A Moscow circus performer who fell during a rehearsal has been diagnosed with a brain injury and possible broken back, a circus employee said on Thursday.
Circus acrobat Yulia Volkova, 34, and her husband and partner in the Nikulin Old Moscow Circus, Alexander Volkov, fell for unexplained reasons late on Wednesday. Alexander suffered ankle and lower leg fractures. Both have been hospitalized.
"I have just returned from the hospital where Yulia is undergoing surgery. The doctors have been unable to locate all the injuries she has suffered," Boris Fedotov said, adding that the diagnosis would be specified later in the day.
The circus act the artists were rehearsing is considered very difficult and dangerous. It includes 330 seconds of performing in the air and wrapping their limbs in long swaths of cloth without using safety wires, similar to performances on a flying trapeze.
The Volkovs have worked for the Nikulin Circus, one of Russia's oldest circuses, since 2007.
MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti)
A painting by Russian artist Nicholas Roerich was sold for 993,250 pounds (some $1,635,000) at a Christie's auction in London, the auction house's website said.
The Legend painting, from Roerich's series Messiah, is dated 1923.
Three other Roerich's paintings were also auctioned off at Christie's. Near the Tibetan Frontier and the canvas Rocks and Cliffs, from the series Ladoga, were each sold for 67,250 pounds, and the painting Stupa, from the series Himalayas, fetched 6,250 pounds, the auction house said.
Evgeny Matochkin, an expert on Roerich, suggests that the three paintings of the Messiah series are "the most secret and mysterious of the artist's works", Christie's said.
Traditional autumn Russian art sales began at London's largest auction houses on Monday. Most of the lots being auctioned, including paintings of Alexandra Ester, Ilya Repin, Alexander Yakovlev, Zinaida Serebryakova, were created in the early 20th century.
Heirlooms of Russia's Romanov dynasty, which were evacuated to Sweden ahead of the Russian Revolution and were considered lost for more than 90 years, are also among the lots.
MOSCOW, December 3 (RAI Novosti)
London’s traditional Russian auction week kicked off with Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams and MacDougall's putting up works by Alexandra Ekster, Nicholas Roerich, Zinaida Serebryakova and Boris Anisfeld, as well as an applied art collection including pieces with unique history.
A giant Soviet-era statue was put back on its pedestal early on Saturday in northeast Moscow after a five-year restoration.
The Worker and the Collective Farm Woman by Vera Mukhina, one of the most prominent statues to shape Moscow's landscape, was dismantled for restoration in 2003 and was initially expected to be returned in 2005. Authorities cited lack of financing for repeated delays.
"It's good that our great monuments return. This is evidence that our culture is powerful," one of the scarce watchers who gathered near all-Russia exhibition center VVTs to see the historic event at 07:00 a.m. Moscow time [04:00 GMT] told RIA Novosti.
The official unveiling ceremony is scheduled for December 4.
First Deputy Moscow Mayor Vladimir Resin said earlier the statue would last several centuries after restoration.
Work is planned for 2010 to equip an exhibition hall for 5,000 visitors in the statue's platform.
The 24.5-meter high steel statue was first showcased at an exhibition in Paris in 1937. It features two figures which seem to be moving briskly, holding aloft a hammer and sickle, the symbols of the Soviet Union. Although the statue was created to glorify communism, the enduring strength and grandeur of the image is cherished by many Muscovites.
MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti)
Oscar-winning film director Nikita Mikhalkov denied on Wednesday media reports that he plans to shoot a new WWII drama starring Angelina Jolie.
"That's the first time I hear about this. [Newspapers] can write anything," Mikhalkov told RIA Novosti.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported on Tuesday that the movie Love and War will be a joint Russian-Italian-Moldovan project, which involves Mikhalkov and Italian and Moldovan directors Francesco Gagliardi and Valeriu Jereghi.
Jolie has been allegedly invited to play a school teacher, who witnessed the executions of her family and whose fiance was killed at the beginning of World War II.
Mikhakov said he had no time to tackle new projects as he was working on Burnt by the Sun 2, a sequel to the movie that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1994. He said the sequel will be released in two parts in May and December 2010.
MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti)
Russian Oscar-winning film director Nikita Mikhalkov will soon start shooting a new WWII drama and plans to invite Angelina Jolie to take the main role, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily said on Tuesday.
The new movie Love and War is based on a love story between three girls from a Moldovan village and three soldiers from Romania, Russia and Italy. The production will start in spring 2010 when Mikhalkov completes work on Burnt by the Sun 2, a sequel to the movie that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1994.
Love and War will be a joint Russian-Italian-Moldovan project, which also involves Italian and Moldovan directors Francesco Gagliardi and Valeriu Jereghi.
Jolie has been invited to play a school teacher, who witnessed the executions of her family and whose fiance was killed at the beginning of World War II.
The Hollywood star has so far not responded. "The script has already been sent to Angelina and we are waiting for her answer," said Gagliardi.
MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti)
Susan Boyle sure has an amazing voice but with money being so tight right now I kind of wondering how many will buy her album. There was more of a fascination seeing her in the talent shows which didn't cost anything to watch but when it comes to paying for listening I question that. Although We just had a movie about werewolves that had long lines waiting to get in to see so who knows?
TV talent show sensation Susan Boyle's debut album has broken internet sales records in several countries, but her appeal has yet to reach the Russian capital, local retailers said.
The Scottish singer's 'I Dreamed a Dream' album, a hotch-potch of cover songs ranging from hymns to the Rolling Stones, became the most-ordered CD on the Amazon website ahead of its release on Monday.
However, Moscow's main music stores have yet to see much enthusiasm from customers.
"Not many people have shown an interest - we've only sold a couple of disks", a salesman at Soyuz told RIA Novosti.
Staff at another record store in central Moscow said: "so far there hasn't been much of a reaction".
Boyle, 48, shot to fame in April this year with a performance of the song "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables as a contestant on the show "Britain's Got Talent". The song became sparked global interest on the Youtube video site, with over 100 million views.
She was eventually beaten in the competition by dance troupe Diversity, and later sought psychiatric help amid stress caused by intense media attention.
Her album, released in time for the Christmas shopping rush, has met with a mixed response in the media. Reviewers have broadly approved of the hymnal numbers but are less enthusiastic over her gentle renditions of "Daydream Believer" and "Wild Horses".
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti)
NEW YORK, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - Bookstores in New York and London will start on Tuesday the sales of Vladimir Nabokov's final unfinished novel, 'The Original of Laura.'
Nabokov's draft of the English-language novel has lain in a Swiss bank for more than three decades, intriguing the literary community and readers as the Russian-born writer's heirs disobeyed his dying wish for it to be burned.
The original manuscript, which consists of 138 index cards covered in penciled handwriting, will be auctioned at Christie's on December 4 with an estimate of up to $600,000.
The writer's son, Dmitri Nabokov, who translated many of his father's works from Russian into English, earlier said that Laura "would have been a brilliant, original, and potentially totally radical book, in the literary sense very different from the rest of his oeuvre."
Nabokov, the author of the infamous Lolita, made his wife, Vera, promise to burn the manuscript before he died in 1977 in Switzerland, where he spent the last 16 years of his life. She could not bring herself to do so, and left Dimitri to decide after she died.
Dmitri justified his decision last year to publish the incomplete novel in an interview: "I'm a loyal son and thought long and seriously about it, then my father appeared before me and said, with an ironic grin, 'You're stuck in a right old mess - just go ahead and publish!'"
The book has been published in a form that will allow readers to decide for themselves the sequence of events in the book, although it could be difficult to grasp the plot and the nuances of the novel, some American experts in Russian literature have warned.
The Azbuka publishing house, which holds the license to publish the 'The Original of Laura' in Russia, has said the Russian translation of the novel will be published at a later date.
www.rian.ru
http://en.rian.ru/culture/20091112/156812681.html
WASHINGTON, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - An exhibition dedicated to the only man known to have fought for both the U.S. and Soviet armies during WWII is due to open in Russia, the organizers told RIA Novosti.
Joe Beyrle, father of the current U.S. ambassador to Russia, was captured by German forces after parachuting into Normandy in June 1944. He tried to escape two times, but only his third attempt was a success.
After escaping, he made contact with a Russian tank division and, despite only knowing only two words of Russian ("Amerikanskii tovarishch" or "American comrade"), he became a valuable member of the outfit, taking part in a number of battles, including the liberation of the camp where he had been held.
After being wounded in a battle, he met legendary Soviet war hero Marshal Zhukov, who gave him a letter of transit to the U.S. embassy in Moscow, from where he made his way home to Michigan.
When he eventually arrived at the embassy and said he was Joe Beyrle, at first they did not believe him. His dog tags had been found on a dead German soldier and he was presumed to have been killed. Joe's parents had even held a memorial service for him.
Joe later returned to Russia on several occasions to tell his story - a tale that still has relevance today, believes exhibition organizer Greg Guroff, president of the Foundation for International Arts and Education.
"This has become a big topic," Guroff said. "Many people are interested in the story, and its symbolism of Soviet-American cooperation during World War II. It has attracted a great deal of interest from senior government officials."
Guroff pointed out that in the U.S., surveys had shown that many people under 40 believed the U.S. fought against Russia in WWII.
"In Russia, they think that Americans did almost nothing in the war, and are not aware that during WWII 15 million Americans were directly engaged in the fighting," he went on.
"This is an attempt not to forget what happened then," he added. "Veterans are dying off. The Cold War has left a sad mark on our perceptions of each other."
The "A hero of two nations" exhibition will open on February 18, 2010 in St. Petersburg. In May, it will move to Moscow, and then onto Kursk and Novorossiisk. It will then open in the U.S.
www.rian.ru
NEW YORK, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - The 9th annual Russian film week will open in New York on Friday. New works by Russia's best filmmakers will be shown at Tribeca Performing Arts Center until November 22. The event will open with Anna Karenina, Sergei Solovyov's film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel. On November 16, Tribeca will see the world premiere of Pavel Lungin's historic blockbuster Tsar about Ivan the Terrible, a 16th century controversial Russian ruler. Almost all tickets to the Russian film week have been sold out. "While Russia and the U.S. are seeking ways to establish partnership based on mutual respect, the annual Russian film week will boost positive developments in Russian-U.S. relations," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
www.rian.ru
MOSCOW, November 3 (RIA Novosti) - Whitney Houston, who in September released a new album after years of silence, will start her world concert tour with two shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg in December, the concerts' organizers said on Tuesday.
"Whitney Houston will perform two exclusive concerts in Russia," the organizers said in a statement, adding the first concert was to take place at Moscow's Olympiisky Arena on December 9, and the second was to be held at the Ledovy sports complex in St. Petersburg on December 12.
"The winner of six Grammy Awards will present to the Russian audience her new album, I Look To You, which was issued in 2009 and had already become a bestseller in the American record market," the organizers said.
The album marked the resumption of Houston's singing career after the seven-year break.
Besides her new singles, mainly Whitney-style ballades, the famous singer will also perform her greatest hits, such as I Will Always Love You, Queen Of The Night, and My Love Is Your Love.
"The upcoming concerts in Russia will prove that Whitney has the right to be called a legend and a [music] goddess," the concerts' organizers said.
After the two December shows in Russia, Houston is also scheduled to visit Japan, Britain and Germany in February, April and May.
The 46-year-old entered the Guinness Book of World Records as "the most awarded female artist of all time." During her singing career, which started when she was 11, Houston has won six Grammy Awards, 15 Billboard Music Awards, 21 American Music Awards, two Emmy Awards, and many other music prizes.
She is also known as an actress, particularly for starring opposite Kevin Costner in the 1992 box-office smash The Bodyguard. Her songs from the movie, in which she played a singer, were also worldwide hits.
The star's previous album, called Just Whitney, was released in 2002.
www.rian.ru
http://en.rian.ru/video/20091105/156716812.html
The German pop singer delivered her first Russian concert in Moscow accompanied by the Presidential Orchestra of Belarus, which added to her fiery performance.
www.rian.ru
ROME, November 9 (RIA Novosti) - Rome has become the world's first city outside Russia to name a street after Russian Nobel-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Solzhenitsyn Street was inaugurated on Monday in one of Rome's largest parks, Villa Ada, under a decision taken by the municipal authorities on August 4, 2009, a year after the writer's death.
Solzhenitsyn, who fought in World War II, spent eight years in labor camps, and lived in exile for 20 years before returning to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, died of heart failure at the age of 89 on August 3, 2008.
Addressing the ceremony, Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said Solzhenitsyn was "not only a Nobel Prize winner in literature, but also a symbol of the fight against communism and human right violations."
Russia's ambassador to Italy, Alexei Meshkov, said the naming of the street reflected "the partnership and deep mutual understanding uniting the peoples and culture of Russia and Italy."
Speaking at the ceremony, the diplomat said President Dmitry Medvedev had proposed naming a street in central Moscow after Solzhenitsyn.
Best known for The Gulag Archipelago, a chronicle of his and thousands of other people's experiences in Soviet labor camps, Solzhenitsyn first received acclaim in Russia and the world during Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's political "thaw." In 1962, his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - a numbing account of gulag life - was published by the Soviet literary journal Novy Mir.
www.rian.ru
The Russian boy has confused a beauty Beyonce!!!)))
Beyonce demanded a flower composition of white tulips in her hotel room...with the stamens removed
She also ate only Chilean sea bass and Dover halibut served on Eastern-style dishes
According to the singer's rider, she required 10 identical Mercedes so that photographers will not be able to keep up with her and know where she is at any given time.
Journalists were allowed to take pictures at the concert for 90 second only.
Beyonce brought a crew of 100 dancers, singers, hairstylists, make-up artists and other support staff with her .
Beyonce performs in Moscow during her world tour
The U.S. rhythm and blues queen, Beyonce, performed in Moscow on Monday during her world I Am...Tour
This post was modified from its original form on 06 Nov, 3:38
