Moscow has lost he title of the world's most expensive city for foreigners, which it held for three years in a row, and passed it over to Tokyo.

Weird news / Lithuanians turn public toilets into traps for vandals Anyone who happens to visit a public toilet in Klaipeda, Lithuania, should be careful not to spend longer than five minutes inside – after that time limit the doors will automatically get blocked. This is the city authorities’ idea of fighting vandalism.

Culture / Russian dissident writer Vasily Aksyonov dies at 76 The famous Russian writer Vasily Aksyonov has died at a Moscow hospital after a year of recovery from stroke.

Weird news / World’s strongest vagina breaks own record lifting 14 kilos A Russian woman has set a new world record, lifting a 14 kilos glass ball with her vagina muscles.

Politics / Medvedev-Obama meeting ends with smiles and weapons understanding US President Barack Obama called his talks today with his Russian colleague Dmitry Medvedev “productive.” He said the meeting was time well spent and expressed his certainty that the two leaders will achieve progress on any topics they discuss. So far, their main topic of discussion has been weapons reduction, and they have come to a number of notable agreements.

Russia in the World / FBI detains Russian programmer for stealing secret Goldman Sachs codes The FBI is holding a Russian man on allegations that he has stolen secret Goldman Sachs program codes.

Politics / With Obama in Moscow, Putin goes to South Russia to examine combine harvester plant As the US president arrived in Moscow for a short but intense visit, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin left the capital for the city of Rostov-on-Don to visit the Rostselmash combine-making plant.