text:
NC trio assaulted, kidnapped pair in dispute over drugs, deputies say
by: WNCT
NEWPORT, N.C. (WNCT) – Three Carteret County residents were arrested Monday and charged with kidnapping and assaulting two people in Newport in a dispute over money and illegal drugs, officials say.
The Carteret County Sheriff's Office says on the morning of Friday, April 19, detectives began investigating a kidnapping after a man called 911.
The man said he escaped from the home of Dennis Franklin Graham on Carl Garner Road in Newport, where he and a female were bound with duct tape and held against their will, deputies said.
Detectives say the two victims, Shawn Marshall, 25, and Brittany Katen, 27, were assaulted with a handgun, shotgun, and razor knife, and bound with duct tape in a dispute over money and drugs the three suspects said the pair had stolen from them.
Terrance Lee Jones, 28, of Gosling Lane, Beaufort was charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, one count of sexual battery and is being held on a $175,000 bond.
Cade Russell Jones, 28, of Old Winberry Road, Newport was charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of assault by pointing a gun and is being held on a $1 million bond (non-related charged included).
Thomas Wayne Willis, 41, of Earl Avenue, Beaufort was charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and is being held on an $85,000 bond.
Carteret County detectives are still investigating the kidnapping and assault and say more suspects may be arrested in this case.


There are many Burke Pest Control Companies that make big promises but few that deliver. Bugs in the house are as annoying as rain during an outdoor wedding. While you can't stop the rain, you can stop the bugs. If you're annoyed with the underworld creatures making your house their home, it's time to pick up the phone and make the easiest decision you'll have all week. Call now, operators are standing by.
If you have termites, there is no time to mess around. When your Pest Control specialist comes in for their annual bug-killing visit in Burke, VA ask them to see if termite control is something you need to be concerned about. Catching termites early is a great way to stop long-term damage, and knowing early can be the key to controlling long term damage. If you've got a problem it's time to get off the couch and make the call that could save your home.
Mice are easy to get in the house and hard to get rid of. While the fuzzy creatures might be cute for a moment, the risk of disease is great and it's wise to get rid of them before their fuzzy cousins join them. If Pest control in Burke, VA is a concern then it's time to make the call. Your local specialist can get rid of the mice and keep your family safe.
If you've got a Pest Control problem and don't know what to do, it's high time you contact the best Pest Control specialist in Burke, VA. If you have mice in the house, an annoying rodent in the back yard or wasps and other bugs flying around the house, it's time to do something about it. Bug bombs don't work, and sprays and other remedies work for a short time, but the best pest control is going to exterminate your problem and keep it exterminated.
Got a bug job? Your local exterminator in Burke, VA can help. Pest Control is a big job if you're trying to do it yourself, but the local professional can be in and out of your house in a matter of minutes. As quick as the exterminator comes, so to do the bugs that have been driving you crazy begin to fall. If you're tired of spiders, or mice or backyard rodents, call your Pest Control specialist now.


Do you have junk, trash, or garbage at your residence and don't know how to get rid of it?
residence can cause serious problems.
Not only are garbage and junk major eyesores, they can also attract insects and pests, encourage moisture accumulation and mold growth, and develop unpleasant odors.
Make a proactive decision to protect and improve your home by calling on us to help you get rid of your trash and junk quickly and easily. To accommodate all of our customers' needs, we are happy to remove junk directly from your basement, junk room, crawl space, storage area, or anywhere else that needs to be cleared.
We clear trash and junk from areas as small as a crawl space and as large as a full-sized room. At United, our goal is to help you declutter your space and improve your home environment with our versatile junk removal services.
With our lack of restrictions on which items we are able to pick up and haul away, we are the best. If you don't want it, we will get rid of it. If you're in the Newport News area, give us a call today to discuss your junk removal and get a free estimate for the services you need.
You will be contacted as soon as possible. Call 757-838-0118 for immediate service.


Since the early age of 10, Lydia Luebke knew the answer to the question – "What are you going to do when you grow up?" She has always enjoyed working with animals. A student at UW-Sheboygan, she plans to major in Animal Science, with a career goal of becoming a large animal veterinarian.
What surprised you most about the UW-Sheboygan campus? What surprised me the most about campus is the amazing places to study. There are several nooks and crannies that offer peace and quiet when you need to study or work on homework. My favorite place to study is in the engineering wing - due to the big beautiful windows that let in a lot of sunlight.
Outside of being a college student, what takes up your free time? Before school, I work at home on the farm. I am the Calf Operations Manager, which entails feeding milk, crumbles, silage, cleaning and sanitation, and general health of the calves, ages 0-14 months. I also help with anything else that needs to be finished before I leave for school. On campus, I also work two jobs. My first job is with the UW-Sheboygan Foundation. As a scholarship recipient, I was required to serve 10 volunteer hours. This, in turn, led to the job I have today – serving as the Executive Director's Assistant. At the Foundation, I design materials, assist in planning events, perform data entry and organize and update office materials.
My other job is in the UW-Sheboygan Acuity Technology Center, where I serve as a Librarian. As a Librarian, I shelve books, assist community members and close the library during the evening shift. My aunt was the first library intern to work in the Acuity Technology center and I am keeping the tradition alive today.
Outside of college, I am an active member of the Kiel FFA Alumni. As a former high school FFA member, I have learned the importance of agriculture in my community and hope to continue educating the public about agriculture's place in society. With this organization, I assist with organizing high school events and public service acts, such as Adopt-a-Highway.
Plans after UW‐Sheboygan? I plan to attend UW-River Falls to earn my bachelor's degree, before attending UW-Madison to earn my doctorate degree in Large Animal Veterinary Medicine. I would also like to travel to Europe specifically Germany, Switzerland or Austria for vet school clinicals. My goal is to then come back to this area and work for a local practice. Because most of my family lives in this area, it is important for me to be near them.
Also attending: Aidan Bistan (Freshman) in Principles of Hospitality and David Gotwald (Junior) Hotel and Lodging Management.
Plymouth High School recently celebrated Pi Day, having fun and helping others while honoring a key mathematical concept. Pi Day is celebrated each year on March 14 since the decimal approximation of pi begins 3.14. PHS marked the occasion by allowing students to pay for the privilege of pie-ing teachers in the face during an assembly and each other throughout the day.
For more details, please visit the Plymouth High School's website at http://www.plymouth.k12.wi.us.


text:
Winna Góra – wzniesienie (317 m n.p.m.) w południowo-zachodniej Polsce, na Wzgórzach Oleszeńskich, w Masywie Ślęży.

Położenie
Wzniesienie położone jest na obszarze Ślężańskiego Parku Krajobrazowego w środkowej części Wzgórz Oleszeńskich na południe od miejscowości Księginice Małe, między przełęczami Sulistrowicką po południowo-zachodniej stronie a Przełęczą Przemiłowską po północno-wschodniej stronie.

Wzniesienie zbudowane jest ze skał metamorficznych, serpentynitów. Jest to góra w kształcie kopca o stromych zboczach południowych i północnych oraz z łagodnymi zboczami północno-wschodnimi i południowo-zachodnimi podkreślonymi przełęczami, z wyraźnie zaznaczoną kopulastą częścią szczytową. Wzniesienie w całości porośnięte jest lasem regla dolnego. U podnóża góry położone są miejscowości: u północnego podnóża Przemiłów, a u południowego Karolin.

Ciekawostka
Przedwojenną Winną Górą (niem. Weinberg) określany był nieodległy Gozdnik, sama zaś Winna Góra (obecna) nie posiadała przed wojną specyficznej nazwy, mimo, iż jest o 2 metry wyższa od swojego sąsiada.

Szlaki turystyczne
 Strzelin - Pęcz - Piotrowice - Zielenice - Suchowice - Jordanów Śląski - Glinica - Winna Góra - Gozdnik - Przełęcz Sulistrowicka - Przełęcz Słupicka - Radunia - Przełęcz Tąpadła - Ślęża - Sobótka-Górka

Przypisy

Szczyty Masywu Ślęży

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Most small businesses are careful about what type of marketing strategies they invest in. When you have a limited marketing budget, it's important that you spend it wisely to get the most for your money. Marketing through social media is one of the most versatile and cost-effective strategies that small businesses can use to reach their target audience and boost sales over time. That's why 97% of marketers are using social media to reach their audiences.
What does it take to do that? Simply put, you have to take a step back for a moment. You have to analyze and understand the basic mechanics of your message and how to effectively reach a larger audience without losing your shirt. The secret to all of this? No matter what marketing strategy you use, if you don't have an effective sales funnel and optimize your conversions, you'll just be throwing money away.
Traditional advertising techniques include print and television advertising. The Internet has already overtaken television as the largest advertising market. Web sites often include the banner or pop-up ads. Social networking sites don't always have ads. In exchange, products have entire pages and are able to interact with users. Television commercials often end with a spokesperson asking viewers to check out the product website for more information. While briefly popular, print ads included QR codes on them. These QR codes can be scanned by cell phones and computers, sending viewers to the product website. Advertising is beginning to move viewers from the traditional outlets to the electronic ones.
They start a few social media channels because it's cheap, and it's what everyone else does. Without investing in social media strategy, however, they rarely make a big impact. They post irregularly, rarely engage with followers and don't develop a sophisticated voice. Social media remains essentially just a way for them to throw ads at customers now and then. And when that strategy doesn't yield results, they put even less effort into it.
2. Product categories with varying margins. If you have many products, your margins on each one will likely vary. Electronics might have a tight margin, while home decor may have more leeway. If you are looking to establish a flat commission structure — i.e., a set revenue-share percentage, no matter what item the affiliate sells — then evaluate what your product mix is. What percentage of your sales are low margin? What percentage are high margin? From here, develop a blended commission rate that will be profitable for both you and your affiliate.
It also shows that you need substantial traffic to make much money through advertising. At a CPM Of £10 with 2 ad units on the site, you would make just £4,000 per month even with a million page views per month for which you serve paid ads to 20% of the audience. Set this to 100% if you are selling all your ad inventory, as for example through Google Adsense.


Heather and Ethan's low key, fun engagement session taking a stroll around Verona Park one cold Winter. Thanks Heather and Ethan for being good sport on a cold day, we can not wait to see you guys again at your parents' backyard wedding!!


Nathaniel Logar is an Emmett/Frankel Fellow in Environmental Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law for 2017-2019. He previously clerked for the Honorable Eric A. Aarseth for the Anchorage Superior Court in Alaska.
Logar earned his B.S. in Geology from Brown University, his Ph.D. in Science and Technology Policy from University of Colorado, and his J.D. from University of Colorado Law School. He was Lead Articles Editor for the Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Review. During law school, he received the Colorado Law Merit Scholarship and the Gordon and Welda Allott Scholarship.


text:
Q: Download a static file in Silverlight 3 without using SaveFileDialog I have a Silverlight 3 app that that will let users download PDF files of static content.  The problem is that the SaveFileDialog in Silverlight 3 does not allow you to specify the default filename that appears in the dialog box.  This means that users have to type the name themselves and this is confusing for them since they are accustomed to a "simple" save dialog which only asks them to either Save or Cancel.  All users are using IE7 or IE8.
I've tried to find a solution by the following methods:

*

*Open the file new window using HtmlPage.Window.Navigate hoping to prompt a download (which obviously fails since it opens the file in a new window)

*Using the SaveFileDialog (which we don't want to use for the aforementioned reason)

How can a file be downloaded in Silverlight such that a user-initiated save dialog only gives users the option to Save/Cancel instead of prompting to type a file name?

A: Did you try setting the default extension on the SaveFileDialog? See MSDN documentation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.savefiledialog.defaultext%28VS.95%29.aspx

A: This is a well-known issue with SL3 SaveFileDialog. Unfortunately, there is currently nothing on the horizon that says it will get fixed other than someone at MSFT saying something to the effect of "if we have some time, we'll fix it for SL4". There is a bit of a riot by developers over at http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/p/117702/265216.aspx.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


How well do you understand how your team is working as a group? Do you have a person on your team that others don't want to run into when making a cup of coffee? Is there someone on your team that when they start speaking in a meeting, people skype a snarky remark to a colleague? Do people have nicknames for others on your team that they wouldn't be happy to share? If you are aware of these types of issues and you are doing nothing about it, you are delaying inevitable conflict, while allowing the Climate to suffer. You are allowing the team to perform ineffectively. Most importantly, you are diminishing yourself, in the eyes of the team, as a leader and manager. You need to address these small issues of Climate as you become aware of them, making your actions visible and clear. This will prevent the issues from becoming bigger and becoming part of a systematic culture where such behaviors are assumed to be implicitly tolerated by management. If you are unaware of any such issues, you want to challenge yourself to question your understanding of how your team is working. Are you sufficiently engaged on a day to day basis with all members of the team? Do you connect with team members on a level where you are having open and honest communication with them? Are you are getting a clear picture of their contributions to the Climate of the team? Because if you are not, there may be issues developing, and you need to become aware of them on a timely basis. As a leader, you are usually concerned with how you can impact Climate from the top down. But you also must be prepared for the impacts on Climate from the bottom up. It is the responsibility of the effective leader to be on the lookout for possible negative vibrations coming from the team itself.
Get our guide to creating an idea-friendly, energizing climate.


text:
Go Around Jokes
My friend and I used to get hammered and go around pissing off balconies
We'd stumble down the street until we found a good one. Then we were all like "Hey balcony, you're a real piece of shit."
Does anyone go around looking for particularly somber grass?
Just so they can say, "This is a grave yard."
Astronomers got tired after watching the moon go around the earth for 24 hours...
So they decided to call it a day
Sometimes I go around to random windows computers and delete the default browser
Just to take the edge off
If I go around spanking statues,
Does that mean I've hit rock bottom?
The Pope decides to go around Rome incognito
He steps into his limousine. All the windows are tinted obviously, so no one can see who's inside. The Pope tells the driver to go around Rome at once. However, the driver is really nervous, because it's the first time he takes the Pope around all alone; usually, His Holiness is surrounded by a doze...
Why do the Politsiya (Russian federal agency) always go around in groups of three?
One can read, one can write, and one keeps an eye on the two dangerous intellectuals.
Why did Bryan Cranston dress up as a priest and go around exorcising nuns' clothing?
He was breaking bad habits.
It's that time of the year when many Americans go around in public pretending to be something they're not, with many choosing to appear as monsters and ghouls.
But enough about the elections, it's also Halloween.
It's ridiculous that the pope has to go around surrounded by armed guards these days
I know he's a priest but he's not going to do anything out in public
Why did the chicken go around the world?
Because his name was Marco Pollo..
What's it called when you go around looking for stuff to buy that's made in America?
Antiquing.
How did the captain of the u-boat announce to his crew that there were no more passports to go around?
This sub has officially run out of IDs.
What do you call a bunch of swords that go around fucking people without their consent?
Rapiers.
A guy who works in a big city has been feeling super stressed so he decides to ask for some time off in the countryside.
He goes to his boss and asks for 5 days off so he can relax and enjoy a countryside vacation, just him and his dog. His boss says that's ok, so he goes home, packs some stuff, puts his dog in the car and starts driving.
After a couple hours of driving he finds himself in one of those "endless...
A blonde is looking to make some extra cash
She decided that she would go around her neighborhood and try to do some odd jobs here and there to make some
She goes over to her richest neighbors house thinking that he would have money to spare and his house was so big that he was bound to have something to do
She goes up the huge ...
At recess, all the children are playing outside.
Little Mohammed goes to the swings and asks Little Jack if he can play on the swings too.
"No, go away," replied Little Jack. "You're different and weird."
A bit shaken, Little Mohammed goes to ask Little Suzie if he can play with her on the monkey bars.
"No thanks, I'd rather n...
Haven't seen this one on reddit yet
An Englishman, a Frenchman, and an American are in separate planes flying over there respective countries.
The Englishman looks out the window and tosses out a crate of tea and states "I give the gift of tea to my people".
The Frenchman looks out his window and tosses a case of crosses out...
An old joke from about 100 years ago that's actually somewhat amusing
A Milwaukee man and his wife recently received a call from an old friend whom they had not seen for years. Just before the three sat down to a little supper in the German style, the wife, seizing a favorable opportunity, whispered to her husband:
"We have only three bottles of beer in the hou...
There were 2 brothers, one who could see what animals were thinking but couldn't speak, the other could see what fellow humans were thinking and could speak
One day they get an idea, they would go around visiting people with pets, the one who could read animal minds would find anything the pet disliked about their life, then the one who could read human minds would read their brother's mind and inform the owner.
They both begin their business an...
Some good tips for your English class.
1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It...
The lawyer is painting his house, and a hobo comes around and asked if he could do something or in a few dollars.
The lawyer says, "sure, take a can of paint and go around to the back of the house and paint my porch."
The hobo does this and 15 minutes later comes back and says he's finished. The lawyer says, "already?" And the hobo says," yeah, but it isn't a Porsche, it's a Mercedes!"
Three blondes are lost in a forest.
When they reach to a giant lake. It is to big to go around it, so they want to go straight trough it. And than, a good fairy appears. She says that she will give one wish to each of the blondes. First one wishes for a boat. With the boat, she gets to the middle of the lake, and there is a tiny vorte...
Ion leaves his small eastern European village and becomes 'John' - a business man. After some time of great success he returns to his village and offers each villager $100
Ion leaves his small eastern European village and becomes 'John' - a business man. After some time of great success he returns to his village and offers each villager $100. Everyone is happy and they all praise John for being a great guy. Next year he dos the same, all villagers happy again. The thi...
These 2 guys were walking on a road when, the see a huge hole.
Guy 1 : Let's throw something in there to see if there is an end.
Guy 2 : Sure
They throw a small rock, yet they here nothing, now a 1x1 foot rock, still nothing, but they see a log and grab it from both ends, and to...
What do the starship Enterprise and toilet paper have in common?
They both go around Uranus looking for cling-ons
Johnny got a train set for christmas
Johnny got a train set for Christmas, his mom was in the kitchen and his dad was at work as Johnny played with his trains. He makes the train go around and around the track and stops at the train station and says
"All the assholes that want to get on, get on. All the assholes that want to ge...
In 1860, a man was given the job of teaching English to Indians (as they were called at the time).
He takes one of the Indian tribesmen out to the woods and is pointing things out and saying the word for it. "Tree. Stream. Rocks."
They go around a bend and right there in the trail there's another Indian humping a squaw's brains out. The English speaking man turns red and says "uhhhh......
Nine months into his presidency...
Nine months into his presidency Donald Trump asked his advisors to poll the American people to find out what they thought America would be like by the next election.
After a few weeks fact finding the advisors returned with an answer. They said "Mr President, there are two prevailing views t...
A lion and his wife where sitting around one morning when a fox came by
... and started cursing "Fuck the lion, king of the jungle my ass, fuck this fuck that..." and then ran off, the lioness looks at the lion and says : "aren't you going to do something?!" and the lion said: "Just leave him alone"
The next morning same thing happens, and the lioness asks the li...
I said to my girlfriend....
I said, "Isabelle i'll never get over you, i'll have to get up and go around"
A bum comes up to the front door of a very expensive house and taps gently on the door
When the rich owner answers, the bum asks him, "Please, sir, could you give me something to eat? I haven't had a good meal in several days."
The owner says, "I have made a fortune in my lifetime by supplying goods for people. I've never given anything away for nothing. However, if you go aro...
Religion is like a man's penis.
It's okay to have one, it's fine to be proud of it, but don't go around shoving it in people's faces and jamming it down children's throats.
Man dies on a building site
The other builders gather around and discuss who should be the one to go and break it John's (dead guy) wife.
One volunteers, saying he is "good with this sensitive stuff".
A short while later he returns with 2 crates of beer.
"Where'd you get them", asks one of the builders...
For anyone who gets confused about proper grammar and style in writing
I offer from the Internet, the following tip sheet, "How to Write Good":
- It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
- Contractions aren't necessary
- The passive voice is to be avoided.
- Prepositions are not the words to end sentences with.
- Be more or less specific.
Warnings about motorcycles
Every time people find out I drive a motorcycle they always freak out and tell me about sometime someone they know got in an accident.
I don't go around telling pregnant women that my dad left
A poor little boy writes a letter to Santa
A little boy from a very, VERY poor family writes a letter to Santa: "Dear Santa, I'm very poor and I don't have much. My dad passed away last year and my mom doesn't spend much time with me as she's usually very tired after drinking wine. I know that you brought all those rich kids from school plen...
Yo momma is so fat ...
* when she wants to take a bath, She fills up the tub and THEN turns on the water
* I crashed into her for 15 minutes
* I took a picture of her last Christmas and it's still printing.
* She farted in the pool and flooded New Orleans
* when she steps on a scale it yells, ...
Socks are like sex
There's plenty to go around, yet I never seem to have any.
A man and his wife were riding to town on a horse driven carriage....(old one i heard from my grandpa)
they come upon a snake in the road. The horse refuses to move any further so the man gets down, throws the snake in the woods and gets the horse moving "that's one" he says. They continue down the path until they come upon a fallen tree, and the horse won't go around. So the man pushes and pushes on...
*LONG* 3 men went jungle tracking, got lost and captured by a tribe of cannibals.
3 men went jungle tracking, got lost and captured by a tribe of cannibals. They all pleaded with the tribe leader to let them go.
Since Christmas is around the corner, the tribe leader is in a good mood and promise to let them go if they can individually complete 2 task given by the tribe lea...
A man is driving past a farm when he runs over a rooster...
He feels bad about it, so he collects the rooster and goes to knock on the door of the farmhouse.
When the farmer opens the door, the man says, "I'm afraid I've run over your rooster, it was out in the road. I really do apologize, and I'm more than happy to replace him."
The farmer ha...
A father-son hike
A Father and his son are hiking in the grand canyon. The go around some bends, over some hills, and through some nooks. They round the bend and see a native american sitting on a rock.
The father points to the native american and says, "son, native americans have the best memory of any people...
Lil Johnny in Class
The teacher begins the new week by deciding to go around the room and ask each student to cover her a word that starts with a designated letter. She asks for a volunteer for the letter A and Lil Johnny is the first to shoot his hand up.
The teacher thinks, "Johnny always has the most perver...
A guy walks into a bar, sits down and orders a beer. As he is sitting there he catches sight of the guy sitting next to him and notices the man looks exactly like Adolf Hitler. The man ignores this at first and quietly drinks his beer.
After some time his curiosity gets the better of him, so...
Once there was a man named Zade Zazinski...
Once there was a man named Zade Zazinski. Zade was always last for everything due to his name. Everything always seemed to run out before Zade received his portion. Schoolbooks, supplies, food rations. Disappointed, Zade joined the military out of high school thinking that he would be treated eq...
A rich guy hires an out of work Mexican to do some work.
The guy hands him a 5 gallon bucket of green paint and says, "Go around the side of the house, and paint my porch."
The Mexican knocks on the door a few hours later and says, "I'm finished mister - but I have to tell you, that was no porch, that was a Mercedes."
Johnny on his first day of high school
Johnny sat in a circle with the rest of his new classmates on his first day of high school.
Teacher: Now kids we're going to play a game so we learn a bit about each other. We're going to go around the circle and each person is going to tell me their name, favourite animal and who they'd take...
So this guy is really drunk
So I'm at this bar and the guy next to me is really drunk. The bartender has really had enough of him, so I say to the guy, "Come on, guy, let's go, I'll drive you home." He's pretty drunk and just nods and barks a little. So I pull him out of the booth and he can't even walk, I'm trying to guide...
Blonde attempts Suicide
One day she comes home and says "Today is the day I will hang myself." She leaves behind a suicide note for her husband on the table which read "I'm sorry honey, I cannot go on any longer." The husband comes home and sees the note and runs outside in a panic. He sees his wife hanging from a tree. "H...
The Donut Joke
First time posting, but this is my favorite joke. It takes some acting, and can only be used in certain situations, but I've had rooms of people rolling on the floor.
This joke works best when you are in a group of people all trading jokes. When it comes to your turn, tell the first part:...
As soon as you take a single slice of pizza...
...there's no longer enough to go around.
Moses is walking down the mountain with the ten commandments...
... as he looks over them he thinks this is just too much to ask a society to do all at once. He has a plan! Just go around the world and give out one commandment at a time.
So he travels to France. "Hello people of France, I want to give you a commandment from God." The French say "Okay we'r...
Did you guys read the article in the paper about what's been happening at the local supermarket?...
Well, in order to cut costs a week or so ago they bought about ten shiny new robots to go around and collect the shopping carts and trash the customers leave behind in the parking lots, basically replacing some of the jobs human employees get paid to do. The article goes on to talk about how, after ...
A newly made fairy godmother is walking through the forest...
when she hears the sound of crying. She follows the sound and discovers a yellow frog. "Why are you crying?" she asks the frog. "Look at me," he responds, "I'm yellow all over. The other frogs laugh at me and I just can't take it anymore."
"Well," says the fairy godmother, "I just happen...
rotatespreadmoveturntravelscrewwhirlgoget aroundrevolvedoshort-circuitspinavoidcomecomingallturningwaitbackaboutaircraftdispersereelwheelanswersufficeswirldistributeservejustupgoingoutresttimetheyfewkeepstillwaywhereeverynowtakegonegetinsteadtothere

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Enter your Exchange 2016 product key. Applies to: Exchange Server 2016. Summary: Learn ways to enter your Exchange 2016 product key. If you're looking for product key information about Office, we've also provided links to get you to the correct articles for that. A product key tells Exchange Server 2016 that you've purchased a Standard or Enterprise Edition license. If the product key you purchased is for an Enterprise Edition license, it lets you mount more than five databases per server in addition to everything that's available with a Standard Edition license. If you want to read more about Exchange licensing, see Exchange 2016 editions and versions. If you don't enter a product key, your server is automatically licensed as a trial edition. The trial edition functions just like an Exchange Standard Edition server and is helpful if you want to try out Exchange before you buy it, or to run tests in a lab. The only difference is that you can only use an Exchange server licensed as a trial edition for up to 180 days. If you want to keep using the server beyond 180 days, you'll need to enter a product key or the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) will start to show reminders that you need to enter a product key to license the server. We've noticed some visitors to this page are looking for information on how to install or activate Office. If that's you, check out these pages. If you want to enter a product key on an Exchange 2010 or Exchange 2013, check out these pages. If you want to enter a product key on an Exchange 2016 server, you're in the right place! Read on. Open the EAC by browsing to Client Access server name /ecp. Enter your user name and password in Domain\user name and Password . and then click Sign in. Go to Servers Servers . Select the server you want to license, and then click Edit. (Optional) If you want to upgrade the server from a Standard Edition license to an Enterprise Edition license, on the General page, select Change product key . You'll only see this option if the server is already licensed. On the General page, enter your product key in the Enter a valid product key text boxes. If you licensed an Exchange server running the Mailbox server role, do the following to restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. Open Control Panel . go to Administrative Tools . and then open Services. Right-click on Microsoft Exchange Information Store and click Restart.


Inventors of "truc chi", an artistic medium in which the artist's designs are printed onto a special form of paper, are organising camps for artists and students in Hue.
At the camps, artists and students get the chance to learn the concepts and techniques of "truc chi" paper making and to create their own art works.
Bang said the camps in Hue are part of a long-term plan to make the paper popular among domestic artists and art institutions around the country.
One camp is being held in the "truc chi" Workshop located behind the former Imperial Palace in Hue, accommodating artists who are already established in their careers. Another camp is organised for art and architecture students at the Hue University of Arts.
Architecture students are included as the paper suits architectural needs. It can serve as a new material for walls and as luxurious home decoration items, according to Ngo Dinh Bao Vi, head of the "truc chi" Workshop.
At the camps, which began on December 10, artists are creating work with the paper. An exhibition will be held on December 25 in the city for showcasing the work. At the camps, the organisers have prepared pulps of different plants, including bamboo, paper mulberry and banana trees, and the necessary tools for the artists to create.
Veteran painter Cong Tang Ton Nu Tuyet Mai, who is a retired painting lecturer at Hue University of Arts and a camp attendee, said the paper is fascinating her. "With my ling career, I had chance to work on different materials, from silk, stone and bronze to pottery. I find this [type of paper] is easy to access and work on," she said.
Artist Bang initiated the making of "truc chi" paper while he was studying in Thailand. The making of "truc chi" uses pulp of bamboo or other plants and techniques that resembled the initial steps of making the Vietnamese paper do.
Later, the artists spray to create graphic patterns on the sheet and dry it to complete the art work. The paper has become the raw material for many other artistic and daily-use products, like lanterns, wallets, candle boxes, handbags, wall paintings and table calendars.
Visitors are all welcome to visit the camp at No 5 Thach Han Street for free. There, they can talk to the inventor, view the artwork and create their own products to bring home.


Stay with us on NYE and receive a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine!
Short tram ride to the famous LunaPark.
Tram ride to Crown Casino and Southbank.
Tram ride to St Kilda street market on Sundays.
16 kilometres from Tullamarine Airport.
Tram ride to Exhibition Buildings.
13 kilometres from Melbourne Zoo.
Short Tram ride to Queen Victoria Market.
Short Tram ride to the State Museum.
Only 10 minutes from CBD.


Bikes are vehicles of freedom. Bikes are a free ride with the wind blowing through your hair, the sun warming your skin and the sight of roads or trails yours to explore. Ride to school without waiting for the bus. Ride downtown to visit the museum. Is the ride too far? Strap it to the front of the city bus or take it on the train. Do you need to go grocery shopping? No problem! Carry your items in your backpack, put them in a basket or on a trailer. Riding your bicycle will cut down on energy use, save you money and help the environment. Since their first invention in 1817, bikes have been called 'hobby horses', 'fast foot' and 'two wheelers'. Today cities all over the world are filled with bikers. Bikes reduce automobile traffic, carbon dioxide emissions, gas usage, and keep money in your pocket! Some cities, like Paris, have bikes for rent around every street corner; pick up a bike, ride across town, leave the bike there. Other Cities like Hong Kong and Beijing have pedicabs or rickshaws. Biking is also a great form of exercise! Exercise reduces weight and helps to cut stress. Riding your bike gives you time to think and to see your city. Why not take a ride today? Watch the Cyclemon Experiment.
A bike can be a very personal and valuable possession. Many people customize their bikes to fit their personalities as well as their performance needs. What do you use your bike for? Riding to work, shopping, going to the beach, exercise or fun? If you are transporting things, what do you need to carry and how would you do that on your bike in a safe and comfortable manner?
Begin by drawing a picture of your bike. It can be a flat drawing or one in perspective. Next, make a list of the things you need to add to you bike and then draw them where they will be attached. Is it a basket? What color will you make it? What is the pattern of the basket weaving? Are there designs of animals woven into the wire? How about lights? Design and draw a new shape for your light. Is it a streamlined or big and wide to flood the street in front of you? Record your list and your drawings in your journal so you can communicate your ideas to your friends. How do they use their bikes and what ideas did they come up with? Discover what will fit your needs and comfort.
Go to your local bike shop and look around!
Many people don't feel safe biking because of the risk they face on busy streets. Many cities have a bicycle federation that publishes a map of all of the bike trails. Find a map of your neighborhood on-line or in a book. First, locate your home as a starting point and find destinations you want to travel to, like a friend's house, a park, a movie theater or a restaurant. On the map, wider streets are usually the busiest and smaller ones are usually quieter and safer for a bicycle. What streets would you take and why? Would it be safer to simply walk your bike in a high traffic area? How many busy streets will you have to cross and where would you take public transportation? Map out a new and safe bicycle route. Design places where you would like to add a bicycle lane on the road and where would you like a bike trail to be. Design a bike route based on your discoveries! Remember, all maps start by wearing a bike helmet!
Check out one of the world's most famous bike races- the Tour de France.
To encourage others to choose a bike ride over a drive in the car, you will design a bike rack that catches your community's imagination. First, investigate the bike racks in your neighborhood and around your town. What do they have in common? Are they sturdy, resistant to the weather and use, and conveniently located? How many bikes can they hold? Next, find a place in your community that needs a new bike rack. This could be close to a park, a school or a store. Talk to bikers. Ask them where they like to lock their bikes. Watch bikers lock up their bikes at different bike racks and record the positive and negative aspects of each rack type. Create three images of your new bike rack. Will the bike rack look like it is in motion or very strong and stationary? Consider what the bike rack will be made of and how it would stand up and how it would be attached to the ground. Think about how the bike will be locked to the rack. Make certain that it will be easy to lock up but secure enough to hold the bike in place. Choose the best design of the three and draw your new bike rack in plan and in elevation in your journal. Cut a bike out of a catalogue and show how a bike can be locked up to your design. Label the materials that you will use to construct it. Make a place for bikes!
Biking saves money and uses less energy. Check out one of the bike commuting calculators on page c to see how much someone in your family could save by riding a bike to work or to the grocery store. Figure out how much you could save your family if you biked to school instead of riding in a car every day. In the city of Amsterdam, one half of the traffic movements are by bike. There are even bike garages! Biking is efficient, healthy, and environmentally friendly. Biking makes sense!
What is the fasted recorded speed of a human on bicycle?
Name three hand signals that every bicyclist should know.
Which of the following is the most important safety feature on a bike?
The first bicycles were made from steel tubing. What kind of materials do they use today?
Paris Share A Bike Program!


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Statement from the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada on August 31, 2020 Français
OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 31, 2020 /CNW/ - In lieu of an in-person update to the media, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, issued the following statement today:
"There have been 127,940 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 9,117 deaths. 89% of people have now recovered. Labs across Canada tested an average of almost 48,000 people daily over the past week with 0.7% testing positive. An average of 435 new cases have been reported daily during the most recent seven days.
Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, a global event that aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of drug-related death. It is also a day to acknowledge the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury as a result of a drug overdose. The ongoing opioid-related overdose crisis in Canada has claimed the lives of over 15,000 Canadians from all backgrounds since 2016 leaving too many members of communities across the country mourning the loss of loved ones, each with their own unique story.
We know that using drugs while alone is a major risk factor for experiencing a fatal overdose yet the majority of overdose deaths in Canada occur at home alone. Stigma plays a significant role. Negative attitudes towards people who use drugs can lead people to hide their substance use, and this stigma can also prevent people from seeking help. Public health measures designed to reduce the impact of COVID-19 may also increase isolation and create additional barriers for people to access the supports they need. People who use drugs need our compassion and support now more than ever before.
All Canadians have a role to play in helping address the drug overdose crisis:
Know how to recognize the signs of an overdose and what to do if you witness one
Learn about naloxone, why it's safe to use if you suspect an opioid overdose, and where to get a free kit
Learn why stigma is preventing people from accessing help, and what you can do to help reduce the stigma around substance use
For health professionals, learn more about ways to reduce substance use stigma in the health system and compassionate, safe and non-stigmatizing communication tools
Check in regularly on coworkers, friends and family who may be living alone or working from home and get tips on how to talk to a friend or family member about drugs.
In these difficult and unprecedented times, it is important that we recognize substance use disorder as a health and social issue and that we treat people who use drugs with compassion and provide them the support they need. We must continue to work together to prevent overdose deaths and reduce substance-related harms, just as we are working hard to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on Canadians."
SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada
For further information: Media Relations, Public Health Agency of Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]
A wide array of domestic and global news stories; news topics include politics/government, business, technology, religion, sports/entertainment, science/nature, and health/lifestyle....
STATEMENT - Update on the COVID-19 situation in Canada - January 27, 2023
The Public Health Agency of Canada encourages Canadians to start a conversation about healthier living habits and behaviours #OneHabit
Government of Canada Supports the Regina Open Door Society in communicating the importance of staying up to date with COVID-19 Vaccination


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liveUpdates
An Expanding Cemetery
A Desperate Escape From Russia
Russia-Ukraine WarAllies Fail to Reach Agreement on Providing Western Tanks to Ukraine
Published Jan. 20, 2023Updated Jan. 28, 2023
Latest Photos From Ukraine
KharkivWomen serve hot meals at a school for local residents.
Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
KramatorskA crater shell from a rocket explosion near a kindergarten.
Yevgen Honcharenko/EPA, via Shutterstock
BrovaryA memorial from a helicopter crash.
Daniel Cole/Associated Press
KyivEmployees working inside a subway station during an air raid.
Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
Nicole Tung for The New York Times
ToretskResidents fill up water bottles.
ToretskSoldiers play a game of ping pong at a military hospital.
BakhmutResidents flee burning home after Russian shelling.
Anatolii Stepanov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
KamianskeA fisherman walking on the frozen Dnipro river.
Here's what we know:
After a meeting of Ukraine's allies, the U.S. secretary of defense said Germany had not yet made a decision on sending the Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. He added the U.S. had no announcement to make on providing Kyiv with M1 Abrams tanks.
A meeting of Ukraine's allies ends with no consensus on sending Kyiv Western tanks.
European nations that support sending Ukraine tanks denounce the failure to reach a deal to do so.
A Navy SEAL who deserted in 2019 has been killed in Ukraine.
The U.S.'s top general says it would be 'very, very difficult' to eject Russian forces from Ukraine this year.
Video of Serbian mercenaries training with Russian troops stirs anger in Belgrade.
The U.S. will name the Wagner mercenary group a transnational criminal organization.
Leopard 2 tanks could help Ukraine in a new Russian offensive.
Members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base on Friday.Credit...Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images
BERLIN — Western defense officials on Friday failed to reach an agreement on exporting German- or American-made battle tanks to Ukraine, setting back Ukraine's hopes of quickly getting weapons it sees as crucial to its defense against an expected new Russian offensive.
At the end of more than five hours of talks at the U.S.-led meeting of Ukraine's allies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, told reporters that Germany had not yet decided whether to allow its Leopard 2 tanks to be sent to Ukraine. Washington has been reluctant to send its own M1 Abrams tanks, and Mr. Austin added that he had no announcement on whether that stance would change.
Kyiv has been pleading for hundreds of modern Western battle tanks to reinforce its battered fleet of Soviet-era armor. Britain recently agreed to send a small number of its Challenger 2 tanks, in part, it said, to encourage other countries to overcome their months of resistance to donating tanks.
Ukrainian officials had been hopeful that a new deal would be announced on Friday to send Germany's Leopard 2 main battle tank to the battlefield, or at least to allow other countries with those German-made tanks to send them to Ukraine.
But German and American officials negotiated on the matter for days, without success. And the broader circle of 54 countries were unable to devise a plan for other countries to send their own Leopard 2's, which would require Germany's approval.
American and German officials made a point to dismiss any suggestion of acrimony in the impasse, emphasizing they could still someday send tanks and that they had agreed on other efforts to help Ukraine. Mr. Austin maintained that the meeting's attendees were "pushing hard" to meet Ukraine's needs for tanks and armored vehicles, and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, said Germany would offer training on its Leopard tanks and begin an inventory of its tanks, in case of a future deal.
In recent weeks, the West has broken one taboo after another, agreeing to send Patriot missile systems and armored fighting vehicles, despite earlier fears that Russia would see the provision of those weapons as a provocation. But tanks are more powerful battlefield weapons, and likelier to be seen as an escalation.
With concerns growing over an anticipated Russian offensive in the spring or earlier, Britain and other countries pushed for the tanks, with several publicly prodding Germany to make a move.
Pentagon officials have argued that it makes little sense to send the Abrams tanks to Ukraine at this time, because they run on jet fuel rather than diesel and are hard to maintain. U.S. officials are also concerned that Russia might view them as a sign of U.S. escalation, which could undercut the Biden administration's efforts to avoid a broader conflict.
For its part, Germany has been reluctant to send in some of its Leopard 2 tanks without Washington's pledging to send at least a token number of its Abrams tanks.
The absence of an agreement was a setback for Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, had explicitly appealed to those gathered to send tanks.
"Hundreds of thank-yous are not hundreds of tanks," he told the gathering via live video earlier on Friday, speaking in English. "All of us can use thousands of words in discussions, but I cannot use words instead of guns."
He stressed the urgency of Ukraine's need. "Time," he said, "remains a Russian weapon."
Although allies in Europe had been piling pressure on Germany to allow other nations to re-export their own Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Germany's new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, suggested that some countries might be more worried about provoking Russia than they were letting on.
"There is no unified consensus," he told reporters. "The impression that has occasionally been created that there is a united coalition and that Germany is standing in the way is wrong."
Poland, which has been especially vocal on the need to send more powerful weapons, and Finland say they will supply their Leopard tanks if Germany approves.
"Arming Ukraine in order to repel the Russian aggression is not some kind of decision-making exercise," Poland's foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, wrote on Twitter on Friday, in reaction to the absence of an agreement. "Ukrainian blood is shed for real. This is the price of hesitation over Leopard deliveries. We need action, now."
— Erika Solomon and Cassandra Vinograd
Protesters, many of them expatriate Ukrainians, gather outside the chancellery in Berlin, on Friday.Credit...Maja Hitij/Getty Images
The foreign ministers of Poland and Latvia, which both support sending tanks to Ukraine, denounced the failure of that country's allies to reach an agreement on Friday that would allow them to do so.
The lack of an agreement means that European nations, like Poland, that have pledged to send their German-made Leopard 2 tanks must continue to wait for Berlin's permission. German officials have been reluctant to agree without a commitment from the U.S. to send its own M1 Abrams tanks, and American officials made no announcement on Friday about whether they would do so.
"Arming Ukraine in order to repel the Russian aggression is not some kind of decision-making exercise," Poland's foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, said on Twitter. "Ukrainian blood is shed for real. This is the price of hesitation over Leopard deliveries."
Poland threatened last week to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine without the required permission from Berlin if an agreement were not reached. After the failure of the talks among more than 50 defense ministers at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday, the Polish defense minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, expressed hope that a deal could still be brokered.
The foreign minister of Latvia, which has also been advocating for Ukraine to receive Western-made tanks, said after the Ramstein meeting that while military assistance to Kyiv was growing, it was not enough. "Leopard tanks must be provided to Ukraine now!" the minister, Edgars Rinkevics, said on Twitter.
A host of Ukraine's allies have made fresh commitments to sending more military aid in recent days, and the immediate reaction from Kyiv on Friday to the lack of a tank deal appeared muted.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who earlier on Friday told Western defense officials that "hundreds of thank-yous are not hundreds of tanks," said in his nightly address that support for Ukraine remained firm, but emphasized that rapid delivery time of the tanks was crucial.
"Yes, we will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks," Mr. Zelensky said, "but every day we make it more obvious there is no alternative."
Andriy Yermak, the head of Mr. Zelensky's office, said on Telegram that Ukraine was "getting stronger" and that "everything that we haven't received yet, we will receive."
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, shared a collage of photos of the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, appearing stressed. The solution, Mr. Gerashchenko added, was to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
A group of Ukrainian expatriates and supporters in Berlin protested Mr. Scholz's resistance on Friday, carrying signs declaring "Free the Leopards!" and commemorating victims of Russia's war in front of the chancellery building.
🇺🇦 The protest #FreeTheLeopards is taking place right now in front of the 🇩🇪 German chancellery, organised by Ukrainians from @VitscheBerlin and their supporters.
They chant "Leopard delivery for Ukraine!" and call on Scholz to change his stance on the needed combat tanks. pic.twitter.com/eQY9GMrPPY
— Emmanuelle Chaze (@EmmanuelleChaze) January 20, 2023
Germany's Nazi past has led to the country's longstanding reluctance to take leadership on military issues. Concerned about being perceived as escalating the war, Mr. Scholz had insisted that his country would not be the first NATO ally to send tanks into Ukraine. But last week, Britain pledged to send Challenger 2 tanks, adding to the pressure on Mr. Scholz to relent.
The German defense minister, Boris Pistorius, defended his country's stance on Friday, telling reporters there that Kyiv's Western allies were not unified on the issue.
"The impression that has occasionally been created that there is a united coalition and that Germany is standing in the way is wrong," Mr. Pistorius said.
— Anushka Patil
The State of the War
In the East: Russian forces are wrestling for control of villages near the beleaguered city of Bakhmut, which has become a flashpoint in a battle that Moscow views as crucial for its push to seize the Donbas region.
In Kharkiv: Residents have slowly trickled back into Ukraine's second-largest city after Ukrainian forces expelled the Russian military. But signs of the war — and the chance that it might return — are everywhere.
Military Aid: After weeks of tense negotiations, Germany and the United States announced they would send battle tanks to Ukraine. But the tanks won't be the silver bullet that allows Kyiv to win the war.
Corruption Scandal: Amid allegations of government corruption, several top Ukrainian officials were fired. The ouster has renewed questions about how Ukraine's leaders are addressing concerns over aid.
Foreign fighters from Western nations on a mission in Bakhmut in December.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
A former U.S. Navy SEAL who deserted in 2019 was killed in Ukraine this week, the Navy said in a brief statement on Friday.
The SEAL, Daniel W. Swift, died on Wednesday, the Navy said, making him the latest American to be killed in Ukraine, where hundreds of international volunteers have gone to fight in Ukraine's defense.
Mr. Swift's death was first reported by Time, which said he had been fighting with Ukrainian forces. The Navy said he had gone absent without leave and had been listed as an "active deserter" since March 11, 2019.
The U.S. State Department confirmed a "recent death of a U.S. citizen fighting in Ukraine" without naming Mr. Swift, and said it was providing consular assistance to the family.
Navy records show that Mr. Swift was from Oregon and enlisted in 2005. He was a special warfare operator first class and held among his commendations a Legion of Merit award, as well as campaign medals for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Navy SEALS, like other elite commando units, are highly trained and conduct some of the military's most dangerous and secretive missions.
The breadth of the front line in Ukraine, stretching from Kharkiv in the north to Kherson in the south, diminishes the chances for a quick resolution on the battlefield. Credit...Nicole Tung for The New York Times
The top general in the United States said on Friday that it would be "very, very difficult" for Ukraine to oust Russian forces from its territory this year, increasing the likelihood that any quick resolution to the conflict would come through negotiations rather than on the battlefield.
"For this year, it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine," Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters after a meeting of Ukraine's allies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. "That doesn't mean it can't happen, doesn't mean it won't happen, but it would be very, very difficult."
A more likely scenario, General Milley said, is that Ukraine will stabilize the front lines as it integrates the military assistance promised this week by many Western nations.
Although Western defense officials at Ramstein on Friday could not agree on giving German- or American-made battle tanks to Ukraine, the country's allies pledged to provide a large amount of heavy weaponry to help Ukraine defend itself against an expected spring offensive by Russia.
Britain pledged to send 14 of its Challenger 2 tank. The Pentagon said it would send 90 Stryker armored fighting vehicles and 50 Bradley fighting vehicles, among other weapons, as part of a $2.5 billion military aid package.
General Milley said the Ukrainian forces were receiving enough equipment from the West to push the Russians back along a curving front line that extends for hundreds of miles from Kharkiv in the north to Kherson in the south.
"Depending on the delivery and training of all of this equipment, I do think it's very, very possible for the Ukrainians to run a significant tactical- or even operational-level offensive operation to liberate as much Ukrainian territory as possible," General Milley said. "And then we'll see where it goes."
— Ben Shpigel
A defaced mural of the Wagner private military company, a mercenary force run by an ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in Belgrade, Serbia, on Friday.Credit...Oliver Bunic/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Video footage released by Russian state media that purports to show Serbian mercenaries training for battle alongside Moscow's troops in Ukraine has outraged authorities in Serbia, which has spent years trying to join the European Union and shed its reputation as a Kremlin supporter.
President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia has been long caught among competing forces — his country's historical ties to Russia, his own past links to violent Serb nationalism and his ambitions to join the E.U.
But this week he denounced what he said was an unwelcome campaign to recruit Serbian volunteers by the Wagner private military company, a mercenary force run by a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
"Why do you from Wagner call anyone from Serbia when you know that it is against our regulations?" Mr. Vucic asked earlier this week on Happy, a Serbian television channel. Serbian law, he said, prohibits Serbs from fighting in Ukrainian territory. Mr. Vucic denied that Wagner recruiters were in Serbia.
Wagner, which has fronted Russia's monthslong offensive to seize the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, has released videos in Serbian and has posted online messages in a campaign for Serb recruits, Serbian media reported. Wagner, run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman known as "Putin's cook" because of his catering contracts with the Kremlin and Russian military, earlier recruited convicts from Russian prisons.
Footage broadcast by the Russian state news agency RIA showed masked men who identified themselves as Serbian volunteers on a weapons training course in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian nationalist groups sent volunteer fighters to help Serbia during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s after the collapse of Yugoslavia. But relations between Moscow and Belgrade have often been tense, characterized by declarations of eternal Pan-Slavic solidarity and frequent complaints of betrayal.
The European Union has reacted to Russia's invasion by imposing economic sanctions against Moscow, but Serbia has declined to join. Also, Serbia's national airline, Air Serbia, offers Europe's only direct flights to Moscow. Mr. Vucic, in an interview with The Times last year, said he was ready to align Serbia with Europe over Ukraine but only if his country's stalled 14-year-old application to join the E.U. gained traction.
In a sign that he might be serious about ditching Russia in favor of the West, Mr. Vucic last year dropped Aleksandar Vulin, a hawkish nationalist with close ties to Russia's security apparatus, as Serbia's interior minister. Instead, Mr. Vulin, a longtime ally but also a potential rival to Mr. Vucic, was selected as head of Serbia's powerful intelligence service.
— Andrew Higgins
The move would freeze the company's assets in the United States and ban Americans from providing money, goods or services to the Russian private military group.CreditCredit...Evan Vucci/Associated Press
The United States has decided to designate the Russian private military group Wagner as a significant transnational criminal organization, the White House said on Friday, a move that will expand the number of nations and institutions that can be prevented from doing business with the company.
"Our message to any company that is considering providing support to Wagner is simply this: Wagner is a criminal organization that is committing widespread human rights abuses," John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told reporters at a news briefing.
The new measures against the company, which is already under U.S. sanctions, will take effect next week. Designating Wagner as a transnational criminal organization will allow the government to freeze any assets the company may have in the United States, if any, and ban Americans from providing money, goods or services to the group.
Mr. Kirby said North Korea had provided arms for Russia's military operation through Wagner, delivering rockets and missiles for use by the group's mercenaries last year.
A pair of satellite images released by the White House showing Russian rail cars traveling between Russia and North Korea.Credit...Leah Millis/Reuters
Mr. Kirby said that Wagner, a mercenary force run by a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, has established itself as a "rival power center" to the Russian military, and added that the group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has overseen the deployment of some 50,000 personnel to Ukraine, a number that largely comprises contractors and newly released convicts.
Wagner's mercenaries have played a large role in the battle for eastern Ukraine and have also carried out military operations in Africa.
"Russia is searching for arms in foreign countries, including through Wagner," Mr. Kirby said.
North Korea has denied it is arming Wagner or Russian forces, but Mr. Kirby said the United States has evidence. He produced aerial images that he said showed a Russian train entering North Korea on Nov. 19 and then leaving fully loaded with shipping containers.
Mr. Kirby said the amount of material delivered to Wagner has not changed battlefield dynamics in Ukraine but that the United States expects the company will continue to receive North Korean weapons.
He said that American officials had referred the photos to the United Nations Security Council and that he expects additional sanctions to be placed against the company after the panel reviews evidence that United Nations resolutions were violated.
"While we assess that the amount of material delivered to Wagner has not changed battlefield dynamics in Ukraine," Mr. Kirby said, "we expect that it will continue to receive North Korean weapons systems."
— Katie Rogers
A German Leopard tank during a NATO military exercise held in Lithuania last October.Credit...Mindaugas Kulbis/Associated Press
Germany on Wednesday ended weeks of speculation by saying it would send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and also allow other countries to send their own.
Here is a brief look at the Leopard 2 tanks and how they could be valuable to Ukraine.
What is a Leopard 2 tank?
The Leopard 2 is one of the world's leading battle tanks, used by the German Army for decades and by the militaries of more than a dozen other European nations, as well as by the armies of countries as far apart as Canada and Indonesia. It has seen service in conflicts in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Syria.
The tank, which is powered by a diesel engine, features night-vision equipment and a laser range finder that can measure distance to an object, enabling it to better aim at a moving target while traveling over rough terrain. There are multiple iterations of the Leopard 2 with different features and designs.
How could the tank help Ukraine?
Until now, both Ukraine and Russia have used Soviet-era tanks in battle, and the Leopards would offer a big step forward in capability. Ukraine's government has been calling for tanks on top of earlier packages of military aid from allies in the United States and Europe that included aircraft, air defense systems to protect against Russian missile and drone attacks and longer-range artillery.
Supplies of the Leopard 2 would help offset Russia's superiority in artillery firepower, which aided Moscow in seizing two cities in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Province over the summer. They could be of particular value as the war approaches its second year and Ukraine looks to reclaim lost territory and expects a Russian spring offensive.
What are the advantages of Leopards over other tanks?
Britain has promised to supply Ukraine with 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks, and U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the White House would announce as early as Wednesday that it would send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. The American-made M1 Abrams tanks require constant upkeep and generally run on special fuel.
Military experts said that the chief advantage of the Leopard 2 was the quantity that could be sent to Ukraine and the relative ease of repair and logistics.
"The Leopards are in Europe, they are easy to get to Ukraine and several European countries use them, so they are readily available," said Minna Alander, a research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. "Logistics and maintenance would be easier. Spare parts and know-how are here in Europe, so the training of Ukrainians would be easier."
In addition, because several European countries use the vehicles, multiple nations could contribute either the tanks themselves, or spare parts, training capacity or logistics, said Ms. Alander, an expert in northern European security and German foreign policy.
Why does Germany have to approve the transfer of Leopards owned by other countries?
According to German officials, re-exporting German-made tanks without Berlin's permission would be illegal.
The contracts that a country signs to obtain weapons from German manufacturers or German military stocks requires them to request a re-export license from the federal government should they wish to send such weapons to another country. (The United States has similar requirements, as do other countries, like Switzerland.)
What are the potential pitfalls?
Ukraine's leaders and military experts in the United States and elsewhere have said in recent weeks that Russia appears to be preparing for an offensive in the late winter or early spring. It is not clear that the supply of Western tanks, including the Leopard 2, would arrive at the battle front quickly enough to confront that threat.
"Ukraine needs them as soon as possible, and everything points to Russia preparing for a bigger offensive in the spring, so the clock is really ticking," Ms. Alander said.
Even if the Ukrainians get trained quickly, that could still take months, and there are still questions about how many tanks could be provided and at what level they could be maintained.
Erika Solomon and John Ismay contributed reporting.
— Matthew Mpoke Bigg
A Russian missile lands outside a kindergarten in eastern Ukraine.
Police officers inspecting a crater left by a Russian missile strike on the compound of a kindergarten in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Friday.Credit...Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters
As Western defense officials met in Germany on Friday to coordinate sending more weapons to Ukraine, Russian forces continued to strike civilian areas in the eastern part of country where recent fighting has been at its fiercest.
A Russian missile landed just outside a kindergarten in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Friday, the head of the regional Ukrainian military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said in a statement. He posted images of the strike, showing a building with blown-out windows and a large crater in front of a children's playground set, on the Telegram messaging app. No casualties were immediately reported, though Mr. Kyrylenko said separately that four people had been killed in the region over the course of the previous day.
While fighting in many areas of Ukraine has been largely at a stalemate — notwithstanding waves of Russian missile and drone attacks on energy infrastructure — the battle in the country's east has raged.
The city of Bakhmut has become a focal point of Russia's efforts to capture the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, and the campaign to seize it has come at an enormous cost in casualties. There are indications that Russia has advanced to the north in Soledar — a small salt-mining town that Moscow claims is in Russia hands despite Ukraine's insistence that fighting is ongoing — and potentially taken the village of Klishchiivka to the south, suggesting that Ukraine's ability to maintain its hold of Bakhmut is increasingly tenuous.
The head of Russia's Wagner private military company claimed on Thursday that its fighters had seized Klishchiivka. On Friday, Russia's defense ministry also said in a statement that the village had been captured, though there has been no confirmation from Ukrainian officials and the claims have been impossible to independently verify.
Ukrainian forces had deemed Klishchiivka key to the defense of Bakhmut, because the village lies on high ground directly east of roads into the city that are heavily used by the Ukrainian military.
While fighting in and around Bakhmut continued, the United Nations said on Friday that a humanitarian convoy had reached areas near Soledar. The organization's humanitarian agency said that a three-truck convoy with food, water and medicine was "close" to Soledar and offering support to more than 800 people who had remained in the area.
Recent fighting in and around #Soledar has caused widespread destruction, leaving people who remain there in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Today, our humanitarian colleagues are bringing people in the surrounding areas some vital support. https://t.co/wTGQbBcJHY pic.twitter.com/vh5sYzNL9s
— Saviano Abreu (@savianoabreu) January 20, 2023
— Cassandra Vinograd
Multiple factors make providing Western tanks to Ukraine problematic.
A Ukrainian tank outside the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, in December.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Canada is sending 200 personnel carriers. Britain will donate 600 missiles. Sweden is giving artillery systems and armored vehicles. And in one of its single largest security commitments since the start of the war, the United States said on Thursday that it would ship about 100 additional fighting vehicles to help Ukraine repel Russian advances.
But so far missing from a new weapons package that officials from NATO states will reaffirm at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday are American and German-made tanks that Ukraine's leaders say are desperately needed — an issue that is expected to be center stage in the talks.
The debate over whether either country will allow their tanks onto Ukraine's battlefields has been brewing for months. But after British officials gave word last week that they would send a platoon of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, demands have amped up for Berlin and Washington to quickly follow suit.
However, Germany has long refused to send its most potent weapons to countries in conflict, a byproduct of its legacy of starting World War II. That has included prohibiting the export of its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine — even those that have been sold to other armies.
German Leopard 2 tanks during military exercises in Poland.Credit...Sean Gallup/Getty Images
The reluctance also reflects a sharp division among Germans, as indicated in recent polling, over sending battle tanks to Ukraine despite widespread support for providing other weapons.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany has repeatedly said he would not "go it alone" when it comes to sending weapons into Ukraine, and would only act in concert with allies.
In practice, that has more narrowly meant that he will not act without Washington. This week, German officials said that Mr. Scholz had insisted that Berlin would not send any of its own Leopard tanks unless the United States sends its M1 Abrams tanks as well.
What is not yet clear is whether Mr. Scholz would allow other nations to send their Leopards without sending any itself. Poland and Finland have already said they would donate the tanks from their own stockpiles if Berlin issues licenses to re-export them.
And the United States is not expected to send Abrams tanks any time soon, according to two American defense officials, if ever.
The Biden administration has long asserted that American-made M1 Abrams tanks — with their needs for specific fuel, frequent maintenance and spare parts, transport and training — are ill-suited to battle in eastern Ukraine, where supply lines could easily be cut off.
More broadly, officials worry that American tanks would be seen as a sign of escalation by the United States — a risky step for a global superpower that is trying to avoid a broader conflict.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.
— Lara Jakes and Erika Solomon
A Ukrainian-born conductor devotes herself to both music and aiding the country.
The conductor Dalia Stasevska in Central Park on Tuesday. She is leading the New York Philharmonic in a series of concerts starting on Friday.Credit...Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times
Before sunrise one day last week, the conductor Dalia Stasevska was deep in concentration in a Helsinki studio, ruminating on phrasing and transitions as she studied the score of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Then, at 10 a.m., she put away her music and set out on a mission.
Ms. Stasevska, 38, a Kyiv-born musician who lives in Finland, drove across Helsinki in search of power generators to send to Ukraine, where millions of people, including her friends and relatives, have faced electricity shortages because of Russia's continuing attacks. Later, she visited a factory in central Finland to inspect hundreds of stoves that she plans to send to families hit hard by the war.
"We can't look away or get tired, because the war machine does not get tired," she said in a video interview after the factory visit. "We have to be in this together and do everything we can for Ukraine."
Since the start of the war last year, Ms. Stasevska, a rising young conductor, has been navigating the roles of artist and activist.
As the principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Britain and the chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland, she maintains a busy concert schedule and makes frequent appearances in the United States. Starting Friday, she will lead the New York Philharmonic in a series of concerts featuring the violinist Lisa Batiashvili in the Tchaikovsky concerto.
In between rehearsals and concerts, she devotes herself to promoting the cause of Ukraine. She said she had raised more than 200,000 euros (about $216,000) since the start of the invasion and had driven trucks loaded with supplies into the country. She is also a prolific commenter on social media, calling on Western governments to provide more weapons to Ukraine and denouncing Russia as a "terrorist state."
Stasevska said that her aim was to continue to shine light on the suffering in Ukraine and to help bring an end to the war.
"I can't save Ukraine by playing music, but I can use my mouth and speak out, and I can act," she said. "We can't just hide behind our virtues. There comes a time for action."
— Javier C. Hernández
A European security organization calls on Russia to explain how its vehicles showed up in occupied Ukraine.
A regional security organization in Europe that promotes peace and human rights has demanded an explanation after video emerged appearing to show some of its armored vehicles that had been stuck in Russia being transported into an occupied part of eastern Ukraine.
Photos and video posted on social media this week showed white S.U.V.s with the logo of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe moving through a Russian border checkpoint into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The O.S.C.E., which counts Ukraine and Russia among its 57 members, advocates for human rights and arms control, among other things, and helps monitor elections. It had led a special monitoring mission in Ukraine since March of 2014, but that mission was shut down after Russia's invasion.
After the invasion, personnel drove the vehicles to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, in what the organization said was "the safest and quickest evacuation route." But while the O.S.C.E. staff members were able to travel onward, the cars "were held back for customs processing," the organization said in a statement on Friday.
"Since then, the O.S.C.E. has persistently worked with the Russian Federation in order to retrieve the vehicles," it said, "but despite numerous efforts and proposals" Russia has not allowed the organization to get them back.
The regional security organization said that it "cannot independently verify the physical location of the vehicles" since it has not had a presence in areas outside of the Ukrainian government's control since March. But the O.S.C.E. has sent a "formal request" to Russia's delegation "seeking an explanation as to the vehicles' whereabouts," the statement said.
"Any use of O.S.C.E.-marked vehicles in the Donbas region is unauthorized and is not undertaken by the O.S.C.E.," it added.
The statement came one day after Yevhen Tsymbaliuk, Ukraine's permanent representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, said Russia had "stolen around 50" O.S.C.E. vehicles.
"These vehicles reportedly were transferred by Russia to the temporary occupied territory in eastern Ukraine last weekend," he told the O.S.C.E.'s permanent council on Thursday, according to the Ukrinform news agency.
The United States also was "very concerned" about the reports that O.S.C.E. armored vehicles had been "appropriated by Russia and used in its war of aggression against Ukraine," Michael Carpenter, the permanent U.S. representative to the organization, said on Thursday.
"This is completely unacceptable," he said in a statement.
Two of the organization's Ukrainian staff members have been sentenced to 13 years in prison on treason charges by a court in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, a move the regional security organization condemned as "political theater" and castigated as "inhumane." The O.S.C.E. has called for their immediate release, along with that of a third staff member who remains in detention.
The Biden administration is warming to helping Ukraine target Crimea.
Crimea is home to tens of thousands of Russian troops and numerous Russian military bases.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
WASHINGTON — For years, the United States has insisted that Crimea is still part of Ukraine. Yet the Biden administration has held to a hard line since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, refusing to provide Kyiv with the weapons it needs to target the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia has been using as a base for launching devastating strikes.
Now that line is starting to soften.
After months of discussions with Ukrainian officials, the Biden administration is finally starting to concede that Kyiv may need the power to strike the Russian sanctuary, even if such a move increases the risk of escalation, according to several U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive debate. Crimea, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is home to tens of thousands of dug-in Russian troops and numerous Russian military bases.
The moderation in position has come about as the Biden administration has come to believe that if the Ukrainian military can show Russia that its control of Crimea can be threatened, that would strengthen Kyiv's position in any future negotiations. In addition, fears that the Kremlin would retaliate using a tactical nuclear weapon have dimmed, U.S. officials and experts said — though they cautioned that the risk remained.
Now, the Biden administration is considering what would be one of its boldest moves yet, helping Ukraine to attack the peninsula that President Vladimir V. Putin views as an integral part of his quest to restore past Russian glory.
American officials are discussing with their Ukrainian counterparts the use of American-supplied weapons, from HIMARS rocket systems to Bradley fighting vehicles, to possibly target Mr. Putin's hard-fought control over a land bridge that functions as a critical supply route connecting Crimea to Russia via the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Mariupol.
However, President Biden is not yet ready to give Ukraine the long-range missile systems that Kyiv would need to attack Russian installations on the peninsula.
— Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Julian E. Barnes
The C.I.A. director visited Kyiv last week for a meeting with Zelensky, a U.S. official says.
William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, in Washington in 2021.Credit...Pool photo by Al Drago
William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, traveled to Kyiv last week for secret consultations with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials.
The C.I.A. tries to keep Mr. Burns's travels secret, and the agency never comments on the topic. But one U.S. official acknowledged Mr. Burns's visit and said that it was meant to "reinforce our continued support for Ukraine and its defense against Russian aggression."
Since just before the invasion, Mr. Burns has made periodic visits to Ukraine to meet with intelligence officials and to convey information to Mr. Zelensky. A second American official said that Mr. Burns' recent visit was an intelligence mission designed "to ensure that information continues to flow both ways." The visit was earlier reported by The Washington Post.
There was no comment from Mr. Zelensky or his office about the meeting.
The U.S. government has periodically complained that it knows more about Russian military movements and plans than Ukraine's. Kyiv has often been tight-lipped about its operational plans. But before Ukraine's September counteroffensive, its officials began to share more about their intentions, allowing the U.S. to provide intelligence that helped Kyiv's military reshape its plans to target weak points in Russian lines.
Mr. Burns also met with senior Ukrainian intelligence officials on his recent trip, though U.S. officials would not discuss the nature of those discussions.
Mr. Burns, a career diplomat, emerged early in the Biden administration as an emergency envoy and problem solver for the White House. And the intelligence relationship between Washington and Kyiv has been vital to the war effort. Ukraine is heavily dependent on insights from the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies on Russian planning.
Shortly before the invasion, he traveled to Ukraine to warn Mr. Zelensky and urge him to shore up defenses around Kyiv. The intelligence provided on that trip helped Ukraine fend off the initial attack by elite Russian airborne troops on Hostomel Airport, north of Kyiv.
The latest visit comes at a crucial point in the war. Ukraine is pushing for more heavy Western weapons, the Russian military has changed its general in command, and the war has ground into a stalemate over the winter aside from the fighting in and around Bakhmut.
Other high-level U.S. officials have also visited Ukraine in recent days. On Monday, a delegation including Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman; Jon Finer, the principal deputy national security adviser; and Colin H. Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, met with Mr. Zelensky.
— Julian E. Barnes
Here's a look at Stryker vehicles and why the Pentagon is sending them to Ukraine.
U.S. soldiers aboard a Stryker vehicle during an exercise in South Korea in January.Credit...Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
The Pentagon has announced that it will send 90 Stryker armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, the first such transfer of the versatile eight-wheeled weapons from U.S. military stockpiles to a foreign country.
The Strykers will be joined by 59 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and other weapons as part of a $2.5 billion military aid package for Kyiv. Combined with the 50 Bradleys announced for Ukraine on Jan. 6, the package will give Kyiv the equivalent of two armored brigades' worth of vehicles, according to a statement emailed to reporters Thursday evening.
According to the U.S. Army, there are 18 different variants of the Stryker. Some are built primarily to move infantry soldiers in and out of battle, while others are designed to carry weapons like 120-millimeter mortars to provide fire support. Others carry medium- and large-caliber weapons for direct fire on enemy troops with 30-millimeter cannons or even larger 105-millimeter guns.
Strykers were initially built with flat-bottomed hulls, which proved vulnerable to improvised bombs set to detonate underneath them by insurgents in Iraq. In response, the Army phased those vehicles out with newer Strykers fitted with a V-shaped bottom similar to those used on Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected Vehicles, which are also called MRAPs.
Exactly which version or versions will be provided to Ukraine is unclear.
Why were they created?
U.S. Army leaders decided in the 1990s that the service needed a more mobile strike force that could go anywhere in the world in just four days. That meant they needed a vehicle that was well-armed and armored while still relatively lightweight and small enough to be carried by a C-130 cargo plane.
The Stryker was chosen as the vehicle the Army could build that force around. They first saw combat in Iraq in 2003.
How are they different from the Bradley?
Strykers are less-heavily armored than Bradleys. And at 20 to 23.5 tons they weigh far less than the Bradley, which can weigh as much as 40 tons, according to a 2016 report from the Congressional Research Service.
While Bradleys run on treads, which offer excellent traction over uneven terrain, Strykers run on eight wheels which can still function even if they have been hit with bullets or shrapnel.
Strykers are also much faster than Bradleys, capable of speeds of 60 miles per hour, according to the congressional report.
The Stryker can also be configured in a number of different variants, including some for use by engineers or as ambulances.
How will they be used in Ukraine?
The Pentagon's announcement Thursday said that the 90 Strykers would also be provided with 20 mine-rollers — wheeled sleds that are designed to be heavy enough to trigger anti-vehicle land mines and are pushed ahead of armored vehicles in the hopes of clearing safe paths through minefields.
As the war between Ukraine and Russia has evolved into a more static battle between entrenched soldiers protected by belts of anti-tank land mines, the combination of Strykers with mine-rollers and additional demolition equipment for what the Pentagon referred to as "obstacle clearing" indicates that the United States is providing Ukraine with specific capabilities intended to enable Kyiv's armed forces to break though Russian defenses.
— John Ismay
Russia's security service says it has opened an espionage case against a U.S. citizen.
The headquarters of the Federal Security Service, Russia's domestic security service, in central Moscow.Credit...Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
Russia's domestic intelligence agency has opened a criminal case against a United States citizen for collecting intelligence information related to "biological" topics, the country's Interfax news service reported on Thursday.
The report did not identify the person or say whether the agency, the Federal Security Service, known as F.S.B., had taken an American into custody.
A State Department spokesman said the United States was "aware of unconfirmed reports" of an investigation into an American citizen and was looking into the matter. The spokesman, Vedant Patel, said that he was not aware of a U.S. citizen being detained recently in Russia, but cautioned that the United States often has imperfect information about events there.
"Generally, the Russian Federation does not abide by its obligations to provide timely notification of the detention of U.S. citizens in Russia," Mr. Patel said. "Russian authorities also don't regularly inform the embassy of the trial, sentencing or movement of U.S. citizens."
He added that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow "continues to engage with Russian authorities to ensure timely consular notifications and access to all U.S. citizens."
One American citizen, Paul Whelan, is in prison in Russia on charges of spying that he and the U.S. government call fabricated. U.S. officials have been working for years to secure his release.
— Michael Crowley
Ukraine allies announce new military aid ahead of a key meeting of defense ministers.
Ammunition inside a Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer near Kreminna, Ukraine, last week.Credit...Nicole Tung for The New York Times
BRUSSELS — A number of countries announced new military aid packages for Ukraine on Thursday, the day before their defense ministers are to gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany to coordinate their help for Ukraine.
The meeting in Germany will include officials from as many as 50 countries, chaired by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, and will focus on how to provide Ukraine the weapons it needs, including advanced Western tanks, to try to push back Russian troops from occupied territory in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine and some of its allies have been putting pressure on Germany to supply or authorize the export to Ukraine of its advanced Leopard 2 tanks, but Berlin wants Washington in particular to be part of a collective decision to send Western tanks.
To get a jump on the Ramstein gathering, Britain's defense secretary, Ben Wallace, and his Estonian counterpart, Hanno Pevkur, hosted a meeting of their colleagues from the Baltics and Central Europe at an army base in Estonia to announce more military aid for Ukraine.
Some of the donations listed in the so-called Tallinn Pledge — which was also signed by Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia — had already been announced, including Britain's commitment to send Challenger 2 tanks. Others appeared new, including another round of Brimstone missiles from Britain and S-60 anti-aircraft guns with 70,000 pieces of ammunition from Poland.
The countries said in a joint statement that they were committed to "collectively pursuing delivery of an unprecedented set of donations" in support of Ukraine.
"Together we will continue supporting Ukraine to move from resisting to expelling Russian forces from Ukrainian soil," the statement said.
Western officials say that Ukraine has only a narrow window before an anticipated Russian springtime offensive, and they have been working to speed heavy, sophisticated weapons to Kyiv.
In Brussels, after a meeting of top NATO defense officials known as the Military Committee, its chairman, Adm. Rob Bauer of the Netherlands, and the top American officer in Europe, Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, said that quality tanks are important for Ukraine as part of what they called "a balance of all systems."
"There is not a particular weapon system that is a silver bullet," General Cavoli said. "In the end, attack simply comes down to a balance between firepower, mobility and protection," and tanks can play an important role in military success.
The officers were careful to say that individual nations were making their own decisions about supplying Ukraine with particular weapons systems, but they made it clear that the Russians were rebuilding their own military stocks.
"In a war like it is being fought, every type of equipment is necessary," Admiral Bauer said. "And the Russians are fighting with tanks. So the Ukrainians need tanks as well."
Details of fresh weapons aid have begun to emerge ahead of the Ramstein meeting, including plans by the United States for a $2.5 billion package that includes nearly 100 Stryker combat vehicles, and a pledge from Sweden to deliver NLAW anti-tank missiles and CV90 infantry fighting vehicles in its largest equipment package to date.
Estonia said the package it announced on Thursday as part of the Tallinn Pledge was also its largest military aid package yet to Ukraine, including remote fire and anti-tank weapons as well as ammunition worth a total of 113 million euros, or about $122 million. Military assistance to Ukraine will increase to 370 million euros, or slightly more than 1 percent of Estonia's gross domestic product.
"The free world must continue to provide arms assistance to Ukraine, and do so at much greater scale and speed," Estonia's prime minister, Kaja Kallas, said in a statement. "All countries must look into their stockpiles and ensure that industries are able to produce more and faster."
— Steven Erlanger
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