David R. Sands

David Cameron dubbed ‘Dodgy Dave’ by Labour Party amid Panama Papers scandal

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday became the latest world leader struggling to put his links to the Panama Papers scandal behind him, but not before a member of the opposition Labor Party earned a one-day timeout from parliament by memorably labeling the prime minister as "Dodgy Dave."

April 11, 2016

Property-hating Russian Communists seek to copyright red star symbol

They're supposed to be opposed to private property as a matter of principle, but Russia's Communists are getting tired of capitalists ripping off their signature red star without proper payment.

April 7, 2016

Elbe River Memorial celebrates U.S.-Russia cooperation amid rising tensions

At a low point in post-Cold War U.S.-Russian relations, a monument is going up this month in the heart of Moscow to celebrate one of the high points of cooperation between the U.S. and the bad old Soviet Union.

April 5, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: A running chess rivalry between rising powers

In the 16th century it was Spain vs. Italy. By the mid-19th century it was France vs. England. In the middle of the 20th it was the Soviets vs. the rest of the world.

April 5, 2016

Putin poised to rake in the rubles with arms deals after testing new weapons in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin's military campaign in support of Syrian ally Bashar Assad has not only earned Moscow new clout and prestige in the region.

March 29, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: Sergey Karjakin blitzes Fabiano Caruana to earn shot against Magnus Carlsen

President-elect Donald Trump may find that one of his first post-victory chores will be delivering the world chess championship -- back to the Russians.

March 29, 2016

Russian Karjakin wins right to challenge for world chess championship

Defeating American Fabiano Caruana with the help of a brilliant rook sacrifice, Russian Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has won the FIDE chess candidates tournament in Moscow and will face reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen in a title match this November in New York City.

March 28, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: In a month made for madness, chess as a force for sanity

March is the month of madness -- a good thing if you're a college basketball fan but a more sensitive topic if your game is chess.

March 22, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: Hou’s on first (again) — Chinese star reclaims women’s world chess title

Leaving little doubt that she is the dominant female player of our time, Chinese GM Hou Yifan easily reclaimed her women's world crown with a Game 9 victory over Ukrainian GM Mariya Muzychuk in Lvov, Ukraine on Monday.

March 15, 2016

Putin orders surprise start of Russian military withdrawal from Syria

Claiming that his military escalation has achieved its goals, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he had begun the withdrawal of Russian forces from the country even as the Syrian civil war continues to rage.

March 14, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: A chess challenger and a champion to be picked in busy March

March will be a productive month on the world chess calendar, with a champion and a challenger to be crowned in the next few weeks.

March 8, 2016

Russian firm vows to fight to keep U.S. rocket monopoly

Even as the U.S. military pushes to end the country's reliance of Russian-built rocket engines to get its satellites into space, the Moscow-based manufacturer says it is still hopeful to hold onto its American clients.

March 3, 2016

China wearies of oddball architecture

Chinese officials are done with being the world's Petri dish for growing avant-garde, weird-looking buildings.

March 3, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: Magnus Carlsen, world chess champion, to defend his title in New York City match

The chess world championship will be coming back to the United States for the first time in more than two decades. Officials of the international chess federation FIDE announced Tuesday that Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen will defend his title in a 12-game match to be played in New York City from Nov. 11 to Nov. 30.

March 2, 2016

Global tensions send Russian vodka exports plummeting 40 percent

Clashes with the West over Ukraine and Syria are hitting home for the Russian economy, as foreign markets for its signature spirit, vodka, fell sharply in 2015.

February 23, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: The uneasy chess coupling of correspondence and computers

For one who has played and enjoyed correspondence chess dating back to the pre-Deep Blue era, writing about the latest chess-by-mail world championship is a melancholy business.

February 23, 2016

Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus wins EU concessions despite ‘dismal’ human rights record

European Union foreign ministers this week quietly ended a range of sanctions targeting the regime of longtime Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and some of the former Soviet republic's largest state-owned firms, despite protests from human rights groups both in Belarus and the West.

February 17, 2016

Obama stars as poster child for Russian anti-smoking ads

An image of President Obama enjoying a last long drag on a cigarette is being used in a new campaign in Moscow to encourage Russians to give up smoking. The message: Both tobacco and the American president can kill you.

February 16, 2016

DAVID R. SANDS: A chess wrap-up of action from A(nand) to Z(hao)

With some of the world's top male and female players in action this week, we have the chess world covered this week from A (Anand-Aronian) to Z (Zhao-Zhukova).

February 16, 2016

Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court justice: ‘His contributions to the law are incalculable’

Tom Goldstein, editor of the popular Scotusblog website that tracks the Supreme Court, called Justice Antonin Scalia a "historic figure, surely one of the most influential minds -- on and off the court -- of the last century."

February 13, 2016