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Inflation is taking a toll on Russians. In the past year, prices of some goods have risen by more than 50 percent. The government has taken a hands-off monetary policy, imposing price controls rather than adjusting interest rates. As inflation continues, it casts a spotlight on the growing gap between Russia's rich and poor.

Taiwan has etched out a reputation as a high-tech hardware store to the world. But this country of 23 million has quietly garnered a chunk of the world market in a very different product: saxophones. Taiwanese saxophones were once regarded as inferior, but now the industry is producing high-quality instruments.

Mac fans are on the ground gearing up for Macworld 2008. Mac enthusiast John Moltz discusses what we have to look forward to this year.

Miguel Caballero first started making bulletproof clothes in his native Colombia in the early 1990s, when the country was awash in violence. Now, he's opened a store selling protective business suits, biker jackets and other fashions in Mexico, which has seen a huge surge in violence recently.

A former U.N. arms inspector's report on a smuggling ring headed by A.Q. Khan, the former head scientist for Pakistan's nuclear program, says Khan and his partners obtained detailed designs for a sophisticated nuclear weapon in hopes of selling the plans — which may have been passed to Iran, North Korea or terrorist groups.

From the nature of the itch to offshore drilling to the sartorial style of the U.S. Senate, readers sound off in e-mails.

Turkish troops pursued their new offensive against Kurdish rebel bases across the border in northern Iraq on Sunday. Heavy fighting left dozens dead, and the rebels — from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK — shot down a Turkish helicopter.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas raises new objections with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over new Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Since they last met in November, Israel has built more then 2,000 new units, despite pledges to freeze construction, an Israeli watchdog group reports.

A new translation of Carlo Collodi's 1881 classic Pinocchio reveals a puppet that's much darker than Walt Disney might have you believe. Critic-at-large John Powers has a review.

A lobbying spendathon is under way over the Employee Free Choice Act, which Democrats introduced in Congress this week. The bill would make it easier for unions to organize workers. It is opposed by most business groups.