Russia has ended its death penalty, leaving in its place five prison “colonies” to house its most hardened criminals, nicknamed “The White Swan”, “The Black Dolphin”, “The Vologda Coin”, “The Village of Harps”. Inside “The Black Eagle.”

How did a Kentucky entrepreneur, a Louisiana politician, and the vice president of Nigeria end up in one of the biggest scandals to hit America’s black elite in decades?

The director of Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours on his aversion to America, the advantages of small budgets, and the challenges of directing the opening ceremony for the London Olympics.

Memories of the expat revolutionary scene in 1980s Nicaragua. An excerpt from Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War.

“For the first time since the Civil War, the United States has a political party that is ideologically cohesive, disciplined, and determined to take power, even at the cost of disrupting the political system.”

A look at the legislative lobbying efforts of Michael Bloomberg’s $7 billion-per-year company. While the mayor has no specific day-to-day role at Bloomberg LP, he maintains “the type of involvement that he believes is consistent with his being the majority shareholder.”

What Egypt learned from the students who overthrew Milosevic. “The Serbs are not the usual highly paid consultants in suits from wealthy countries; they look more like, well, cocky students. They bring a cowboy swagger. They radiate success. Everyone they teach wants to do what the Serbs did.”

Roy Petersen was blind in one eye, had two replaced hips, and was twice divorced. His job was to solve a gold mine robbery case in the Peruvian Andes. He would need some help.

“They cruise the city in chauffeured cars, blasting rap, selling pot to classmates. How some of New York’s richest kids joined forces with some of its poorest.”

Jay Miscovich spent his life wanting to hunt for treasure. In 2010, after just a few months of trying, he found half a billion dollars worth of emeralds at the bottom of the Atlantic. A few years later he killed himself.

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman entered the University of Texas at Austin’s Main Building. Armed with a number of rifles, he proceeded to kill 14 people and wound 32. Among them was a pregnant Claire Wilson.

He is 69. He is no longer a virtuoso politician. He has been marginalized within his wife’s campaign. Nobody knows what what his role will be if she wins, but everyone agrees that he’s desperate to find out.

The diner manager told the cook not to prepare the poached eggs a woman had ordered. The next day, the cook killed the manager. They had worked together amicably for 20 years.

At first, Don Huckstep was perplexed that his fiancée would abruptly cut off contact before a long-awaited trip to Italy. Then a bizarre and grisly set of discoveries unfolded.

They believe that strangers on the street watch them, follow them in vans, whisper as they pass. Their family urge them to seek help. Then they find people online who have experienced the same thing they have.

Tens of thousands of people every year are sent to jail based on the results of a $2 roadside drug test. Widespread evidence shows that these tests routinely produce false positives. Why are police departments and prosecutors still using them?

Maurice Spagnoletti was hired to clean up one of the island’s largest banks. He found fraud, waste, and executives performing Santeria rituals in the conference room. Then he was killed on his way home.

It’s in Florida and it involves Marco Rubio, the 33-year-old preferred candidate of the Democratic establishment, and “the only member of Congress whose desk is decorated with a plaque that reads: I HAVE FLYING MONKEYS AND I’M NOT AFRAID TO USE THEM!”

In the midst of a tribal burial, Jim Thorpe’s third wife burst in to remove his body, setting in motion a decades-long battle over the Native American athlete’s final resting place.

Premier Cru’s “pre-arrival” cases were deeply discounted. When too many failed to arrive, a multi-decade wine Ponzi-scheme fell apart.

“In some ways fame is gratifying, but you have to be very careful of what you wish for because you just might get it.”

Real-estate mogul Charles Kushner had been cast out of power, found guilty of a strange bundle of crimes including “secretly setting up [his brother-in-law] with a prostitute, then taping the encounter.” His son Jared, then 23, was left to carry the ambition for the both of them.

The Medallion Fund, a computer-driven hedge fund open to only 300 people, has produced about $55 billion in profit over the last 28 years. Almost nobody knows how they have done it.

An investigation into how “Mr. Putin, a student of martial arts, had turned two institutions at the core of American democracy — political campaigns and independent media — to his own ends.”

He was a Baptist who became a Muslim, a Marine who became a bank robber, a criminal who became an informant, and a student who became an imam. But was Marcus Robertson connected to the deadliest mass shooting in American history?