Russian president expected to continue invasion of Ukraine until his forces have secured remaining areas of eastern Donbas

Vladimir Putin has asked Russia’s oligarchs to donate to the country’s dwindling defence budget to continue its invasion of Ukraine, it has been reported.

The Russian president is expected to continue the conflict, which began in February 2022, until Moscow has secured the remaining areas of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region not under its control, according to the Financial Times.

At least two businessmen have told Putin they would be willing to make contributions to the defence budget after talks on Thursday, the newspaper reported.

Putin is understood to be pressing ahead with the invasion after Ukraine refused to withdraw unilaterally from Donbas during recent negotiations brokered by the US.

Russia will be in contact with the US about a new round of talks on a peace settlement as soon as conditions allow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov said Russia had not lost interest in peace talks but added that key issues – including territory – had yet to be settled.

The Kremlin’s defence bill has increased by 42% to reach Rbs13.1tn (£121bn) last year and it has sought to stabilise its economy through taxation.

The economy minister, Maxim Reshetnikov, said on Thursday that Russia was considering another windfall tax this year if the rouble continues to weaken. Russia raised Rbs320bn (£2.95bn) through a one-off 10% windfall levy on some large companies in 2023.

In January, the Kremlin increased VAT to 22% in a bid to raise an extra Rbs600bn over three years from small and medium-sized businesses.

Russia’s budget deficit for January and February swelled to more than 90% of the figure projected for the whole year as US sanctions forced Moscow to sell oil at significantly discounted prices.

Earlier, Putin cautioned that Russian companies and the government should take a guarded approach when deciding how to spend windfall gains from higher oil prices resulting from the war in the Middle East.

“Now that the prices of our traditional exports are rising, but the markets are in turmoil, there may be a temptation to take advantage of the situation,” he told business leaders in Moscow.

Putin added this temptation could involve squandering the extra revenue, paying it out in company dividends or, in the state’s case, expanding budget spending.

“We must remain prudent. If the markets swing one way today, they could swing the other tomorrow,” he added.

“A moderate degree of conservatism and a moderately conservative approach are needed, both in the corporate sector and in public finances.”

Continue reading...

The Republic of Ireland were riding a wave of confidence into the World Cup playoff semi-final, according to Séamus Coleman, but it struck a rock on an agonising night in Prague. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side squandered the initiative twice against the Czech Republic, in normal time and in the penalty shootout, as their hopes of qualifying for a first World Cup in 24 years evaporated.

Ireland led 2-0 after 23 minutes courtesy of a Troy Parrott penalty and a calamitous own goal by Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar but they gifted the hosts a route back when Ryan Manning conceded a needless spot-kick. An 86th-minute equaliser from Wolves defender Ladislav Krejci took the game into extra time and then on to penalties.

Continue reading...

Two years to the day since penalty shootout heartbreak against Poland, more agony from 12 yards for Wales. Bosnia and Herzegovina prevailed on spot-kicks after a typically absorbing night in the Welsh capital, one that went the distance, more than 133 minutes passed before Brennan Johnson spooned over and Neco Williams saw his penalty saved by Nikola Vasilj, who read Williams’s effort to his left.

For so long it had seemed Daniel James, whose spot-kick was saved by Wojciech Szczesny to kill hopes of reaching Euro 2024, would be the match-winner but Edin Dzeko, who turned 40 this month, glanced in a header to take the game to extra time. For the second successive qualifying campaign, the locals left the Cardiff City Stadium with that horrible feeling in the pits of their stomachs, a numbness.

Continue reading...

BertvB posted a photo:

The post 10 Composition Mistakes That Are Quietly Ruining Your Photos (And How to Fix Them) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

You’ve got a decent camera. You understand exposure. But something about your photos still feels… off. More often than not, the culprit isn’t your gear — it’s composition. The good news? These mistakes are easy to spot once you know what to look for, and even easier to fix. Here are ten composition habits that might be holding your photos back.

1. Putting the subject dead-centre every time The rule of thirds exists for a reason. Placing your subject slightly off-centre creates visual tension and a more natural, engaging image. Try positioning eyes, horizons, or focal points along the grid lines instead.

2. A cluttered, busy background Your background is working either for you or against you — there’s no neutral. Before you shoot, scan the whole frame. Distracting elements behind your subject? Move your feet, change your angle, or open up your aperture.

3. Cutting off limbs at the joints Cropping someone at the wrist, ankle, or knee looks awkward and unintentional. If you need to crop a person, do it between joints — mid-forearm, mid-shin, mid-thigh.

4. A horizon that’s not actually horizontal A tilted horizon is one of the most common and most fixable mistakes in photography. Use your camera’s built-in level (most have one), or spend 10 seconds straightening in post.

5. No clear subject Ask yourself: what is this photo of? If the answer is vague, your viewer won’t know where to look. Every strong image has a clear visual anchor. Find yours before you press the shutter.

6. Not using leading lines Roads, fences, rivers, staircases — these are gifts. Leading lines pull the viewer’s eye into the frame and give your image depth and direction. Look for them in every scene.

7. Shooting everything from eye level Eye level is comfortable, but it’s also predictable. Get low and shoot upward for drama. Get high and shoot down for context. Even a small change in angle can transform a photo entirely.

8. Ignoring negative space Empty space isn’t wasted space. Negative space gives your subject room to breathe and can make an image feel calm, deliberate, and modern. Don’t feel compelled to fill every corner of the frame.

9. Merging edges — where your subject “touches” the background When a tree, pole, or wall appears to grow out of someone’s head, it’s called a merge — and it’s distracting. Check your edges before shooting and adjust your position to separate the subject from the background.

10. Forgetting to simplify The best compositions usually have one thing to say. Before you shoot, ask: what can I remove from this frame? Great composition is often about subtraction, not addition.

The great thing about composition is that it costs nothing and improves everything. You don’t need a new lens or a camera upgrade — just a more intentional eye. Pick one of these to focus on during your next shoot and see what a difference it makes.

The post 10 Composition Mistakes That Are Quietly Ruining Your Photos (And How to Fix Them) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

JPMorgan is piloting a system that monitors junior investment bankers to avoid burnout (source paywalled; alternative source). "[T]he bank will seek to match up hours claimed by the bankers with digital activity," reports Bloomberg. "The tool won't be used for evaluation purposes, but is designed to provide a better estimate of employee workloads." From the report: The program will monitor the weekly digital footprint, including video calls, desktop keystrokes, and scheduled meetings, the Financial Times reported earlier, adding JPMorgan plans to roll out the effort more widely across its investment bank. Banks on Wall Street are known for heavy working hours, but can in return offer salaries of as much as $200,000 for entry-level analyst and associate roles. "Much like the weekly screen time summaries on a smartphone, this tool is about awareness -- not enforcement," a representative for JPMorgan said in a statement. "It's designed to support transparency, well-being, and encourage open conversations about workload."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

When photographer Frank Relle was nine years old, he remembers sneaking out of the house he grew up in in New Orleans just before daybreak to catch the sunrise—an event he found frustratingly difficult to explain to others, as much as he wished to share the experience. It was only years later that he discovered the camera, and he reflects on this time now through the lens of an excerpt from the essay “Between Yes and No” by Albert Camus: “A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.”

Relle adds, “The swamp was that opening for me. I do not fully understand how. I went in once, and something happened; I changed, and then I kept going back.” The New Orleans-based photographer still returns to the swamps of Louisiana, watched over by bald cypress trees draped in ethereal swathes of Spanish moss. He canoes onto the calm waters, capturing the transition between day and night amid the sounds of birds and other creatures that make their homes there.

“I work in the swamp because it returns me to a way of being that feels older, quieter, and more true,” Relle tells Colossal, continuing:

Out there, surrounded by trees, insects, birds, reflections, and dark water, I stop living inside the noise of my own mind. The swamp pulls me out of the island of myself and places me back inside a larger living world. In that state, I feel wonder, connection, and a kind of freedom. Photography became my way of sharing that feeling—not by explaining it but by inviting others into it.

Relle’s series Until the Water explores Louisiana’s otherworldly bayous through a lens of serene reverence. He places lights beneath boughs and trunks, illuminating trees against darkening horizons to emphasize their billowing shapes amid expansive wetlands distinctive to the Gulf Coast region of North America.

Time is both evident and seemingly suspended in Relle’s photos, as within the context of a single day ending or beginning, we observe mature cypresses that may have weathered hundreds of years. (The oldest known living tree in eastern North America is a bald cypress in North Carolina that’s more than 2,600 years old.) Some of the trees are abundantly leafy and full, while others are bare, struggling, or cracked open.

“The swamp at two in the morning is not quiet; it is one of the loudest places I have ever been,” Relle says. “But a photograph of it is silent. And in that silence, there is an opening. A threshold….That is what I wanted when I was small, watching the sky change. Not to describe it. To bring someone else to the edge of it. To share it without words.”

Find more on Relle’s Instagram, and purchase prints in his online shop. And if you’re in New Orleans, visit his brick-and-mortar gallery on Royal Street.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Frank Relle’s Photos Revel in Louisiana’s Otherworldly Swampland appeared first on Colossal.

gudonjin has added a photo to the pool:

北海道　阿寒湖　ワカサギ釣りのテント

ozipital has added a photo to the pool:

Another angle