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    The expulsion of scores of Russian diplomats from the United States, countries across Europe and beyond has raised, yet again, the question of whether the world is veering back where it was during the Cold War. The alarming answer from some in Russia is: No, but the situation is in some ways even more unpredictable. For all the tension, proxy conflicts and risk of nuclear war that punctuated relations between Moscow and the West for decades, each side knew, particularly toward the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, roughly what to expect. Each had a modicum of trust that the other would act in a reasonably predictable way. If you look for similarities with what is happening, it is not the Cold War that can explain events but Russia’s firs...

    Dust from a sandstorm in the Sahara desert is causing snow in eastern Europe to turn orange, transforming mountainous regions of Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria and Romania into Mars-like landscapes. The unusual scenes are believed to be created by a mix of sand, dust and pollen particles stirred up and swept across from storms in northern Africa. According the meteorologists, the phenomenon occurs roughly every five years. A post shared by Маргарита Альшина (@margarita_alshina) on Mar 23, 2018 at 4:49am PDT Steven Keates, a weather forecaster at the UK’s Met Office, told The Independent: “As the sand gets lifted to the upper levels of the atmosphere, it gets distributed elsewhere. “Looking at satellite imagery from Nasa, it shows a lot of sand and dust in the atmosphe...