The presence of the silver-haired economist, the most high-profile of the 14 accused in the three-week trial, also drew crowds of journalists and curious onlookers to the court. Strauss-Kahn will have three days to fend off accusations that he organised for prostitutes to attend sex parties with him in Paris, Brussels and Washington in the case which could land him in prison for up to 10 years. He will come face-to-face with two of these women, now retired sex workers, during questioning. Topless protester jumps on car of ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn outside French court >>>

«  Tout à coup, tout se précipite. Je déboutonne ma veste. Je la jette au sol. Je dégaine ma couronne de fleurs. Je l’enfonce sur ma tête. Je marche à grand pas vers un attroupement de journalistes  ». Les Femen, nées en Ukraine, ont fait des émules dans plusieurs pays d’Europe et principalement en France. Elles ont fait les heures heureuses des photographes grâce à leurs actions seins nus. Aujourd’hui, l’une d’elles, qui a depuis lors quitté le mouvement, raconte son expérience dans >>>

«  Tout à coup, tout se précipite. Je déboutonne ma veste. Je la jette au sol. Je dégaine ma couronne de fleurs. Je l’enfonce sur ma tête. Je marche à grand pas vers un attroupement de journalistes  ». Les Femen, nées en Ukraine, ont fait des émules dans plusieurs pays d’Europe et principalement en France. Elles ont fait les heures heureuses des photographes grâce à leurs actions seins nus. Aujourd’hui, l’une d’elles, qui a depuis lors quitté le mouvement, raconte son expérience dans >>>

The writer and translator Keith Gessen wrote last year of how western coverage of his country of birth, Russia, was refracted through the distorted prism of the west’s own obsessions in the 2000s and 2010s.  While self-identifying ‘left-wing’ writers in the west like Seumas Milne fall into the same trap as Living Marxism magazine and Harold Pinter did over Milosevic in the 1990s –an intellectually infantile apologising for an authoritarian leader just because the leader in question is “a counter-weight to the west” – Gessen pinpointed a more subtle cultural trend >>>

 Credit: Photo by Roy te Lintelo, PLANETART on Flickr, under Creative Commons (WOMENSENEWS)--One attention-grabbing women's group on the Russian political scene is Femen, a constellation of topless protesters founded in 2008. Based in Ukraine, many of Femen's activists are Russian speakers, and the group has held actions in Russia as well as in their home state. Whether or not Femen should be characterized as a feminist group is an issue of some dispute. The group consciously chose to display their naked breasts and, occasionally, more; one Femen poster with a nationalist message portrayed >>>

It was an attack of unreasoning rage and unrelenting hatred on one of the world's greatest symbols of love and peace, life and hope.On Christmas Day in the heart of Catholic Christianity, St. Peter's Square in Rome, the leftist radical and militant feminist group, Femen, staged another of its outrageous "happenings" against its favourite target, the Catholic Church. On one of Christianity's holiest days, a Femen member, Iana Aleksandrovna Azhdanova, a Ukrainian citizen, invaded the square's famous nativity scene and seized the statuette of the Baby Jesus. The scandalous act occurred shortly after >>>

The year 2014 was marked by mass street demonstrations in several parts of the world. Ukraine, my native country, was awakened by powerful protests that grew into a revolution and a call for freedom that overthrew dictator Viktor Yanukovych. In 2014, the world was observing Ukraine's brave protesters, its everyday heroes and heroines, demanding freedom and expressing their desire for European integration. We saw their fights, their sufferings and their victories. Here we are at the beginning of 2015 and some Ukrainians are already back in the streets. Except this time, the protests are smaller >>>

It was an attack of unreasoning rage and unrelenting hatred on one of the world’s greatest symbols of love and peace, life and hope. On Christmas Day in the heart of Catholic Christianity, St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the leftist radical and militant feminist group, Femen, staged another of its outrageous “happenings” against its favourite target, the Catholic Church. On one of Christianity’s holiest days, a Femen member, Iana Aleksandrovna Azhdanova, a Ukrainian citizen, invaded the square’s famous nativity scene and seized the statuette of the Baby Jesus. The scandalous act occurred >>>

VATICAN CITY, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- An activist from the group Femen who attempted to steal a Jesus statue from St. Peter's Square while topless on Christmas has been released by the Vatican, according to their social media accounts. Yana Zhdanova is a Ukrainian activist who shouted "God is woman!" on Thursday and grabbed a statue of the baby Jesus. The group claims she did this because the baby Jesus statue represents the church's desire to take reproductive freedoms away from women and "sexual freedom," as they see it. Zhdanova >>>

A topless Ukrainian female activist was arrested at the Vatican Christmas Day, a Vatican spokesman says. Apparently, her bare breasts were only part of the problem -- she had grabbed the Nativity statue of the baby Jesus Christ as well. The Guardian reported Dec. 27 that, according to spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, the woman, Yana Zhdanova, met with the Vatican prosecutor on Saturday. He ordered her freed. She was told the conditions of her release were that she was to never return and set foot on Vatican property again. Yana Zhdanova is a Femen protester. She shouted anti-Christian slogans >>>