Marc Berthod of Switzerland during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Super Combined on February 12, 2012 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Vianney Thibaut/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)...
A woman eats fish and chips on the beach on October 1, 2011 in Brighton, England. Southern parts of the United Kingdom are continuing to enjoy a late season burst of high temperatures with a record October high of 29.5C (85.1F) measured at Gravesend in Kent. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)...
(L-R) Ozzy Osbourne and son, producer Jack Osbourne visit the Tribeca Film Festival 2011 portrait studio on April 25, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)...
To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games - and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party....
[A meteor streaked across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring more than 500 people (20 had been hospitalized in serious condition), many of them hurt by broken glass. [There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people's houses to check if they were OK], said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometres (930 miles) east of Moscow, the biggest city in the affected region]. (Photo by Alexey Bulaew/RIA Nowosti)...