A huge fireball fell from the skies over Russia's Chelyabinsk region early Friday, resulting in a powerful blast that reportedly injured about 400 people.

Reports from Russia suggested that the fireball was caused by a meteorite.

"Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted an emergency official as saying. "We have information about a blast at 10,000-meter (32,800-foot) altitude. It is being verified."

The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry, Vadim Kolesnikov, as saying that the fireball caused in an explosion and sonic boom that broke windows.

City authorities in Chelyabinsk, 930 miles east of Moscow, said about 400 people sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, Reuters reported.

The sounds of car alarms and breaking windows could be heard in the area, the witness told Reuters, and mobile phones were working intermittently.

"I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend," said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. "Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows."

The meteorite raced across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 125 miles away in Yekaterinburg.

"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg, told Reuters. "I felt like I was blinded by headlights."

No fatalities were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were informed.

Multiple videos posted to YouTube showed the object flaring brightly as it sped across the sky. Twitter users posted photos showing broken windows. One video showed an office building in Chelyabinsk being hurriedly evacuated.

Russian news media quoted local residents as speculating that the blast could have been caused by a missile explosion or a military plane crash, but an unnamed emergency official told Reuters that was not the case.

Would you renounce your U.S. citizenship if it meant you’d be sending less of your hard-earned dollars to Uncle Sam?

As Americans face higher taxes and stricter enforcement, a growing number of them are, indeed, deciding to turn in their US passports. As of 2013, 77% of Americans will pay higher federal tax rates because the cuts in Social Security payroll taxes expired when Congress passed its tax package on New Year’s Day.

But the wealthiest households face the highest tax increases. From 2009 to 2011, the number of expatriates, or those who renounced their U.S. citizenship, doubled to 1,781.

Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, which provides financial services for expatriates, said that since the start of this year, 48% more of his clients in January than in a typical month inquired about moving funds abroad and the possible tax implications of changing citizenship.

The income tax rate rose this year to 39.6% from 35% for individuals earning more than $400,000 a year and married couples earning more than $450,000.

The Tax Policy Center estimated that those who earn more than $1 million would pay an average of  $170,341 more in taxes.

Green said there’s a tipping point for most people with regard to tax issues affecting their choice of location and citizenship. “If there’s only 10% tax [on income], no one would be leaving. But if there’s 90%, then most people would leave,” he said.

Federal taxes aren’t the only issue, though. Increases in state income tax rates factor into these decisions as well. Recently, California enacted Proposition 30, which raised state income tax rates to 10.3% from 9.3% for individuals making at least $250,000 and 13.3% from 10.3% for those earning at least $1 million. Golfer Phil Mickelson publicly voiced his concern over the tax increases and threatened to leave California because of the higher rates.

Famous Faces
In the first three quarters of 2012, more than 1,100 people left the United States, according to the Federal Register, which tracks Americans who renounce their citizenship. (The Federal Register doesn’t make note of why these people give up their citizenships; we can only guess there are financial considerations in many situations.) Among them, one of the most high-profile examples was Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who filed to relinquish his U.S. citizenship in September 2011; Facebook had its initial public offering in May 2012. Saverin, a Brazil native, had already been living in Singapore for three years after emigrating to the U.S. in 1998. He could reportedly save as much as $100 million in taxes because Singapore does not tax capital gains.

Saverin isn’t the only famous renunciation. Singer and socialite Denise Rich also gave up her citizenship last year under her maiden name, Denise Eisenberg. She is well-known as the ex-wife of former international fugitive Marc Rich, a commodities trader who was indicted on 50 counts of wire fraud, tax evasion, racketeering and other charges. But on his last day in office in 2001, former president Bill Clinton pardoned Rich. Reports claimed that Eisenberg gave up her citizenship to be closer to her long-time partner, an Austrian citizen. Austria also has tax benefits for nationals who live abroad for more than half the year.

Chinese kung fu star and actor Jet Li held American and Chinese citizenships, but dropped both in 2009 in order to be a citizen in Singapore. (Singapore prohibits dual citizenship.) In interviews Li indicated that he chose Singapore because it was free from paparazzi and provided language opportunities for his children.

Most recently, actor Gerard Depardieu made headlines for renouncing his French citizenship to become a Russian citizen in order to avoid France’s proposed 75% tax on earned income above $1.4 million. Russia has a flat 13% tax rate.

Lena Dunham is the latest Rolling Stone cover girl, and she doesn't look much like her "Girls" character Hannah Horvath: She's donning a white tank, lacy black bra and sporting her newly-signature pixie cut.

"It's funny to me that I'm writing a show that people consider to be the voice of twentysomething people," Dunham says in Rolling Stone's Feb. 15th issue. "Because I don't feel that connected to it all the time."

This won't be the first time Dunham has addressed being the voice of twentysomethings ... or, more accurately, "the voice of a generation."

"I don't think I ever imagined that it would haunt me the way it is," Dunham said in a recent interview. "The character was on opium! I think the 'voice of a generation' concept was lost with beatnik literature. Because of globalization and increasing populations, my generation kind of consists of so many different voices that need so many different kinds of attention. But if my writing can show what it's like to be young, I'm happy."

A married huntmaster was cleared yesterday of shooting his showjumper ex-lover after their five-year affair.

Brian Fraser, 63, was found not guilty of the attempted murder of Louise Leggatt, 55, and also of causing her grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was alleged to have been enraged at the end of his romance with Louise - who the court heard was known in hunting circles as ‘Leg-Over Leggatt’.

The verdicts came after a jury spent five and a half hours deliberating, following a two-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

But Fraser had already admitted possessing a firearm without a licence and was warned by the judge he could still be sent to prison.

Judge Charles Byers said: “You are at risk of serving a custodial sentence.

“I have never come across such a lackadaisical and irresponsible attitude towards firearms, particularly for someone who is described as a countryman.”

He bailed him him to return to court on March 18 to be sentenced over that matter.

The judge also told Fraser not to have any contact with Louise or her two grown-up sons Ben and William, saying: “I am considering a restraining order which even in the face of an acquittal I can make.”

Fraser showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered but there were cheers and cries of ‘Yes’ from his family and friends in the public gallery, including his forgiving wife Nanette who looked tearful.

Louise, who was in court, held her head in her hands and looked shattered.

She was shot outside her secluded rented farmhouse home in Benenden, Kent, in March last year, as she went to tend her horses.

She suffered shotgun injuries to her pelvis and leg, and underwent surgery to remove some of the pellets.

Two months earlier, Louise’s home, The Pippins, was destroyed in an arson attack, forcing her to rent the next door property Bramleys, where she was shot.

Nobody was ever convicted for the arson.

Fraser and Louise met through the Ashford Valley Hunt in Kent in 2000 and became lovers in 2001.

He moved into her home and they had a five-year affair before Fraser returned to his wife of 26 years in October 2011, at their farm in Shadoxhurst.

Fraser denied he tried to rekindle their romance and was angry when she rejected him.

Giving evidence during the trial, twice-divorced Louise sobbed as she relived the “terrifying” moment she was shot in her front garden by a hidden gunman.

She said: “First of all, I heard a sound and then I just had the most horrendous pain in my leg and hip.

“I couldn’t use my right leg at all but I managed to get inside and drag myself across the floor to where the phone was to dial 999.

“I was absolutely terrified, I had never been so terrified in all my life.

"I was really, really scared that whoever had done this was going to come back in and I couldn’t get back to the door to lock the door.”

During the trial one of Louise’s ex-husbands, Philip Gorringe, admitted he had heard of her being referred to as ‘Leg-Over Leggatt’ in hunting circles.