Moscow Russia

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.

Police detained gay-rights activists here Sunday, among them European lawmakers, as counterdemonstrators hurled fists, eggs and insults. The melee broke out as the activists tried to present a letter to Moscow's mayor appealing the city's ban on a march to mark the 14th anniversary of Russia's decriminalization of homosexuality. The march would have been held Sunday.

Deep underground in a Cold War-era nuclear bomb shelter, guide Alexei Alexandrov did his best to set a spooky mood, starting with his 1960s Soviet army uniform. "Please don't split away from the group," he somberly warned visitors to the labyrinth of tunnels shaped into cavernous rooms and lengthy hallways, "or you may get lost in the dark and end up shot by a guard by mistake."

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.

A bomb blast in a sprawling Moscow market killed 10 people and wounded about 50 on Monday in what authorities said was possibly a racist attack targeting the primarily non-Russian traders at the site. Workers and customers at the Cherkizovsky market captured two young men accused of being the bombers, roughed them up and turned them over to police, witnesses said. Most traders at the 50-acre market are from Russia's Caucasus republics, the former Soviet states of Central Asia, Vietnam or China.

Tired travelers heading downtown after arriving at Sheremetyevo 1 airport probably don't pay much attention to the village-style wooden houses, set behind picket fences and painted in fading shades of green and blue, that line the busy highway. One home on the down-at-the-heels stretch of road is where Viktor Zhivin, a 71-year-old retired road worker, was born and grew up. The roof has collapsed over one corner of the house, making half of it uninhabitable.

Movie producer Rauf Atamalibekov had just finished a late-night dinner with a scriptwriter for a film about American and Soviet atomic weapons scientists in the late 1940s, and some fresh ideas had come up that needed further research. It was well past midnight, but Atamalibekov, 42, dropped into an all-night bookstore, hoping to find information about the history of Russian spies in the United States. He ended up buying a book about Nazi Germany's atomic bomb effort.

A fire broke out in a women's ward of a drug treatment hospital early Saturday, with heavy smoke killing 42 people, some while they slept and others whose attempts to flee were thwarted by metal grilles blocking escape routes, authorities said. Russia's chief fire inspector, Yuri Nenashev, said he was "90% certain" the fire was caused by arson. But Moscow city prosecutor Yuri Syomin said investigators were looking into other possibilities.

The billboard appears at mile 3 of the post- Soviet boulevard of big-ticket dreams that is the Rublyovka Highway. "Any house," the sign by a prestigious homebuilder proclaims. "Helicopter as a bonus." Only in the millionaire's suburb of Rublyovka are houses so pricey that a helicopter is thrown in like a carpet upgrade. How elite is Rublyovka?

An explosion at an electricity substation triggered extensive power outages in Moscow and nearby cities Wednesday, throwing the capital's public transportation into chaos and disrupting work at factories, hospitals and other institutions. President Vladimir V. Putin quickly accused top management of the state-run power monopoly of being too focused on restructuring the firm at the expense of running it properly. The corporation, Unified Energy System of Russia, is headed by Anatoly B.