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Imagine a world where women were commodities, where teenage girls had their virginity auctioned off to the highest bidder. Imagine a place where a pretty beggar could start her life on the street and end it on a country estate, married to a wealthy, titled man. Imagine sex without contraception, where syphilis was rife and incurable, where you could scale the heights as a celebrated courtesan or die broken, diseased and starving.

An explosive new book promises to lift the lid on one of history's sauciest characters. High society It girl Lady Melbourne rocked Georgian society with a string of lovers - including the Prince of Wales. So salacious were the extra-marital affairs of Lady M, known as Elizabeth Lamb, that she had six children - including Queen Victoria's favourite prime minister Lord Melbourne - but only one was fathered by her husband, Sir Peniston Lamb. Lady Melbourne's fourth son, George, who was born in 1784, was almost certainly sired by Prince George, the Prince of Wales, who later became George IV.

It is a world steeped in depravity and vice, where tens of thousands of women are preyed upon by the wealthiest men in society and ruthlessly exploited as playthings for pure pleasure. This is the shocking setting for Jessica Brown Findlay’s return to costume drama. And it’s a million miles away from the niceties of life at Downton Abbey, in which she played genteel Lady Sybil. Ms Findlay stars as an elegant Georgian courtesan in Harlots, which turns a spotlight on the secret world of 18th Century England’s highly lucrative sex trade.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — About 600 U.S. and Georgian troops are conducting joint exercises aimed at training the armed forces of the former Soviet republic for participation in the NATO Response Force. Col. Michael Foster, commander of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade, said the exercises are "an absolutely unique opportunity for us" and "the way we are going to be fighting in the future."

The writer James Boswell is best known today as the upstanding biographer of the great critic and lexicographer, Samuel Johnson. But if you read Boswell’s London Journal, written in the 1760s, you get a very different picture of Boswell. With one of his girlfriends, an actress-cum-whore called Louisa, he enjoyed ‘five times rapture’ in one night. He contracted venereal disease no fewer than 17 times — and died of urinary complications in 1795. But then, 18th-century society was awash with sex.

March 31, 2010 Georgia accused over Moscow Metro bombing Tony Halpin Relatives of Maxim Mareyev, a 20-year-old university student who was killed in Monday's suicide bombings The head of Russia’s Security Council accused Georgia today of backing terrorism in the North Caucasus and said that it could be involved in the Moscow Metro bombing. As Moscow held the first funerals for victims of the attack, Nikolai Patrushev alleged that members of Georgia’s special services had links with terrorist groups in the region and said that investigators would look for evidence of their involvement in the double suicide-bombing that killed 39...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2008 – President Bush condemned what he called Russia’s “irresponsible decision” today to recognize the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. “Russia's action only exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations,” Bush, in Crawford, Texas, said in a statement. The president’s response comes after a reported announcement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Moscow intends to formally recognize the two breakaway provinces in Georgia, where Russia continues to maintain troops in defiance of a cease-fire agreement and mounting international pressure to withdrawal. “We expect Russia to live up to its international commitments, reconsider this...

More than 100 people are deported, and schools are told to look for suspect surnames. MOSCOW — Russia deported more than 100 ethnic Georgians accused of entering the country illegally and ordered some Moscow schools to compile lists of children with Georgian surnames to detect illegal residents, officials said Friday. Russia and its fellow former Soviet republic have been locked in a bitter dispute since Georgia arrested four Russian officers last week on charges of spying. Despite their release, Moscow has imposed a variety of sanctions on Georgia.

Maj. Lasha Karmazanashvili (right), commander, 22nd Light Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Georgian Armed Forces, cases his battalion's colors. Photo taken by Spc. Jason Dangel, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD -- The Georgian Army’s Batumi Light Infantry Battalion is now helping to secure the International Zone, playing an international role in the mission to provide peace and stability for all Iraqis. Soldiers in Baghdad bade farewell to the Georgian Army’s 22nd Light Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, and welcomed their replacements, during a Transfer of Authority ceremony at Forward Operating Base Union I in Baghdad’s International Zone...

War clouds gather in Georgian spy crisis By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow (Filed: 30/09/2006) The crisis in the Caucasus escalated last night as Georgia accused Russia of advancing troops towards its borders after four Russian army officers were charged with spying. Officers check papers at Russian Army headquarters in Tbilisi as Russia evacuates staff and their families The worst breakdown in relations between the two ex-Soviet neighbours in 15 years seemed to worsen hour by hour on a day of high drama. Flouting Kremlin demands for their immediate release, a Tbilisi court ordered the four Russian servicemen, whose arrest on...

The demands of the kidnappers were simple: Pay the ransom and the hostages would be freed. But prosecutors said the crew of Russian immigrants killed their hostages anyway - even after collecting $1 million from some of the victims' relatives. More than four years after the five bodies were found in a reservoir north of Yosemite National Park, opening statements are expected this week in the federal trial of two men accused of orchestrating the crimes. It's a rare instance in which federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. "Regardless of whether the ransom money defendants demanded was paid or...

A formation of Georgian soldiers from the 22nd Light Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, listen to Capt. Lasha Karmazanashvili, commander, 22nd Light Infantry Battalion, during a Georgian Independence Day celebration Friday in Baghdad’s International Zone. Col. Michael Beech, commander, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, congratulates Georgian soldiers during a Georgian Independence day celebration. Georgian battalion celebrates Independence Day Story and photos by Pfc. Jason Dangel 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division BAGHDAD, Iraq — The 22nd Light Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade of the Georgian army celebrated its country’s independence day in the International Zone Friday. The Georgian...

USS PORTER, At Sea (NNS) -- USS Porter (DDG 78) departed the Black Sea country of Georgia April 10, after being at anchor outside the city of Poti for four days. Within hours, Porter was at work strengthening enduring and emerging partnerships not only with the Georgian navy, but also the Turkish navy. "I think it's the first time we have done a trilateral exercise underway with the Georgian, Turkish and U.S. Navies," noted Commander, Task Force 67 Capt. Bob Lally, who assumed tactical control of the guided-missile destroyer before it entered the Black Sea, April 4. "Cooperative training helps...

Elite, U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Task Force is training the Georgian soldiers who will fill more than 530 positions in Iraq. STUTTGART, Germany, Nov. 29, 2005 — U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe will showcase the U.S. European Command's Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program Task Force training program in a "capstone" event Dec. 5-10 in the Republic of Georgia. The event aims to prove the readiness of Georgia's 22nd Light Infantry Battalion prior to its deployment to Iraq. The trained 22nd Light Infantry Battalion troops will form part of the dedicated force called for in UN Security Council Resolution 1546...

U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Nathan Guidry (standing, left) and retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. David Moose (standing, right) train 16 Republic of Georgia soldiers at Krtsanisi, Georgia, to be communications trainers, Sept. 26, 2005, as part of the Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jonathan Moor Marines Teach Radio Skills to Georgian Soldiers The extensive, four-month training is preparing the Georgian battalion to accomplish their mission in Iraq. By U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jonathan Moor U.S. Marine Forces, Europe KRTSANISI, Georgia, Oct. 11, 2005 --- U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery...

The 37-year-old, U.S.-educated freedom fighter who led a popular uprising in 2003 dubbed the "Rose Revolution," which ousted a former top Soviet official from power told The Washington Times yesterday that the U.S. president is on the right side of history. "It's a new kind of ideology that we have from this president that's kind of crystallized now. It is idealistic. It's a much more moral position, a winning position," "I think President Bush was very fast to capture this mood," he added. The boyish leader of this nation of 4.4 million people sees the sweep of peaceful uprisings in...

Georgian archeologists discover basilica of middle ages Posted: 05/07/04 Georgian archeologists have discovered a monastery complex of the middle ages in the south-west of the village Bakuriani, at the 1700 m of the Black Sea altitude. The archeologists were working on the 185 km of the Baku-Tbilisi-Geyhan pipeline traffic. Givi Ghambashidze, chief of the Tsikhijvari archeological expedition, said that they have found a massive stone wall, in the interior of which they discovered basilica cells, important ceramic utensils, remains of the building. The scientists have studied a third of the monastery. The archeological research center at the Georgian Academy of...

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has extended to Georgian President-elect Mikheil Saakashvili an invitation by the US President George Bush to visit the USA on 25 February. Speaking at a news briefing ahead of the inaugural ceremony in Tbilisi, Colin Powell said that the US president and the people of the USA looked forward to Mikheil Saakashvili's visit. "President Bush is looking forward to meeting the new president as soon as possible and I have extended to the new president President Bush's invitation for him to visit the United States on 25 February," Powell said. "The president, all of...

Friday, 10 January, 2003, 11:20 GMT Georgian skull's link to our past The skull is thought to be 1.8 million years old By Robert Parsons in Dmanisi, Georgia The moment is indelibly burned into Dato Zhvania's memory. It had been a day like any other - a day of back-breaking, painstakingly meticulous work. A day of throbbing, enervating heat. But as he sifted gingerly through the baked patch of ground before him, his fingers touched something different. The team celebrates their find His pulse quickened. The archaeological site at the medieval town of Dmanisi, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south-west of...