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1911 England and Wales census now available online
January 13, 2009
The National Archives today announced the availability of the 1911 census for England, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. I immediately visited their website, performed a search, paid for the image, and experienced my latest Genealogy Happy Dance.
Using the website was very user-friendly. In the search box, I entered the name and year of birth of my wife's great-granduncle, Tom Hague and clicked on the Search button. A list of possible matches appeared, from which I could easily identify the correct person.
To view the information, you have two choices: you can view the transcript (for 10 credits) or the actual image (30 credits). Knowing that viewing original images are always more reliable than a transcript I paid the £6.95 ($10.12 USD) for 60 credits. I can view up to two images for this amount, which seems quite pricey, but is certainly a bargain considering I don't even have to leave my office chair to obtain a copy of the record.
I immediately was impressed with the quality of the image. In fact, the digitized images are in full color, making it easier than any other record I've worked with to read. The census lists the following information:
- Name and surname
- Relationship to head of family
- Age and sex
- Marriage status
- How many years married
- Number of children of the present marriage
- Total number of children born alive
- Number of children still living
- Occupation
- Exact birthplace of each person
- Nationality if born in a foreign country
- Infirmity information
The next thing I'll do is add the census information to my Legacy family file, including the complete source citation. It doesn't look like all of the citation parts are the same as prior census years, so I've contacted the National Archives to have them provide that information. Hopefully we'll be able to release a new Legacy update soon that has the 1911 census built in to the SourceWriter.
We will also add guidance to Legacy's Research Guidance which will make it easy for you to manage your 1911 census searching.
Search the 1911 census
To search the census, click here.
Press Release
Here is the press release from Findmypast.com:
* Online access to the records of 36 million people in 1911
* Major new family history resource
36 million people were recorded in the census taken on the night of Sunday, 2 April, 1911. Today, after nearly 100 years, these census records are available to the public at www.1911census.co.uk.
The census covered England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, as well as recording those aboard Royal Naval and Merchant vessels at sea and in foreign ports and, for the first time in a British census, full details of British Army personnel and their families in military establishments overseas. It is the most detailed census since UK records began and the first for which the original census schedules have been preserved - complete with our ancestors' own handwriting - providing a fascinating insight into British society nearly a century ago.
From today over 27 million people's census entries - 80 per cent of the English records - will be available. A further nine million records of people from the remaining counties of England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, as well as the naval and overseas military records, will be made available over the coming months.
www.1911census.co.uk is easy to access and enables the public to view high quality colour images of their ancestors' original handwritten census returns. Transcribed text versions of the records ensure they are fully searchable by name or address.
Public demand for the 1911 census, which will be a key resource for family historians, has resulted in the records being released earlier than the scheduled 2012 date. To make this early online release to the public possible, the 1911 census team worked around the clock for two years - scanning on average one census page per second. In line with data protection legislation, certain sensitive information relating to infirmity and to children of women prisoners will be held back until 2012.
Comprehensive and rigorously tested, www.1911census.co.uk has been developed by UK-based family history website findmypast.com, owned by brightsolid, in association with The National Archives.
Elaine Collins, Commercial Director at findmypast.com, said: "The 1911 census offers a crucial new entry point to family history research for a wide range of people, from novice family historians to seasoned genealogists who have hit a 'wall' in their family tree research. As well as helping people trace their ancestors, these records shed more light on our ancestors' day-to-day lifestyles, providing a snapshot of a day in their lives, with details of their occupations, housing arrangements and social status."
The 1911 census is huge - occupying over two kilometres of shelving - an incredible eight million paper census returns have been transcribed to create over 16 million digital images. This makes the 1911 census one of the biggest digitisation projects ever undertaken by The National Archives in association with a commercial partner.
Oliver Morley, Director of Customer and Business Development at The National Archives, commented: "This is a major achievement. By teaming up with findmypast.com, we are bringing history to life for millions. This remarkable record is available online to researchers and family historians all over the world for future generations. The 1911 census is a poignant reflection of how different life was in early 20 century Britain, before the Great War."
Due to the widespread popularity of family history, it is anticipated that www.1911census.co.uk will experience a high level of visitors logging on to search the records, especially in the first weeks of launch.
Elaine Collins, Commercial Director at findmypast.com, advises: '"We aim to deliver a quality service that has high but not infinite capacity. If visitors do experience a short delay in accessing the records via www.1911census.co.uk soon after launch, we would advise them to try again later when the website becomes less busy. www.1911census.co.uk is here to stay and access to the online census records will be unlimited permanently from today."
Handwritten records
Completed by all householders in England and Wales on Sunday, 2 April 1911, the census records show the name, age, place of birth, marital status and occupation of every resident in every home, as well as their relationship to the head of the household.
People will also have unique access to their ancestors' handwriting as the original householders' schedules were preserved and used as working documents rather than copying the details in to summary books as was the case in previous census years.
The records contain details about the lives of many important British historical figures, such as David Lloyd George, the contemporary Prime Minister H.H. Asquith and 'Bloomsbury Set' author Virginia Woolf. The launch of the records also creates a starting point for people to trace their own family tree by looking up their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who were alive in the year 1911.
'Fertility Census'
The 1911 census was the first to ask questions relating to fertility in marriage. Married women were asked to state how long they had been married and how many children had been born from that marriage. The census also provides a fascinating snapshot of the population of the country just a few years before a whole generation of young men perished in the Great War of 1914-1918.
How to use the 1911 Census records
* Log on to www.1911census.co.uk and register for free
* Search for an ancestor in 1911 by entering their name
* If the name is common you can enter their approximate year of birth, which will help to narrow down the results
* Search for an address to look up the history of your house or an ancestor's address in 1911 (this function will be available in summer 2009)
* Pay as you go to view each record. You will be charged 10 credits per transcript and 30 credits for each original household page. Visitors to the website can buy 60 credits for £6.95.
* Findmypast.com vouchers will also be valid on 1911census.co.uk. Vouchers can be purchased from The National Archives bookshop and redeemed on findmypast.com. Credits can then be spent on both findmypast.com and 1911census.co.uk.
* For more information about using the 1911 census for family history research, 'Census: The Expert Guide' by Peter Christian and David Annal is available from The National Archives online bookshop at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk


text: Ukraine's Cyber Police have intervened to prevent further cyberattacks in the wake of last week's global attack, initially considered to be ransomware and called by various names including NotPetya.The attack affected businesses around the world, but Ukraine was hit particularly hard because, security researchers believe, the initial attacks were disguised in an automatic update to the MEDoc tax and accounting software widely used in the country.A backdoor could have have been introduced into M.E.Doc as early as May 15, the police said, after one of the developer's computers was taken over.Police said Wednesday that they had seized computers and software from M.E.Doc's developer after spotting fresh signs of malicious activity, and have taken the items away for analysis. They hope this will put an end to further uncontrolled distribution of the NotPetya malware (also referred to as Diskcoder.c, ExPetr, PetrWrap and Petya) used in the previous attack, they said.Although the malware was initially labelled as ransomware, it appears incapable of unlocking the files it has encrypted.Ukrainian police now believe that aspect was just a diversionary tactic. One hypothesis the investigators are considering is that the malware was created by state actors with the goal of destabilizing the country.The police recommended that anyone with the M.E.Doc software on their computer immediately stop using it and disconnect it from their network. They hope their analysis of the materials seized this week will lead to the creation of a tool for identifying, and perhaps reversing the effects of, the malware.

subset: commoncrawl


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Our photos are free to download for personal use - please credit us if sharing. They are also inexpensive to buy from SmugMug (we make no profit from any prints). If we missed you, let us know and we'll try and take your photo next time. If there is ever a photo that you'd like us to remove, just let us know. - Janusz, Ela, Maks and Aleks
8th Annual ASCE Region 9 Infrastructure Sympoisum
Photos from the 8th Annual ASCE Region 9 Infrastructure Symposium - by Martha Bricker.Read More


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Phoenix captain Shane Doan started laughing when asked if the Coyotes suddenly had a goalie controversy.
"Goalie controversies are always good because that means they are both playing well," Doan said after the Coyotes defeated the Devils 3-2 in a shootout Thursday night to improve their playoff chances in the Western Conference.
The Coyotes, who currently hold the second wild-card spot, got five of six possible points on their three-game road trip and opened a five-point lead over idle Dallas.
What made this trip so special was that No. 1 goalie Mike Smith went down with a lower-body injury late in the third period of the opener against the Rangers, but replacement Thomas Greiss posted wins over Pittsburgh and New Jersey.
Phoenix's only loss on the road trip was in overtime to the Rangers.
"We have a ton of confidence in Greisser," Doan said. "Everybody in here has been shooting on him all year and when he has gone in, he has been amazing. I don't know what his save percentage is, but it's .925 or .930. He has been amazing for us."
Greiss made 26 saves and stopped shootout attempts by Damien Brunner, Ryane Clowe and Patrik Elias in matching his career high with his ninth win (9-5-2) of the season.
The trip did not start out well for Greiss. He gave up the tying goal late and the winner in overtime to the Rangers.
But that didn't bother the 28-year-old German, who was backed up by Smith on Thursday.
"That's the goalie's job, to have a short memory," Greiss said. "You just have to forget that stuff and move on."
Mikkel Boedker scored on Phoenix's first shootout try against Martin Brodeur with a top-shelf backhander.
"I went with a move I was comfortable with and it's always good when the goaltender bites on your fake," Boedker said.
Kyle Chipchura and Chris Summers scored for the Coyotes, who blew a 2-0 lead.
Clowe and Adam Henrique scored for the Devils, who fell to 0-9 in shootouts this season and extended their NHL-record streak to 13 straight losses dating to last season.
While the Devils picked up a point, they are currently out of the playoff picture with nine games to go.
"It's a big part of the reason the playoffs are getting tougher and tougher to reach," said Brodeur, who finished with 25 saves. "So many points we've left on the table through the year. I figured we were due. It's been a while, we haven't been in one. I was feeling good about it mentally. I thought we were going to pull through this one and boost our confidence a little bit knowing we're able to do it, and again it was the same old thing."
New Jersey appeared to be in trouble when Summers scored with 3:03 left in the second period to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead.
The Devils got back in the game with a little luck after Phoenix was called for a delay penalty in the final minute of the period. Brodeur scrambled to the bench and Clowe scored with less than a second left as he lay in the crease. The big left wing was cross-checked by Jeff Halpern, and defenseman Jon Merrill's pass through the crease caromed off his chest and slid past Greiss, who had stopped the Devils' first 16 shots with their sticks.
Henrique tied the game midway through the third period, taking a pass from Elias and beating defenseman Michael Stone with a move behind the net for his team-leading 24th goal.
Chipchura, who had a goal and an assist against the Rangers on Monday night in Madison Square Garden, scored his fourth of the season 2:21 into the first period. Lauri Korpikoski sent a pass from behind the net to Chipchura, who put a shot under Brodeur's pad.
Summers, called up from the minors this month, made it 2-0 with a slap shot that beat a screened Brodeur.


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Mica Lamp Company
130 Lantern Pendant Wall Sconce
130 Lantern Wall Sconce
- Mica Lamp Company Coppersmith Lighting:
- Width - 5" Diam
- Height - 10"
- Overall Height - 15"
- Ext - 7.5"
- UL Listed DAMP
- 1 Sockets x 60 watts
The 130 Lantern Wall Sconce is part of the Mica Lamp Companies Coppersmith Collection. All of the Mica Lamps in the Coppersmith Collection are made of solid copper, assembled with hand driven copper rivets and finished with a rich natural patina. Mica Lamps are the leaders in authentic copper and mica mineral forming technique. The Mica shade panels are the same natural materials used by the Arts and Crafts master lamp makers. Mineral mica flakes, combined with organic shellac, make each mica shade unique with its variations of mineral deposit patterns and color tones. The Mica lamp Companies unique mission and craftsman style lamps and lighting will brighten your mountain modern or bungalow craftsman styled home.


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Radiation Therapy
More patients are now living with cancer thanks to innovative new treatments that are available. Radiation therapy destroys many types of cancer cells and can prevent malignant cells from reproducing. Central Care Cancer Center is now partnering with Providence Medical Center to provide expert oncological services to the community.
Sophisticated radiation technology localizes and treats cancer cells while sparing surrounding healthy tissue.
For further information, contact us at 913-600-4908
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) – Our Varian TrilogyTM system is one of the most advanced forms of medical technology available for delivering radiation therapy. It allows radiation oncologists to perform stereotactic radiosurgery with unparalleled precision. Trilogy aims higher doses of radiation at smaller areas over a shorter period of time. As a result, treatment sessions may be shorter and less frequent.
Clinac Linear Accelerator – The Varian Clinac Accelerator can produce seven different energies to treat different types of tumors more effectively. It offers Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), a breakthrough treatment that has enhanced the chance of a cure and decreased complication rates.
CT Simulator – Prior to therapy, we design customized treatment plans for each patient using the CT simulator, a computer-assisted machine similar to the accelerator. The simulator lets the radiation oncologist view the treatment area with and without fluoroscopic imaging. With these precise images, the radiation oncologist can define the areas to be treated, determine the best angles for radiation and specify the areas to be blocked and protected.
Mobile PET CAT scanner – Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) scans can be performed at the same time through our mobile scanner. The highly sensitive PET scan detects the metabolic signal of actively growing cancer cells in the body. And the CAT scan provides a detailed picture of the internal anatomy that reveals the location, size and shape of abnormal cancerous growths. When the tests are used together, the combined image provides a total picture of both metabolism and anatomy of cancer. It allows doctors to pinpoint the location of cancer within the body before making treatment recommendations.


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The Winding Stories Of A Quintessential American Spy
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.
And I'm Robert Siegel. On April 18th, 1983, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation about news that had broken earlier that morning in Lebanon.
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: As you know, our embassy in Beirut was the target this morning of a vicious terrorist bombing. This cowardly act has claimed a number of killed and wounded. It appears that there are some American casualties but we don't know yet the exact number or the extent of injury.
SIEGEL: As the writer Kai Bird sums it up in his new book, the truck bombing killed 63 people and injured some 120. Among the Americans killed was Robert Ames, the subject of Kai Bird's book, "The Good Spy." Ames was the CIA's top Arabist(ph), one who defied many stereotypes about that trade. He was a field agent turned analyst who had opened a back channel to the intelligence chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization at a time when both the organization and his contact were officially regarded as terrorists. Kai Bird joins us. Welcome.
KAI BIRD: Thank you, Robert. It's great to be here.
SIEGEL: And let's start with Ames. What's so important about Ames' work for the CIA that you were drawn to write a book about him?
BIRD: Well, first of all, I was drawn to him because I knew him. When I was 12 and 13 years old, he was our next door neighbor in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where my father was a Foreign Service officer stationed there. Of course, I didn't know he was a CIA officer at the time. My father did, of course, but I just had these vivid memories of this tall, handsome, blue-eyed fellow who often played basketball with the Marines guarding the consulate compound at the time. And then later on, I heard about his horrible death in Beirut in this truck bombing. But he also turned out to have been extremely important in creating this back-channel, highly clandestine relationship with Ali Hassan Salameh, the intelligence chief for Yasser Arafat, at a time when no American diplomats could talk to the Palestinians.
SIEGEL: Tell us more about who Ali Hassan Salameh was.
BIRD: Well, he was known sort of casually as the Red Prince. He was rather dashing, wore black leather jackets, gold chains, drove fast cars, loved good wine and beautiful women, very much an extrovert and a brilliant tactician. And Ames initially tried to recruit him but quickly realized that he was the kind of source who was unrecruitable but might be extremely valuable to get to know. And he turned the relationship into a genuine friendship.
SIEGEL: Many people thought that Ali Hassan Salameh was number two to Yasser Arafat and the PLO back in those days. Many people also said he had a lot of blood on his hands.
BIRD: Both true. This is a complicated relationship but this is what good spies do. They get close to bad guys to understand them, sometimes to recruit them for information, and sometimes, in the case of Ames, it was to steer them in a different direction. And that was Ames' - as the relationship evolved, he encouraged Ali Hassan Salameh to encourage Arafat to think more about laying down the guns and achieving their Palestinian aspirations through political negotiations and heading towards a two-state solution.
SIEGEL: There is a real-life intelligence drama at the core of your book, which has also been treated by fiction writers - among them, David Ignatius in one of his books. It involves Ali Hassan Salameh, the CIA and the Mossad, the Israeli spy service. A Mossad guy goes to a CIA man and says Ali Hassan Salameh, is he your man? Explain what's going on at that moment.
BIRD: Well, the Mossad had the belief and some evidence that Ali Hassan was close to Black September and was involved in the Munich tragedy where 11 Israeli athletes were killed brutally in Munich in 1972.
SIEGEL: At the Olympics.
BIRD: And so, ever since that happened, they put him on a hit list and they attempted to assassinate him on at least three occasions and failed. And in 1978, they reopened the case and they went to the CIA and asked is he your man? Well, this presented the agency with a dilemma. Do they say, yes, he's our man, or do they say no? And in the end, they decided that the best answer was no answer.
SIEGEL: It was a green light.
BIRD: It was a green light. And by saying neither no nor yes, they hoped to sort of fudge it. But Ames was quite upset at the time with this response and he warned Ali Hassan to beef up his security. But in January of 1979, indeed 15 Mossad agents snuck into Beirut and launched an operation and a car bomb killed him in January of '79.
SIEGEL: Ames, meanwhile, sympathetic to the Palestinians as he was, had very good relations with the Mossad it seems, too.
BIRD: Yes. He traveled to Tel Aviv once a year, sometimes twice a year, had meetings with his counterparts, and he understood. He was a good spy actually because he could empathize with people. You know, he was a good spy because he was no James Bond. He had to carry a gun at times but he hated doing so. And he was the kind of CIA officer who made friendships with people around him, not enemies.
SIEGEL: Ultimately, Ames died in a truck bombing of the U.S. embassy and you addressed the question: who did it? So, who did it?
BIRD: Well, it is very clear that it was an operation by Iranian intelligence. And the extraordinary thing that I have discovered and pieced together at the end of my book is I actually name some of the intelligence officers from Iran who put together this truck bomb operation. And one of the chief masterminds was a man named Ali-Reza Asgari, and he defected to America in 2007 and was brought here apparently by the CIA and given asylum, even though he was directly responsible for the deaths of eight CIA officers in Beirut and many, many other Americans in Beirut, including over 240 U.S. Marines in the October '83 truck bombing attack.
SIEGEL: On the one hand, you read this at the end of your book and your blood boils a bit that this is defiling the memory of Ames and all the other Americans who were killed by Asgari. On the other hand, your description of Ames is that he was capable of seeing bloodshed, being quite aware of killing and regarding it as something that happened in the field that he chose to work.
BIRD: Yes. You know, and, again, this is another reason why he was a good spy. He understood that the world was complicated and, you know, we've read a lot recently about how supposedly the NSA and wiretap and intercept intelligence is so important to our national security. But I would argue that when you read "The Good Spy" you understand that human intelligence is far more important. The ability to form relationships with people who have good information will ultimately keep us safer in this world.
SIEGEL: Well, Kai Bird, thank you for talking with us about the book.
BIRD: Thank you.
SIEGEL: Kai Bird's book about the late Central Intelligence officer Robert Ames is called "The Good Spy." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Berkeley scientists just generated a pristine genome sequence of Neanderthal DNA—the most complete ever created—and what they found might gross you out. It might also blow your mind.
The DNA sequence came from a 50,000 year old Neanderthal bone, a woman's toe to be exact. The scientists compared it with DNA from modern humans as well as Denisovans, the Neanderthals' contemporaries and often their lovers too. The analysis revealed a new level of complexity in the family tree that connects Neanderthals, Denisovans and a recently discovered mystery human species with modern man.
It also revealed that Neanderthals like to have sex with their siblings. The woman whose toe bone was analyzed, research showed, was the daughter of a very closely related man and woman, likely half siblings. The dataset as a whole suggests that inbreeding was more popular among Neanderthals than modern humans.
We've long known, however, that interbreeding was popular with everybody. The new study, which will be published in Nature on Thursday, says Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred often and are very closely related. Modern humans participated in the interbreeding, too, though they fancied the Neanderthals more than the Denisovans. The researchers estimate 1.5 to 2.1 percent of non-African, modern day genomes can be traced to Neanderthals, while about 0.2 percent can be traced to Denisovans.
Inevitably, we are different, though we're still figuring out exactly how. The new research shows that at least 87 specific genes in the modern day human genome differ from those in Neanderthals and Denisovans. Maybe one of them explains why we won out in the great game of evolution.


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Smart's For-us Concept Is One Really, Really Compact Pickup
Smart might only make very small cars, but its designers have created something slightly larger for a Detroit Auto Show concept: a pickup truck/coupe crossover called the For-us.
While the For-us is apparently on the existing ForTwo convertible, the For-us is a little bit bigger. At 97.6 inches, the concept's wheelbase is a full two feet longer than the standard ForTwo, and the car is about 33.5 inches longer and 6.3 inches taller than the standard model.
That added length benefits the cargo space more than the passenger compartment (the For-us is still a two-seater, after all). Aft of the B-pillars is a stubby little pickup bed. The tailgate can be electrically lowered and extended, providing up to about 35.4 inches of load floor. Considering compact pickups can offer six-foot-long beds, that really isn't that much, but Smart thinks it's plenty for hauling small odds and ends, or perhaps a bicycle. In fact, the show car includes integrated docks/ charging ports for a pair of electric bicycles - perhaps Smart's own eBike.
Those bikes aren't the only part of this package to draw their power from electricity. The For-us is powered not by the ForTwo's wheezy inline three-cylinder gas engine, but a driveline seemingly ripped from the smart fortwo eD. A 55-kW (74-hp) electric motor spins the rear wheels, and is powered by a 17.6-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Smart predicts a top speed of 75 mph, but neglects to provide an estimated range. Seeing as the Smart eD travels about 87 miles on a single charge, we imagine the For-Us would meet but not exceed that figure.
The For-us will make its debut in the flesh at next month's Detroit Auto Show, at which point we'll see exactly how smart this idea is.
Source: Daimler


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Beyond the invisible hand has been saved
It is when grappling with how to transcend market forces that business has much to teach society at large.
The word "business" is used today within a fairly narrow range of meanings, and for the most part, while not necessarily negative, the connotations are far from unambiguously complimentary. To be "businesslike," to "get down to business," or to "take care of business" is to get things done—typically necessary things—and to do so in a manner that dispenses with pleasantries, ceremony, even emotion. In the general parlance, business is about the rational, left-brain, mercenary angels of our nature: our desires for material wealth and the soulless accomplishment of requisite but uninspiring objectives.
The business community tends to perpetuate this characterization when its members insist that improvements could be found if this or that organization or endeavor was managed more "like a business." This typically means that what's required is a more dispassionate examination of costs and benefits, a more ruthless attention to greater efficiencies, and above all, a greater reliance on "market mechanisms" to allocate resources and reward good performance.
This last requirement—the hegemony of the market and the primacy of price as a way to measure the worth of many things—is perhaps the signal characteristic of "businesslike" behavior. Deciding what to do based on subjective assessments of value rather than the objective judgment of the market is to substitute politics for economics and power for worth.
Markets motivate through reward, not punishment, and create powerful incentives for innovation and efficiency. But there is increasing disenchantment with markets and, by implication, with business generally. The global financial crisis has provided only too visible an example of business's downside.
The limitations of market forces go beyond cyclical fluctuations, however severe. In some instances, especially in the case of critical resource stocks, it's unclear whether the seemingly inevitable overshoot and correction characteristic of markets can be tolerated. For example, Canada had to shut down its East Coast cod fishery in 1992—and has yet to reopen it, as fish stocks show little sign of recovering. But the closure was not foreshadowed by rising prices for cod: According to price signals, there was just as much cod as always, right up until they disappeared. This is, in part, because as prices rose in response to scarcity, the fishing industry found ways to be more efficient in extracting resources. The cod fishery was competing with substitute fish stocks, which weren't under similar pressure. More than 20 years later, there's still no sign of recovery.
As overfishing threatens the long-term viability of the ocean as a food source or as carbon-based pollution threatens just about everything—the list is long—it seems increasingly the case that it is possible to rely too much on markets as a mechanism for allocating resources.
Considerable effort is going into "internalizing" these externalities. For example, the notion of "cap and trade" is designed to impose upper limits on carbon emissions that are lower than what markets might lead us to conclude are acceptable. In principle, no matter what a would-be emitter wants to pay for an extra ton, it's simply not to be had at any price. Proponents of such schemes argue that there is only so much carbon the planet can cope with and that we shouldn't put a price on carbon beyond that limit. Precisely where that cap should be is subject to debate and the complex interplay of science and politics. But it is not, nor should it be, subject exclusively to market forces.
And it is when grappling with how to transcend market forces that, perhaps ironically, business again has much to teach society at large, for companies are not merely "applied economics." They are at the intersection of sociology and economics, the interaction of groups within markets. We know that organizations that are successful over the long term are often driven by a concern for the larger good in a way that makes it possible for people to balance their checkbooks with their philanthropic books.
The market matters, but only within the context of an overriding culture that defines the terms of exchange. Society can learn from business in this regard. Companies—the durable, successful ones—have done a better job at containing market excesses and failings than the broader body politic. Markets can help us effectively allocate our most precious resources and guide our most irreversible decisions only if they are constrained in ways that are consistent with our deepest values. We cannot avoid the hard work of coming to a consensus about what those values are. And in that task, what politicians have to learn from managers is not how best to apply economic tools but how best to pull the more ethereal levers of leadership: vision, aspiration, a sense of shared destiny, and the ability of all to make a difference.


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You give Aston Designer Marek Reichmann a pencil, an order to design a car for a video game, and some peyote. What you get in return is the DP-100. It's unlike any Aston you've seen before, and that is totally ok.
The Vision Gran Turismo concept series has been divisive in the car world. Some love the future visions, others (mainly sticks in the mud), think that it's pointless and stupid. But here, we have an Aston Martin unlike anything we'd ever get on the road. A true supercar killer.
It's a mid-engined twin turbo V12 beast with up to 800 horsepower. Hmmm, twin turbo V12, could that be from Aston's new friends at AMG?
The body has active aero and still includes some signature Aston elements like the grille and the tail lights. But that's about it. This is an Aston in name alone, a total departure from the GT cars that we've been used to.
And since it'll never be built for use on the roads, that's ok. You'll be able to download the DP-100 starting in July.


text: Back Cholesterol Screening Your body needs cholesterol to make hormones and to keep your cells healthy. Cholesterol comes from two sources: your liver and your diet. However, if your diet exceeds the body's need for cholesterol or saturated fats, your cholesterol level in your blood will increase. This video discusses treatments and lifestyle changes that may be prescribed by your doctor.


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Georgian Army Will Become Fully Professional In Four Years
Alasania told journalists in Tbilisi on January 8 that Georgia will gradually stop mandatory conscription.
He said that the length of mandatory army service for conscripts will soon be decreased from 15 months to 12 months.
Eventually, service in the army is expected to be based on contracts only.
About 37,000 soldiers and officers are currently serving in Georgia's armed forces.
Almost 1,600 Georgian combat troops are now deployed in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, making it the largest non-NATO contributor to the international mission in Afghanistan.
Based on reporting by apsny.ge, trend.az, and arminfo.info
More News
Russian Foreign Minister Says Ukraine Peace Plan, UN Bid To Revive Grain Deal 'Not Realistic'
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on September 23 that Ukraine's proposed peace plan as well as the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative were both "not realistic." "It is completely not feasible," Lavrov said of Kyiv's 10-point peace blueprint. "It's not realistic...but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations." Lavrov added during a news conference at the UN' headquarters in New York that Moscow left the Black Sea grain initiative because promises made to it -- including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system -- hadn't been met. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.
About 90 Russian Men Seeking To Avoid Conscription Back Home Granted Asylum In Germany
About 90 Russian men have been granted asylum in Germany in their bids to avoid military conscription back home, the Interior Ministry in Berlin said on September 23. Some 3,500 men have applied for such status, with 1,500 applications having so far been decided upon with either acceptance or rejection, officials said. German courts decide on refugee status based on whether a person would face particularly severe penalties at home because they are members of a group of people who are discriminated against, and not solely on the desire to avoid conscription. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
German Politician Warns Against Rise Of Right-Wing Populism In EU, Citing Hungary, Poland, Italy
European Parliament Vice President Katarina Barley warned on September 23 against the rise of antidemocratic movements in Europe. "Democracy and the rule of law can no longer be taken for granted in the European Union," Barley said at a party conference for Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin. She is an SPD member. Hungary, she said, was already no longer a democracy. "We see a similar development in Poland," she said. Democratic rights were also being curtailed in Italy, she added. The European Commission, she noted, was in danger of tilting to the right.
Polish PM Tells Ukraine's Zelenskiy 'Never To Insult Poles Again'
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not to "insult" Poles, maintaining harsh rhetoric toward Kyiv after the Polish president had sought to defuse a row over grain imports. Poland last week extended a ban on Ukrainian grain imports, shaking Kyiv's relationship with a neighbor that has been one of its staunchest allies since Russia invaded Ukraine. Zelenskiy angered Poland when he told the UN General Assembly that "political theater" around grain imports was only helping Moscow. "I...want to tell President Zelenskiy never to insult Poles again, as he did during his UN speech," Morawiecki told an election rally late on September 22. (Reuters)
To read the original story by Reuters, click here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-president-says-ukrainian-grain-row-wont-significantly-affect-relations-2023-09-22/
Zelenskiy Meets Sudanese Leader, Discusses Russian Paramilitaries
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 23 that he held an impromptu meeting in Ireland's Shannon Airport with the head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and that they discussed Russian-funded armed groups. "We discussed our common security challenges, namely the activities of illegal armed groups financed by Russia," Zelenskiy said. He thanked Sudan, which is in the midst of a deadly civil war, for its support of Ukraine's territorial integrity. Russia's Wagner mercenary group has operated in Ukraine throughout Moscow's invasion. Western diplomats have said the group is also present in Sudan.
U.S. Senator Leads Delegation To Armenian-Azerbaijan Border, Calls For International Monitors In Karabakh
U.S. Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who is leading a congressional delegation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, called on September 23 for international monitors to be sent to observe conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh, the mostly ethnic-Armenian breakaway region captured by Baku after a lightning military strike. "I am certainly very concerned about what's happening in Nagorno-Karabakh right now. I think there needs to be some visibility," Peters told reporters. The U.S. Embassy said the group will meet Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other officials "to discuss U.S.-Armenian relations and the impact of Azerbaijan's recent military actions on the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Armenian Service, click here.
Blinken Suggests Iran Is Not A Responsible Actor In Its Nuclear Program
Iran's decision to bar some UN nuclear inspectors suggests it is not interested in being a responsible actor when it comes to its atomic program, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on September 22. "We tried to work indirectly with Iran as well as with European partners and even Russia and China to see if we can get a return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal ... But Iran couldn't or wouldn't do that," Blinken told reporters. On September 23, the head of the International Atomic Energy (IAEA) condemned Tehran's move to bar multiple inspectors assigned to the country. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.
Former Wagner Fighter Reportedly Detained In Norway Near Russian Border
Norwegian police on September 22 detained a former fighter for Russia's private mercenary force, the Wagner group, along the Scandinavian country's border with Russia, according to the Barents Observer. Andrei Medvedev fled to Norway from Russia after fighting with Wagner in Ukraine and had stated his willingness to provide testimony related to war crimes he said had been committed by the now-deceased Wagner head, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Norwegian authorities had not yet made a decision on Medvedev's asylum request. Just hours before his detention, Medvedev reportedly told a journalist he feared being extradited to Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Pakistani PM Claims Possibility Of Coming Elections Being Manipulated By Military Is 'Absolutely Absurd'
Pakistan's interim prime minister said he expects parliamentary elections to take place in the new year, dismissing the possibility that the country's powerful military would manipulate the results to ensure that jailed former premier Imran Khan's party doesn't win. In an interview with the Associated Press on September 22, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said it was the Election Commission that is going to conduct the vote, not the military, and Khan appointed the commission's chief at the time. The commission has announced that the elections will take place during the last week in January, delaying the vote that was to be held in November. To read the original story by AP, click here.
Ukrainian Military Claims Russian Navy Commanders Killed In Sevastopol Attack; De Facto Crimean Authorities Say Fresh Attack Thwarted
The Ukrainian military says that a missile attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula on September 22 targeted "a meeting of the Russian Navy's leadership" and resulted in high casualties, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stopped in Poland on his way back home after his major diplomatic push in the West.
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"The details of the attack will be revealed as soon as possible and the result is dozens of dead and wounded occupants, including senior fleet commanders," the Ukrainian military said on September 23.
In comments to Voice Of America, Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov claimed the attack, in which at least one cruise missile struck the Black Sea Fleet's headquarters, killed "at least nine people" and that 16 were injured, including high-ranking officers.
"Among the wounded is the commander of the group, Colonel-General [Oleksandr] Romanchuk, in very serious condition. The Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General [Oleg] Tsekov, is unconscious. The number of casual military servicemen who are not employees of the headquarters is still being determined," Budanov was quoted as saying in VOA's September 23 report.
Romanchuk commands frontline forces defending Russian-occupied parts of southeastern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region and was promoted to the rank of colonel-general in 2023, according to VOA. Tsekov was identified as the commander of coastal forces of the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet.
RFE/RL was not able to verify Budanov's or the Ukrainian military's casualty claims.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram on September 22 that five cruise missiles involved in that day's attack had been shot down. The ministry claimed that one Russian soldier was missing, after having earlier reported the death of one soldier.
Moscow has not issued updated information regarding casualties or commented on the Ukrainian military's claims that a meeting of Russian naval commanders was targeted.
RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities, a regional outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, reported early on September 23 that a powerful explosion was heard in Sevastopol, prompting air-raid warnings.
On the morning of September 23, Russian authorities in Crimea confirmed that Sevastopol had again come under attack.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the Ukrainian peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014, said that preliminary information indicated that Russian air defense forces had shot down a missile and that debris had fallen along the shore of Sevastopol Bay.
In a follow-up Telegram post, Razvozhayev declared that the "missile danger is clear."
On September 22, following the attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, Razvozhayev had denied reports by multiple Telegram channels that thermal power plants near Sevastopol had been struck in a Ukrainian missile attack.
Razvozhayev alleged that Ukrainian media were "trying to sow panic among citizens" by reporting the attacks.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea as its counteroffensive in the east and south of the country grinds on.
As Kyiv continues to defend its military strategy amid Western criticism, a commander of Ukraine's Tavria force fighting in the Zaporizhzhya region told CNN on September 22 that Ukraine had made a breakthrough near the rural settlement of Verbove.
"On the left flank [near Verbove] we have a breakthrough and we continue to advance further," Oleksandr Tarnavsky said.
"Not as fast as it was expected, not like in the movies about the Second World War," he said, but "the main thing is not to lose this initiative [that we have]."
Verbove is part of the Surovikin Lines -- triple-layered defenses named for the Russian general who ordered their construction last year to thwart any Ukrainian effort to breach and try to outmaneuver Russian forces along a 1,200-kilometer front line.
On September 23, the Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 15 Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukraine's frontline forces in the Zaporizhzhya region and in the neighboring Dnitropetrovsk region to the north.
In the southeastern Kherson region, officials said on September 23 that at least one person had died and three were injured due to Russian shelling, which hit residential, medical, and educational buildings over the previous day.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy stopped in Poland on his way back to Ukraine on September 23 amid a simmering feud with Warsaw, which has been a major diplomatic ally in the war with Russia, taking in refugees and providing arms to Kyiv.
Tensions have risen between the two nations after Kyiv sharply criticized Warsaw when it extended its ban on Ukrainian grain products to protect Polish farmers from falling prices.
At the UN General Assembly in New York, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that "I want to tell President Zelenskiy that he must never insult Poles again, as he did the other day during his appearance at the United Nations."
Zelenskiy attempted to ease tensions when he made a stopover in Poland after his trip to the United States and Canada.
"I believe that all the challenges on our common path are nothing compared to the strength that exists between our peoples," Zelenskiy said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
Zelenskiy handed out awards to a journalist who helped transport wounded children to Polish hospitals and to a man who had assembled a medical team to help wounded soldiers near the front line, according to Reuters.
He did not appear to meet with Polish officials.
With reporting by Reuters
Cracks In Western Wall Of Support For Ukraine Emerge As Eastern Europe And U.S. Head Toward Elections
Once rock-solid, the support that Ukraine has gotten from its biggest backers for its fight against Russia is showing cracks. Political posturing in places like Poland and Slovakia, where a trade dispute with Ukraine has stirred tensions, and Republican reticence in the United States about Washington's big spending to prop up Ukraine's military have raised new uncertainties about the West's commitment to its efforts to expel Russian invaders more than 18 months into the war. Still, from Washington to Warsaw, where the military cost and capabilities of helping Ukraine are at issue, officials are playing down talk of a rift. To read the original story by AP, click here.
Woman In Iran Arrested After Head Scarf Protest
An Iranian woman has been arrested after protesting against the compulsory wearing of head scarves, the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw reported on September 22. The engineer, Zeinab Kazemi, was reportedly taken from her home by security forces a few days ago. She had previously received a suspended sentence of 74 lashes on probation. In February Kazemi threw her head scarf on the floor at an event in order to protest against the decision of an engineering association not to admit her to the board because of an ill-fitting head scarf. Members of parliament introduced a new head scarf bill just this week.
- By RFE/RL
Russian-Installed Leader Of Crimea Denies Strikes Hit Power Plants
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the occupied Crimean Peninsula, denied on Telegram on September 22 that any thermal power plants had been struck in a Ukrainian missile attack. Multiple Telegram channels had reported that several explosions were heard in an area close to a thermal power plant in the city of Sevastopol in Ukraine's Russia-annexed Crimea after the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet was struck earlier in the day. Razvozhayev alleged that Ukrainian media were "trying to sow panic among citizens."
Karabakh Separatists Say They Are Implementing Withdrawal Deal As Aid Arrives Through Lachin
Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenian separatist leaders on September 23 said they are implementing the terms of a cease-fire agreement made three days earlier with Azerbaijani officials, including evacuations of injured civilians to Armenia with the help of Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The separatists said that, as part of the September 20 agreement, aid was to be delivered from Armenia to Stepanakert -- the de facto capital of the breakaway region under ethnic Armenian control -- through the Lachin Corridor, for decades the main link between Karabakh and Armenian.
Also as part of the agreement, separatists said, talks would take place on "the political future" of the region, which has an estimated population 120,000 people, many of whom are now suffering from shortages of food, fuel, and electricity.
The separatists' statement also said work was under way to restore power to the region, with a target date of September 24.
Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh reported that Karabakh separatists in the ethnic-Armenian populated territory have begun handing over their weapons as part of a deal worked out with Baku following Azerbaijan's lightning offensive this week.
Russian peacekeepers said that more than 800 firearms, grenades, mortars, anti-tank guided missiles, and anti-tank missile systems had been handed over, and the process would continue over the weekend.
The deal was worked out during a meeting between representatives of Karabakh's ethnic Armenian population and Azerbaijan held in the western Azerbaijani city of Yevlax on September 22.
The separatists had earlier said that they are in Russian-mediated talks with Baku to organize the withdrawal of their forces.
A witness told Reuters that an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aid convoy was seen at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border early on September 23 for the first time since Baku seized the region.
The Red Cross said it was supplying fuel, blankets, and 28,000 diapers in the initial shipments to the territory.
AFP journalists and ICRC officials at the border confirmed on September 23 that Red Cross aid had entered the region along the Lachin Corridor.
The aid group's vehicles "have passed through the Lachin Corridor to bring to the community around 70 metric tons of mainly humanitarian supplies and food supplies," ICRC spokeswoman Zara Amatuni told AFP, speaking in Kornidzor at the final checkpoint on the Armenian side of the border.
Armenian civilians have begun gathering at the Kornidzor checkpoint in hopes of receiving news of relatives in Karabakh, AFP reported.
U.S. Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who is leading a congressional delegation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, called for international observers to monitor the situation and said people in Karabakh were "very fearful."
"I am certainly very concerned about what's happening in Nagorno-Karabakh right now. I think there needs to be some visibility," Peters told reporters.
Peters had earlier condemned the Azerbaijani government's "military aggression and violence toward the Armenian people."
"The Azerbaijani government has made it clear, their goal is to erase the historic presence of Armenians in this region," he said during his visit to the region.
Azerbaijan has claimed that the 24-hour offensive on September 19-20, which it describes as an "anti-terrorist operation," has brought the breakaway region back under its control.
The offensive was halted on September 20 after Karabakh's ethnic Armenian leadership accepted a proposal by the Russian peacekeeping mission, although sporadic fighting has been reported.
Baku has said it envisages an amnesty for Karabakh Armenian fighters who give up their arms and seeks to reintegrate the territory's ethnic Armenian population. Some separatist fighters have vowed to continue to resist Azerbaijani control.
"I wish to reiterate that Azerbaijan is determined to reintegrate ethnic Armenian residents of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as equal citizens," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov said in a speech to the UN General Assembly on September 23.
Yerevan's response to the Azerbaijani offensive has led to protests in the Armenian capital, with opposition leaders seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and accusing the government of inadequate support for Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic-Armenian population.
Pashinian has expressed hope that Karabakh Armenians will be allowed to return to their homes, while saying that Yerevan would accept an influx of ethnic Armenians if they chose to leave the territory.
Anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan and at least two other cities over the past two days have led to the detention of scores of people who expressed anger that Pashinian's administration had not done more to prevent Azerbaijani forces from accomplishing their swift victory in the Karabakh region.
Authorities said more than 80 people were charged in the capital with disobeying police orders on September 22, and reports said at least a further 20 people were detained on September 23.
Armenian opposition groups, led by a so-called National Committee, claimed that more than 350 supporters had been detained. The group called for Pashinian to resign his office.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Pashinian in a phone call on September 23 that Washington continues to support Armenia's "sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity" and that it has "deep concern for the ethnic Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh."
Spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken "underscored the United States is calling on Azerbaijan to protect civilians and uphold its obligations to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and to ensure its forces comply with international humanitarian law."
Pashinian and many Armenians blame Russia -- which traditionally has served as the Caucasus nation's protector in the region -- for failing to use its peacekeeping force to protect ethnic Armenians in Karabakh.
During a special meeting of the UN Security Council this week, council members including the United States and Russia called for peace, while Armenian and Azerbaijani officials traded barbs.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as Azerbaijan's but has had de-facto independence since breaking away in a war in the 1990s.
During a short but bloody war in 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured much of the territory as well as seven surrounding districts that had been controlled since the 1990s by ethnic Armenians with Yerevan's support.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, AP, Reuters, and AFP
Rights Group Says Iran's Security Forces 'Intentionally' Shot Protesters In The Eyes
The Iran Human Rights group (IHRNGO) said the Islamic nation's security forces "intentionally targeted" the eyes and faces of protesters during a violent crackdown on demonstrations last year sparkled by the death of a young woman in police custody for allegedly violating the country's hijab law.
In an analysis published on September 22, the Norway-based rights group said it was able to verify 138 cases of eye injuries sustained during the months-long, nationwide protests in Iran last year. Many of the victims lost vision in one eye, some in both.
"IHRNGO's analysis shows that the brutal crimes committed during the protests by the Islamic republic were planned, coordinated and calculated," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, head of the rights group.
"The Islamic republic leader, Ali Khamenei, and all the perpetrators of such crimes must be held accountable."
Reports of Iranian security forces shooting protesters in the eyes emerged in the first months of the demonstrations, which began immediately following the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022. The victims say they were purposely singled out before being wounded.
The Iranian government and senior security officials have rejected the accusations.
WATCH: Amateur video shows the moment Erfan Ramizipour was shot in the eyes by Iranian security forces as he took part in mass anti-regime protests in 2022. The 24-year-old is just one of many protesters who have been shot in the eyes, in what appears to have been a deliberate tactic. Now in Germany, he is receiving medical care -- and continuing to battle for justice in his homeland.
The victims include eight children, the youngest a 5-year-old girl, Iran Human Rights said.
Women accounted for 28 percent of those with eye injuries but only 9 percent of deaths, implying the "repressive forces have chosen to intentionally target women's eyes instead of fatally shooting them," the group said in its report.
In a smaller sample collected from the city of Mahabad, northwestern Iran, women constitute 56 percent of those with eye injuries, the group said.
Most eye injuries were caused by pellets made of metal and plastic. In nine of the cases, the injuries were caused by projectiles fired from paintball guns.
The rights group's data shows that Iran's security forces started shooting protesters in the eyes from the first days of protests in September 2022, while the last documented cases are from December 2022.
The actual number of protesters who have been blinded by security forces after being shot in the face is unknown.
The New York Times has estimated some 500 young Iranians were treated in Tehran hospitals for eye injuries during the first three months of the protests.
Iranwire, which documents human rights abuses in Iran, said it had confirmed some 580 cases of blinding in Tehran and the province of Kurdistan alone, "but the actual numbers across the country are much higher."
RFE/RL is unable to verify such reports.
Rights activists have reported several cases of protesters with eye injuries who were arrested in an apparent attempt to be silenced.
In addition to eye and other serious injuries, more than 500 people, including 71 children were killed during the demonstrations trigged by the death of Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating strict dress rules for women.
The widespread unrest represents the biggest threat to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.
Navalny Placed In Punitive Confinement One Day After Serving Previous Solitary Incarceration
Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who is serving a total of 19 years in prison on extremism and other charges, has been placed in a punitive solitary confinement for the 20th time since August 2022. A post on Navalny's Instagram account said on September 21 that he was sent to solitary confinement until September 26 for unspecified reasons one day after he served his previous 13-day punitive incarceration. The post says the solitary confinement term was only four days this time because his appeal against his conviction is scheduled to be considered by a court on September 26. To read the original story from RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Russia Reportedly Plans To Ramp Up Military Spending in 2024
Russia plans to significantly ramp up military spending next year as its invasion of Ukraine falters and a presidential election looms, Bloomberg reported, citing a draft budget submitted to parliament on September 22.
Russia intends to allocate 10.8 trillion rubles ($112 billion) to military needs next year, a jump by two-thirds compared with 2023, Bloomberg reported.
If the plans materialize, military spending will account for 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Bloomberg calculated, making it the largest item in the budget.
Russia's 19-month-long invasion of Ukraine is struggling, requiring the Kremlin to allocate ever more money to the military to prevent a rollback if not an outright defeat.
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Ukraine's Western-backed forces have been making minor gains since its latest counteroffensive began in June. Any major Ukrainian victories in the coming months would be a blow to President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to run for reelection in March 2024.
While there is little doubt Putin will win the tightly controlled election should he run, setbacks could nonetheless make the election more problematic for the Kremlin.
To appease the population ahead of the election, Putin will also boost social spending by 1 trillion rubles ($10 billion), Bloomberg reported, citing the draft budget.
Another 11 trillion rubles ($114 billion) in spending next year is classified. That budget line item is also up two-thirds from last year.
Russia anticipates budget revenues will jump by more than a fifth next year, keeping the budget deficit below 1 percent.
Russian budget revenue is highly dependent on oil prices, which have rallied more than a quarter over the past three months, surpassing $90 a barrel.
Analysts forecast oil prices to remain high in the near-term.
Reporting by Bloomberg
Three Kazakh Civil Rights Activists Detained On Unspecified Charges
Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have detained three civil rights activists on unspecified charges. Abzal Dostiyarov, Marat Turymbetov, and Maira Gabdullina were detained separately on September 22. Dostiyarov's lawyer Zhanar Balghabaeva told RFE/RL that her client is suspected of violating a law on mass gatherings. Police gave no more details, the lawyer said. Human rights activist Rinat Rafqat said the trio's detainments were linked to their participation in a rally in front of a court on September 19, demanding the release of imprisoned activist Aigerim Tileuzhan. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.
Government Reportedly Ratcheting Up Pressure On Families Of Dead Iranian Protesters
Iranian security forces are reported to have escalated their actions against the families of protesters killed during widespread protests last year as the government continues to try and put a lid on unrest triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, the biggest challenge to the Islamic regime since the 1979 revolution.
Social media posts from the affected families, corroborated by videos, appear to show that memorial ceremonies in at least 19 cities, including Tehran, have been thwarted by Iran's security apparatus, including the western city of Ilam, where the tomb of Mohsen Ghaisari became a focal point of tension when his brother and several others were apprehended.
Ghaisari, a 32-year-old Kurdish Iranian, was fatally shot in the chest and head by a special unit officer during the 2022 nationwide protests after the death of Amini.
Meanwhile, in Qazvin, the family home of slain protester Javad Heydari was raided, leading to the arrest of his elderly father and two siblings, according to Fateme Heydari, Javad's sister.
Despite video showing the incident, Abbas Kazemi, the deputy governor of Qazvin for political, security, and social affairs, denied any official presence at the Heydari residence, framing the incident as a move to "protect local residents."
"The judiciary, the police, the security apparatus, all have collaborated to intimidate us bereaved families," said Farzaneh Barzekar, whose 21-year-old son was killed by security forces a year ago.
Barzekar herself was arrested earlier in September after attending a memorial ceremony for Javad Rouhi, a protester who recently died in prison.
Human rights groups highlighted similar incidents across the country, including the Human Rights Network of Kurdistan, which reported disruptions to memorial ceremonies in several cities, including Kermanshah and Quchan.
At least 500 people have been killed around the country since authorities began the current crackdown on her sympathizers, with thousands more detained or harassed.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Dozens Of Children In Uzbekistan Hospitalized With Poisoning Symptoms
Uzbekistan's Health Ministry said on September 22 it has taken under "strict control" the hospitalization of more than 70 children with symptoms of being poisoned in the eastern region of Namangan earlier this week. The statement said 10 children were released from the hospital after their health improved, but did not reveal what caused the illness, saying lab tests continue. The ministry said earlier that children from nine kindergartens and two secondary schools in the Chust district had been rushed to hospitals with poisoning symptoms. The Prosecutor-General's Office has launched a probe into the situation. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, click here.
Russia Calls Bulgaria's Decision To Expel Cleric 'Blasphemous,' Summons Ambassador
Moscow has reacted angrily to Bulgaria's decision to expel the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, calling the move "blasphemous" and an "unfriendly" act as it closed the Russian Church in the Bulgarian capital in response.
The Russian state news agency TASS reported on September 22 that the Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow Atanas Krastin would be summoned for talks at the Russian Foreign Ministry over the expulsion of Archimandrite Vassian and two other clerics, both Belarusian citizens, for carrying out "activities directed against" the country's national security and interests.
Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS) said the three had worked to "purposefully influence the social and political processes in Bulgaria in favor of Russian geopolitical interests."
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the clerics were summoned to Bulgaria's immigration service on September 21 and were handed a notice to leave the country within 24 hours.
It added that the three were transported "like criminals in a vehicle with barred windows" back to the church to pack their belongings and added that they would be transported to the Serbian border.
Bulgarian authorities have not given any details on the whereabouts of the clerics.
"We are outraged and shocked by what happened," the ministry's spokeswoman Mariya Zaharova said in the statement, adding that the responsibility for the "rapid deterioration of Russian-Bulgarian relations lies entirely with the Bulgarian side."
Russia's ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, added in an interview on state television that Russia would not take action directly against the Bulgarian Church in Moscow.
Archimandrite Vassian, whose secular name is Nikolai Zmeyev, was appointed by the Moscow Patriarchate as head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia in 2018 -- days after the Russian Patriarch Kirill visited Bulgaria.
Questions over Archimandrite Vassian have swirled around Bulgaria for several months.
Earlier this month, lawmaker Atanas Atanasov called the cleric "a representative of Russian intelligence in a robe."
In December 2022, the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia faced protests against the visit of a high-ranking representative of the Moscow Patriarchate, invited by Archimandrite Vassian.
The decision to expel the three clerics comes amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which the Russian Orthodox Church has supported.
The European Union imposed sanctions as a response to Moscow's war, and Russia added the EU member states, including Bulgaria, to its list of "unfriendly countries."
In 2022, Bulgaria, a member of NATO and the European Union, expelled 70 Russian diplomatic staff in a move that severely strained diplomatic ties between the two countries, which were close allies during communist times.
Azerbaijani Trade Unions Activist Arrested On Assault Charge
A Baku court ruled on September 21 to arrest a coordinator of Azerbaijan's Alternative Confederation of Trade Unions, Afiaddin Mammadov, and placed him to pretrial detention for two months. Mammadov was detained near his home in Baku on September 20 and charged with premeditated infliction of bodily damage and armed hooliganism after an unidentified man claimed Mammadov had stabbed him with a knife. He rejects the charge. If convicted, Mammadov faces up to eight years in prison. Also on September 21, another court in Baku handed a 30-day jail term to journalist Nurlan Qahramanli on a charge of the distribution of false materials, which the reporter also rejected. To read the original report by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.
Canada Pledges More Military Aid As Kyiv Confirms Hitting Russian Black Sea Fleet HQ
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged an additional C$650 million (US$482 million) for Ukraine during a visit by President Volodymyr Zelensky to Ottawa as Kyiv announced a successful strike on Russia's Black Sea fleet headquarters in occupied Crimea.
The latest Canadian aid, to be delivered over a three-year period, would include some 50 armored vehicles as well as training for F-16 pilots, Trudeau told parliament. Canada has now committed over C$8 billion in aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion.
"Canadian support for Ukraine with weapons and equipment has allowed us to save thousands of lives," Zelenskiy said in an address to Parliament following his meeting with the president.
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The pledge comes fast on the heels of a U.S. announcement made a day earlier while Zelenskiy was in Washington to send more aid to Ukraine.
Kyiv is preparing for a long war with Russia and needs continued Western military and financial support to beat back Moscow's forces. While support has remained high in Canada, home to one of the largest Ukrainian diasporas in the world, it has been sagging in the United States.
The U.S. Congress is currently debating whether to approve another $24 billion aid package to Ukraine that would cover the country's needs through the end of the year.
A $45 billion package approved in December is expected to be depleted soon. A faction within the Republican Party has opposed approving more support to Ukraine, holding up passage of the bill.
Future U.S. aid could hinge on Ukraine's progress in the war.
Missile Strike
A day after Zelenskiy's meetings in Washington with members of Congress, the Ukrainian military announced it had stuck the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Moscow-controlled Crimea.
Video on social media shows the headquarters on fire just as a missile slams into the building, causing an explosion. It is unclear if the fire was caused by a first missile.
"The Ukrainian defense forces carried out a successful attack on the command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in temporarily occupied Sevastopol," the military said.
The Russian Defense Ministry wrote on Telegram on September 22 that a member of the military is missing after the city came under attack by cruise missiles. The ministry had previously announced that one soldier was killed before updating its statement.
WATCH: Ukrainian units have become adept at using captured Russian tanks against Moscow's invading forces.
"Russian air-defense systems shot down five missiles while repelling an attack on Sevastopol," the ministry said. "Due to the attack by cruise missiles, the historical building of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet was damaged."
RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities, a regional outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, reported on September 22 that three powerful explosions were heard in the city, which is home to a large port used by the Russian Navy.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the Ukrainian peninsula illegally seized and annexed by Moscow in 2014, said in a series of Telegram posts that at least one missile launched by "the enemy" struck the headquarters. He did not give details on casualties.
Razvozhayev warned residents of the city on the southwestern tip of the peninsula that "another attack is possible," and urged them to stay in their homes and to not attempt to travel to the city center. He said that roads in the center had been closed.
"Those who are near the fleet headquarters, head to the shelters if you hear the siren," he wrote.
Razvozhayev asked residents not to post photos or videos on social media.
A few hours later, various Telegram channels reported that several explosions were heard in an area close to a thermal power plant in Sevastopol. The blasts occurred while rescue teams were cleaning up debris caused by the missile attack on headquarters.
The Krymsky Veter Telegram channel reported that the thermal power plant in Sevastopol was not damaged. Razvozhayev has yet to comment on the situation.
Ukraine has made striking targets in Crimea a priority in recent months. Russia supplies its forces fighting in southern Ukraine partially from Crimea, where it also has several bases.
To halt military and other critical supplies, like gasoline, from arriving in Crimea, Ukraine has been targeting a bridge connected mainlaind Russia with the peninsula.
Traffic on the bridge was halted on two separate occasions on September 22 amid bombing fears.
Meanwhile, Russia has restarted its systematic campaign of air attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure ahead of winter, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on September 22.
During last winter, Russia targered power plants, transmission lines, and other critical infrastructure necessary to heat homes and buildings in an attempt to freeze Ukrainians into submission. It failed.
Renewed attacks will do no better this year, Shmygal said.
"We are much better prepared and stronger than we were last year," he said.
Ukraine Allows Russia-Related Words To Be Written In All Lowercase
Ukraine's National Commission of Language Standards has allowed for all letters in "Russia," "Russian Federation," "Russian Empire," "Moscow," and other related words to be written in lowercase. The commission said that with the ruling, such usage will not be considered a violation of Ukrainian language standards in unofficial documents. The move was made while taking into account the "heroic fight of the Ukrainian people for Ukraine's independence," the commission said. The decision was made after Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk called on the formalization "of what Ukrainians are already doing." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities, click here.
Scores Of Detentions Reported In Yerevan As Protesters Aim To Oust Armenian Prime Minister
YEREVAN -- Dozens of people have been detained as anti-government protests continued in the Armenian capital on September 22.
Armenian police said after noon local time that 84 people had been detained and charged with disobeying police orders. Armenian opposition groups later claimed some 350 supporters had been detained.
The developments came after opposition leaders called for street blockades and other protest actions to be held on September 22 in an effort to force Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian from power.
Protesters have vowed to continue their action until Pashinian is removed and have said they plan to disrupt a meeting of his cabinet expected later in the day.
Police, who have used stun grenades during clashes with demonstrators since protests began in Yerevan on September 20, had warned that they would implement "special measures" if the clashes continued.
Police reportedly detained one of the protest organizers, Andranik Tevanian, during the demonstrations on September 22. The former parliamentarian was released after being questioned by the Investigative Committee.
Tevanian said during demonstrations on September 21 that "with disciplined and united efforts" Pashinian's ouster as prime minister "will happen in a very short time, even within days."
A son of Armenia's former President Robert Kocharian, Levon Kocharian, was among the detained protesters. His lawyer said law enforcement officers "severely beat" his client during his apprehension.
Pashinian has come under criticism for the government's response to Azerbaijan's lightning offensive earlier this week against Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani territory that has a large ethnic Armenian population.
Azerbaijan has claimed that the offensive, which it describes as an "anti-terrorist operation," has brought the breakaway region back under its control.
Pashinian told his government on September 22 that Yerevan would accept an influx of ethnic Armenians if they chose to leave Nagorno-Karabakh, but that such a massive resettlement would only occur if it became impossible for them to remain there.
Demonstrators have decried what they call inadequate government support for the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, while opposition leaders have announced plans to initiate impeachment proceedings against Pashinian.
As anti-government demonstrators blocked roads and assembled in Yerevan's central Republic Square on the morning of September 22, Pashinian expressed hope that ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh can remain there.
WATCH: Thousands of ethnic Armenians gathered at Nagorno-Karabakh's only airport where Russian peacekeepers are based. They were seeking protection and possible transit to Armenia following two days of fighting.
Azerbaijan, meanwhile, has reportedly indicated it envisages an amnesty for Armenian fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh who give up their arms amid a tentative cease-fire that stopped the fighting, which broke out when Azerbaijani forces launched a 24-hour military offensive on September 19-20.
"Even with regard to former militaries and combatants, if they can be classified in such a way, and even for them we are envisaging an amnesty or alluding to an amnesty as well," Hikmet Hajiyev, a foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev president, told Reuters.
Hajiyev also said that ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have asked for humanitarian aid, which he said would begin to arrive on September 22. Media reports said at least four trucks with aid were seen headed toward Nagorno-Karabakh along the Agdam corridor that runs through Azerbaijan.
Hajiyev said that Baku seeks the peaceful reintegration of Karabakh Armenians.
The ethnic Armenian leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh said on September 22 that an agreement had also been reached for humanitarian aid to be trucked in from Armenia. The leadership said, however, that there had been no deal on security guarantees sought by Karabakh Armenians in exchange for giving up their weapons, or regarding a possible amnesty proposed by Baku.
On September 21, representatives of Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian leadership of the breakaway region failed to reach a breakthrough during closely watched "reintegration" talks in the western Azerbaijani city of Yevlax.
The two sides exchanged accusations and denials over reports of gunfire and apparent cease-fire violations in Nagorno-Karabakh's de facto capital, Stepanakert, but more meetings are expected.
Separatist leaders in Nagorno-Karabakh said in a statement following the meeting that they were ready to continue talks with Azerbaijani authorities.
"The parties especially stressed the need to discuss all existing issues in a peaceful environment, noting the readiness to continue meetings," the statement said.
Pashinian said on September 22 that the situation remains tense in Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but which has enjoyed de facto independence since breaking away in a war in the 1990s.
During a short but bloody war in 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured much of the territory as well as seven surrounding districts that had been controlled since the 1990s by ethnic Armenians with Yerevan's support.
Some 120,000 ethnic Armenians live in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Pashinian on September 22 expressed optimism that they can get a real opportunity to return to their homes. At the same time, Pashinian noted a dire humanitarian crisis continues in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In a nationwide address on September 21, Aliyev declared victory in the offensive launched by his forces on September 19 after Baku accused "Armenian sabotage groups" for two separate deadly explosions in areas of Nagorno-Karabakh that are under the control of Russian peacekeepers.
The same day, UN Security Council members including the United States, Turkey, Russia and France called for peace, while Armenian and Azerbaijani officials traded barbs.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoian, who called for the emergency meeting, accused Baku of an "unprovoked and well-planned military attack" and said Azerbaijan was likely to use force against civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh again unless prevented by global powers.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov countered by accusing Yerevan of spreading misinformation, insisting that Baku had carried out an anti-terrorism operation against Armenian forces.
The offensive was halted on September 20 after Karabakh's ethnic Armenian leadership accepted a cease-fire proposal by the Russian peacekeeping mission, although sporadic fighting has been reported.
Nagorno-Karabakh human rights ombudsman Gegham Stepanian has said that at least 200 people, including 10 civilians, were killed and more than 400 others were wounded in the fighting.
RFE/RL could not independently confirm the casualty figures.
Azerbaijan's Prosecutor-General's Office on September 21 said six Russian peacekeepers had been killed during Baku's military offensive, five "by mistake" by Azerbaijani forces and one by Karabakh Armenian fighters.
With reporting by Reuters and TASS
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Long delays at airports across the country have shown the public that the across-the-board spending cuts will have real world effects.
Predictably, lawmakers are expressing outrage at the situation -- which both they and President Obama opened the door to when they agreed to the so-called sequester in the first place and then failed to reach agreement on how to replace it.
Set to unfold over the next few months, the cuts are like a "slow motion train wreck," said Steve Bell, senior director of the economic policy project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "The pain will increase and become more and more apparent to the general public."
With the exception of countrywide airport delays, the most noticeable effects may be more local than national. The annual Fleet Week in New York City has been canceled, which will reduce expected city revenues. Towns and cities where the Department of Defense is a major employer or supplier of contracts may take a hit as civilian workers are furloughed without pay and local sub-contractors see their workload reduced.
And unless Congress acts to repeal or replace them, the spending cuts' effects could continue well past fiscal year 2013, which ends Sept. 30.
That's because defense and domestic spending will be subject to even lower spending caps than they are this year.
There is one important difference, however.
The sequester that went into effect on March 1 for 2013 required agencies for the most part to make across-the-board cuts without discretion, in essence cutting funding for the best and most essential functions by the same amount as everything else.
For fiscal year 2014, which starts Oct. 1, agencies will have more flexibility in how they allocate funding.
That may mean some agencies can do more to protect their workforce from furloughs or layoffs -- and taxpayers from disrupted services. But some might not be able to entirely.
But right now, the officials who run federal agencies don't have any clarity about what their exact budgets will be next year. Nor may they get much before Oct. 1.
That's because the budget process in Congress is -- surprise! -- stymied. The House and Senate have passed their own 2014 budget proposals, but they're $91 billion apart in spending and qualitatively they're very different.
Technically the two chambers are supposed to reconcile their differences, but there's been no real movement in that direction.
So, Bell said, there's a very good chance Congress will do what it often does: resort to passing a stopgap funding bill known as a continuing resolution to get through the first few months of fiscal year 2014.
Problem is, should Congress extend 2013 spending levels temporarily, that means federal agencies may end up having to make further reductions at some point next year so that their overall spending doesn't violate 2014 spending caps.


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International marriage and living abroad
An interesting article from a lady living in an international marriage has prompted me thinking about her ideas and advice but I quickly realized that she is making false assumptions and leads us to wrong conclusions in general. So I will jot down my ideas here lest I forget them.
You see, her starting point seems to be that we need to discuss where to live and how to organize our life together if we are from different countries and cultures. On the surface, it seems like a really reasonable idea and then all the other things follow naturally: pick a safe country, make sure you get enough money to afford a good living standard, bla-bla-bla.
No. This is all wrong because it places us, men, squarely on the playing ground of women. Those are their values, their interests: comfort, safety, sufficient supplies to grow children and so on. All of those things do not matter if I come to ask the question that matters: I am a man and I have a purpose in life, would I sell my soul for more money, better climate or safer environment? Quite often, nowadays, men tend to answer "yes" to that question and in doing so they seize to be men proper and become surrogate women. And this is wrong.
A man, a proper grown up man, usually has ideas that are bigger than the minutiae of the current situation and living conditions. The man wants to conquer the world, create something monumental, change something grandiose in its momentum. The scale may be different depending on the man and his environment, but the ideas are always such that they surpass all this trivia of "where do we live and what will we eat tomorrow".
Over the years, I myself have moved several times quite monumentally, changing countries and continents, disposing of everything I had collected and built. It was never to move where "the grass is greener" but always is to where my work and my interests take me. And I am sure that any man worth his salt will certainly want to do the same. Perhaps not all will act on it, but want they will.
So, the only thing I can tell to all of you girls out there who consider a marriage in general and an international marriage in particular: if you find a real man, your man will go wherever his passion takes him. You, sweet creations, will have to follow your men. Whether it is to the better or to the worse, you must be prepared to follow him and make the best out of whatever conditions you… -->continue reading →