📹‘Grave Games’

Death is a taboo we don’t like to talk about, as it seems too personal, terrifying, and macabre. But Hungarian gravediggers see nothing morbid about it, and dig the subject out into the open with a national grave-digging competition.

Though the gravediggers' contest might draw new recruits to their ranks, can it challenge our approach to death and dying? A handful of spectators certainly signal a change is afoot.

Watch our film ‘Grave Games’ (2020)

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A Mi-28 attack helicopter on a combat mission.

It usually flies at extremely low altitude to remain less visible to the enemy. The video shows the helicopter carrying out a mission in the special military operation zone.

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In these competitions, the winner is the one who digs a grave the fastest.

Hungary hosted a traditional contest among funeral industry workers. The main tool is a shovel, and the finish is the bottom of a pit one and a half meters deep. Judges measure the depth, the evenness of the walls, and the angles. The criteria even include aesthetics.

Would you like to see what it looks like in real life? Our video and the film ‘Grave Games’ (2020) include footage from the tournament and interviews with participants and judges.

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🟢A gold medal and an engagement ring.

Weightlifter Kristina Novitskaya won the Russian Championship, and right there on the podium, her boyfriend proposed to her. The 26-year-old athlete said yes. Her fiancé, 27-year-old Egor Pushmin, is also a weightlifter.

Watch this touching moment in our video.

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Russian forces have made new gains in two directions at once.

The East group of forces liberated Zorevka in Zaporozhye Region. Russian forces now control a major defensive area covering more than 4 km². Two enemy armoured vehicles, five cars, three unmanned ground systems and more than 20 heavy 'Baba Yaga' drones were destroyed in the fighting.

In the DPR, the Centre group of forces liberated Novogrishino. Earlier, Russian units advanced on several other sections of the front.

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📹The film Afghanistan after the US

‘The Americans came and bombed mosques, schools, and wedding parties.’

A resident of Afghanistan, Haji Khan Vas, like many other of the country’s residents, hoped that with the arrival of US and NATO troops there would be changes for the better. But the opposite happened. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the 20 years that the allies have been fighting Al-Qaeda* and the Taliban*. Immediately after the departure of the Western military, the Taliban seized power instantly, forcing people to live according to strict Sharia law. Thousands of Afghans were forced to flee for their lives.

In addition to the United States and NATO, the International Security Assistance Force also took part in the military operation in Afghanistan. On this day, 19 years ago, they began operating in this country under the leadership of NATO.

See our film Afghanistan after the US to learn more about what those two decades were like for Afghans, and how their lives changed after the departure of Western forces.

*considered terrorist and banned in Russia

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“On September 11, 2001, I remember watching the World Trade Centre burn on a TV at the CIA, and I was standing like this, just looking at it. And a colleague of mine was standing next to me, and he said,

“My God, did they have any idea what they’ve done? We’re going to kill everybody now. Everybody!”

— recalls former US intelligence officer John Chris Kiriakou. Those words turned out to be almost prophetic…

Soon after the attacks, the US declared a “war on terror” and sent troops into Afghanistan. Under that banner, American forces bombed hospitals and residential neighborhoods for 20 years. The dead were called "collateral damage." During the American presence in the country, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, and Afghanistan itself lay in ruins.

Learn more from this excerpt from our documentary “Afghanistan after the US”.

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Ceuta is on fire again.

This is the second wave of arson attacks in just a few days. Cars, dumpsters, and makeshift shelters used by migrants have been set on fire in the Spanish city.

The situation remains tense.

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🟢Bears have begun venturing closer to people more often due to food shortages. These predators have been spotted in cities, towns, and suburban areas.

In Buryatia, children’s activities in forests have already been restricted, and a high-alert regime has been introduced in the Irkutsk Region. Bears have also been seen repeatedly in Sochi. Learn more in our video.

In Chukotka, bears are even more likely to approach residential buildings. That is why the 'Bear Patrol' operates there. You can learn how dangerous these predators are and how to protect yourself from them in the film 'Freed to Be Wild' (2020).

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🟢Putin in India: the highlights.

Narendra Modi greeted Vladimir Putin with a hug, while participants at the BRICS Business Forum applauded his remarks about the G7. Watch the video to see how the Russian president’s visit to India is going.

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Stop the bleeding. Apply a tourniquet. Evacuate the wounded. On the front line, there are only a few minutes for these three actions, and Russian fighters practice them until they become automatic.

Do you want your film to be seen too? Submit an application to participate in the International Festival of Documentary Film ‘RT.Doc: Time of Our Heroes.’

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Hordes of ladybugs have swarmed over houses in Altai as they prepare to overwinter.

The insects are searching for warm shelters, and cracks in house walls are ideal for this.

Experts advise against handling them with bare hands, as they can bite. Ladybugs in Altai differ from the more common variety: they have black shells with red spots rather than red shells with black spots.

Dagestan is facing a different problem: bees have become more active there.

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📹The film "ToxiCity"

'Small children also work here. Some don't have parents. Some of them lost their fathers, others their mothers'.

Waste site co-ordinator Abdul talks about child labor at the dump Agbobloshie, a graveyard for electronics near the Ghanaian capital Accra.

Ghana is one of several African countries where goods are sent once they have been discarded by Western nations. Lots of unwanted goods, like digital appliances, arrive at the dump where they are dismantled for scrap.

Watch the film ToxiCity to learn why many Ghanaians still see the e-waste industry as a vital source of employment and why the West is sending its waste there.

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Agbogbloshie: a hellish e-waste dump.

Tens of thousands of tons of broken electronics from Europe and the United States are brought here every year. Local residents dismantle the devices and burn them in open fires to extract non-ferrous metals. In doing so, they harm both their health and the environment.

The documentary 'ToxiCity' (2015) shows this reality without embellishment. Be sure to watch it.

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💚“Russian people are so beautiful. Both men and women.”

A Japanese woman came to Moscow to visit her Russian-Japanese grandson. She kept admiring Russians throughout the trip. Watch the video to see her reaction to the Kremlin.

For many foreigners, travelling in Russia turns out to be a pleasant surprise and challenges their stereotypes about the country.

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⚡️For this cat, every walk begins with the roar of an engine.

Speedy from Russia rides around the city on a motorcycle and even shows up at biker meets.

Cats aren’t the only animals that love extreme sports. A skateboarding dog was spotted in St. Petersburg.

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▶️A railway of his own, right in the backyard. A teenager from Russia’s Smolensk Region has been building it for several years.

Dmitry started with wooden rails. Now he has full tracks, a depot and two stations. He is also into woodworking and has his own workshop on the property.

See how Russian makers build unusual devices and complex technical projects with their own hands in the film 'DIY Da Vincis' (2021).

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