The headstone of Ivan Mamchur, a Ukrainian prison guard and veteran who was murdered in Rivne, a city in western Ukraine. Photo / Joseph Sywenkyj, New York Times
The headstone of Ivan Mamchur, a Ukrainian prison guard and veteran who was murdered in Rivne, a city in western Ukraine. Photo / Joseph Sywenkyj, New York Times
The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best stories of 2019 from our premium international syndicators, including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Times of London and Harvard Business Review.
This morning we look at a Russian assassination, what it's like to be married to atech billionaire, destination sustainability, life as the boss of YouTube and Brad Pitt's onscreen future.
Russia ordered a killing that made no sense. Then the assassin started talking
Oleg Smorodinov found his target on the sixth floor of a cheerless, salmon-coloured building. Carrying out an order, he fired his pistol until the magazine was empty.
So why did Russia order a hit on this Ukrainian electrician?
Oleg Smorodinov stands in a defendant's cage, on trial for the murder of Ivan Mamchur, in a courtroom in Rivne, Ukraine. Photo / Joseph Sywenkyj, New York Times
Melinda Gates: How to stay married to a tech billionaire
Along with Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates is one of the world's two "centibillionaires". Bezos remains top dog despite a $35 billion divorce settlement.
When this much money is sloshing about, divorce, affairs and family fallouts seem to be the standard. Bill and Melinda Gates, however, appear to be Richard Curtis-style rom-com happy. This year they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
Melinda Gates has opened up about how her and husband Bill Gates made it to their silver wedding anniversary unscathed. Photo / Getty Images
The rise of Undertourism: Far from the maddening crowds
Ticketed entry and visitor quotas have long been leading solutions to tame the tourist crowds threatening to overwhelm attractions from Machu Picchu in Peru to, more recently, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Now, many other popular tourist destinations are trying a new tactic to maintain their tourism numbers without disturbing the attractions that draw them in the first place: positive redirection.
Anybody there? No? Good! Hanging Lake can attract up to 1,500 hikers on busy days. Photo / The New York Times
Trying to tame the web's most volatile site
Even by the nightmarish standards of the empire she oversees, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has had a dreadful start to 2019. During a single week in February, BuzzFeed reported that her company was running advertisements alongside anti-vaccine content; there was a nationwide panic over the platform's abetting child suicide; and a viral video showed how paedophiles were flourishing on the site.
Susan Wojcicki, the chief executive officer of YouTube. Photo / Peter Prato, The New York Times
Brad Pitt on fame: 'I became a hermit and bonged myself into oblivion'
Brad Pitt has been the centre of the world's attention since his 1991 breakout role in Thelma & Louise. From them on everything he did then was scrutinised.
"In the '90s, all that attention really threw me," Pitt said. "It was really uncomfortable for me, the cacophony of expectations and judgments. I really became a bit of a hermit and just bonged myself into oblivion."
