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Girls of the Long Horn Miao ethnic minority group wear headdresses as they prepare gather for Tiaohua or Flower Festival as part of the Lunar New Year on February 6, 2017 in Longga village, Guizhou province, southern China. The Long Horn Miao are recognized for their declining practice of wrapping a blend of linen, wool, and the hair of their ancestors around animal horns or a wooden clip to make headdresses. Many young women say they now wear the headdresses only for special occasions and festivals, as the ornaments, which are attached by the horns to their real hair, have proved impractical for modern daily life in a fast changing world. China officially recognizes 56 different ethnic minorities, and statistics show over 7 million Chinese identifying themselves as Miao. But the small Long Horn Miao community counts only around 5000 people living in 12 villages, whose age-old traditions, language, and culture are fading. It is increasingly difficult in a modernizing China, as young people are drawn from remote rural villages to opportunities in bigger cities amongst wide-scale urbanization. Farming and labour remain the mainstays of life for the Long Horn Miao, leaving the area relatively poor in comparison with many parts of China. The government has invested significant amounts into local infrastructure and the tourism industry to try to bolster the local economy. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Girls of the Long Horn Miao ethnic minority group wear headdresses as they prepare gather for Tiaohua or Flower Festival as part of the Lunar New Year on February 6, 2017 in Longga village, Guizhou province, southern China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
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13 Feb 2017 00:01:00
Bo (pictured) is president and co-founder of Grown Men On Bikes (GMOB), one of the oldest groups at Slow Roll. Bo spent $1,300 getting a one-off low-rider custom bike build – but that’s just the start. “Once I go back in it’s going to get big”, he says. “I’m going to get a custom seat, wheels, paint” … The finished bike could cost around $3,000 – but would still be far cheaper than pimping a car. “This is much better. It’s a community. We party”. (Photo by Nick Van Mead)

“We take rusty old junk and we put love into it”. The old Motor City has a unique style in bicycles these days: from fat wheels and fake fuel tanks to stretched cycles with powerful sound systems – and even a family-sized BBQ. “Detroit’s custom bike scene developed alongside Slow Roll, a weekly cycle ride started in 2010 by Jason Hall and Mike MacKool. Now upwards of 2,000 people turn up each Monday to cruise a different part of the city. The week I go the crowd seems evenly split between black and white, male and female, city and suburbs. It’s the most inclusive cycle event I’ve ever witnessed”. (Photo by Jason Walker/Slow Roll Monday Nights)
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03 Nov 2016 12:33:00
1924:  Vladimir Ilyich Lenin lying in state in the Kremlin

Photo: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 – 1924) lying in state in the Kremlin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1924

Important! For the same article in Russian language click here.

Something quite intriguing is happening within Russian-speaking internet during the last few – should you type a fully academic inquiry (at least, according to Russian academic requirements) in national search engines for "Lenin's mausoleum" – the first thing you get (even in top 10 searches) is website pages talking about black magic and occult. Website authors view this construction differently, but unconditionally agree on one thing: the mausoleum of the "leader of the world proletariat” – the essence of a magical artifact, a sort of “energy vampire”. It was built with a certain purpose: to drain the energy out of miserable Soviet citizens on one hand; and to poison the anthroposphere of one-sixth part of the earth with its vibes (the exact territory that was occupied by the former Soviet Union), depriving the Russian people of will to resist on the other hand. Complete nonsense? No doubt. Nevertheless, an intriguing one. Well, probably because some oddities do exist in mausoleum's history. These oddities are the thing we are going to discuss this time. First, let me refresh you memory on the subject.
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16 Oct 2011 11:27:00
The Borges' family pet dog, Little, is placed on the back of Tom, their tiger, for a photo to be taken, in Maringa, Brazil, Friday, September 27, 2013. The Brazilian family is now locked in a legal dispute for the big cats, they have eight tigers and two lions, with federal wildlife officials working to take them away. While Borges does have a license to raise the animals, Brazilian wildlife officials say he illegally bred the cats, creating a public danger. (Photo by Renata Brito/AP Photo)

“Ary Borges and his family live in southern Brazil like most families the Borges' love animals and have an array of cats living in their home. The only difference between the cats owned by the Borges family and the cat that is cuddled up on your lap as you read this is the Borges' cats weigh over 700 pounds and could kill you just as soon as look at you. The Borges family shares their home with nine tigers, two lionesses, a chimp and a Chihuahua”. – Amanda Schiavo via Latin Times. Photo: The Borges' family pet dog, Little, is placed on the back of Tom, their tiger, for a photo to be taken, in Maringa, Brazil, Friday, September 27, 2013. (Photo by Renata Brito/AP Photo)
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04 Oct 2013 11:51:00


“Sektor gaza” (Russian: Сектор газа) was a Russian rock band formed on 5 December 1987 in the city of Voronezh, Russia. Despite only semi-officially existing (due to obscene lyrics), the group remains popular in Russia today. The group name was taken from an eponymous industrial district of Voronezh (itself named for high levels of environmental contamination). Their music style could be defined as Russian punk, integrated with elements of different musical genres such as rock, rap, and Russian folk. On 4 July 2000, group leader Yuri “Hoy” Klinskih complained of strong pains in his stomach and the left side of his chest. He suffered heart failure shortly thereafter. Klinskikh died in Voronezh (Russia)at the age of 35. He is buried in the Levoberezhniy Cemetery. The group ceased to exist.

About the music video: The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996. After the initial campaign of 1994 – 1995, culminating in the devastating Battle of Grozny, Russian federal forces attempted to seize control of the mountainous area of Chechnya but were set back by Chechen guerrilla warfare and raids on the flatlands in spite of Russia's overwhelming manpower, weaponry, and air support...
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24 May 2012 14:38:00
Yolaina Chavez Talavera, 31, a firefighter, poses for a photograph in front of a truck at a fire station in Managua, Nicaragua, February 22, 2017. “In my early days as a female firefighter, men, my team mates, thought that I would not last long in the organisation due to the hard training. However, in practice I showed them that I am able to take on tasks at the same level as men. I think women must fight to break through in all areas, in the midst of the machismo that still persists in Nicaragua and in Hispanic countries”, Talavera said. (Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)

Wednesday March 8 marks International Women's Day, with festivals, concerts and exhibitions among the numerous events planned around the world to celebrate the achievements of women in society. The annual event has been held since the early 1900s and traditionally promotes a different theme each year, with this year's edition calling on people to #BeBoldForChange and push for a more gender-inclusive working world. Reuters photographers have been speaking with women in a range of professions around the world about their experiences of gender inequality. Here: Yolaina Chavez Talavera, 31, a firefighter, poses for a photograph in front of a truck at a fire station in Managua, Nicaragua, February 22, 2017. (Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)
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04 Mar 2017 00:06:00
Stephen Gough the naked rambler makes his way south through Peebles in the Scottish Borders, following his release from Saughton Prison yesterday after serving his latest sentence on October 6, 2012 in Peebles, Scotland. The rambler has 18 convictions and has been in prison on and off since 2006 with offences ranging from not wearing clothes in front of the sheriff, breach of the peace and contempt of court. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell)

“Stephen Gough (born c. 1959), also known as Steve Gough and the Naked Rambler, is an activist, and a British former Royal Marine. In 2003-2004, he walked the length of Great Britain naked. He did it again in 2005-2006, but was arrested in England and in Scotland. He subsequently spent six years in prison, having been repeatedly rearrested for public nudity within a short period, each time he was released. He has spent most of his sentences in Saughton and Perth prisons, in Scotland”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Stephen Gough the naked rambler makes his way south through Peebles in the Scottish Borders, following his release from Saughton Prison yesterday after serving his latest sentence on October 6, 2012 in Peebles, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell)
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07 Oct 2012 08:18:00
Retired builder Vasili Sidamonidze, 70, poses for a portrait at his home in Gori, Georgia, December 6, 2016. “Unfortunately, Stalin is not popular nowadays. Our people don't respect him. Only we, members of the (Communist) Party, respect him”, Sidamonidze said. “I always try to attend Stalin's birthday anniversaries in Gori. Unfortunately many people don't want to join us even if they live nearby. They look at us from their windows”. Stalin, who was born in Gori in 1878 and died in 1953, is largely reviled today in Georgia, which regained its independence during the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Over the years, his memorials have been dismantled, most recently in 2010 when authorities removed a statue of the dictator from Gori's central square. But Stalin is still revered by a small group of mainly elderly supporters who stress his role in the industrialisation of the Soviet Union and in defeating Nazi Germany in World War Two. Each Dec. 21, a few dozen people mark his birthday by gathering outside a Gori museum dedicated to Stalin, where they make speeches and walk to the square where a 6-meter-high bronze statue of him once stood, calling for it to be reinstated. Opponents say it was a symbol of Moscow's still lingering shadow. In 2008, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia and recognised its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)

Retired builder Vasili Sidamonidze, 70, poses for a portrait at his home in Gori, Georgia, December 6, 2016. “Unfortunately, Stalin is not popular nowadays. Our people don't respect him. Only we, members of the (Communist) Party, respect him”, Sidamonidze said. “I always try to attend Stalin's birthday anniversaries in Gori. Unfortunately many people don't want to join us even if they live nearby. They look at us from their windows”. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)
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17 Dec 2016 07:59:00