Mills Stiffs Fellow Amputee

(NEWSER) - A CD of Mikhail Gorbachev singing traditional Russian ballads has sold for $164,940 at a charity auction in London, the Guardian reports. The sole copy is now in the hands of an “anonymous British philanthropist.” The benefit was held to raise money for a foundation, named after the former Soviet premier’s late wife, committed to fighting childhood cancer. More»

Mills gives soy burgers, hot dogs to poor Bronx neighborhood

(NEWSER) - Heather Mills certainly has plenty of money after her divorce with Paul McCartney, and she’s spending $1 million of it to buy soy hamburgers, hot dogs, and other vegan meat replacements for one of the Bronx’s poorest neighborhoods, the AP reports. Mills is a vegan animal rights campaigner and says she wants to make sure the poor “have as many nutritional advantages as anyone else.” More»

Chabad-Lubavitcher gets money and access—and falls into Kremlin's line

(NEWSER) - A rabbi from an ultra-orthodox Jewish group is ultra-powerful in Russia's shrinking oligarchy, using Putin's patronage to raise funds and revive Judaism across the country, the Wall Street Journal reports. But critics charge him with selling his soul for the cozy position, downplaying anti-Semitism and becoming an apologist for the anti-democratic president. More»

Submarine fire almost triggered biggest accident since Chernobyl

(NEWSER) - When a Russian submarine caught fire in December, officials said its nuclear weapons had been removed long before the fire—but now, Russian navy insiders tell a magazine that wasn't the case. In fact, during the fire, the Yekaterinburg submarine had 16 intercontinental ballistic missiles on board, and each held four nuclear warheads, the navy sources tell Vlast magazine. That means "Russia, for a day, was on the brink of the biggest catastrophe since the time of Chernobyl." More»

23 reported killed yesterday as Arab League seeks peacekeepers

(NEWSER) - Syrian tanks have relaunched their assault on Homs, shelling the beleaguered city for a 10th day today after the government's rejection of the Arab League's attempts to launch a UN peacekeeping mission in the country. The League's push was today also rejected by Russia, which said a ceasefire—by both the government and the opposition—must precede such a mission. "The tragedy is that the armed groups that are confronting the forces of the regime are not subordinate to anyone and are not under control," said a Russian official. More»