Word: russian
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After nearly 80 years in the Lowell House belltower, Harvard's historic Russian bells may be heading home to a centuries-old monastery in Moscow as early as next summer...
...Harvard's project manager for the bells said Thursday that a foundation backed by a Russian metals mogul has agreed to pay roughly $1 million to transport the 25 tons of sacred bronze back to Moscow and buy replacements for Lowell, possibly ending a decades-long ordeal in which Harvard sought to repatriate the bells but declined to pay for their transfer...
...DIED. Vladimir Tretchikoff, 92, globetrotting, self-taught painter dubbed the "King of Kitsch" for massively popular works including Chinese Girl, one of the best-selling art prints in history; in Cape Town. Born in Kazakhstan, Tretchikoff fled to Manchuria with his family after the Russian Revolution and traveled widely in Asia, settling in South Africa in 1946. While critics blasted his colorful paintings of exotic beauties, fans lined up to buy his cheap reproductions, prompting the painter to remark that the main difference between himself and Van Gogh was that he was rich...
...China. When it came, the Chinese stock-market crash sent a shock wave through the entire Asian economy. Some blamed the powerful new Middle Eastern Shari'a-law banks, which had terminated their zero-interest-rate facilities for Shanghai hedge funds. Others saw the sinister hand of the Russian-controlled OGEC (Organization of Gas Exporting Countries), which had stunned energy importers in Asia by trebling natural gas prices. Either way, the impact was disastrous. Output collapsed. Unemployment soared. The Chinese banking system, which had never been entirely free of corruption, imploded...
...presidential selection process is too complicated and at times dysfunctional, get a load of the U.N.'s. The unwritten rules of the game say no candidate may come from one of the five nations with a permanent seat on the Security Council--so no American, British, French, Russian or Chinese contenders. Yet to win the Secretary-General's post, a candidate must have the backing of all five countries. The U.N. has an unofficial system of regional rotation, so it is all but certain that its next leader will come from Asia. Which brings us to another wrinkle: traditional rivalries...