On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world lives with a number of barriers that serve to restrain the free movement of people. The wall that divides the West Bank from Israel and preventing the passage of Mexican immigrants to the United States are the best known, but there are others.

Medvedev’s meeting with his American counterpart Barack Obama became the central political intrigue of the recent APEC Summit. Everyone was expecting the presidents to release landmark statements regarding the possibility to sign the new arms reduction treaty at the end of November. However, the presidents simply demonstrated their mutual friendliness and made several abstract statements

Many wealthy people sell their expensive toys because of the crisis. They prefer to be quiet about it, not to cause a commotion and to save their reputation which can be ruined with the news of such shameful sales. A used Sikorsky S-76C chopper is available from a US-based man for $8.5 million. A Gulfstream V aircraft will cost $40 million. Prices on Ferrari, a dream car, vary between $100,000 and $1.5 million

A mongrel dog from a town in Russia’s Kuban region has outstripped (unofficially, of course) the crowned champion in the canine world – Pabst, a 4-year-old boxer mix. What would the jury of the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest say if they saw a mongrel dog from the town of Tuapse in Russia’s south? Pabst would seem a very nice guy in comparison with the Russian dog – Bobik

Antarctic ice drilling that would allow scientists to get to Lake Vostok (East) hidden for millions of years, will become one of the most important scientific events equal to the launch of the Large hadron collider. Scientist can only guess what can be found there. Vostok is the largest of 140 subglacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. It covers the area of over 14,000 km2. Despite the high pressure created by ice, the lake can be populated by microorganisms since the water is warm enough and oxygen concentration is high

The world is becoming unsafer by the day. Before the end of November, half a billion new terrorists will be added to the list kept by the US government. On November 30, one day before the Lisbon Treaty is scheduled to take effect, the ministers of justice of the EU's 27 member states will sign yet another security agreement with the US. Under the new agreement, the US government will get access to all the banking data of all Europeans

The police of Russia’s Saratov region are investigating a bizarre death of a newborn girl. Most likely, the baby girl was killed by her own sister, who was just three years old. The tragedy happened while the parents of the two girls were sleeping