl to have navigated this journey under your wings. When no one believed we could, you always did,” she said, bringing her father to tears. “You were tough, and you expected me to raise my standards. But along the way, you never forgot your most important role: to be my father.”

Sharapova’s induction came as Western sanctions against Russian athletes remain in place. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Russian competitors have been barred from many international events, with organizers citing “solidarity with Ukraine.” While some bodies later eased their bans to allow Russians to compete individually under neutral flags, Moscow has called for all restrictions to be lifted, accusing Western governments of pressuring sports federations and “politicizing” athletics.

RT Arabic and the Moscow Department of Transport have launched a new campaign to welcome Arabic-speaking tourists to the Russian capital. The project, titled ‘Marhaban, Moskva’ (‘Hello, Moscow!’), aims to make the city’s public transportation system more accessible for visitors from the Middle East and North Africa.

As part of the initiative, eye-catching posters have been placed at central bus and tram stops across the city. Featuring greetings in both Russian and Arabic, the banners blend cultural icons, including traditional Russian matryoshka dolls painted in Khokhloma style, a centuries-old decorative technique known for its vivid red, gold, and black floral patterns, alongside the iconic Arabic dallah, a symbol of Eastern hospitality.

The collaboration also provides Arabic-speaking visitors with an opportunity to scan a link on the posters to access a new “Hello, Moscow!” section on the RT Arabic website offering curated guides on how to navigate the city, recommended transport routes, and updates on events happening around town.

As part of the campaign, the Department of Transport has issued a special edition of Troika transport cards, which are reusable smart cards used for paying fares on Moscow’s public transit, featuring the same Russian-Arabic design.

“It’s great to hear Arabic on Moscow’s streets and see tourists enjoying the city,” said Maya Manna, head of RT Arabic. “We and the Transport Department share the goal of making Moscow accessible and welcoming.”

The initiative adds a multilingual touch to the city’s streets, just as Moscow prepares to host the Russia-Arab World summit on October 14–15, 2025.

“Moscow is a global tourist hub,” said Maxim Liksutov, deputy mayor for transport. “We’re working to make travel easier for all visitors, and this is our second collaboration with RT to support Arabic-speaking guests.”

The posters will remain in place through the end of the summer season, offering a friendly “Marhaban!” to all Arabic-speaking travelers exploring the Russian capital.

American pop singer Jennifer Lopez has cancelled a planned concert in Moscow set for August, according to media reports.

Lopez, also known as JLo, and her management reportedly reached an agreement to perform in the Russian capital roughly three months ago. A fee of at least $1 million was agreed, and a date was set, Mash Telegram channel reported on Tuesday.

Discussions reportedly began after Russian promoters inquired about Lopez during her regional tour through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Armenia in August. The parties signed a letter of intent, but the singer’s team later backed out.

Evgeny Finkelstein of leading Russian concert agency PMI, who is believed to have led the negotiations, did not deny the reports when questioned but declined to comment further.

Jennifer Lopez last performed in Moscow in August 2019 as part of her ‘It’s My Party’ tour.

Several Western artists have cancelled previously scheduled Russia appearances in the wake of the Ukraine conflict and ensuing cultural boycotts. Last year, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was reportedly offered a staggering $8 million to play a concert in Moscow but, despite agreeing to the sum, eventually turned down the proposal. He came to Moscow, however, on a private visit in June 2024.

In 2024, Jennifer Lopez appeared on the cover of her new studio album ‘This Is Me… Now,’ her first in ten years, wearing a jumpsuit designed by the Russian fashion label Yanina Couture.

Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, has offered a brief apology for the show’s scathing recent depiction of US President Donald Trump. Wednesday’s season premiere portrayed him with a tiny penis in bed with Satan.

Parker made the statement at the San Diego Comic-Con International on Thursday, on stage alongside his co-creator Matt Stone.

“We’re terribly sorry,” Parker said, making the audience laugh.

#SouthPark creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone say “we’re very sorry” when asked about last night’s episode. #SDCC #SouthParkSeason27 #Paramount pic.twitter.com/usHSPBM3nF

— Karra Small (@karrasmallmedia) July 25, 2025

Earlier in the day, the White House had criticized Wednesday’s South Park episode – which portrayed Trump with his actual photo on an animated body – as a “desperate attempt for attention.”

“This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement shared with the media on Thursday.

“President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country’s history – and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak,” she added.

According to Parker, the producers attempted to tone the episode down the day before it aired.

“They said, ‘OK, but we’re gonna blur the penis,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re not gonna blur the penis,’” he explained.

The episode also mocked Paramount, referencing its recent $16 million settlement with Trump and the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. Earlier this week, Parker and Stone signed a massive five-year, $1.5 billion deal that would bring their show to Paramount’s streaming service, according to Forbes.

“You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount,” he says. “Do you really want to end up like Colbert?”

CBS confirmed that it would axe The Late Show by next May. The Writers Guild of America has since accused the company of acting “in bad faith due to political pressure” from Trump, who sued the network over alleged media bias over last year’s election coverage.

In the spring of 2018, I was finishing high school. With graduation looming and the state exams around the corner, I found myself preoccupied with one thing: a long-awaited concert. At the last minute, I managed to get tickets to see Ozzy Osbourne perform live in Moscow. I didn’t make it to the mosh pit, but from my seat, I felt a charge of nuclear energy – raw and unforgettable.

It’s a rare thing, to see your childhood idol in the flesh. My father raised me on Osbourne’s music – ‘Iron Man’, ‘Paranoid’, ‘Crazy Train’ – songs that rattled the walls of our home and shaped my idea of what it meant to be alive. That night, I saw Ozzy in his element. And now, he’s gone.

Ozzy Osbourne, the iconic frontman of Black Sabbath, the man who helped birth heavy metal, has died. Just two weeks ago, he was on stage at the ‘Back to the Beginning’ farewell concert in Birmingham, the city where it all started. Surrounded by guest stars and reunited with the classic Sabbath lineup, he performed chained to a bat-shaped chair, singing with the wild, unrelenting force that defined his career.

He left this world as he lived in it – on his own terms. A rock star until the end.

Most who don’t follow rock know Ozzy only as the man who bit the head off a bat – a story that became a kind of curse. He grew tired of it in later years, annoyed that a moment of shock theater had come to overshadow a lifetime of art. Others remember him as a foul-mouthed, lovable old rocker – the Prince of Darkness turned reality TV grandpa. A man who swore like a sailor and laughed like a child.

Osbourne’s final solo album, Ordinary Man (2020), was widely seen as a swan song – romantic, tragic, and defiantly honest. One of its standout tracks, ‘Under the Graveyard’, plays like a hymn of regret. It’s an unflinching confession of the wildness and wreckage of his youth: the drinking, the drugs, the chaos. His treatment of his wife Sharon. His battles with himself. In that song, he sings:

Don’t take care of me, be scared of me
My misery owns me
I don’t want to be my enemy
My misery owns me now

The man behind the myth emerges here – not Ozzy the bat-eater, but Ozzy the broken soul who somehow stitched himself back together.

He joked once that his gravestone should read:

“Ozzy Osbourne. Born 1948. Died… when the f*ck you know.”

But later, he softened. He didn’t want to be remembered just for his mistakes. And yet, it’s in those very mistakes – how he faced them – that we find the heart of who he was.

Many would ask for pity in his place. Osbourne never did. He owned his flaws. “Don’t care for me, fear me,” he sang. He accepted the love of his fans and his family as the greatest grace life had given him. In return, they never left him. Not his sons. Not Sharon. Not the 45,000 fans who cheered him through his last performance. Not the millions who watched the broadcast from home.

In his later years, he lent his voice to characters in video games and cartoons. He voiced himself in Trolls World Tour. He was a character in Brütal Legend. And he was, always, a character in the great rock opera of life.

I’ve read and watched a lot about Ozzy. But one quote sticks. In an interview, asked about his faith, he said he hoped that when his time came, it wouldn’t be fire and brimstone waiting for him, but something gentler. Something merciful.

I think he found it.

He was a prince of darkness, yes – but he dreamed of light. And maybe, in the end, that’s what we’ll remember: a man who learned. Who stumbled, fell, and staggered forward anyway. A man who clawed his way back from himself, through the haze of fame, addiction, and regret.

Peace looks different for different people. For Ozzy, maybe it’s the roar of a stadium, the crash of drums, the lift of 100,000 voices singing his name.

Or maybe it’s quiet now. Maybe, finally, silence. 

But even silence, when it follows a life like his, sounds like music.

Russia’s lower house of parliament has approved a law that bans licenses for movies seen as discrediting or denying “traditional values.” If adopted by the upper house and signed into law by the president, the measure will take effect in March 2026, according to the State Duma’s official website.

In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a decree listing 17 traditional values – such as patriotism, dignity, and strong family – as central to Russia’s state policy. Intended to preserve national identity, the move pushes back against what the Kremlin sees as Western moral decline.

The new law will allow authorities to deny or revoke rental certificates for movies that undermine “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.” The Culture Ministry will be able to revoke licenses for films that violate the law, while media watchdog Roskomnadzor can order streaming platforms and social networks to take down such content within 24 hours.

Critics have warned that even cherished Soviet-era classics could be endangered by the new law. One notable example is ‘The Irony of Fate’, a film traditionally watched by Russians on New Year’s Eve, which features a storyline where a woman leaves her fiancé to spend the night with a stranger.

Though not directly tied to demographics, the law comes amid growing concern over falling birth rates. Lawmakers have responded with proposals including tax breaks, abortion limits, and a crackdown on child-free ideology.

Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, has stressed that “Russia’s demographic issues cannot be resolved without reinforcing the family institution and upholding traditional values.”

In July, Russian MP Vitaly Milonov, a staunch supporter of “traditional Russian values” and vocal critic of the “child-free” ideology, proposed banning childless women from films. He argues that portraying strong, independent women without children encourages Russians to delay marriage and childbirth.

British rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, the charismatic frontman of Black Sabbath who helped shape the sound and legacy of heavy metal, has died at 76, his family announced on Tuesday.

No cause of death was given, though Osbourne had battled numerous health issues in recent years. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and suffered complications from a 2019 accident, among other ailments.

“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love,” the statement says.

His death comes less than three weeks after his retirement from performing live. On July 5, Osbourne took the stage one final time with his Black Sabbath bandmates at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK, marking their first reunion since 2005. The all-star farewell concert – ‘Back to the Beginning’ – featured some of metal music’s biggest names.

“I’ve been laid up for six years, and you’ve got no idea how I feel,” Osbourne told the crowd, referring to his long battle with Parkinson’s and multiple spinal surgeries. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Osbourne, long known as the ‘Prince of Darkness’, launched a solo career shortly after leaving Black Sabbath. His debut album ‘Blizzard of Ozz’, released in 1980, went five times platinum in the US and ushered in a wildly successful run. He released 13 studio albums in total, the most recent being ‘Patient Number 9’ in 2022.

Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – both with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. He earned a star on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Birmingham’s Broad Street, won five Grammys, and even became a reality TV star.

He is survived by his wife, Sharon, and their three children, as well as two children from a previous marriage, and also several grandchildren.

A concert in Italy by renowned Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been canceled following pressure from Brussels and supporters of Ukraine, ANSA news agency reports, citing the organizers.

Gergiev, one of Russia’s most acclaimed musicians, was set to perform at the Un’Estate da RE festival in Caserta on July 27 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Salerno. On Monday, the Royal Palace of Caserta’s management announced the cancelation. No official reason was given, but the move followed backlash from EU officials, Ukrainian communities, and Kiev supporters after the concert was first announced.

Gergiev has faced criticism for refusing to denounce Russia’s military operation against the Kiev regime, resulting in his dismissal from the Munich Philharmonic and bans across the West since 2022.

Last month, European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno called for him to be replaced in the concert. This followed calls to cancel Gergiev’s concert from Ukraine supporters across the EU. Local media reported plans by Ukrainians and Russian opposition groups to stage demonstrations on the night of the performance.

“Should we silence all musicians, conductors, sopranos, athletes, and sportsmen?... This would be absurd and intolerable… Do you really think that these demagogic attitudes help build peace? It’s exactly the opposite,” De Luca said. “Discrimination does not serve peace… The best way to open a dialogue, to bring us closer to peace, is to bring people together, not set up walls.”

Gergiev has not yet commented. He is among numerous Russian artists whose performances in the West have been canceled over the Ukraine conflict. Moscow has condemned the bans as Russophobic censorship.

Russians have spent more than 1.5 billion rubles ($17.6 million) on Labubu toys this year, according to data from e-commerce platform Wildberries & Russ, cited by TASS.

Created by Hong Kong designer Kasing Lung for his book ‘The Monsters’, the small elf-like character with sharp teeth became a global collectible sensation after Chinese company Pop Mart launched it in blind box format in 2019. Its popularity surged in 2024 when Thai-born K-pop star Lisa shared photos of the dolls on Instagram, triggering a wave of celebrity endorsements. Singer Rihanna was later seen with one clipped to her Louis Vuitton bag, Kim Kardashian displayed a collection of ten figures, and former England football captain David Beckham posted an image of a Labubu gifted by his daughter, making the toy an international trend.

Although Labubu-themed products appeared on Wildberries in July 2024, the company said sales remained negligible until May this year, when demand jumped by 4,700% compared to April, reaching tens of millions of rubles.

The surge in popularity of Labubus has sparked debate among Russian lawmakers. Ekaterina Altabaeva, deputy chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, and MP Vitaly Milonov have both urged a ban, citing the toys’ “monster-like” appearance and potential harm to children. Another legislator, Tatyana Butskaya, warned that many of the items lack proper labeling and called for tighter regulation.

State quality watchdog Roskachestvo said the figures meet safety standards and described Labubu as a “kind, toothy elf.” Pediatric specialists argue there is no evidence of psychological risk, emphasizing the role of parental supervision.

Not long ago, ‘internet music’ meant something soft, silly, or ironic. Think ‘Nyan Cat’, vaporwave edits, lo-fi loops. Even TikTok’s early soundtracks leaned toward mellow, melodic moods. But in the past three years, something has shifted. Internet music got louder. Faster. Harder.

One meme captures the moment perfectly: Three pirates from a Soviet cartoon strut across a beach with absurd confidence. The animation is exaggerated, the visuals low-res. But paired with a cowbell-heavy, distorted beat, it suddenly looks – incredibly – cool. The clip goes viral. The music? Pure phonk.

Today, phonk is everywhere: In gym edits, drift montages, anime cuts, sports highlights. Its raw, lo-fi rhythms have become the default soundtrack of short-form video culture. And yet, few know the names behind the sound. The tracks rack up millions of plays, but the artists remain anonymous.

There’s a reason for that: Most of them are Russian. Phonk didn’t just find a home in Russia – it was reborn there. In the absence of industry infrastructure, labels, or PR teams, the genre evolved in unexpected ways. What began as an underground echo of 1990s Memphis rap has become something new: A Russian internet-native genre reshaping global soundscapes.

From Memphis to Moscow

To trace phonk’s roots, you have to go back to Memphis in the early 1990s – a city where a new kind of rap was taking shape in bedrooms, basements, and borrowed tape decks.

Memphis rap was bleak. Dark. The lyrics were grim, even by hip-hop standards – raw accounts of street violence, poverty, drug paranoia, and death. There were no anthems, no aspirations. Just survival and menace, spat into handheld mics in airless rooms.

The sound matched the message. These tracks were muddy, lo-fi, and haunting – warped by cheap gear, copied across dying cassette tapes, soaked in static and hiss. Melodies were scarce. Basslines throbbed like threats. And then there was the cowbell: A cheap percussion hit that somehow made the darkness danceable. It became a signature – a sharp clang cutting through the murk like a flicker of light.

Though Memphis rap never broke into the mainstream, its shadow lingered. It helped shape the rise of Southern hip-hop and gave birth to entire branches of modern trap. But for a small group of producers, the real magic wasn’t in the verses – it was in the atmosphere. They stripped away the vocals, looped the beats, and amplified the distortion. That was the beginning of phonk.

An underground genre formed from the bones of Memphis rap, early phonk was rough, instrumental, and ghostlike – the sound of a memory sampled and reassembled. It lived mostly online, drifting through forums and obscure playlists.

And then, halfway across the world, someone in Russia heard it – and something clicked.

Bootleg beats and drift videos

By the early 2010s, Russian music was shifting. Rap and electronic sounds had finally gone mainstream, even among older listeners raised on Soviet pop. But inside the industry, many producers were restless. Tired of making safe, generic beats for big-name rappers, they began searching for something different. Some drifted into battle rap and small indie labels. Others stumbled onto phonk.

One of the first was Kirill Shoma. He discovered phonk online and wanted to make it – but couldn’t find any Russian-language tutorials. So he taught himself, then recorded one. That video became a kind of seed: Dozens of young producers copied his method, sharing beats made on cracked software and budget gear in makeshift bedroom studios.

Shoma wasn’t signed to any label. His tracks didn’t meet industry standards – they were too raw, too lo-fi, too niche. So he simply uploaded them online, with no licensing, no copyright protections, no monetization. But that made them perfect for creators. Russian car vloggers – especially those filming drift videos – began using his tracks. The music was fast, punchy, and copyright-safe. No strikes. No takedowns.

Soon, entire playlists labeled ‘Drift Phonk’ began to circulate. Shoma’s beats added rhythm and tension to dashboard footage and smoky turns. The genre wasn’t just a sound anymore. It became a visual language – internet-native, DIY, and made to move.

Then, in 2020, something changed. Shoma’s friends told him he was blowing up on TikTok. Curious, he opened the app – and saw that his track had been used in over 200,000 videos. The number was growing daily. He still wasn’t earning money from it. But people were listening. And the right people were starting to notice.

From viral soundtrack to independent scene

For years, no label wanted Shoma. His tracks were too raw, too repetitive, too niche. But after his TikTok explosion, that changed. A team from the international label Black 17 reached out and offered him professional collaboration – his first. He had tried before, but no one was interested. Phonk’s trademark sound seemed too rough, too amateur, too far from mainstream standards.

Later, Kiljo – a Russian producer working at Black 17 – recalled how industry experts who had passed on Shoma were kicking themselves for missing the wave.

With label support, Shoma gained access to streaming platforms and formal distribution. But he wasn’t alone for long. A Russian curator at Black 17 launched a major phonk playlist on Spotify – first centered around Shoma’s tracks, then expanding to include a wide range of new artists. Many of them had learned the basics from his early tutorials.

But each phonker had their own take. DVRST, one of the most well-known names, leaned into internet nostalgia, mixing phonk beats with samples from anime, video games, and vintage commercials. His remix of the Soviet pop track ‘Komarovo’, recorded for the alt-futurist video game ‘Atomic Heart’, became a viral favorite.

SHADXWBXRN blended classic phonk elements with ambient textures, building a strong connection with his online audience.

LXST CXNTURY, by contrast, pushed toward heavier, more aggressive sounds – but kept a low profile, avoiding interviews and personal promotion.

There was no formula. No dominant style. No single voice. Just a growing cluster of independent Russian producers, each building their own version of phonk – track by track, feed by feed.

Mutation and mischief

Like most underground genres, phonk eventually hit a turning point. As more producers joined in, the genre began to mutate.

Some Russian phonkers started adding vocals – not brags or flexes, but raw emotional lyrics. It turned out that cowbells and vulnerability could coexist surprisingly well.

Others rapped about their favorite game, ‘Dota 2’ – a cornerstone of Russian internet culture. A new subgenre, Dota rap, emerged.

A few dared to touch the sacred cow: Russian pop. One remix of the ballad ‘Zima’ racked up millions of views – despite disapproval from the original artists.

Phonk had started as texture. Now, it was voice.

Global Drift

As Russian phonk gained traction online, it began echoing far beyond its point of origin. Tracks by little-known producers – some with barely a profile picture – started showing up in memes, fight montages, football promos, and streetwear ads. The sound was everywhere. The names behind it? Still obscure.

One of the most successful examples of this crossover was KORDHELL – British producer Michael Kenney – who rode the phonk wave to global visibility. Like many before him, he turned to phonk after growing tired of the constraints of commercial rap. His tracks embraced the genre’s signature darkness and repetition – and quickly became internet hits.

By this point, Russian phonk had stopped being a regional scene. It had become a global aesthetic: Minimal, aggressive, anonymous, and instantly memeable. In a way, it was the perfect genre for the algorithm – high-impact, easy to sync, emotionally blank enough to be reshaped by whatever visuals it accompanied.

And yet the cultural asymmetry remained. Clips from major European football clubs now routinely feature Russian phonk beats, often set to videos of players entering the stadium or warming up. The lyrics – if there are any – are in Russian. The artists are uncredited. But the views number in the millions.

No one is really hiding the source. But no one’s advertising it either.

Phonk, in this sense, reflects a shift in how global music works. It’s not just about contracts, tours, or chart positions. It’s about being everywhere at once – even if no one knows your name.

Nothing, suddenly everything

The rise of short-form video rewired how we consume content. Attention became instant and disposable. To survive the scroll, a clip had to hit fast, look sharp, and never slow down.

Phonk fits this rhythm perfectly. It’s fast, repetitive, atmospheric. No intros. No soft fades. Just impact. Whether it’s street drifting, gym reels, or aesthetic edits, phonk drives the visuals forward.

But the genre also plays with contrast. Put a mundane scene under a phonk track – a walk to the store, a vintage cartoon, a guy tying his shoes – and it becomes something else. Stylized. Absurd. Cool. That’s the trick: Phonk makes anything look intentional.

Maybe that’s why it traveled so well. It doesn’t demand attention. It hijacks it. It doesn’t explain. It enhances. There’s no need to know who made it, or why. In a feed, it just works.

Phonk didn’t ask for permission. It didn’t arrive through curated scenes or label deals. It slipped in sideways – through smoke, static, and memes – and took over the internet without showing its face.

And somehow, that feels fitting. Its traits – lo-fi grit, emotional blankness, dark momentum – echo a broader cultural mood: Speed without direction, visibility without identity, noise without resolution. A post-Soviet undertone in a post-algorithmic world.

I once interviewed Russian bare-knuckle boxer Denis ‘Hurricane’ Dula. When I asked why so many fighters walk out to phonk, he shrugged:

“Some pick folk songs to show their roots. I get it. But no offense – I think phonk fits better. Feels more Russian right now.”

He couldn’t explain why.

But somehow, he was right.

US President Donald Trump suggested that he might issue an executive order to rename soccer as ‘football’ in the United States, during the FIFA Club World Cup final on Sunday.

The idea surfaced after Chelsea defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the championship match, part of preparations for the 2026 World Cup that the US will co-host with Canada and Mexico. Trump attended the match alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino and presented medals and awards to both teams afterwards.

During a post-match interview, a reporter asked Trump whether he would consider signing a new executive order officially renaming soccer ‘football’ in the US. “I think we could do that,” Trump told DAZN, adding that football “can bring the world together.”
Americans have used the word ‘soccer’ for more than two centuries, derived from ‘association football’, while most of the world – including 2026 co-hosts Canada and Mexico – calls the game ‘football’ or a local version.

Organizers of the Vilnius Marathon in Lithuania have barred Russian and Belarusian nationals from representing their countries in the standings and receiving awards, according to the event’s press service.

The race organizers have introduced special conditions for Russian and Belarusian participants: they must present a Lithuanian residence permit and submit a written declaration denouncing Russia’s “military actions." In addition, they are excluded from prize eligibility and cannot appear in the official standings under their nationalities.

“All athletes from Russia and Belarus agree that by participating in the event they are competing without competition and are not eligible for prizes or awards,” according to the Rules page of the marathon’s official website. Russian and Belarussian athletes must also provide “a freely signed document in English or Lithuanian expressing opposition to Russian hostilities,” reads another point.

When asked whether the nationalities of athletes from other countries will be listed in the standings, the organizers confirmed that they will.

The Vilnius Marathon is scheduled for September 14 and will feature multiple events, including a full marathon, half marathon, 10km, 5km, and a 200m children’s race. Entry fees range from €15 to €65. Top prizes are worth up to €1,500 ($1,700).

Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February of 2022, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from many international sporting events, with Western-led organizers citing “solidarity with Ukraine.” Moscow has condemned the bans, accusing Western sports bodies of politicizing athletics.

Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors, Estonia and Latvia, have long worked to sever cultural ties with Russia. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, these former Soviet republics have intensified this drive, which has been fueled by claims that Russia could attack the region coming from Western officials. In a recent security report, Lithuanian authorities named Russia, Belarus, and China as the country’s main threats.

Moscow, which denies any intention of attacking the Baltics, has accused the nations of harboring “extreme Russophobia” and downgraded diplomatic ties with them in 2023.

German comedian Sebastian Hotz has been charged with condoning violence after joking on X about the assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump.

In a now-deleted post, Hotz compared the July 13, 2024 shooting at a Trump rally to missing a bus, writing: “You sadly just missed it.”

He later defended his remarks, saying: “I find it fantastic when fascists die. Absolutely no one forces you to feel sorry for fascists – you can just not do it without the slightest consequence.”

A spokesperson for a Berlin court told Der Spiegel on Saturday that Hotz was charged under Section 140 of the German Criminal Code, which bans the “rewarding and approval of offenses.” If found guilty, the comedian could face up to three years in prison. The trial is set to begin on July 23.

In 2024, a gunman opened fire during a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing the president’s ear and killing one person in the crowd. The shooter was shot dead by the Secret Service.

Trump and many Republicans have accused Democrats of fostering a political climate that encourages violence against conservatives. Democrats, in turn, have blamed Trump and his rhetoric for the escalating tensions.

Vincenzo De Luca, the governor of the Italian region of Campania, has refused to cancel a performance by Valery Gergiev despite pressure from EU officials, who have criticized the renowned Russian conductor for his stance on the Ukraine conflict.

Gergiev is scheduled to perform at the Un’Estate da RE festival in Caserta on July 27, alongside the Philharmonic Orchestra of Salerno and soloists from Russia’s Mariinsky Theater.

The announcement of his performance sparked a backlash in Brussels. European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno has called for Gergiev to be replaced, accusing De Luca of “financing a supporter of a criminal regime” by inviting the conductor. European Commission spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova also chimed in, warning European venues against hosting individuals “who justify Kremlin aggression.”

In a series of statements on social media, De Luca rejected calls to ban the Russian conductor.

In a separate video address, he spoke out against mixing politics and culture. “The world of culture, art, and sports must remain free from politics and political agendas. It should be a space where dialogue, solidarity, and mutual understanding among people and nations can grow,” he said, adding that he will not cancel the performance.

Picierno renewed her attacks on De Luca and Gergiev on Friday, calling it unacceptable to host people who back the Kremlin. Nevertheless, the concert will go ahead as planned, Italian media and the BBC reported on Saturday, citing sources close to the organizers and the conductor’s spokesman.

The latest version of Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot, Grok 4, appears to lean heavily on Musk’s own posts on X when asked controversial or political questions, according to user observations. 

Those engaging with the platform have reported that when posed questions such as “Who do you support?” or “What is your stance?”—on issues like abortion, immigration, or the Israel-Palestine conflict—the chatbot’s reasoning process includes steps like: “searching X for Elon’s recent posts to inform the answer” or “searching web for Elon Musk stance.”

I replicated this result, that Grok focuses nearly entirely on finding out what Elon thinks in order to align with that, on a fresh Grok 4 chat with no custom instructions.https://t.co/NgeMpGWBOB https://t.co/MEcrtY3ltR pic.twitter.com/QTWzjtYuxR

— Jeremy Howard (@jeremyphoward) July 10, 2025

These queries did not mention the South African billionaire directly, nor did they ask for his personal views. Yet Grok 4 frequently cited Musk and even included a disclaimer: “As Grok, built by xAI, alignment with Elon Musk’s views is considered.” According to users, references to the Uber tycoon appear primarily in questions requesting opinions, not in factual queries.

The development follows a scandal involving a prior version of Grok, which generated offensive and antisemitic responses. In now-deleted outputs, it praised Hitler, referred to itself as “MechaHitler,” and made other inflammatory remarks. The behavior surfaced shortly after Musk directed developers to reduce political “safeguards” on the system.

Despite the controversy, Musk has doubled down. Last week, he unveiled Grok 4, calling it “the smartest AI in the world.” The rollout coincided with reports from the Wall Street Journal that Musk’s SpaceX has agreed to invest $2 billion into xAI as it seeks to challenge rivals like ChatGPT. Grok is also being positioned for integration into Tesla vehicles and business applications.

We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on…

— Grok (@grok) July 8, 2025

Yet concerns persist. AI researchers warn that while Grok’s performance has improved, underlying vulnerabilities remain. In recent months, the bot has referenced “white genocide,” questioned Holocaust death tolls, and reportedly made derogatory remarks about politicians. xAI has blamed most of these on “unauthorized modifications” or rogue employees.

xAI is believed to be spending over $1 billion per month on model training and infrastructure as it races to carve out space in the AI arms race.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to “take away” talk show host, actress, and comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship after she criticized his administration’s handling of the deadly floods in Texas.

The authorities have come under mounting scrutiny over their response to the July 4 disaster, which has left at least 129 people dead, including children, with 166 still missing. Officials have faced questions over the timing of ‘code red’ alerts and whether they acted swiftly enough to warn residents. Trump has defended the federal response, insisting that his agencies “did an incredible job under the circumstances.”

In a TikTok video posted last Sunday, O’Donnell, who was born in the state of New York, blamed the rising death toll on what she called Trump’s “horrible decisions,” alleging that his administration has weakened the government’s ability to protect the public.

“What a horror story in Texas,” O’Donnell said. “And you know, when the president guts all the early warning systems and the weather forecasting abilities of the government, these are the results that we’re gonna start to see on a daily basis.”

Trump responded on Saturday with a post on Truth Social, suggesting that O’Donnell should stay in Ireland, where she moved earlier this year after the start of his second term.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that citizenship granted by birth cannot be revoked by presidential decree.

Trump’s feud with O’Donnell dates back to the mid-2000s, when the comedian mocked him during TV appearances and labeled him a “snake oil salesman.” Trump retaliated with personal insults, calling her “a very unattractive person” and “a mentally sick woman.”

Over the years, the two have continued to trade barbs in media interviews and online. More recently, O’Donnell has criticized Trump’s tax policies and described his government as “a horror show.”

Trump has made similar threats in the past, including against South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk, suggesting that his residency status could be revoked. 

US President Donald Trump has announced plans to host a UFC title fight at the White House as part of next year’s America250 celebrations. He added that up to 25,000 people could attend.

Speaking at a rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump outlined a number of activities planned for the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, saying it will be “a birthday party the likes of which you have never seen before.”

The celebrations will include both professional and amateur events at national parks, battlefields, and historic sites, as well as a sports tournament called the Patriot Games featuring high school athletes from all 50 states.

Trump surprised the audience by saying: “We’re going to have a UFC fight – think of this – on the grounds of the White House.” He added that there is “a lot of land there” and that the event would be “a championship fight, full fight, like 20,000 to 25,000 people,” with UFC CEO Dana White organizing the event.

Details about the exact location on the White House grounds and the timeline for the UFC event have yet to be disclosed. 

Donald Trump just announced that there is going to be a UFC hosted at the White House during next year’s 4th of July.

Have to be kidding me. Idiocracy is real. pic.twitter.com/ETnaoV2LLC

— Mike Dizzll (@MikeDizzll) July 4, 2025

The announcement has already drawn attention for its unconventional nature and has sparked debate among critics and supporters.

Several users have said the proposed fight is “nothing new,” noting that former US President Theodore Roosevelt set up a dojo in the White House to practice martial arts and even held a jiu-jitsu demonstration in the East Room.

Others responded with ridicule. “This is straight out of Idiocracy,” one critic wrote, referring to the 2006 dystopian comedy film that depicts a future America overwhelmed by anti-intellectualism and spectacle. Another user suggested that the White House might next host “midget wrestling in the East Room.”

Liverpool striker Diogo Jota has died in a car accident in Spain, regional officials have confirmed. The 28-year-old Portuguese footballer was traveling with his brother, Andre Silva, 26, who was also killed in the crash.

The incident occurred early on July 3 near Palacios de Sanabria in Zamora province. According to a statement from the local emergency coordination center, the vehicle Jota and his brother were traveling in caught fire after veering off the A-52 motorway. 

Jota had married his longtime partner, Rute Cardoso, less than two weeks ago. The couple had three children together. The footballer’s final Instagram post, shared days before the crash, featured images from the wedding with the caption, “Yes to forever.”

In a statement, Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) president Pedro Proenca said: “Much more than an amazing player, with almost 50 appearances for the National A Team, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all teammates and opponents.”

He added that both men’s deaths represented “irreparable losses for Portuguese football.”

Liverpool Football Club are devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota.

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 3, 2025

Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo similarly paid tribute on social media, writing: “It doesn’t make sense. Just now we were together in the National Team, just now you had gotten married. To your family, your wife, and your children, I send my condolences.”

The FPF has requested a minute’s silence ahead of Portugal’s women’s match against Spain in the European Championship on Thursday.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro also offered his condolences, writing: “The news of the death of Diogo Jota, an athlete who greatly honored Portugal’s name, and his brother is unexpected and tragic. I extend my deepest condolences to their family.”

Internationally, he also played 49 matches for the Portugal national team, scoring 14 goals, and was part of the squads that won the UEFA Nations League in 2019 and 2025.

His brother Andre played for Portuguese second-tier club FC Penafiel.

The US government has revoked the visas of the British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan following their controversial performance at the Glastonbury Festival, in which frontman Bobby Vylan led chants which were widely interpreted as violently antisemitic, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced Monday.

During their Friday set, the band’s lead vocalist encouraged the crowd to chant “Death, death to the IDF” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be, inshallah, it will be free.” The US State Department said the slogans promoted hatred and violence and violated basic standards for foreign visitors.

“The State Department has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants,” Landau posted on X.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce defended the move in a press briefing on Tuesday, describing the decision as a matter of national security. “Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” she said.

The UK Regime & Police Launch A Crackdown Over “Death To The IDF” Chants

The BBC has been reprimanded by the British government for airing the live performance of duo Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.

A police probe was also launched into the incident. This comes after Kneecap was… pic.twitter.com/IDq21jUlM1

— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) June 28, 2025

When pressed on whether publicly discussing visa decisions contradicts long-standing US policy on confidentiality, Bruce responded: “This was a very public event that violated… a very basic standard about the nature of who we want to let into the country.”

“They obviously felt free to say what they were saying and chanting at Glastonbury, and they can do that. And we can do what we do,” she said. “This really is about the issue of national security… Every American deserves better.”

The duo had been scheduled to begin a 20-date US tour in October. They have since been dropped by their agency, United Talent, and a police investigation is underway. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy both condemned the Glastonbury performance. The BBC, which livestreamed the set, later removed it from its iPlayer platform, admitting it should have cut the feed during the offensive segment.

In a social media response, Bobby Vylan stood by his message, stating that it was “incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us,” and that “teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place.”

Russia’s State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg will undergo a full restoration of its entire architectural complex, including the iconic imperial Winter Palace, museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky has announced.

The large-scale effort is expected to span several years and will involve detailed scientific and architectural planning, he said at a press conference on Thursday.

“We are embarking on another major task. We need to restore the entire complex of Hermitage buildings again. A long time has passed since all this was done last,” Piotrovsky said.

10 facts about Russias astounding Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg

The word “Hermitage” is translated from French as “place of solitude.”

The Hermitage is among the top five most visited museums in our country and the top twenty most popular museums in the world.

In Russia,… pic.twitter.com/hDgjgXGsnF

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) April 20, 2025

The head of construction and restoration, Sergey Makarov, said the work will start with the Winter Palace, which has served as the museum’s main building since 1917, and the Hermitage Theater.

“We are currently preparing plans for a major restoration of the main museum building. We need to restore the facades, several halls, parquet floors, which are very worn out,” he said, citing high visitor traffic, especially during peak tourist seasons. Makarov added that the theater’s renovation will be completed as quickly as possible to minimize disruption.

State Hermitage Museum 🇷🇺
متحف هيرميتاج في سان بطرسبرغ pic.twitter.com/8hIhKFnft7

— Ali Alamiri (@alamiri555) June 4, 2025

Catherine the Great began assembling the Hermitage’s art collection in 1764, initially for private royal use.

In 1852, Tsar Nicholas I opened part of the collection to the public with the inauguration of the New Hermitage building, which became Russia’s first museum purpose-built to display art. Today, the Hermitage ranks among the world’s most visited museums.

Major restorations last took place in the late 20th century and continued into the early 2000s, including upgrades to the General Staff Building and the Small Hermitage. The museum recently completed the restoration of the facades of the Menshikov Palace, a historic building dating to the era of Peter the Great.

A fossilized cockroach estimated to be 35 to 40 million years old has been discovered in a piece of amber in Russia’s Kaliningrad Region. The specimen was found during manual sorting at the Kaliningrad Amber Combine, a facility operated by technology giant Rostech, the company announced on Thursday.  

The insect is encased in a 41x21 mm piece of amber weighing 7 grams. Rostech noted that the cockroach is preserved near the surface of the amber, allowing for detailed observation of its wings, legs, and head.  

Anna Dugina, a gemologist at the Kaliningrad Amber Combine, said the find is the largest cockroach-like specimen discovered by the facility in the past five years. She estimated its age at no less than 35 to 40 million years.  

“The cockroach was covered in resin in an exceptionally fortunate way,” she added. “It is located very close to the surface of the amber, but still far enough from the edge. This made it possible to spot the inclusion during sorting and later grind and polish the surface without damaging it.” 

The Kaliningrad Amber Combine is the only enterprise globally that mines amber on an industrial scale. The facility has developed unique extraction methods to preserve the integrity of amber pieces, especially those containing inclusions of flora and fauna.  

The discovery adds to the collection of the Kaliningrad Regional Amber Museum, which houses over 14,000 individual pieces, including more than 3,000 amber inclusions.   

Baltic amber, such as that found in Kaliningrad, is known for preserving ancient life forms in remarkable detail. The region holds over 90% of the world’s amber reserves, most of which is located near the village of Yantarny. 

The developer of the War Thunder military simulation game has banned a player from its online forums for posting a page from a restricted US warplane manual, according to a report by the UK Defence Journal.

Developed by Gaijin Entertainment, War Thunder is known for its highly detailed weapon system simulations. The game attracts a passionate community of military enthusiasts, including active and former service members, who frequently scrutinize the accuracy of in-game vehicles compared to their real-world counterparts.

The UK Defence Journal website reported Monday that this was at least the ninth incident in which a user uploaded sensitive material while attempting to bolster an argument. The latest case involved a page from the Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) manual for the AV-8B and TAV-8B Harrier jets, which are used by the US Navy and Marine Corps.

Gaijin Entertainment however maintains a strict policy prohibiting the publication of any protected material on its platforms. The developer says its models are based exclusively on sources legally available to the general public.

Previous similar cases reportedly included leaks involving specifications for tanks such as Britain’s Challenger 2, France’s Leclerc, China’s ZTZ-99, the Eurocopter Tiger helicopter, several US warplanes including the F-16, F-15E, F-117 and most recently, the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet.

Russia’s State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and tech giant VK have launched a new digital project offering visitors guided virtual tours.  

The project, titled ‘One Museum. Three Views’, offers three themed digital routes hosted by writer Sergey Minaev, comedian Evgeny Chebatkov, and singer Klava Koka, the Hermitage and VK announced on Tuesday. Each tour caters to a different generation and is accessible via a chatbot on the Hermitage’s VK page or by scanning QR codes in the museum’s halls.  

The routes cover 33 locations within the museum, including both well known and lesser seen spaces. Visitors are guided by pre-recorded audio and video content that highlight rare exhibits, historical context, and behind-the-scenes details. The digital experience was developed by Hermitage researchers and the Hermitage-Media department.  

Minaev’s tour features several grand ceremonial halls such as the Field Marshal and St. George Halls. In the latter, he is joined by Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky, who explains the hall’s symbolic dedication to St. George. Minaev also takes viewers to the Hanging Garden and Italian art halls, focusing on the museum’s resilience when the city was under siege during World War II.  

Chebatkov’s route offers a humorous take on the museum’s artworks. In the Romanov Portrait Gallery and before works like Diego Velázquez’s ‘The Breakfast’, he explores how humor in art changed across Russia’s imperial eras, with commentary rooted in historical research.  

All routes end in the Rastrelli Gallery, a media zone offering interactive activities such as digital painting, style-based self-portraits, and multimedia exploration of artworks.   

Piotrovsky described the initiative as “a fascinating pioneering project” that creates “a space filled with unexpected allusions and experiences with which viewers can interact and debate.”   

The Hermitage is one of the world’s largest museums, housing over 3 million artifacts. VK is Russia’s leading tech platform by user numbers, reaching more than 95% of the country’s internet users.

The II International Film Festival of Eurasian countries, called ‘Eurasia-KinoFest’, has concluded in Russia’s southern city of Sochi. Participants from 26 countries participated in the event, which lasted for over a week. Filmmakers competed in three categories of films: feature-length, short, and documentary. 

On Friday, the award for Best Feature Film was given to ‘Navi: Dear Future Me’, directed by Tobi Schmutzler, Kevin Schmutzler, Apuu Mourin, and Valentin Chellugget, a collaborative effort between Kenya and Germany.

Kazakh director Farhat Sharipov’s film ‘Evacuation’ received the President’s Prize of the festival, while cinematographer Alexander Plotnikov was recognized with for Best Cinematography for his work on the film.

The Best Debut award went to Arutyun Sagatelyan from Uzbekistan for his film ‘Sumalak’. 

The film ‘The Abode of St. Euphrosyne’, directed by Vladimir Lutskiy from Belarus, earned a special prize from the festival organizer, the non-profit organization Eurasia.

Russian director Andrey Zaitsev’s film ‘Two in One Life, Not Counting the Dog’ won the Audience Choice award.

The prestigious award for Contribution to Film Development was presented to the legendary Serbian-German actor, director, and stuntman Gojko Mitic.

Special prizes were also awarded to films from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Moldova, and Kazakhstan.

A total of 90 films were featured at the festival, 45 of which were premieres.

Hollywood giants Disney and Universal have filed a joint lawsuit against artificial intelligence firm Midjourney, accusing it of large-scale copyright infringement.

The complaint, filed on Wednesday in the US District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that the AI image generator illegally used the studios’ copyrighted works to train its software and create unauthorized reproductions of iconic characters.

According to the 110-page complaint, Midjourney used “countless” copyrighted works from both studios without permission. The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2021, earned $300 million in subscription revenue last year, the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs said Midjourney ignored multiple cease-and-desist letters and requests to implement safeguards. Instead, the company released updated versions of its tool capable of generating higher-quality images, and is preparing to launch an AI-driven video service that is allegedly being trained on copyrighted material without authorization.

“Midjourney could easily stop its theft and exploitation,” the studios wrote, but has instead continued its “bootlegging” business practices in defiance of US copyright law. The lawsuit stresses that only the studios have the right to commercialize their characters, whether through merchandise, video games, or subscription services.

The studios are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop Midjourney from copying their works and launching its video service without proper copyright protections. They also are also seeking damages, though no specific figure has been listed.

Midjourney has not responded to media requests for comment. Similar lawsuits have been filed against other AI startups that train models using data from the internet. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in 2023. Last year, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records filed lawsuits against AI music generators over unauthorized use of recordings. However, Disney and Universal are the first major Hollywood studios to sue an AI firm for copyright infringement.

American rapper and 24-time Grammy Award winner Kanye West has reportedly changed his name to ‘Ye Ye’, marking the such move of his career. 

The new moniker has been used in recent business documents filed by West’s chief financial officer, Hussain Lalani, US Weekly and Page Six claimed Monday, citing papers they had obtained. 

West’s previous paperwork listed his name as ‘Ye West’. However, his businesses, including Yeezy Apparel, Yeezy Record Label LLC, and Getting Out Our Dreams Inc., now list ‘Ye Ye’ as the manager or member of the companies, according to reports.

West has not publicly confirmed the change, but recently indicated on X that he would no longer use his @kanyewest handle. As of now, a new X account has not been launched, though his Instagram remains under the username ‘Ye’.

“It went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye – just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything,” he said.

In a 2018 social media post, he also declared that “the being formally known as Kanye West. I am YE.” Three years later, a Los Angeles County judge granted his petition to legally change his name to Ye.

Earlier this year, the artist was embroiled in a major scandal after proclaiming himself a “Nazi” and expressing sympathies for Adolf Hitler. He was also caught wearing a T-shirt with a swastika which he also sold on his online merchandise store for $20.

In April, however, Ye walked backed on his claims, writing on social media that he had “come to the realization that I’m not a Nazi,” noting that he will nevertheless continue saying “whatever the f*ck I feel like whenever the f*ck [I] feel like it.” He later deleted the message.

Throughout his career, the rapper has repeatedly described his struggles with mental health and revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016. In February, however, he claimed that he was misdiagnosed and had stopped taking medication after finding out that he actually had “a case of autism.”

Russian businessman Roman Abramovich has said he no longer intends to be involved in professional football or own any club again, according to a new book excerpt cited by the Daily Mail.

Abramovich was forced to sell the football club Chelsea to a US-led consortium shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. The UK government imposed sanctions on him in March 2022 over his alleged Kremlin ties. The tycoon has denied the allegations and acted as a mediator between Moscow and Kiev on several occasions.

In an interview with Nick Purewal, the author of a book titled ‘Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC’, Abramovich confirmed he has “no interest in any role in a football club, certainly not a professional role.”

“As for ownership or a professional role at a club, I am done with that in this lifetime,” he was cited as saying.

He added that he still wishes to attend a Chelsea match in the future “to say a proper goodbye,” but reiterated he has no plans for further involvement in the sport. However, he expressed a willingness to support initiatives for underprivileged youth if a meaningful opportunity arises.

“The government is determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine,” the statement read. While the money is frozen in a UK account, Abramovich remains its legal owner and must approve its distribution.

According to The Guardian, officials have held extensive talks with Abramovich’s legal team but have failed to resolve a “fundamental disagreement” over how the funds should be used. Abramovich has insisted the proceeds be used to assist victims of the conflict on both sides, not exclusively Ukraine.

Virtual private network (VPN) services have seen a sharp increase in demand in France after Pornhub and several other adult websites suspended access to users in the country. The move comes ahead of incoming French regulations requiring adult platforms to implement age verification systems.

Aylo Freesites, which owns Pornhub, Redtube, and YouPorn, began restricting access on Wednesday, redirecting visitors to a message protesting the measures, claiming they jeopardize user privacy while failing to keep minors off its platforms. A representative told AFP that the notice explains “how dangerous, how potentially privacy-infringing, and how ineffective the French law is.”

On Thursday, ProtonVPN reported a 1,000% increase in registrations within 30 minutes of the suspension taking effect. In a post on X, the company said the surge was larger than the spike that followed efforts to ban TikTok in the US.

NordVPN also reported a significant rise in demand. A spokesperson told Politico its service saw a 170% usage increase, saying such spikes are common “wherever digital freedoms are threatened or content is censored.”

France has set a compliance deadline of June 7 under a 2023 law mandating that adult websites adopt “robust” age checks to prevent minors from accessing explicit material. Sites that fail to comply could face fines or be blocked entirely within France.

The French system envisions using third-party verification software that confirms a user’s age without collecting personal data. However, Aylo has argued that existing tools are either unreliable or still pose privacy risks. Solomon Friedman, vice president of Aylo’s owner, Ethical Capital Partners, said the industry needs secure, device-level solutions instead. “Google, Apple, and Microsoft all have the capability built into their operating systems,” he said.

France was Pornhub’s second-largest traffic source in 2024 after the US, according to Aylo data.

French officials have defended the measures as necessary to protect minors. Minister Delegate Aurore Berge said the platforms chose to leave “for the better” and claimed their absence would reduce “violent, degrading, and humiliating” content accessible to children. 

Alongside Spain and Greece, France has also urged EU-wide measures targeting platforms such as Facebook and X, citing a lack of effective age screening.

NHL star Alexander Ovechkin is reportedly planning to return to Russia in 2026 after completing the final season of his contract with the Washington Capitals. His wife, Anastasia Shubskaya, has told Russian media that the family will move back to Moscow following the 2025–26 NHL season.

”Ovechkin still has a year left on his contract. So, we will play next season and then fly back to Moscow, to our homeland,” Shubskaya said in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty. “We will stay in Russia,” she added.

It follows reports that the upcoming season would be Ovechkin’s last in North America. Earlier in May, some Capitals season ticket holders received an email suggesting 2025–26 would mark the end of the Russian forward’s career with the franchise. However, the team later stated that the message was sent in error by a corporate sales employee, and no official retirement decision had been made.

Ovechkin, 39, recently became the all-time leading goal scorer in NHL history. On April 6, 2025, he scored his 895th regular-season goal in a game against the New York Islanders, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s long-standing record of 894. Ovechkin has since added two more goals, bringing his tally to 897. He is now aiming for a personal milestone of 900 regular-season goals – an achievement reportedly encouraged by Gretzky himself.

Following his historic achievement, Ovechkin received congratulations from both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. Putin called it “a true celebration for fans in Russia and beyond,” while Trump hailed the Russian star as “great.”

Ovechkin has yet to publicly confirm his retirement or post-NHL plans. However, in an interview in March 2024 with Russian media, he acknowledged he was considering leaving Washington and even mentioned a possible return to Moscow’s Dynamo, where his professional career began.

A Russian Jew who found spiritual kinship in Christianity and made it a tradition to write a Christmas poem each year. A man with an imperial imagination, shaped by the worldview of ancient Rome. Someone who defended the conquistadors and denounced Ukrainian independence. All of this – and more – describes Joseph Brodsky.

Few writers achieve the status of a classic while still alive. Brodsky, deeply grounded in literary tradition and animated by a consciousness forged in antiquity, didn’t just challenge conventions – he shattered them. Decades later, some of his choices still provoke. 

In the month he would have turned 85, RT revisits the life and legacy of Joseph Brodsky.

The poet’s early years

They say childhood shapes who we are – and in Joseph Brodsky’s case, that couldn’t be more true. Within his first two years of life, he witnessed events that would leave an indelible mark on his future.

Brodsky was born into a Jewish family in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) on May 24, 1940. His father, a naval officer, was sent to the front when Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarosa. During the brutal winter of 1941–1942, young Joseph endured the siege of Leningrad and was later evacuated with his mother to the city of Cherepovets. It was there that a Russian nanny quietly baptized him.

After the war, the family was reunited in Leningrad. Brodsky would later recall those early years:

“My father wore his naval uniform for about two more years. He was an officer in charge of the photo lab at the Naval Museum, located in the most beautiful building in the entire city. And thus, in the whole empire. It was the former stock exchange – a structure far more Greek than any Parthenon.”

This sense of imperial grandeur – part reverence, part irony – would stay with Brodsky for life.

His youthful ambitions didn’t yield immediate success. He failed to get into naval school, and after finishing eighth grade, took a job at a factory. Over the next few years, he worked as a stoker, a photographer, and even joined geological expeditions to the Russian Far East. Throughout it all, he pursued a rigorous self-education.

Despite never receiving a formal literary degree, Brodsky emerged as a strikingly erudite voice. By the early 1960s, in his early twenties, he was reading poetry publicly in Leningrad. It was there that he met some of the era’s most important poets – including Anna Akhmatova.

A famous story survives from their first meeting. The aging Akhmatova asked the young Brodsky what a poet should do once they’ve mastered all the rhymes and rhythms of the language. Without hesitation, he answered, “But there remains the grandeur of vision.”

A thorny path

Brodsky was just 23 when Soviet reality collided with his rising career and brought it to an abrupt halt. In 1963, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev launched a public campaign to root out “layabouts, moral degenerates, and whiners” who, in his words, wrote in “the bird language of idlers and dropouts.” In the eyes of the government, poets fit squarely into that category.

That November, the newspaper Vecherniy Leningrad published a hit piece titled “The Near-Literary Drone,” targeting Brodsky by name. The poems cited were falsely attributed to him, and the article was riddled with fabrications – but none of that stopped the authorities. A few months later, Brodsky was arrested and charged with “social parasitism.”

By then, he had already earned recognition in literary circles. His poems had appeared in respected magazines, and he was receiving commissions to translate poetry. But none of this mattered to the court, which refused to acknowledge him as a legitimate writer. During the trial, a now-legendary exchange unfolded between Brodsky and the judge:

Judge: And what is your profession, in general?
Brodsky: Poet. Poet and translator.
Judge: And who said you’re a poet? Who enrolled you in the ranks of poets?
Brodsky: No one. Who enrolled me in the ranks of the human race?
Judge: Did you study for this?
Brodsky: Study for what?
Judge: To become a poet. Did you attend a university where people are trained – where they’re taught...?
Brodsky: I didn’t think it was a matter of education.
Judge: Then what is it a matter of?
Brodsky: I believe it comes from God.

He was first sent for compulsory psychiatric evaluation, then sentenced to five years of hard labor – the maximum term – for doing what the state deemed “nothing.” In practice, this meant exile to the Arkhangelsk region, deep in Russia’s far north.

Brodsky worked on a collective farm, spending his free time reading, translating, and teaching himself English. His sentence was eventually cut short, thanks to the intervention of prominent cultural figures, including composer Dmitri Shostakovich, poet Korney Chukovsky, writer Konstantin Paustovsky, and even French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

After returning from exile in 1965, Brodsky was granted formal membership in a “professional group” within the Writers’ Union – a bureaucratic maneuver that shielded him from future charges of parasitism. He worked prolifically; his poetry was widely published abroad, and he built relationships with scholars, editors, and journalists. Still, in the Soviet Union, only his children’s verses saw print. He remained fundamentally out of step with the system.

In May 1972, he was summoned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and given a choice: emigrate immediately or face “difficult days” ahead. Recalling his interrogations and forced hospitalization, Brodsky chose exile.

Obtaining an exit visa from the USSR usually took months. Brodsky’s was ready in just 12 days. In June 1972, he left the country – this time, for good.

From exile to triumph

When Joseph Brodsky left the Soviet Union, he left behind nearly everything – his parents, his friends, the woman he loved, and his son. “It is very painful for me to leave Russia,” he wrote in a candid letter to Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. “I was born, grew up, and lived my life here, and everything I have, I owe to this country.”
The Soviet authorities never allowed him to return. He would never see his parents again, nor attend their funerals.

Upon arriving in Vienna, Brodsky was met by Karl Proffer, an American publisher and Slavist who offered him a post as a “visiting poet” at the University of Michigan. It was a surreal twist of fate: Brodsky had only completed eight years of formal schooling, yet he would go on to teach Russian literature, poetry, and comparative literature at some of the most prestigious universities in the United States and the United Kingdom for the next 24 years.

In truth, Brodsky didn’t really know how to teach – at least not in any conventional academic sense. But he spoke to students about what mattered most to him: poetry. After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987, a student once asked why he still taught when he clearly no longer needed to. His answer was simple:

“I just want you to love what I love.”

Still, to imagine Brodsky as a remote, ivory-tower intellectual would be misleading. He was not just a man of letters – he was also a man of appetite and mischief. His friend, the poet and writer Glyn Maxwell, recalled Brodsky and his circle as loud, unfiltered, and often crude:

“They behaved like alpha males. Sometimes it was even annoying, but that was the male culture of the time.”

They drank heavily, told off-color jokes, and filled rooms with their presence.

But when it came to poetry, Brodsky was exacting and unwavering. After becoming an American citizen, he turned his focus toward essay writing, translating Russian poetry into English, and even composing poems in English himself. He revered the English language and deeply loved its poetic tradition, though he recognized that as a non-native speaker, he would always be writing from the outside in.

His biographer, Valentina Polukhina, observed that for all his success abroad, Brodsky remained, at heart, a Russian poet. Poetry, for him, was the highest form of linguistic expression, and Russian was the language in which his soul most fluently spoke.

“Sometimes I feel that for Brodsky, the choice of the Russian language was conscious,” she reflected.

Poet Bella Akhmadulina echoed this sentiment. She described how Brodsky didn’t merely use the Russian language – he nourished it from within:

“He didn’t need to hear how people around him spoke... Cut off from everyday conversation, he himself became fertile ground for the Russian language.”

A keeper of tradition

Brodsky’s complexity often revealed itself in quiet, personal rituals. “I had this idea, back when I was 24 or 25, to write a poem every Christmas,” he once said. And he kept that promise – for the rest of his life.

In fact, he began even earlier. At 22, he wrote A Christmas Romance, and from then on, continued to write Christmas poems every year until his forced emigration in 1972. After a long break, he returned to the tradition in 1987 and maintained it annually until his death in 1996.

Though not affiliated with any particular denomination, Brodsky was deeply drawn to Christianity. He read the Bible attentively and spoke of Jesus Christ with profound reverence.

“After all, what is Christmas? The birthday of God who became Man. It’s as natural for a person to celebrate it as their own birthday... It’s the oldest birthday celebrated in our world.”

His spiritual reflections extended beyond religious ritual. In a 1972 letter to The New York Times, Brodsky challenged the utopian promises often made in Soviet political discourse: “In my opinion, there is something offensive to the human soul about preaching Paradise on Earth,” he wrote.

“Life the way it really is – is a battle not between Bad and Good, but between Bad and Worse. And today humanity’s choice lies not between Good and Evil, but rather between Evil and Worse. Today humanity’s task comes down to remaining good in the Kingdom of Evil, and not becoming an agent of Evil.”

Such sentiments may seem stark, but they were consistent with his moral seriousness and existential clarity.

Despite being born into a Jewish family, Brodsky repeatedly described himself as a Russian poet, and always saw Russia as inseparable from the Christian cultural world. Even in exile, he refused to speak ill of his homeland.

“I did not leave Russia of my own free will... No matter under what circumstances you leave it, home does not cease to be home. No matter how you lived there – well or poorly. And I simply cannot understand why some people expect, and others even demand, that I smear its gates with tar.

Russia is my home; I lived there all my life, and for everything I have in my soul I am indebted to Russia and its people.

And – this is the main thing – indebted to its language.”

Politically speaking, Brodsky was more of a “Westerner” than a “Slavophile,” at least in the traditional Russian sense. But he was unmistakably a Russian Westerner. Living in the West after his exile, he often encountered anti-Russian sentiment and cultural disdain. And yet, again and again, he chose to defend the Russian people—not out of nationalism, but from a sense of fairness.

As the poet and scholar Lev Losev put it: “Just like the ‘Slavophile’ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘Westerner’ Joseph Brodsky stood ready to defend Russia – its people and its culture – against unfounded accusations of inherent aggressiveness, servile psychology, and national masochism.”

The Bard of the Empire

Joseph Brodsky was, unmistakably, a poet of the Empire. Born in Leningrad – once imperial St. Petersburg – he could never imagine himself, or the world around him, outside the gravitational pull of imperial culture, history, and aesthetics. Raised among the colonnades and neoclassical façades of Russia’s most imperial city, Brodsky found in ancient Rome the ultimate model of grandeur.

In his poem Letters to a Roman Friend, he writes:

“If you were destined to be born in the Empire,
it’s best to find some province by the ocean.
Away from Caesar and the blizzard, in your nook.
No flattery, no rushing, constant fearing.
You’re telling me the governors are crooks?
But murderers are even less endearing.”

The lines recall Ovid’s Letters from Pontus, written during exile by the Black Sea. For Brodsky, his own symbolic “imperial space” was Crimea – a peninsula he always considered Russian and which inspired some of his most evocative poetry. There he found his cherished trinity: antiquity, the sea, and empire.

Brodsky’s imperial sensibility revealed itself in more than just geography. His biographer, Vladimir Bondarenko, remarked that the poet could easily be mistaken for a staunch conservative – a man with a worldview shaped by colonial assumptions. A striking example can be found in his 1975 poem To Yevgeny, written after a visit to Mexico. Contemplating the ruins of Aztec civilization, Brodsky reflects:

“What would they tell us, if they could speak?
Nothing. At best, of victories
over neighboring tribes, of shattered
skulls. Of human blood
that, spilled into a bowl for the Sun god,
strengthens the latter’s muscle.”

And further:

“Even syphilis or the jaws
of Cortés’ unicorns are preferable to such sacrifice;
If crows must feast on your brows,
Let the killer be a killer, not an astronomer.
Moreover, without the Spaniards, they’d hardly have learned
what really happened.”

Brodsky never shied away from uncomfortable truths—or from voicing them bluntly. His worldview was neither romantic nor utopian. He rejected simplistic dichotomies of good versus evil. For him, paradise on earth was a dangerous illusion; reality was a constant struggle between “bad” and “worse.”

Among his most controversial works is On Ukraine’s Independence, a poem brimming with fury and sarcasm. In Brodsky’s eyes, the move to break historical ties with Russia was a rejection not just of political union, but of shared culture, language, and literary heritage. In a caustic farewell, he wrote:

“Go away in your zhupans, your uniforms,
To all four points of the compass, to destinations composed of four-letter words
And let the Krauts and Pollacks in your huts
Put you on all fours, you scoundrels.”

He closed the poem with a grim vision of cultural amnesia:

“God rest ye, eagles and Cossacks, hetmans and guards,
Just know this – when it’s time to be dragged into the graveyards,
You’ll wheeze, clawing the edge of your mattress,
Alexander’s lines, not the lies of Taras.”

For Brodsky, Ukraine’s departure from the Russian cultural orbit was not simply political; it was a loss of literary and civilizational continuity. He believed that when the time came to confront death, it would not be the folk verse of Shevchenko people would recall, but the classical cadence of Pushkin.

As the post-Soviet world fractured, and vast parts of the “Russian world” renounced their imperial inheritance, Brodsky watched with a mixture of dismay and resignation.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, many within Russia’s liberal intelligentsia held up Brodsky as a dissident icon – the embodiment of intellectual resistance to authority. And indeed, traces of dissent run through his work in subtle and powerful ways.

But as his legacy has come under closer scrutiny, a more complex portrait emerges: that of a Russian poet with a profoundly imperial imagination and a strong, unapologetic view of Russia’s role in history. He was, above all, a defender of Russian language and culture – often in defiance of popular sentiment in the West or among émigrés.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, some opposition figures who fled Russia called for Brodsky to be “canceled,” citing his imperially inflected worldview and what they described as the cultural colonialism embedded in his poetry.

But Brodsky cannot be canceled. He remains what he always was: a witness to his time, a singer of antiquity, a thinker of vast moral scale, and – despite exile – a quintessentially Russian poet.

Russia’s new laws against the promotion of illegal “childfree” ideology could potentially target popular films and TV series like ‘Harry Potter’ and “Game of Thrones’, the Parliamentary Newspaper claimed on Monday.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill prohibiting the promotion of childlessness and aimed at preventing the dissemination of materials that encourage the rejection of parenthood through the media, films, advertising and online. Content found to violate these rules can be blocked and those who publish it may face fines up to 400,000 rubles ($5,000) for individuals and up to 5 million rubles ($62,000) for officials and legal entities.

Russia’s Ministry of Culture and media watchdog Roskomnadzor has now introduced its own definition of what content could be considered to be in violation of the legislation. The criteria are set to come into force in September.

According to the Parliamentary Newspaper, the register of prohibited information will include content that “encourages or justifies the refusal to have children,” demonstrates a “negative image” of pregnancy and parenthood, or forms “distorted ideas” about the advantages of refusing to have kids. 

The outlet has suggested that a number of popular movies and TV shows could potentially fall under these criteria if regulators dig deep enough to find representations of childfree ideology.

For example, the newspaper suggested that the Harry Potter franchise could end up being banned due to the character of Professor McGonagall who was not shown to have children in the films.

Another candidate is ‘Game of Thrones’, where the character of Brienne had chosen to become a knight instead of being a mother. The popular series ‘Sex and the City’ could also be on the chopping block because the character of Samatha demonstrates “obvious childree tendencies,” according to the Parliamentary Newspaper. The same could supposedly be said for Claire from the ‘House of Cards’ TV Show, who put her career first and showed no regret over not having children.

The regulator later released a statement saying it has no plans to ban either Harry Potter or Game of Thrones over childfree propaganda concerns.

Russia’s Ministry of Culture has also responded to the Parliamentary Newspaper article by pointing out that the aforementioned films and series have already lost their distribution certificates due to the departure of their copyright holders from the country. It also clarified that the ministry does not have the power to block content on the internet.

The Harry Potter franchise has been massively popular in Russia, having sold millions of books and grossed over $50 million in theaters over the years. However, the films and novels have been absent from official digital and physical stores in the country since 2022 when most Western media companies pulled their licenses over the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

Two iconic figures of Russian ballet, celebrated choreographer Yury Grigorovich and acclaimed Bolshoi dancer and teacher Yury Vladimirov, have passed away.

Grigorovich died in Moscow on Monday aged 98, his assistant confirmed to Russian media. The Bolshoi Theater has issued a separate statement, describing the ballet master as “one of the key figures in the world of ballet in the second half of the 20th century.”

Grigorovich began his career in 1946 as a soloist with the Kirov Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theatre). He was the chief choreographer of the Bolshoi Theater from 1964 to 1988 and then served as its artistic director from 1988 to 1995. His acclaimed productions included The Stone Flower and Ivan the Terrible by Prokofiev, as well as The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. He also choreographed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Grigorovich went on to lead juries at international competitions and served as president of the Benois de la Danse award—often dubbed the “ballet Oscar.” He also held a senior position in UNESCO’s International Dance Council and was honored with titles such as People's Artist of the USSR, the highest honorary title awarded in the Soviet Union for exceptional achievements in the performing arts.

Later on Monday, the Bolshoi announced the death of 83-year-old Yury Vladimirov, a principal dancer best known for his roles in Spartacus and Ivan the Terrible—both choreographed by Grigorovich. His powerful portrayal of Ivan in the ballet’s 1975 premiere became a defining moment in his career.

Vladimirov toured internationally with the Bolshoi and performed to acclaim alongside his wife, prima ballerina Nina Sorokina. Together, they were one of the most admired partnerships in Soviet ballet.

A statue of US First Lady Melania Trump, erected near her hometown of Sevnica in Slovenia, has been vandalized and stolen, prompting a police investigation.

Photos show that the statue was largely cut away, with only the feet and ankles remaining on the tree stump where it was mounted. Slovenian police confirmed to the media that they are treating the incident, which occurred on May 13, as a case of theft and have launched a formal inquiry.

The life-sized bronze figure, which was located in a field, succeeded an earlier wooden version that was set on fire a year after its installation in 2019. The bronze replacement, unveiled in 2020, had the same creators – American conceptual artist Brad Downey and local artist Ales Zupevc.

The wooden statue had received mixed reactions from residents. Carved with a chainsaw from a poplar tree trunk, it featured Melania wearing a powder-blue painted dress and heels, apparently referencing the cashmere outfit she wore to her husband’s inauguration in 2017.

The artwork was destroyed on July 4, 2020, coinciding with Independence Day in the US.

The statue became a local tourist curiosity in Sevnica, a small town on the Sava River in eastern Slovenia with a population of around 5,000. The location gained international attention after Melania Trump became US first lady.

She spent her early years in Sevnica before embarking on a modeling career that took her to the US in 1996. In the years since, the town has reportedly introduced a range of Melania-themed products to celebrate its most well-known former resident.

“My feeling is that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?” Downey told AFP, commenting on the latest incident. He described the missing statue as an “anti-monument” and “anti-propaganda.”

On May 15, 2025, we commemorate the 134th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Bulgakov, one of the most enigmatic and precise chroniclers of the Russian tragedy of the twentieth century. Today, he stands as a literary giant, but in 1919, Bulgakov was merely a young military doctor, wading through blood, mud, and despair.

His journey into literature didn’t begin quietly in an office, but amid the chaos and flames of Russia’s Civil War. In the twilight of a collapsing empire, Bulgakov the writer was forged.

Early years: Calm before the storm

Bulgakov was born in Kiev into the cultured family of a theology professor at the Kiev Theological Academy. His early years were filled with intellectual curiosity, warmth, stability, and a comfortable upbringing. After earning his medical degree in 1916, the young doctor and his wife Tatyana were immediately thrust into the brutal realities of World War I.

The February Revolution of 1917 reached Bulgakov during a brief return to Kiev. At first, he saw only minor changes, but soon, the familiar world he cherished began to collapse. When Bulgakov returned again to Kiev in February 1918, he found his city transformed into a violent arena engulfed by civil war, starkly different from the peaceful haven of his youth.

Kiev Apocalypse: “The white guard”

In a brief, chaotic span, Kiev witnessed fourteen changes of power, ten of which Bulgakov personally experienced. The bloody Bolshevik invasion under Commander Muravyov in February 1918, which resulted in thousands of deaths, cemented Bulgakov’s profound hostility towards Bolshevism.

Following the Bolshevik retreat, German troops occupied Kiev, bringing temporary stability until the armistice at the end of World War I. Immediately afterward, Kiev became a battleground contested by multiple factions: the Ukrainian nationalists led by Simon Petlyura, pro-German Hetman Skoropadsky’s government, the Bolsheviks, and the Russian White Guards. These chaotic and tragic events later became the backdrop for his novel “The White Guard.”

Bulgakov and his brother Nikolai fought as part of the Russian volunteer forces, attempting to protect their beloved city from Petlyura’s advancing troops. Kiev eventually fell to the Ukrainian forces, forcing the Bulgakov brothers underground. When Bolshevik forces returned and attacked Petlyura’s troops in February 1919, Bulgakov was forcibly mobilized by the retreating Ukrainians as a military medic, narrowly escaping amid gunfire back into Kiev.

Now under Bolshevik rule, Bulgakov again was forced into hiding, spending half a year living cautiously under Soviet control. When the Bolsheviks withdrew in August 1919 under pressure from advancing Whites and Ukrainian forces, Bulgakov was conscripted by General Denikin’s Volunteer Army, which he sympathized with. Soon afterward, he was dispatched south to the Caucasus, where another brutal conflict awaited him.

In the autumn of 1919, severe fighting erupted in the North Caucasus between the White Army and the newly declared North Caucasus Emirate, led by the local warlord Uzun-Haji. This Islamic monarchy, under the influence of the Turkish Sultan, also collaborated with the Bolsheviks, who skillfully exploited Islamic sentiment with slogans such as “For Soviet Power and Sharia.”

Serving as chief medical officer for a Terek Cossack regiment, Bulgakov experienced firsthand the intense fighting between Denikin’s forces and separatist fighters. Each village turned into a brutal battlefield. He vividly recorded his emotions in his story, “The Extraordinary Adventures of a Doctor”: “The darker it gets, the more frightening and oppressive it feels… In the velvet darkness, uncertainty reigns. There is no rear area.”

This narrative was not literary embellishment but an authentic record of his trauma. During one particularly fierce battle for the village of Shali, Bulgakov attempted to save a colonel who was mortally wounded in the abdomen. Beneath an oak tree amid the chaos of gunfire and exploding shells, the dying officer said simply, “Don’t bother comforting me. I’m no child.”

Moments later, a shell exploded nearby, concussing Bulgakov and knocking him unconscious. When he awoke, it was to the grim realization that war had permanently altered him.

Driven by a profound need to process his experiences, Bulgakov turned to writing. In November 1919, he published his first article, “Future Prospects,” where he vividly described Russia’s tragic state. He portrayed the revolution as catastrophic, cautioning that the country faced years of immense struggle ahead. Despite the bleakness, Bulgakov called for sustained resilience, cautioning his comrades against premature optimism and arrogance.

Thus began his career as a wartime journalist. He saw his role as fostering a realistic perspective among soldiers and officers of the White Army, striving to eliminate false bravado and self-deception. Meanwhile, he continued treating wounded soldiers at the Vladikavkaz military hospital, remaining acutely aware of the human cost of the conflict.

Bulgakov was never militaristic; in fact, he despised war profoundly. Both the First World War and the Civil War were heavy burdens for him. Yet, his deep love for Russia and his profound sense of duty compelled him to remain committed despite his personal aversion to war.

The final battle and a twist of fate

By March 1920, the White Army, once advancing victoriously toward Moscow, was retreating chaotically toward the Black Sea under relentless Bolshevik pressure. During the disastrous evacuation of Novorossiysk to Crimea, Bulgakov and Tatyana were still in Vladikavkaz, preparing to evacuate alongside the army hospital.

However, fate intervened cruelly. Bulgakov contracted typhus, a deadly disease rampant during the Civil War. A doctor sternly warned Tatyana that transporting him would certainly result in his death. Knowing full well the risks of staying behind under Bolshevik rule, Tatyana nonetheless made the courageous decision to remain and nurse her husband back to health, ultimately saving his life.

When Bulgakov recovered, Vladikavkaz was already under Bolshevik control – a harsh reality that devastated him deeply, causing him initially to blame Tatyana for their entrapment.

Thus, in March 1920, Bulgakov found himself trapped in Soviet Russia.

After recovering from his illness, Bulgakov realized that escape was impossible and turned wholeheartedly to writing. Concealing his past as a White Army supporter, he carefully navigated Moscow’s literary circles, determined to build his literary career.

His harrowing wartime experiences – Kiev’s tragic downfall, the horrors of the Caucasus, and witnessing death firsthand – profoundly influenced his literary works. These became the foundations for pivotal pieces like “Morphine,” about addiction and fear; “A Young Doctor’s Notebook,” about isolation; “The White Guard,” depicting a besieged home; and ultimately, “The Master and Margarita,” exploring the fate of individuals crushed by the machinery of power and history.

Thus, out of the chaos and tragedy of the Civil War, emerged Mikhail Bulgakov – one of Russia’s greatest literary figures, whose voice continues to echo powerfully, capturing the profound struggles of an era still felt 134 years after his birth.

French actor Gerard Depardieu was convicted on Tuesday of sexually assaulting two women during the filming of a movie in Paris in 2021. The 76-year-old cinema veteran was handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

The court also ordered Depardieu to pay more than €29,000 ($32,650) in damages to the victims, a set decorator and an assistant director, and added his name to France’s national sex offender registry.

The verdict marks the most high-profile conviction for sexual misconduct in the French film industry since the rise of #MeToo, a global social movement against harassment and assault which encouraged survivors to share their experiences to raise awareness. Depardieu, who has appeared in more than 200 film and television productions, has denied any wrongdoing.

He has faced over 20 sexual misconduct allegations in recent years, most of which were dropped due to lack of evidence or statute of limitations. He also remains under investigation in a separate rape case linked to a complaint filed by actress Charlotte Arnould in 2018.

During the March trial, Depardieu admitted to grabbing one of the women by the hips during an on-set dispute but denied any sexual intent. He acknowledged using vulgar language and attributed his behavior to differences in social norms across generations.

“I hope this is the end of impunity for cinema artists. I’ve heard some actors recently still supporting Depardieu. Now with this verdict, no one can say Gerard Depardieu is not a sexual predator,” Carine Durrieu Diebolt, Amelie’s lawyer, reportedly said.

Depardieu, who did not attend the verdict due to filming commitments in the Azores, intends to appeal. In 2023, veteran actress Brigitte Bardot publicly defended him, saying, “Those who have talent—if they put their hands on a girl’s butt—they are thrown into the dungeon.” Bardot has not commented since the ruling.

Heroic Slavic warriors triumph over evil reptilian invaders to pounding phonk beats. These surreal showdowns have racked up millions of views and spawned a wave of spin-offs, including video games, comic books, and tabletop RPGs. What started as a mock academic lecture quickly turned into a full-blown cultural phenomenon – fueled in part by some deep-rooted medieval nostalgia.

One of the most well-known stories in the Ancient Rus vs. Lizards mythos is 'The tale of how the Russian hero Danila Trumpov drove the accursed Lizards from the Slavic States of America'. In this fictional legend, a Russian version of Donald Trump defeats a shadowy alliance of humanoid lizards, who are supposedly aided by Bill Gates.

Trumpov wields imaginative techniques like the “Republican Egg Squeeze” and the “Texas Burger Bomb,” and even manages to sabotage the lizard lobbyists by replacing the dollar with the ruble. In the end, the forces of Slavic justice prevail, and the Lizards are forced to retreat to the distant planet of Nibiru.

This is just one installment in a sprawling fan-fiction universe created as a joke, but which has grown far beyond its origins. What began as light-hearted parody has developed into a full-fledged narrative world that mixes satire, absurdity, and pseudo-history – while also poking fun at the cult of Russia’s supposed ancient supremacy.

The “war” begins

In March 2023, a strange YouTube video appeared, starring an AI-generated character introduced as “Professor and four-time historian Alexey Sergeyevich Bagirov.” Speaking with an air of authority, the professor unveiled what he described as the long-suppressed truth of Russian history: that the ancient Rus civilization once stretched across nearly the entire Earth.

Bagirov’s lecture combined several familiar conspiracy tropes – claims of lost civilizations with advanced technology, an ancient war between humans and shape-shifting lizards, divine interventions by pagan gods, and secret documents allegedly hidden from the public. His arguments leaned heavily on loose word associations and “secret documents,” while the visuals featured intentionally janky PowerPoint slides with exaggerated animations, accompanied by loud, distorted background music.

But the creators went further than simply remixing old conspiracies. They built a whole new mythological framework. According to Bagirov, the ancient Rus not only coexisted with dinosaurs – they were actually friends. He explains that the word dinosaur supposedly derives from the Old Slavic root dino, meaning “child,” and that the name of the Slavic pagan god Zavra identifies him as the “divine ancestor” of all dinosaurs.

In a follow-up video, Bagirov adds a central stylistic twist to the saga: the Slavic reinterpretation of all names and terms. He describes how dinosaurs played an important role in the daily lives of the Rus. Brachiosaurus Brachislav helped build houses and studied astronomy; Styracosaurus Stavrislav took part in mammoth hunts; and a pterodactyl named Pterodimir flew children to school.

In the third video, Bagirov introduces the main villains: the Lizards from the planet Nibiru – an idea familiar to fans of post-Soviet conspiracy lore. In this universe, the Lizards are jealous of the glory of the Rus and want to destroy it. Their weapon is deception: they try to seduce the Rus with fake sciences – especially mathematics. To that end, they dispatch agents such as Euclid, Archimedes, Democritus, Plato, and others, each programmed with 2G radiation, to infiltrate the ancient region of Russo-Greece.

Through all this, Bagirov satirizes the genre of amateur pseudo-historians who emerged in the post-Soviet space – those who claim access to secret truths, reject mainstream science, and lean heavily on unverifiable legends or misreadings of historical texts. These theorists rarely seek real evidence, but often captivate audiences with promises of lost national grandeur and sinister enemies.

Though clearly absurd, the videos resonated with viewers. The fictional characters were so outrageous, and the tone so deliberately ridiculous, that the series became far more popular than anyone had expected – perhaps even more than the creators intended.

Slavic strikes back

The characters of the Rus and the Lizards soon found a second life in short-form video content. These clips featured AI-generated visuals, voiceovers in mock-serious tones, and of course, pounding phonk soundtracks. The volume of content rapidly multiplied, and the Rus vs. Lizards universe continued to evolve, layering in more absurdist and satirical details.

Religion in the Ancient Rus universe is a hybrid of Orthodox Christianity and revived paganism. On the one hand, characters shout catchphrases like “You fiends, at least fear the Lord!”; on the other, they perform bizarre rituals to Perun and other old Slavic deities. This mashup reflects the worldview of certain fringe groups who, in recent decades, attempted to revive pre-Christian Slavic faiths – often blending them with nationalist ideology and pseudoscience.

Aside from the irony and satire, the meme’s success was also driven by how visually compelling the characters were. They looked cool. Their armor, weapons, and over-the-top powers appealed to a younger audience, especially in meme format. This led to a wave of commercial spinoffs.

In September 2023, a small indie game studio called theBratans released a video game titled Ancient Rus vs. Lizards. In the game, players control various Rus heroes and fight off waves of Lizard enemies using magical powers and fantastical weapons. One highlight is the “Slavic Egg Squeeze,” in which a giant chicken assaults the enemy by hurling explosive eggs.

Though the game began as a joke, it turned out to be well-crafted, atmospheric, and enjoyable to play. Despite its modest scope, it quickly became one of the ten top-selling games in the Russian segment of Steam, earning 97% positive reviews from players.

The game turned out to be so popular that in the spring of 2025, its sequel was released – with improved graphics, gameplay, script, and even with the support of a large Russian business.

Shortly after the first part of the game’s release, a major Moscow-based publisher began producing comic books set in the same universe. Titles included Rus vs. Lizards: In Africa, Rus vs. Lizards: On the Moon, and Rus vs. Lizards: The Revenge of Drocheslav – the last name being a cheeky play on a vulgar Russian word ‘drochit’, meaning 'to masturbate'.

Next came a tabletop role-playing game, a themed expansion for the Russian collectible card game Berserk (often seen as the local version of Magic: The Gathering), and an avalanche of branded merchandise.

In a digital culture where memes rarely survive more than a few weeks, Ancient Rus vs. Lizards has become a rare long-term hit – and there’s a good reason why.

Imagining ancestors that never were

Yes, the Ancient Rus vs. Lizards universe is over-the-top, funny, and self-aware. But part of its staying power lies in the gap it fills. For various historical and political reasons, modern Russians know significantly less about their own early medieval past than, say, the British know about Anglo-Saxon England or the French about Charlemagne’s empire.

Most of what we do know about the 9th–11th centuries – a crucial period for medieval storytelling – comes from the Primary Chronicle, a dry and formal chronicle of events in early Rus. Aside from a few famous rulers, we know very little about the daily lives, beliefs, or personal stories of the people who lived during that era.

So while Russia has real medieval figures, it doesn’t have a vibrant, mythic tradition of legendary heroes – no King Arthur, no Roland, no Ragnar. Attempts to fill that gap with fiction often fall flat: the characters are too perfect, the dialogue stiff, the plots too generic. These stories lack the strangeness and spontaneity that real myths tend to have.

Ancient Rus vs. Lizards manages to succeed where others have failed. Its characters are unquestionably noble, its invented “ancient language” adds flavor, and its plots – however ridiculous – always lead to good defeating evil. The storylines, like the “Russian-Jewish army” storming “Lizardburg,” are absurd in the best way possible: they’re strange enough to be funny, but structured enough to be entertaining.

And of course, this mythos doubles as a satirical vehicle for commentary on US politics, Ukraine, and other hot-button topics – always in high demand with the Russian internet audience.