The number of female ministers in the new government has dropped to just two from three in the previous Cabinet — a decline that sparked much discussion Tuesday as to why so few women play a role in Russian politics. The number of female ministers in the new government has dropped to just two from three in the previous Cabinet — a decline that sparked much discussion Tuesday as to why so few women play a role...

... "Models of the Season 1927-53. Fashion Press From the Stalin Era," the collection — which occupies a single hall on the second floor of the building — provides for a captivating yet sobering journey through the lives of Russian women just before, during and after World War II. On show, accompanied by Stalin-era documentaries projected onto the wall, are newspaper and magazine spreads with fashion advice, sketches and sewing patterns on how to craft black lace gloves, a demure...

A Ukrainian women's rights activist stripped to the waist and seized the Euro 2012 football trophy while it was on public display in Kiev this weekend to protest the forthcoming monthlong championship. KIEV — A Ukrainian...

... beauty was portrayed before the days of the now-ubiquitous airbrushing and photoshopping techniques, when the woman in front of the camera was the same woman seen in the photograph. Even without the aid of a computer and a "touch up," these women were able to create evocative and unique images of themselves. The soft smiles and bedroom eyes worn by the women in the photos draw people in, making them believe that they are hiding some secret. Take for example the portraits of Lina Cavalieri...

... stopped,” Loreen said about her feelings after she was announced as winner. Russia’s entry, rural folk group Buranovskiye Babushki, dressed in traditional peasant dress and somewhat incongruous in the dancing spotlights, came in second. The women wept after winning second place. “Of course, these are tears of joy. The grannies are very happy with their success,” the women’s spokeswoman, Maria Tolstukhina, said, Interfax reported. Tolstukhina also said the grannies would...

An argument between two women on a Moscow bus turned deadly after one woman stabbed the other with a shish-kabob skewer. An argument between two women on a Moscow bus turned deadly after one woman stabbed the other with a shish-kabob skewer. Witnesses said a fight began after...

... the wheel became unbalanced and he went off to the side," regional police chief Vladimir Zharkov said, Vesti.ru reported. 'The investigation will determine exactly what happened." Yevgeniya Yegorova, 86, died at the scene. One man and three women were sent to the hospital with injuries sustained in the accident, and two women, aged 72 and 70, later died from their injuries. Residents told Vesti.ru that this stretch of road is one of the most dangerous in the area and said motorists frequently...

... and to pull in more viewers at its Domashny and Peretz channels helped lift net profit by 43 percent from last year to $32.6 million, or $0.21 per share. Revenue grew 15 percent to $191.1 million. The average audience share for Domashny, which targets women aged 25 to 59, rose to 3.7 percent from 2.8 percent a year ago. Peretz, which focuses on men and women in that same age group, grew its share from 2 percent to 2.6 percent. The group — the biggest non-state controlled broadcaster in Russia...

The brutality used by police to detain protesters at Sunday's rally — sealing off Bolotnaya Ploshchad where protesters had a right to gather before beating women with batons and using tear gas against the crowds — effectively denied President Vladimir Putin's inauguration any legitimacy. The brutality used by police to detain protesters at Sunday's rally — sealing off Bolotnaya Ploshchad...

... of military might parading across Red Square on Victory Day to the spectacularly beautiful Seven Sister Moscow skyscrapers to the unbelievably high spike heels that are part of the standard uniform for so many young, modern Russian women. Image management is a phenomenon practiced worldwide, but it has been polished to perfection in Russia. Projecting the appropriate image is de rigueur from the enormous, impressive displays of military might parading across Red Square on Victory...

... Sinichkin: Yury Yeryomin stages a jazz version of Dmitry Lensky’s 19th-century Russian vaudeville with texts by Nikolai Erdman and Mikhail Volpin. Tabakov Theater. 7 p.m. Lament (Rydaniya): Krzysztof Bizo’s play about three unsuccessful women in a contemporary Polish family — grandmother, mother and daughter. Directed by Viktor Ryzhakov. Praktika. 8 p.m. Medea: Mikhail Tsitrinyak’s staging of Jean Anouilh’s play with Yulia Rutberg in the lead. Vakhtangov Theater small...

... was 63 percent, 2 percent lower than in 2010. Sales of licensed software in 2011increased 10 percent. The commercial value of pirated software installed on Russian computers last year was $3.2 billion. Interestingly, 51 percent of Russian pirates are women, while the ratio worldwide is 40 percent. 179742

... Turkmenistan, which has a blanket ban on Western films. Freedom House rated Tajikistan as “not free” in its 2012 report, and Amnesty International last year complained of police misconduct, strict restrictions on the press and violence against women. Cohen, famous for his outrageous characters, has irked censors in Central Asia before. His 2006 effort, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” in which he plays a wildly anti-Semitic Kazakh...

... in the semifinal round. In the final round, the group will face the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Azerbaijan, and the victors of the next semifinals, scheduled for Thursday. The competition between the 20 finalists will be held Saturday. The women, all above the age of 70, come from a village in the Udmurtia republic and have endeared themselves to the country with their mix of traditional singing in Russian and Udmurt with international music hits. They first tried out to represent Russia...

... other country on the planet. Nearly 40 percent of Russians, or 43.9 million people, smoke, according to research by the World Health Organization and Euromonitor International. More than 60 percent of all men smoke, as well as more than 20 percent of women. A quarter of all youth aged 13 to 15 smoke — 27 percent of boys and 24 percent of girls. 179742

... Petersburg in late June, said a senior official in Russia’s APEC delegation, RIA-Novosti reported. In comments made at a Washington think tank Monday, the official, Gennady Ovchenko, said he was told that Clinton would lead a delegation to the Women in the Economy forum to be held in St. Petersburg. 179742

..., brought the appeal from detained Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina to the Kremlin's public reception office, Alyokhina's lawyer Nikolai Polozov said by telephone. In one personal letter each and in one joint letter, the women asked Medvedev to order the Prosecutor General's Office to examine the legitimacy of their arrest and the charges against them, Polozov said. He said the band's performance at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in February — when they called...

... Lyudmila Narusova. Yashin was once targeted by a pro-Kremlin honey trap, luring liberals with sex and drugs, filmed on hidden camera. He very smartly was absolutely open about it on his blog and said the worst he could be accused of was having sex with two women. Sobchak has had an on-and-off relationship with the protest movement. When she spoke at the rally on Novy Arbat in March, she said it was time to say what the protests are "for," not just what they are "against." She stayed...

... fighters' victory over the Soviets. "We want to have our own Afghan films, we want our cinema to improve," said construction worker Nangyalia, 19, at the Pameer, its concrete walls adorned with Indian film posters with the bellies and shoulders of women blacked out by pen to observe Afghanistan's ultraconservative culture. Since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and the NATO-led war began, films using Afghan settings and actors have enjoyed enormous success at home and abroad, such as "Osama"...

... believes that chess was brought to the world thousands of years ago by nonhuman forces. He links the 64 squares of a chessboard to the 64 codons in human DNA. "Chess is a particular code," he said. "Black and white, yin and yang, men and women, angel and devil, good and evil. … It's logical that chess came to us from another civilization." He is frank about his beliefs and the skepticism they arouse. "Maybe some people laugh and think I am mad, but there are thousands...