Medvedev photo outdoes Putin's painting

A blockbuster auction of Contemporary art in New York, including a record $58.4 million for a Jackson Pollock drip painting, fetched nearly half a billion dollars -- the biggest haul ever at an art auction.

Vladimir Putin will soon be commuting to work via helicopter, leaving his traditional Mercedes limousine at home. According to the Moscow Times, builders have completed the construction of a helipad at the Kremlin, and the Russian president will soon begin using the helicopter for the journey between his country home and his workplace.

It’s not uncommon for Russian President Vladimir Putin to appear in odd photos, nor is it uncommon for him to court controversy.

Russia's leaders on Monday declared their incomes for 2010, with President Dmitry Medvedev revealing that he owns only one classic car dating back to the Stalin era and his wife has no savings.Medvedev earned 3.378 million rubles ($120,653) last year, he said in a declaration published on the Kremlin website.His income was significantly less than that of his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who declared $180,118.Neither leader had bought any new cars, land or apartments since last year.

In perhaps the oddest news of the day, workers in the Chelyabinsk region in the Russian Urals were greeted this morning with a spectacular show: an exploding meteor. Bloomberg reports "A meteor exploded in the skies above Russia’s Urals region and sent shock waves that shattered windows, hurting hundreds of people, hours before an asteroid half the size of a football field hurtles past the Earth. The meteor broke apart above the Chelyabinsk region at about 7:25 a.m.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday he wanted a second Kremlin term but it was still early to say whether he would run for re-election in 2012, noting he could not imagine competing with Vladimir Putin.With just nine months left before Russians will go to polls to elect a new president, neither Medvedev, 45, nor his mentor Prime Minister Putin, 58, have put forth an official bid to run amid intensifying claims from businesses and observers that the continuing uncertainty was hurting Russia's investment climate.