Georgia has revealed how it intercepted a group of smugglers trying to sell weapons-grade uranium on the black market.
The men, both Armenian, slipped across the border into Georgia at night before being arrested in a sting operation.
Highly-enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear bombs.
Experts say they are worried that more might be being traded in the region, and that it could be intended for terrorists.
Georgian investigators say that back in March, the two Armenians stashed the highly-enriched uranium in a lead-lined cigarette container, concealed it in the night train from the Armenian capital Yerevan to Tbilisi, and made their own way across the border.
Thinking that they were selling the 18g (0.6oz) sample to an Islamist group, they were caught by an undercover officer in Tbilisi and put on trial.
The quantity was small, and would probably not have been enough for a bomb alone – but the men have said that they intended to sell more.
The exact origins of the uranium are unclear.
It is not the first time weapons-grade material has been intercepted in Georgia.
In 2007 a Russian man was arrested for carrying 100g of uranium, in a sting operation involving US agents.
Each seizure is a reminder of how porous the borders of the Caucasus are, in spite of the efforts of the US to secure them – and of the fact that unknown quantities of potentially lethal materials from Soviet times are still at large.
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To appreciate what makes the healthcare budget unique, you need to understand how spending works in another area, such as defence. Cash spending on defence soared over 35 years. But what goes up may not go up after inflation – the “real terms” line shows spending up, down and up again.
You can also judge spending as a percentage of GDP – that is as a share of the value of all goods and services produced in the UK. On this basis, defence has withered as a national priority for 50 years, on and off. Between the mid-80s and mid-90s, the defence share of the cake halved.
Now look at health spending. Unlike defence, over 50 years the numbers have risen in cash, real terms and as a share of the GDP cake. It’s one of the most striking changes in the post-war state, under both parties. In real terms, health spending has increased 10 times since 1948.
But this hasn’t been unique to Britain. It has happened in almost every developed country. Spending more on health is what people tend to do as they grow richer, whether through a state-run NHS, or privately. Populations age, technology improves, expectations rise. But does it stop?
Yes, according to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. The line that rose for 60 years – showing health’s growing share of the cake – will flatten under his plans. The NHS has been told to save £20bn from existing budgets to pay for all that would once have pushed it higher.
Those £20bn of savings come from a budget of about £100bn. Real terms rises in the spending review are minimal. So is the healthcare budget protected? Or, with growth sharply curtailed, when growth was the rule, is it facing as hard a future as any?
Still, less NHS growth might be good. Many say it was wrong to “protect” it. The big spending cuts in Canada and Sweden in the 80s and 90s are often held up as examples for Britain. But did they halt the long-term rise of state health of just correct a blip? Judge for yourself.
So can the government, and the NHS, deliver on its plans? Health can’t grab more cake until it eats it all. Mind you, the US health slice – public/private combined – is nearly twice the share in the UK. Will UK demand follow? Can it be resisted? Or will it find a way privately, if not publicly?
