ULYANOVSK, Russia — Make a baby. Win a car.

Don't be surprised if the streets are empty and curtains drawn in this central Russian region today as residents take up an offer by the regional governor to help stem Russia's demographic crisis.

Ulyanovsk Gov. Sergei Morozov has decreed Sept. 12 a Day of Conception and is giving couples time off from work to procreate. Couples who give birth nine months later on Russia's national day — June 12 — will receive money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.

It's the third year that the Volga River region, about 550 miles east of Moscow, has held the contest. Since then, the number of competitors — and the number of babies born — has been on the rise.

Russia's population has dropped since the 1991 Soviet collapse, fed by declining birth rates, a low life expectancy, a spike in emigration and a frayed health care system.

VIENNA, Austria — OPEC sought to reassure jittery oil markets Tuesday by agreeing to boost crude production by 500,000 barrels a day — a move the cartel conceded was prompted partly by "clouds on the horizon" from the U.S. housing slump.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the higher output would begin Nov. 1. It pledged to "vigilantly monitor" the other factors buffeting crude markets, including worries that supplies might not keep pace with higher demand later this year as it becomes winter in the Northern Hemisphere.After OPEC's announcement, light, sweet crude for October delivery immediately advanced above $78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. By the end of an up and down session, it rose 74 cents to settle at $78.23 a barrel, besting the previous record by 2 cents.

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced today he will resign, ending a troubled year-old government that has suffered a string of damaging scandals and a humiliating electoral defeat.Abe said he was quitting to pave the way for ruling and opposition parties to work together to approve the extension of Tokyo's naval mission in support of the U.S.-led operation in Afghanistan."In the present situation it is difficult to push ahead with effective policies that win the support and trust of the public," Abe said in a nationally televised news conference. "I have decided that we need a change in this situation."Abe, a nationalist whose support rating has plunged to 30 percent, also cited the ruling party's defeat in July 29 elections, in which the opposition took control of the upper house of Parliament.The prime minister said he had instructed ruling party leaders to immediately search for a replacement, but he did not announce a date for his departure from office.