WORLD
March 29, 2010 | By Megan K. Stack, Los Angeles Times
Explosions tore through two subway stations at rush hour on Monday, killing at least 37 people and wounding others, authorities and news agencies said. The first blast came just before 8 a.m. at Lubyanka station, the Emergencies Ministry said. The headquarters of the Federal Security Service, successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is just above the station. "The blast hit the second carriage of a Metro train that stopped at Lubyanka" at 7:56 a.m., ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said.
WORLD
December 8, 2009 | By Megan K. Stack
In the snow-hushed woods on Moscow's northern edge, scientists are decades deep into research on bending the weather to their will. They've been at it since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin paused long enough in the throes of World War II to found an observatory dedicated to tampering with climatic inconveniences. Since then, they've melted away fog, dissipated the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl and called down rains fierce enough to drown unborn locusts threatening the distant northeastern grasslands.
WORLD
October 14, 2009 | Megan K. Stack
Further sanctions against Iran would be "counterproductive," Russia's top diplomat said today, pushing back pointedly against U.S. pressure for a tougher stance against Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The remarks from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, delivered at the side of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, appeared to undercut hopes that Moscow might agree to additional steps that would isolate Iran. "We believe that at this stage all efforts must be focused on supporting the negotiating process," Lavrov said.
WORLD
May 17, 2009 | Megan K. Stack
The plainclothes security men came first, clustering in jeans, leather jackets and pointy black shoes. Then the policemen in gray uniforms and stiff hats; bulky men in dark suits who appeared to be in charge; a bus load of riot police in camouflage. A raw wind swept off the Moscow River on Saturday morning, past the souvenir peddlers with their tables of bright wooden matryoshka dolls and T-shirts emblazoned with Soviet iconography.
ENTERTAINMENT
February 10, 2008 | Christopher Hawthorne, Times Staff Writer
Moscow's $4-billion Crystal Island development won preliminary planning approval during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, just as Russians were beginning to need a glittering distraction from short, bleak winter days. Eye-popping images of the hugely ambitious project, designed for a site on the Moscow River by the British architect Norman Foster, more than fit the bill.
WORLD
July 31, 2007 | David Holley, Times Staff Writer
For centuries, Red Square and the Kremlin have been the heart of Moscow. But a 21st century downtown is rising, with skyscrapers set to reshape the image of Europe's largest city. The $10-billion "Moskva-City" complex of offices, hotels, apartments, restaurants, shops and entertainment centers will have about 25 high-rises, including at least seven buildings taller than any others now existing in Europe.