Correspondents say that the string of assaults are a blow to Moscow's attempts to portray life in the republic as returning to normal, and also display that the rebels are well equipped and well organised.

BBC: Mass arrests after Chechnya attacks

Pacino and De Palma originally worked together on 1983's Scarface - a remake of a 1930s film - which saw Pacino portray a Cuban refugee who becomes a drug cartel kingpin in the US before his life gradually unravels.

BBC: Scarface duo Al Pacino and Brian de Palma reunited

Defense attorney Jeffrey Denner is expected to portray his client as a man who lived a life of pretense but didn't kill anyone.

WSJ: Final arguments set in Rockefeller impostor case

Were I to portray this with a visual image it would have to be that of a boat in a lock: life is slowly and ineluctably raised by time seeping in from all sides.

NEWYORKER: Total Recall