One of the creators of a Christian nonprofit effort aimed at “better Christian politics” claims President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election is a “disaster” for the United States.

The president of Focus on the Family says he’s “encouraged” by Tuesday’s election results even as he acknowledged both victories and setbacks for the pro-life movement.

After winning the “Best Comedy” award at last year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival in Australia, New Hampshire native Gemma Soldati and comedy partner Amrita Dhaliwal are now taking their two-woman clown show, The Living Room , on the road. The show, which they describe as “a comedy about death, devised in grief,” will be touring major cities across the United States, Canada, and Australia.

With statues coming down around the country in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, NHPR’s Sean Hurley recently heard about one town in New Hampshire that is considering putting one up.

New Hampshire artists have suffered a lot during the pandemic, but they've also helped people get through these hard times. For NHPR's series, The Show Goes On , we're talking with artists across the state to hear what inspiration they've found throughout this year and what's kept them going.

Many artists have had a difficult time during the pandemic, while they've also brought joy to other people who are struggling. For NHPR's series, The Show Goes On , we're talking with artists across New Hampshire about how they're making it through the pandemic. NHPR's Morning Edition host Rick Ganley spoke with Rhonda Besaw , a beadworker from Whitefield, about her work and what's she's learned this past year.

In the late '60s, a young man searching for peace, love and belonging traveled from the East Coast to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district in search of fulfillment but only found darkness. 

As I learned during a return visit this summer, the real draw in Plymouth is the centuries of maritime history. It goes well beyond the Mayflower, whose sailing from here 424 years ago on Sept. 16 was a historical fluke.

Laila Mickelwait has fought against sex trafficking for decades, and her latest memoir recounts her efforts to expose Pornhub and also how her Christian faith filled her with the strength to take on Goliath. 

With a strong focus on tackling burnout and compassion fatigue, Hope Together conference offered essential tools and support for ministry leaders and individuals seeking renewed strength and purpose.

A congregation based in New York City has filed a lawsuit against an entity of the Indiana-based Disciples of Christ, accusing it of refusing to provide $7.3 million in loan funding advances.

The Episcopal Church saw a decline in membership of about 40,000 people last year, but also saw an increase in average Sunday worship attendance, according to recently released statistics.

After promising to refund the donations of members who questioned the stewardship of his church's finances, outspoken Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke has reneged on that offer. His attorney has allegedly threatened at least one donor who asked for their money back.

Weeks after failing to reach an agreement with Pastor Matthew Queen to vacate his position after he pleaded guilty to making a false statement to federal authorities about a sexual abuse investigation, Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, announced that he has resigned.

Vice President Kamala Harris has conceded the election, promising Americans that there will be a “peaceful transfer of power” and stressing loyalty “to our God,” while also promising to keep fighting.

As former President Donald Trump heads back to the White House to serve a second, non-consecutive term, his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, is returning to the national spotlight. Here are four things to know about her background, political views and marriage. 

Cecily Nicholson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Creative Writing at University of British Columbia. Nicholson is the author of four poetry books, Triage, From the Poplars, Wayside Sang, and Harrowings, and past recipient of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (2015) and the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry (2018). She is the first honouree of the Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading award from the Poetry in Canada Society (2023) and 2024/2025 Holloway Lecturer in Poetry and Poetics at UC Berkeley.Ana María Ochoa Gautier is Professor and Chair of the Department of Music, and faculty member at the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University. Her recent book, Aurality, Listening and Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Colombia (Duke University Press, 2014) was awarded the Alan Merriam Prize by the Society for Ethnomusicology. She is also the author of Músicas locales en tiempos de globalización (Buenos Aires: Norma 2003) and Entre los Deseos y los Derechos: Un Ensayo Crítico sobre Políticas Culturales (Bogotá: Ministerio de cultura, 2003). She writes on music and cultural policy, forced silence and armed conflict, and genealogies of listening and sound in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her current projects explore the bioacoustics of life and death in colonial histories of the Americas. She has been a Distinguished Greenleaf Scholar in Residence at Tulane University (2016) and a Guggenheim Fellow (2007-2008). She has served on the advisory boards of the Society for Cultural Anthropology, the Démos project at the Cité de la Musique - Philharmonie de Paris, and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. She will be a visiting professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Music in Spring 2025.Tom McEnaney is Associate Professor in the departments of Comparative Literature and Spanish & Portuguese, and the Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media. His research concerns the intersection of literature, sound technology, and politics. He is the author of many articles and the book Acoustic Properties: Radio, Narrative, and the New Neighborhood of the Americas. His new book, with Judith Peraino, will be out in August and is titled We’re Having Much More Fun: Punk Archives for the Present from CBGB to Gilman and Beyond. The 2024/25 series includes: Rizvana Bradley (Film & Media), Asma Kazmi (Art Practice/BCNM), Tehmina Khan (College Writing Program), Roshanak Kheshti (TDPS), SanSan Kwan (TDPS), Fae Myenne Ng (Ethnic Studies), Cecily Nicholson (English), Ana María Ochoa Gautier (Music), Andy Shanken (Architecture/Art History), and Stephanie Syjuco (Art Practice).

It's not often I am surprised by comments that are generated by my columns in The Christian Post. So imagine my surprise at being taken aback by some comments generated by my July 4th column.

It is notable that those who most vociferously denounce Christian nationalism often seem to be the ones intent on keeping Christian voices out of politics.

Marianne Williamson has written six New York Times best sellers, including The Age Of Miracles and A Return To Love. Known in some circles as Hollywood's favorite self-help guru, we just had to find out what the process for a spiritual author entails. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We spoke to YouTube superstar and writer of books Grace Helbig after the publication of her second tongue-in-cheek guide, Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It. She gave us a glimpse at her writing process backstage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH before a Writers on a New England Stage event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new movie about OSU alumnus Jesse Owens debuts in theaters this weekend, so we get the whole story on the life of Jesse Owens.

This week on After The Score, Steve and Thomas talk to Martin Jarmond about the process of scheduling Ohio State football games. The process is a lot more in-depth than one might think.

After a bye week, the Ohio State Buckeyes are back in business. Ohio State took care of Oklahoma in a big matchup on the road. Now it's time for the Buckeyes to avoid a mishap against Rutgers on Homecoming.

Tournaments among young athletes can be viewed as a "junior school” so to speak, but emotionally, they are no different from professional sports, and their scandals are no less juicy as the European Boxing Championship showed. Budva, Montenegro, hosted the finals among boxers in the age group 17-18 from October 13 to 24. The Russian sportsmen took the first place in the medals race winning 11 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals. In fact, the results could have been even better had our strong athlete Alexei Shendrik won gold. The judges initially announced him the winner but later reversed the decision.

US scientists have reaffirmed the benefits of eating walnuts in a new study. Specialists from the University of California at Davis conducted a series of experiments on a group of male mice diagnosed with prostate cancer. The mice were divided into three diet groups. The first group did not consume walnuts, the second group received walnuts, and the third one was fed with walnut oil. The experiment showed that the development of the tumor and malignant cells significantly slowed among the rodents in the second and the third groups. According to Natural News, the scientists explained the success of the experiment with the content of powerful phytonutrients in raw walnuts. This natural product contains that inhibit cancer cells and prevent them from developing.Just two handfuls of walnuts every day reduces the risk of cancer by almost 50 percent, the scientists said.Furthermore, walnut oil reduces the amount of harmful cholesterol in blood and increases insulin sensitivity, which helps fight heart disease and reduces the risk of diabetes. For example, one study found that overweight adults with type 2 diabetes who consumed just one-quarter cup of walnuts daily reduced their fasting insulin levels in just a few months' time compared to those on non-walnut diets. It is believed that walnuts can shrink levels of the hormone IGF-1, known to play a key role in development of both prostate and breast cancer, Natural News says.Thanks to their omega-3 fat content, walnuts are often the subjects of cancer-preventive studies. However, one should be cautious with eating them as walnuts are a high calorie product. For example, just 2.6 ounces of walnuts is about 482 calories, which may - in some people - contribute to an excess of stored fat. Health benefits of walnuts have been known since time immemorial. Hippocrates and Avicenna mentioned them in the treatment of various diseases. In addition, the ancients thought that they stimulate mental activity. Anna Protsenko, a nutritionist, told MedPulse.ru. "Walnuts contain a great deal of minerals," the expert explains. "They include iron, copper, cobalt, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and iodine. Many of them are antioxidants. In addition, walnuts contain unsaturated fatty acids, more than 20 amino acids, and vitamins A, E, B, P and C. By the way, they contain nearly 50 times more vitamin C than citrus, and 8 times more than black currants. In addition, walnuts are rich in protein.

Autism: study published in "Nature" reveals that it is possible to reverse symptoms of the disease in adulthood - A team of American scientists and a Portuguese, Patricia Monteiro, investigated the SHANK3 gene, a gene implicated in autism, an incurable disease that affects about 70 million people worldwide. A study in which participated the Neurosciences and Cellular Biology Center (CNC), University of Coimbra (UC), published last week in the prestigious "Nature" *, reveals that it is possible to reverse some of the behaviors associated with autism in adulthood. SHANK3 gene under study A team of American scientists and a Portuguese, Patricia Monteiro, investigated the SHANK3 gene, a gene implicated in autism, an incurable disease that affects about 70 million people worldwide. In Portugal it is estimated that the prevalence of 1 case per 1,000 children of school age. In the USA, there has been a tenfold increase in the last 40 years.

459 infections and 178 deaths is the latest information coming out of Angola, where an outbreak of Yellow Fever was first reported in the capital city, Luanda, in December 2015, the first outbreak of the disease in three decades, and has now spread out to ten of the country's eighteen provinces. Worse, the outbreak is reaching neighboring countries, with cases reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Namibia. Other cases in Kenya and the People's Republic of China have been described as travel-related cases with links to Angola. A massive vaccination campaign was launched by the health authorities and the National Response Plan saw 87 per cent of the targeted 6.4 million people at risk vaccinated, as 7.3 million doses of the vaccine were made available with help from countries such as Brazil, the World Health Organization and the International Coordinating Group for yellow fever vaccine provision.

There are contradictory opinions on vegetarianism. This has to do with the lack of accurate knowledge about this unusual diet. However, vegetarianism is more than just a diet and is rather a lifestyle and a certain philosophy. Scientists have their own opinion about this. Below are the latest scientific arguments and views of European and American nutritionists about vegetarianism. Types of vegetarianism: Flexitarianism - a soft version of a vegetarian diet that allows meat and seafood, but only once a month. According to leading experts, this is the best diet at the moment. There is also pescetarianism that allows fish. Lacto-vegetarianism is the standard type that involves consumption of dairy products and eggs.

Four coronavirus mutants are rushing to attack humanity: new strains of the virus have been found in the UK, Brazil, South Africa and Japan. What do we know about them? The new British strain According to the report from the British Expert Commission of Virologists and Epidemiologists (The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group/NERVTAG), the mortality rate from British coronavirus B.1.1.7 or VUI202012/1 is approximately 30 percent higher compared to SARS-CoV-2. Its appearance in the United Kingdom dates back to September 2020.There are two stories circulating about the new virus strain. Besides the increased number of deaths, the British strain is much more contagious. Computer simulations have shown that this strain may contribute to the further development of the pandemic. The good news is that vaccines can subdue it and one develops immunity against it. The new South African strain Strain B.1.351 or 501Y. V2 that appeared in South Africa has attacked citizens of at least three dozen countries so far. As of the end of January, as Alexander Gorelov, deputy director for scientific work of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology at Rospotrebnadzor said, the South African strain was not found in Russia.Specialists of the US-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention are confident that this type of pathogen first appeared in early October 2020 in the urban district of Nelson Mandela's Bay (South Africa).Having become dominant in South Africa, the South African strain "traveled" to Australia, and proceeded to terrorize Western Europe:

Good hair implies good health Myth 1: Cutting hair makes it stronger. Moreover, hair will grow faster Nonsense. A head is not a lawn. No one knows why people think this; probably, this is due to men’s beards. However, there is a very big difference between hair on the face and on the head. Hair on the head grows 1.5 centimeters a month. Myth 2: Split ends can be cured Unfortunately, this is not true. One should cut the hair immediately to avoid any further damage. Myth 3: Combing hair is good for it Unfortunately, it is very bad for hair.  A comb often makes gives hair split ends and pulls them out of the skin. It is best not to comb hair too often.

On October 5, SpaceX Crew Dargon blasted off to the International Space Station. Anna Kikina, a woman cosmonaut from Russia, was on board the SpaceX spacecraft. "A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon Endurance spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Nicole Mann as mission commander, and Josh Cassada, pilot. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, also aboard the Dragon, will serve as mission specialists for their science expedition in microgravity aboard the space station," NASA wrote. The participation of a Russian cosmonaut in the launch launch was made possible owing to the cross-flight programme: a Russian cosmonaut boarded SpaceX, and an American astronaut flew to the ISS on board a Soyuz spacecraft.

The name of the Indian astrologer Ajai Bhambi, who has the reputation of a prophet in his homeland, is known all over the world. No wonder, his predictions always come true. An interesting point: Bhambi always makes forecasts for the year. He always does it in March. In his opinion, it is during this time of the year, when everything comes true with an accuracy of 99 percent. In March 2021, the Indian doctor of astrology predicted that the planet would begin to forget about the "malicious coronavirus" by the end of February 2022. He said that the disease would still periodically come and go, but people would treat it like common cold.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of private military company Wagner, was killed in a plane crash on August 23. His Embraer ERJ-135BJ Legacy 600 plane crashed in the Tver region. Prigozhin was 62. Prigozhin was born in 1961 in Leningrad. He lost his father in his early childhood, and was raised by his mother and stepfather. Yevgeny Prigozhin received his first criminal record when he was 18, the second and third one followed soon afterwards. After he was released from prison, Prigozhin decided to open his own business. He and his stepfather started selling hotdogs in Leningrad.

World War Three that may put an end t your existence as a human civilisation, will set off on its destructive march from the Middle East. This is what a number of prominent figures, as well as seers and mystics predicted. Perhaps the most famous modern forecast on the subject came from the late leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky, authors of AZ numerology project said while collecting predictions about the Middle East conflict. Speaking on Vladimir Solovyov Live in 2019, Zhirinovsky voiced an opinion that elections in Ukraine were its last, as "such a country simply will not remain on the map by 2024.” Moreover, the crisis in the Middle East will be so intense everyone will completely forget about Ukraine. 

Source: REX/Shutterstock Boris Yeltsin lied when he said that he had been looking for a successor in the person of Vladimir Putin for a long time, historian Andrei Fursov told Pravda.Ru.Declassified transcripts of Bill Clinton's phone conversations with Boris Yeltsin in 1999 show that the late Russian president says that it took him long to find the man who would be in charge of Russia in 2000. "I came across him eventually, this is Putin. You will work with him," Yeltsin told Clinton promising that Putin would continue his line of Russia's democratic development and expand Russias contacts. Historian and political scientist Andrei Fursov noted in an interview with Pravda.Ru that Boris Yeltsin was reporting his decisions and ideas to Bill Clinton. "He informed his boss about his choice. It brings up the memory of Yeltsin's call to George H. Bush after the decision to disintegrate the Soviet Union. Bush was the first man whom Yeltsin called. Gorbachev was hurt by that. In another episode, Yeltsin tried to assure US Congress that communism would never be back on the Russian territory. This transcript is another evidence to prove the fact that Russia used to be a semi-colony during Yeltsin's presidency," the expert said. "I think that Yeltsin lied when he said that he had been searching for a successor for a long time. From what I know about the events of the late 1990s, Yeltsin did not intend to quit his job, but there were several aspects that forced American masters to put pressure on him. First, there was a conspiracy in the army led by Rokhlin to remove Yeltsin from power. Rokhlin's murder ruined the plan, and people in Yeltsin's team realised that there was serious discontent brewing in the army. "Secondly, not long before that, the parliament had nearly impeached Yeltsin. In addition, Russia suffered a default in 1998. Those three events drew the line under Yeltsin's rule, and he had to quickly search for a successor. Apparently, he counted on Stepashin at first, but then it turned out that the latter was ready to compromise with the Primakov-Luzhkov team, so a need in another candidate arose. "Today, the Russian leadership should give a moral assessment to Yeltsin's rule. In today's Russia, many tend to despise Gorbachev a lot, but they dislike Yeltsin to a lesser degree. Yeltsin was a product of Gorbachev's rule. Yeltsin was working within the corridor of opportunities set by Gorbachev. Gorbachev is still alive, and the man who destroyed the USSR should be held accountable for that. At the same time, I understand that Putin does not want to criticise Yeltsin because it was Yeltsin who made Putin his successor," the expert told Pravda.Ru. 

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev once had to beg Joseph Stalin for mercy. The episode in Khrushchev's biography took place before he came to power in the USSR. Khrushchev had to kneel in front of Stalin, begging him not to punish his son Leonid, who had shot an officer by accident.  Professor, biophysicist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Andrei Malenkov, the son of one of Khrushchev's competitors in the struggle for power, Georgy Malenkov, said in an interview with Lenta.ru that Khrushchev came to Stalin and was crawling on his knees in front of him because his son was supposed to be executed for shooting an officer. Moreover, it was the second time when Khrushchev's son committed such a crime (he was forgiven for the first one), Malenkov said.   With this landmark report at the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union "On the cult of the personality and its consequences" Nikita Khrushchev wanted to take revenge on Stalin for his unfortunate son Leonid, the professor also said, adding that Khrushchev was a "very vindictive little man."

Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully in Scotland on September 8. The crown passed to her son, Prince Charles, who took the throne name Charles III. His name is translated into Russian as Karl III, which is due to historic peculiarities of name translations. Elizabeth II and Boris Yeltsin Despite the fact that Elizabeth II ascended the throne back in 1952, the Queen was in no hurry to pay an official visit to the Soviet Union and then Russia. Her historical trip to Russia took place only after the collapse of the USSR. On October 17, 1994, Elizabeth II landed in Moscow. First deputy chairman of the government, Oleg Soskovets, welcomed the Queen. Directly from the airport, they went to the Kremlin in a royal Rolls-Royce, where Russian President Boris Yeltsin was waiting for them.

The future of the International Space Station remains extremely vague. News reports about technical problems on board the ISS became, one might say, traditional. Is it time to decide? The service life of the International Space Station extends till 2024. At the same time, now is the time to decide what should be done to the station afterwards. Late last year, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the future of the ISS would be determined in the first quarter of 2021."The fate of the ISS has not been fully decided yet, it will be determined, probably, in the first quarter of next year," Borisov told TASS. He also added that Roscosmos corporation plans to launch a new segment of the ISS, which is expected to become the basis for the Russian orbital station in the future.It goes about "Nauka" ("Science") module, which will become a space laboratory for Russian cosmonauts. Does Russia want the ISS to last longer? Ivan Moiseev, the scientific director of the Institute of Space Policy, believes that stopping international cooperation was out of the question. "There is an official permit to run the station till 2024 - till 2025, in fact. All the countries participating in the ISS agreement agreed to consider the issue of extending the service life of the station till 2028-2030 - that was six months ago," the expert told Pravda.Ru.However, the situation took a turn due to a series of accidents on board the ISS."Those were insignificant accidents, but they create a relevant information background. The government had to decide. If it was not for those accidents, they would have quietly extended the service life of the ISS until 2028, and it would be beneficial to everyone. But when those accidents started happening, they led the general public to believe that the station was falling apart. There were official statements made about the need to finish its work," Ivan Moiseev said.However, the expert believes that the work of the station should be extended. "Therefore, the government apparently will make a decision on the matter in early 2021," he believes.

Lose weight without spending a cent The story of how I lost 20 kilogrammes (44 lb) in less than three months without going hungry or getting bored and without spending one cent What? Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey writing a non-political article, without bashing someone on the head and claiming about human rights, indigenous rights, women’s rights, without haranging the war lobby, the pharma lobby, the military-industrial complex?

Russia has decided to pull out from the International Space Station project after 2024, Yuri Borisov, the chief of Roscosmos state corporation said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The main priority for Roscosmos now is to provide the Russian economy with required space services, such as navigation, communications, data transmission, meteorological and geodetic information, etc. As for manned space exploration, Roscosmos will deal with the creation of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS). This project is to replace the ISS for Russia.

This serious medical and social problem is growing exponentially but is not receiving adequate attention Recent studies indicate that babies with some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will constitute as many as one in every 100 births, showing a markedly growing trend. What are the causes? The Autism Center is organising the XI International Annual Conference – Autism. Challenges and Solutions – in Abu Dhabi, UAE (April 28 to 30) which aims to share discoveries and results of investigation carried out over the last decade.  Described as “a serious medical and social problem” by the Autism Centre, this spectrum of disorders does not receive the attention it deserves in many countries around the world, in the words of the Center, “most countries”.

A tsunami of toxic plastic waste looms on the horizon but a revolution is promised. Quite how serious is the situation and what is being done? To set the scene, two thirds of plastic products are short-term, throw-away items containing over 13,000 chemicals, many of them toxic, products like shopping bags, straws, cups and so on. The history The first manufactured plastic was Parkesine, patented in 1862 by its British inventor, Alexander Parkes. It was made from cotton fibres dissolved in nitric and sulphuric acid, and mixed with vegetable oil. It substituted tortoise and turtle shells and ivory. Over the other side of The Pond, John Wesley Hyatt founded the Celluloid Manufacturing Company (USA) and mass produced items such as combs, sunglasses... and cinema film. By 1907 the first fully synthetic plastic had been invented by the Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland, who combined formaldehyde and phenol to produce Bakelite (the material used in the old telephones). By the early twentieth century, the plastics manufacturing giants had already been formed by the alliances of chemical and petroleum industries – ExxonMobil, Dow Chemicals, DuPont, BASF and the British company, ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries), which by 1932 was producing Perspex.

Putin's Annual Address to the Federal Assembly is scheduled for September 30. Kremlin sources say it will become even more historic and globally important than the 2014 address for the return of Crimea. Mass media and experts make their own suggestions about the content of Putin's speech that he is going to deliver to the Federal Assembly on September 30. There are a number of versions:

On October 19, Putin signed a decree to implement martial law in four regions of Russia. He explained this by the fact that Ukrainian forces continue shelling the new Russian regions and committing acts of sabotage. According to the Russian authorities, the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge was carried out by the special services of Ukraine, he also said. "In this regard, let me remind you that in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, before they joined Russia, martial law regime was already in effect. Now we need to formalize this regime within the framework of Russian legislation,” Putin said. Martial law shall be introduced starting from October 20 midnight. The government, as well as the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Federal Security Service and the National Guard, must submit proposals on measures that are planned to be applied in the territories where martial law has been declared within three days.

An expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defenсe was held in Moscow on December 21. During the meeting, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu delivered a keynote speech. President Vladimir Putin also spoke at the meeting. Below are key remarks that Shoigu and Putin made about the army, the special operation and priority tasks for 2023. Russian President Vladimir Putin: Of course, the hostilities and military operations are always associated with tragedy and loss of lives. We understand this very well, we are aware of this. But since this [conflict] is inevitable, better today than tomorrow. I think that everyone present in this auditorium perfectly understands what I am talking about. I still consider the Ukrainian people our brotherly nation. What is happening now is a tragedy, but it does not come as a result of our policy. We need to study NATO's experience and tactics in order to include that in the troops training programme and equipping the army. NATO weapons must be analyzed and used to build the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Russia will continue to develop the nuclear triad. This is the main guarantee of maintaining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. As many as 150,000 of the 300,000 mobilised are now undergoing training at training grounds. The other half is in the zone of hostilities. This is enough for the special operation. The past mobilisation has revealed certain problems. To eliminate them, we need to modernise the system of military commissariats. The hostilities have identified issues that need to be worked on, including communication issues. The Ministry of Defence should be attentive to criticism. The ministry should respond to it in a timely manner. Everything a fighter needs must be modern and reliable. Officers and sergeants who have gained experience in the special operation should be assigned to new positions as a matter of priority. It is necessary to develop and use drones in the army — they must be everywhere. We need to expand the arsenal of modern attack weapons. Sarmat intercontinental missiles will be put on combat duty in the near future. The Admiral Gorshkov frigate with state-of-the-art Zirkon hypersonic missile systems will enter combat service in early 2023. We need to saturate the troops with everything necessary — from modern first-aid kits to sights. Everything is important on the battlefield. There are no restrictions to finance the Russian Armed Forces. The country gives the army everything they ask for. We've got everything. We look forward to constructive and meaningful negotiations with a visible end result that would ensure equal security for all, within a certain timeframe. We will not engage in the militarization of the country and economy. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu:

The West has prepared a "Russia after Putin" plan and already chose its actors in the face of Garry Kasparov* and Mikhail Khodorkovsky*, who suddenly developed an affection for the Russian people. They are waiting for the "window of opportunity" to open. The anti-Russian "Action Committee" published an article in Foreign Affairs magazine under the telling title Don't Fear Putin's Demise. This committee is represented by two good old chaps who were recognised as foreign agents in the Russian Federation. They are Garry Kasparov* and Mikhail Khodorkovsky*. The article in Foreign Affairs says that the West needs to continue to supply Ukraine with modern weapons until Russia's military defeat and the collapse of the Putin regime. The committee also declared its readiness to take the reins of power in its hands afterwards.

Starting from May, Russia may start buying foreign currency for its reserves again. The country's budget has stabilized thanks to the growth of oil and gas export revenues, Bloomberg reports. The growth in revenues from the sale of energy products is already close to the target level. Since February of this year, the Russian Ministry of Finance has been selling reserves in Chinese yuan to cover the budget deficit. In April, sales collapsed by 50 percent compared to the beginning of the year. From May, purchases are likely to begin, Bloomberg notes. Such purchases can be relatively small at first — an equivalent of about $200 million in yuan. For the time being, Russia currently replenishes the National Welfare Fund only by purchasing Chinese currency.

On Tuesday, October 17, the Russian Parliament, the State Duma, gave the first reading to the draft law to revoke the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Commenting on the vote on the bill, Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote that the withdrawal of the ratification should "contribute” to ensuring Russia's security against the backdrop of the US refusal to ratify the CTBT. "Washington should finally understand that hegemony on their part does not lead to anything positive. There is a need for dialogue on the principles of mutual respect, absence of double standards, and non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states. The Russian Federation will do everything to protect its citizens and ensure that global strategic parity is maintained," Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram.

On Thursday, February 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual Address to the Federal Assembly. In the beginning of the speech, he touched on the topics of the special military operation in Ukraine, relations with the West, strategic stability, and later proceeded to announce a number of new national projects, changes in economic and social sphere. About special military operation Putin recalled that 2024 marks the tenth anniversary of the "legendary Russian Spring.” "The love that the people living in Crimea and new regions share for their homeland evokes pride," Vladimir Putin said.