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☆ At the Top of Their Renovation Wish List: A Fire Pole
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Tim Mckeough | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

So they began casually looking at houses outside the city, just to get a feel for the market. Once they visited an oceanfront house in Marblehead, Mass., however, things began moving quickly. “We weren’t really looking. We were supposed to be educating ourselves,” said David, 45, who previously worked for tech start-ups but is now focused on raising their children. They also liked the quiet residential neighborhood, where they could imagine their children riding bicycles without having to worry about traffic.

Persons: David, Davin Wedel, ”, “, Davin, ‘ I’m Locations: Boston, Marblehead , Mass

☆ General Dynamics, Rheinmetall to compete for potential $45 bln US Army vehicle contract
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] U.S. servicemen drive Bradley infantry fighting vehicles during the joint U.S.-Georgian exercise Noble Partner 2015 at the Vaziani training area outside Tbilisi, Georgia, May 21, 2015. REUTERS/David MdzinarishviliWASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Army said on Monday it had selected General Dynamics (GD.N) and American Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) to compete to replace the Bradley fighting vehicle, in a deal that could be worth more than $45 billion to the winner. A single competition winner will be given a production contract in 2027, Army officials said, with fielding of the first vehicles in 2029. Ultimately, some of the functions of the vehicle would be autonomous, Army officials said. The Army has struggled to replace the Bradley over a number of years, with a previous attempt abandoned.

Persons: David Mdzinarishvili WASHINGTON, Bradley, Mike Stone, Chris Sanders, Jamie Freed Organizations: Bradley, REUTERS, U.S . Army, Dynamics, Rheinmetall, Army, Point Blank Enterprises, Oshkosh Defense, BAE Systems Land, Armaments, Thomson Locations: Tbilisi , Georgia

☆ Manchester City's Rodri named Champions League Player of the Season
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 11 (Reuters) - Manchester City midfielder Rodri was named the Champions League's Player of the Season by UEFA on Sunday after a stellar 2022-23 campaign. Rodri appeared in all but one of City's Champions League matches, scoring twice. Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was named the Champions League's Young Player of the Season, capping a remarkable campaign for the 22-year-old Georgian. Kvaratskhelia won the league title with Napoli and also claimed Serie A's Player of the Season award earlier this month. Team of the season:Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)Defenders: Kyle Walker (Man City), Ruben Dias (Man City), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Federico Dimarco (Inter)Midfielders: John Stones (Man City), Kevin De Bruyne (Man City), Rodri (Man City)Forwards: Bernardo Silva (Man City), Erling Haaland (Man City), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk Editing by Toby DavisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Rodri, Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Kvaratskhelia, Thibaut Courtois, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland, Vinicius Junior, Tommy Lund, Toby Davis Organizations: Manchester City, UEFA, Spain international, City, Inter Milan, City's Champions League, Napoli, Inter, Midfielders, Real, Thomson Locations: Saturday's, Real Madrid, Man, Gdansk

☆ These economies benefited from Russia's isolation — but they now risk Western retaliation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Changing trade patterns in the region are an opportunity, but also a risk. Georgian public support for EU membership has resurged over recent months, with four-fifths (81%) of the population currently in favor joining the bloc, according to a recent poll from U.S.-founded non-profit the National Democratic Institute. Armenia, meanwhile, has never submitted an application for either membership, and other Central Asian countries would not be eligible to join the EU. The geopolitical context with which we [Georgia] are now thought of is with other Central Asia countries. But they don't have EU membership as a target — we do," Kukava said.

Persons: Armenia's, haven't, Mikheil Kukava, Subir Lall, —, Kukava, they're, Ursula von der Leyen, Armen Nurbekyan, Nurbekyan Organizations: Anadolu Agency, Getty, International Monetary Fund, Institute for Development of, CNBC, Russia Western, European Bank for Reconstruction, Development, European Union, Georgia's National Statistics Office, European Commission, of Seven, Central Bank of, EU, NATO, of Information, U.S, National Democratic Institute, Central Locations: Tbilisi, Russian, Moscow, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, Soviet, Russia's, Caucasus, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, East, Central Bank of Armenia, Armenia's, U.S, of Information Georgia

☆ Georgia's flagship airline bans president over Russia flights criticism - TASS
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Felix Light | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TBILISI, May 21 (Reuters) - The founder of Georgia's national airline Georgian Airways has banned the country's president from using its services after she said she would boycott the airline over its resumption of flights to Russia, Russia's TASS news agency reported on Sunday. Russia announced this month it was lifting a four-year old ban on direct flights with Georgia and removing a decades-old visa requirement for Georgians travelling to Russia. President Salome Zourabichvili urged Georgian authorities to thwart the Russian initiative, an appeal they ignored. Many Georgians oppose any rapprochement with Moscow whose troops garrison two breakaway regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - that make up around one fifth of the country's territory. President Zourabichvili, whose position is largely ceremonial and whose relations with the government are strained, has warned that deepening ties with Russia could jeopardise the country's chances of the EU one day.

CNN —Police in Georgia have removed protesters from outside a hotel where relatives of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are allegedly staying, according to the public broadcaster First Channel. According to First Channel, the opposition United National Movement party held a protest outside the Kvareli Lake Hotel in northeastern Georgia on Saturday to express their anger following Georgian media reports that Lavrov’s relatives were staying in the hotel. Reporters on the ground said the situation outside the hotel had grown “tense” on Saturday after protesters pelted eggs at a minibus that left the hotel carrying Russian tourists. ‘Tense’ protest scenesVideos posted on social media showed violent scenes of police officers roughly grabbing protesters gathered outside the hotel. The protests came after Georgian media reported that Lavrov’s relatives had traveled to Georgia for the wedding of the brother of Lavrov’s son-in-law, Alexandre Vinokourov.

☆ Tensions Flare in Georgia as Direct Flights Resume With Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As passengers on the first direct flight from Russia to Georgia in more than three years disembarked on Friday, they were met by protesters cursing their arrival. Your country is an occupier!” echoed through the arrivals hall at Tbilisi International Airport. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, and it wields military control over 20 percent of its territory. Graffiti that says “Russians go home” is commonplace in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. A determination to join NATO is enshrined in the former Soviet republic’s Constitution.

☆ Jamaal Bowman Finds His Voice. Some Republicans Don’t Like the Sound.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In this hyperpartisan era, the country has no shortage of politicians willing to savage each other from across a hearing room or on social media. Bowman, a media-savvy democratic socialist from the Bronx, has rapidly made a name for himself this spring by going where most of them have not: up to his opponents’ actual faces. Mr. Bowman’s platform includes far-reaching left-wing policies that split his party. Bowman, 47, to “calm down” as they argue over how to stop gun violence has already been viewed more than seven million times. Bowman, even though video showed her smiling as they sparred.

☆ Georgia to resume flights to Russia this week, drawing EU and Ukrainian criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 16 (Reuters) - Georgian Airways will resume direct flights to Russia from Saturday, the country's civil aviation authority said, drawing criticism from Ukraine and the European Union. "The world is isolating Russia to force it to stop the war, but Georgia is welcoming Russian airlines and sending its own to Moscow. All while 20% of Georgian territory remains occupied by Russia with impunity," Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Twitter. The EU said it regretted that Georgia was resuming flights to Russia at a time when the bloc has closed its airspace to Russian planes in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "This latest decision by Georgia's authorities raises concerns in terms of Georgia's EU path," EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said.

☆ New York Is Full of Empty Offices After Covid. Make Way for the Playground City. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Edward L. Glaeser | Carlo Ratti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +20 min

We are witnessing the dawn of a new kind of urban area: the Playground City. The transformation toward the Playground City will not happen on its own. To draw people into the Playground City, we need to show, not tell. 6.Engage citizensGovernments should empower citizens to participate directly in making the Playground City. The Playground City sees people as both a means and an end, and it should involve them in the process of its creation.

☆ Napoli’s Serie A title win: From Maradona and financial bankruptcy to Scudetto
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

Diego Maradona battles dribbles against Ruud Gullit of AC Milan in the Serie A in 1988. With Maradona’s arrival came a level of success Napoli had previously never seen, culminating in a 1987 title victory; the club’s first ever Scudetto. When Napoli won its first Serie A title in 1987, the Gentleman Ultra website notes: “In the city, mock funerals were held for Juventus. The dark yearsA year after the 1990 title success, the Napoli team began to unwind with players departing, leading to a drop in performances. Napoli fans celebrate the team's Serie A title victory on the streets of Naples.

☆ Analysis: Napoli revive memories of Maradona with Serie A title win
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tommy Lund | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Napoli clinched the Serie A title on Thursday with five games to spare as they ended a 33-year drought stretching back to when Diego Maradona led them to the Scudetto in 1990. At the start of the season it would have been difficult to envisage Napoli becoming champions ahead of heavyweights such as Juventus and the two Milan clubs not to mention AS Roma. But after an exceptional transfer window and with Luciano Spalletti at the helm, Napoli dominated the title race while their main rivals all suffered slumps during the season. CONTENDERS FALTERAs Napoli surged ahead, suffering just one loss by the end of February, the other title contenders withered away as injuries plagued their squads. But Maurizio Sarri's side could only watch as Napoli became the fourth different team to win Serie A in as many years.

☆ Italy's Naples explodes in joy as city finally regains Serie A crown
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Antonio Denti | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Kevin, another fan who declined to give his surname, said of the expected Scudetto party: "It will be chaos, mayhem. Authorities also banned car and scooter traffic from the city centre in the hope of minimising risk to public order. "I've been waiting for the Napoli Scudetto since I was small," said a teenage girl out with two friends, her cheeks painted Napoli blue. "It's a victory for the entire city, it's wonderful," she added, declining to give her name. In Udine, there were post-match scuffles as Napoli fans ran onto the stadium pitch to celebrate with players, but were met by hostile home supporters armed with belts and batons, the ANSA news agency said.

☆ Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Mark Galeotti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Russia's Spetsnaz forces are often depicted as a kind of Russian super troops. Osprey PublishingMost countries' special forces emphasize physical fitness, determination and aggression. Special people, for special tasksMembers of the Russian military's 16th Separate Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in 2018. Even so, being better than most of the Soviet army's miserable and recalcitrant conscript forces did not make most of them truly special, special forces. The special operations commandMembers of Russian's 22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in November 2017.

☆ How Putin spent 20 years rebuilding Russia's military 'and then just simply destroyed it' in Ukraine, according to an expert who watched it happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Vladimir Putin has spent his two decades in power rebuilding and reforming Russia's military. Below, Galeotti describes those reforms, what they achieved, and how, in a devastating war in Ukraine, Putin has squandered the military he built. IGOR SAREMBO/AFP via Getty ImagesWhen Putin came to power at the end of the 1990s, what was the state of the Russian military? How did the Russian military underperform in that conflict in Georgia? What did those conflicts show about the capabilities of the Russian military and about the impact of those reforms?

☆ A Pink Door Is Deemed Too Bright for Edinburgh
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Lauren Mccarthy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Miranda Dickson returned to Edinburgh in 2021 after several years abroad, she began renovating a three-story Georgian townhouse in the Scottish city’s New Town district. Ms. Dickson painted the front door pink. In early 2022, the new paint job was brought to the attention of the City of Edinburgh Council, which asked her to repaint the door white. Ms. Dickson was issued an enforcement notice ordering her to “remove the unauthorized bright pink paint” from the door and “to restore the previous colour scheme.” Failure to comply, it said, could lead to a fine of up to 20,000 pounds, or nearly $25,000. Finally, having exhausted her appeals, Ms. Dickson relented and repainted the door this week, ahead of the Thursday deadline she said that the city had given her.

☆ 2023’s Most Coveted Kitchen Is Superexpensive. Here’s How to Get the Look for Less
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Sarah Karnasiewicz | Photographs Andrew Bui For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TA-TA, soulless stainless ranges. Cheerio, monolithic marble islands. A few years back, a new status kitchen—imported primarily via a pair of posh British outfits called Plain English and deVOL—surfaced stateside. Modeled loosely on the below-stairs service kitchens once found on grand estates, it quickly found a cult following for its homely hallmarks: pared-back Georgian cabinetry in moody colors, from chalky green to dishrag pink; studiously aged taps and cupboard latches; commodious “larders” in which to corral microwaves and other conspicuously 21st-century appliances; open shelving where vintage copper pots rub shoulders with ancestral oil paintings. Think of it as the “old-money look” for kitchens.

☆ The Other Georgia Welcomes You
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Tara Isabella Burton | Photographs Francesco Lastrucci For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

THE JOVIAL MEN at the top of the Datvisjvari Pass have a rule: Anyone who wants to drive through it must drink a thimbleful of chacha, a local moonshine potent enough to power cars. As I approached, it seemed like this tipsy crew—who were working on the single-lane road leading from Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, into the mountain province of Khevsureti—had been on a break. They were snacking on khachapuri, the Georgian cheese bread, and knocking back chacha. “You not drink?” They all pointed back down the road with its hairpin turns and verdant forests. In Georgia, there’s only one acceptable answer.

☆ Traditional or Modern? The Owners of This English Country House Didn’t Have to Choose.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Ruth Bloomfield | Photographs Vanessa Berberian For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

From the street, Anne Spratling and John Ayris’s home looks like a classic English country house. But its backyard holds a secret. The couple have doubled the size of their roughly 200-year-old house by wrapping a pair of ultramodern additions around it. Ms. Spratling, 56, and Mr. Ayris, 55, bought Vicarage Farm, a late Georgian-era farmhouse set on 8 acres of land, in 2015. The house is in a village around 4 miles from the English seaside town of Hythe and about 65 miles southeast of central London.

☆ EU will issue fresh wave of sanctions to stop Russia reinventing their war machine, official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"We have to make sure they don't find ways around our sanctions," McGuinness said. McGuinness was also asked whether the EU will look to penalize countries that aid Russia in evading sanctions with new legislation. The U.S. Treasury Department last year published a list of countries helping Russia circumvent sanctions, which included Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. "We're changing our legislation to look at individuals who are involved in sanctions intervention," McGuinness said. Some countries, including Estonia and France, have called on the EU to sanction Moldovan and Georgian oligarchs allegedly working to help Russia destabilize Ukraine.

☆ When it's dumpling-eatin' time in Georgia...
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TBILISI, April 12 (Reuters) - In the mountainous Caucasus nation of Georgia, dumpling-eating is a serious affair. "I'm not Georgian, but the first rule I learnt when I came to Georgia was how to eat khinkali," says Sergei Shirinsky, who dubs himself a connoisseur. That's the first rule," Shirinsky says. "If you add something other than pepper you can go to prison in Georgia," Shirinsky jokes as he manoeuvres the fluffy parcel past his moustache, completing a demonstration of how khinkali should be eaten. The exact origins of the dumpling in Georgia are unclear, but it has been prepared in towns and villages across the country for centuries and different regions still bicker over who invented it and who makes it best.

☆ Russia's e-conscription overhaul underlines scramble for military manpower
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

It is going to be much more difficult to dodge," said Artyom, who asked for his surname to be withheld. The new law appeared part of a renewed push to generate more manpower for Russia’s military in Ukraine, where analysts say a much-anticipated winter offensive appears to have fizzled out without meaningful gains for Moscow. On March 30, British Defence Intelligence said that Russia planned to recruit an additional 400,000 professional soldiers, echoing Russian media reports. Mike Kofman, an expert in the Russian military at the U.S.-based CNA think-tank, has said that only a small proportion of Russia's troops in Ukraine are capable of offensive operations. Meanwhile, a physical recruitment drive is being rolled out across Russia.

☆ Georgia's former president says he's dying in prison because of Putin, and calls on the US to save his life
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Georgia's ex-president, Mikheil Saakashvili, said he is dying in prison. Saakashvili is asking the US and its allies to help save his life by applying international pressure. He also warned that Georgia's government is "sliding toward the Kremlin." Georgia 'sliding toward the Kremlin'In his Politico op-ed, Saakashvili described himself as a "political prisoner" who continues to "defend democracy against Putin and his allies." Saakashvili warned that Georgia and other countries in the region "have continued sliding toward the Kremlin" amid Russia's ongoing and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

☆ US blocks four Georgian officials from entering country over corruption -Blinken
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Wednesday blocked four Georgian judicial officials from entering the country due to their involvement in "significant corruption," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Blinken named the officials as Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia and Valerian Tsertsvadze. "These individuals abused their positions as court Chairmen and members of Georgia's High Council of Justice," Blinken said, adding that Washington would continue to stand with Georgians in support of democracy, the rule of law and accountability. Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Rami AyyubOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Look inside a glass-walled McDonald's that's one of the most beautiful fast-food restaurants in the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Erin Mcdowell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

The modern McDonald's is in Batumi, Georgia, which is located along the coast of the Black Sea. Batumi, Georgia. Google MapsBatumi is the capital of the Georgian republic of Adjara.

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