YEKATERINBURG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - As Russia hurries to spruce up its venues for this year's soccer World Cup, the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on Saturday blew up its most famous landmark -- a rusty, half-finished Soviet-era television tower. In Yekaterinburg, hundreds of people opposed to the television tower's demolition by controlled explosion took part in a "Hug the Tower" rally earlier this week. "Now it's the symbol of the people's humiliation at the hands of the authorities because the decision was made behind-the-scenes. The tower's construction started in 1983 but it was never completed due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. "No one seriously believes that the city needs such a symbol," he said in a radio interview.

Source: The Star March 24, 2018 13:52 UTC