Grab a lunchtime plate of pelmeni (boiled dumplings filled with minced pork) at one of the surrounding cafes and yo will mix with students whose work could soon hang in the galleries you have just explored.

BBC: St Petersburg goes back to the future

But a question-mark may soon start to hang over junior officers.

ECONOMIST: Zimbabwe asks for help as hundreds die from cholera

She coughed, and they laughed, but soon enough she got the hang of it, except that when she exhaled she did a funny thing: she blew out again and again, like a woman practicing for childbirth.

NEWYORKER: Temporary

The company's renaming where your Mii characters hang out as Warawara ("bustling") plaza and as soon as your console powers up, you'll be able to see exactly what your fellow gamers are doing on their own Wii U. These same characters will also be linked to a Nintendo Network ID.

ENGADGET: Nintendo Wii U unboxed alongside more details: Multiple users, 'karaoke' microphones and Wii U Chat (video)

All that will weigh heavily on the bourse, and, current bargains aside, no one expects the blue-chip Hang Seng Index to recover its August record closing high of 16, 673 any time soon.

CNN: The Cost of a Pegged Dollar