Amitabh Mattoo

Amitabh Mattoo (born 26 June 1962, Srinagar) is one of India's leading thinkers and writers on international relations. He was awarded a Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009. He is Professor of Disarmament Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Honorary Professor of International Relations at the University of Melbourne. He serves as Chairman of the Governing Board of Miranda House, University of Delhi, the highest ranked women's college in India. He has also been a member of the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. In 2002, he was the youngest person to be appointed as Vice Chancellor of a public university in independent India. Mattoo's advice on policy matters has been sought across political parties and across governments, including by Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh. Until 19 June 2018, he served as Advisor to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, with the status of a Cabinet Minister. Following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, he has offered a political roadmap for securing the future of Jammu and Kashmir. He has been a persistent advocate of multiculturalism and of reconciliation between Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims.
Family, early life and education.
A son of the academic and writer Neerja Mattoo and the forester and civil servant Rajendra Kumar Mattoo, Amitabh received his early education at the Christian missionary Burn Hall School in Srinagar and then at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, following which he married Ajita, a member of the 1987 batch of the Indian Railway Accounts Service. He qualified for the Indian Police Service in 1987 and then IAS in 1988 through the combined civil service exam but preferred a career in academics. He went on to earn a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, writing a history of the campaign for nuclear disarmament. He describes the ten days of youth that he spent in Tihar jail as part of student protests at JNU as a 'life-shaping experience'.
Mattoo comes from a well-known and progressive Kashmiri Pandit family of Srinagar, which never left the valley during the years of conflict. Before the land reforms in Jammu and Kashmir, his family were among the most influential feudal landlords, aristocrats and administrators in the region. Examining the recent social history of his own ethnic group, Mattoo remarks:
Career.
Mattoo has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been Chairperson of the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University as well as Founder Director and CEO of the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne and a member of the National Knowledge Commission, a high-level advisory group to the Prime Minister of India. He has also been a member of the advisory board of India's National Security Council, a member of the Indian Prime Minister's Task Force on Global Strategic Developments, on the executive committee and governing council of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and a member of the Indian Prime Minister's High-Level Group on Nuclear Disarmament. He also co-chaired the Knowledge Initiative with the Education Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The Knowledge Initiative was established by the state government to recommend interventions in schools, colleges and institutions of higher learning to make the education system socially relevant and globally competitive.
Mattoo has published books on India's nuclear policy and India-Pakistan relations and has written on Kashmir. Mattoo has published ten books and more than 100 research articles (including in journals like "Survival" and "Asian Survey"). He regularly writes for Indian English-language newspapers such as "The Telegraph" and "The Hindu", and has been a liberally inclined political commentator on national television.
Mattoo became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu in November 2002 and continued at this position until December 2008. As a patron of the arts, he was responsible for building a world-class auditorium in Jammu University, which also hosts an art gallery and a museum. Leading Indian artists, including the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts-trained Bengali painter Jogen Chowdhury, have donated their work to the gallery. As President of the Jammu and Kashmir chapter of SPIC MACAY, Mattoo was responsible for the University becoming a nationally acclaimed centre of culture.
Mattoo's attempts at conflict resolution and peace-building (combining theory with practice) have been publicly acclaimed. He was a member of the committee, appointed by the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 2008, which negotiated the Amarnath land transfer controversy, a series of political events that had led to uprisings in Jammu and Kashmir. On 26 June 2011, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made an open offer to Mattoo to return to his home state and 'advise us' in his capacity as a noted political thinker and academic. On 21 August 2015, Mattoo was appointed as Advisor to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
For over a decade, he chaired the Chaophraya Track 2 Dialogue between India and Pakistan, and is regarded as one of the most creative thinkers on conflict resolution and pathways to build sustainable peace in South Asia. Mattoo endorses forgiveness and reconciliation among conflict-embittered South Asian peoples.
On 3 February 2011, in a meeting with India's Education Minister Kapil Sibal, Mattoo declined to be the Founding Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Jammu – for which he had been selected by a search committee of eminent academics and approved by the President of India – citing personal reasons. Earlier, he was in the shortlist of three for the Vice-Chancellorship of Jawaharlal Nehru University. On 1 March 2011, the University of Melbourne appointed Mattoo as the inaugural director of the Australia India Institute. The chairman of the institute's Board, University of Melbourne Chancellor the Hon. Alex Chernov AO QC (erstwhile Governor of Victoria) announced: "We are delighted to have as Director a person of world-renowned academic and administrative calibre such as Professor Mattoo. He has a wealth of experience in areas concerned with university affairs, government and other institutions." Mattoo also serves as Professor of International Relations in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.
Mattoo advocates greater economic and political cooperation between Australia and India. In January 2020, he wrote: ""After more than six decades characterised by misperception, lack of trust, neglect, missed opportunities and even hostility, a new chapter in India’s relations with Australia has well and truly begun. Consider this: in 1955, Prime Minister Robert Menzies decided that Australia should not take part in the Bandung Afro-Asian conference. By distancing Australia from the ‘new world’, Menzies (who would later confess that Occidentals did not understand India) alienated Indians, offended Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and left Australia unsure for decades about its Asian identity. India and Australia should bring this chequered past to a closure, and herald a new united front for the Indo-Pacific."
Awards.
Recognizing his contribution to education and public life, the President of India honoured Mattoo on the occasion of the Republic Day (2008) with the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian awards. This was the first time a Vice-chancellor in Jammu and Kashmir had been so honoured.
Mattoo was awarded the Qimpro Platinum Standard Award (2008) and was recognised as a 'national statesman' for his work in the field of education along with Anand Mahindra, who was awarded for his leadership in business.
In 2016, Mattoo was awarded a Doctor of Laws ("Honoris Causa") degree by the Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Tamil Nadu; and in 2018, the Capital Foundation Award for being an 'outstanding educationist'.
Mattoo has also received several awards for his contribution to India-Australia relations, including the Asoka Award.


Coalition of Northeastern Governors

The Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG) is a non-partisan organization of seven governors of the Northeastern United States. The organization was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The organization deals with regional issues and provides a forum for intergovernmental cooperation.
Currently, the association comprises four Democrats and three Republicans. The current chairman is Republican Phil Scott of Vermont.


Patricius (Caesar)

Patricius also "Patriciolus"; ; "floruit" 459-471) was a son of the powerful general Aspar, for almost two decades the effective power behind the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire. Of mixed Roman and barbarian origin, he was destined for the imperial throne by his father, and rose to the rank of "caesar" under Emperor Leo I, before his father's murder in 471 led to his own downfall and possibly death.
Biography.
Patricius was the third son of Aspar, the Alan "magister militum" of Emperor Leo I, and like his father—and most of the Germanic peoples—he was an Arian.
The name "Patricius", of ostentatious Roman origin, suggests that the father had plans for him, up to the imperial throne. Patricius was appointed consul in 459 by the Eastern court.
In 470, in an episode of the struggle for power between Aspar and the Isaurian general Zeno, Aspar persuaded the Emperor to appoint Patricius as "caesar" and give him in marriage his daughter Leontia. However, the clergy and people of Constantinople believed an Arian was not eligible to become an Emperor, and on hearing of the appointment riots broke out in the city hippodrome, led by the head of the Sleepless Monks, Marcellus. Aspar and Leo had to promise to the bishops that Patricius would convert to Chalcedonian Orthodoxy before becoming Emperor, and that he would marry Leontia only after his conversion.
No coins of Patricius as "caesar" were issued, and his only act in office was a trip to Alexandria, where he was welcomed with all the honours attributed to a "caesar".
In 471 an imperial conspiracy caused the death of Aspar and of his eldest son Ardabur: it is possible that Patricius also was killed on this occasion, although some sources report that he recovered from his wounds; in any case, after this episode, Patricius disappears from the sources. The marriage with Leontia was annulled, and later she married Marcian.


Gerardo Roxas

Gerardo Manuel de Leon Roxas Sr. (August 25, 1924 – April 19, 1982), better known as Gerry Roxas or Gerardo M. Roxas, was one of two children of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. He was the father of Gerardo "Dinggoy" A. Roxas, Jr. and former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel "Mar" A. Roxas II.
As a representative of the First District of Capiz and, later, as a Senator of the Republic of the Philippines (1963 to 1972), Gerry Roxas sponsored legislation that benefited the masses, improved living conditions, provided employment and family income and in general, promoted equitable sharing in the wealth of the nation. He also wrote many bills of national importance and was consistently voted by the Philippines Free Press and other national publications as one of the outstanding Senators of the Philippines.
Life and political career.
Born in Manila on August 25, 1924, Gerry Roxas was heir to a tradition of public service and leadership. His father, Manuel Acuña Roxas of Capiz, was the first President of the Republic. His mother, Trinidad De Leon of San Miguel, Bulacan, was the daughter of the late Senator Ceferino De Leon, who was a member of the Malolos Congress which drafted the revolutionary Constitution of 1896. He finished elementary school at the De La Salle College and high school at the Ateneo de Manila. He studied law at the University of the Philippines College of Law and graduated in 1949. There, he was a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity. The following year, he was admitted to the Philippine Bar. In 1955, Gerry Roxas married Judy, the daughter of J. Amado and Ester Araneta, with whom he had three children: Maria Lourdes ("Ria"), Manuel II ("Mar") and the late Gerardo, Jr. (“Dinggoy”).
In 1957, he was elected Congressman of the First District of Capiz and won with an overwhelming majority. He was re-elected in 1961. Gerry Roxas led the Liberal Party senatorial slate in 1963 and, after an exciting contest, emerged the top-notcher, obtaining the highest number of votes cast for a national candidate. In 1965, he ran for Vice-President as the running mate of then President Diosdado Macapagal. In the unfinished counting of the abruptly stopped Comelec tabulation, he lost by merely 26,724 votes, the narrowest margin ever recorded in our country's Vice-Presidential elections. He ran for re-election in the 1969 senatorial elections and emerged as the sole survivor of the entire Liberal Party senatorial slate.
As a young congressman, Gerry Roxas established the Roxas Educational Advancement Committee in 1958. The organization provided scholarship grants to youths in Capiz province. The program later expanded to the nationwide Gerry Roxas Leadership Awards (1967) to motivate and develop the youth's potentials in leadership and service to country. This nationwide program continues to this day.
Martial law years.
Gerry Roxas served as Philippine Senator from 1963 until September 1972, when Martial Law was declared by then President Ferdinand Marcos. At that time, he was President of the Liberal Party and was also co-Chairman of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO), a multi-sector network which galvanized societal opposition to Martial Law.
As a political fiscalizer, he tirelessly worked at building consensus, uniting Filipinos of different persuasions to forge a common goal: the return to democratic rule in the Philippines. He vigorously advocated for democracy and civil liberties, but did not live to see his efforts fulfilled. Roxas died on April 19, 1982 at the age of 58 in Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City due to cancer.
Gerry Roxas Foundation.
His legacy continues to this day through the institution that bears his name – the Gerry Roxas Foundation. The foundation implements programs towards local governance development, "barangay" justice and peace, health services, youth leadership and development finance. The foundation is headed by his widow, Judy A. Roxas, with his son, former Senator and DILG Secretary Mar Roxas' assistance as an honorary member of the Board of Trustees.


List of government-owned companies of Ethiopia

This is a list of government-owned companies of Ethiopia. A Government-owned corporation is a legal entity that undertakes commercial activities on behalf of an owner government. There is no standard definition of a government-owned corporation (GOC) or state-owned enterprise (SOE), although the two terms can be used interchangeably. The defining characteristics are that they have a distinct legal shape and they are established to operate in commercial affairs. While they may also have public policy objectives, GOCs should be differentiated from other forms of government agencies or state entities established to pursue purely non-financial objectives.


European Financial Stability Facility

The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the objective of preserving financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to eurozone states in economic difficulty. The Facility's headquarters are in Luxembourg City, as are those of the European Stability Mechanism. Treasury management services and administrative support are provided to the Facility by the European Investment Bank through a service level contract. Since the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the activities of the EFSF are carried out by the ESM.
The EFSF is authorised to borrow up to €440 billion, of which €250 billion remained available after the Irish and Portuguese bailout. A separate entity, the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), a programme reliant upon funds raised on the financial markets and guaranteed by the European Commission using the budget of the European Union as collateral, has the authority to raise up to €60 billion.
Function.
The mandate of the EFSF is to "safeguard financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance" to eurozone states.
The EFSF can issue bonds or other debt instruments on the market with the support of the German Finance Agency to raise the funds needed to provide loans to eurozone countries in financial troubles, recapitalise banks or buy sovereign debt. Emissions of bonds would be backed by guarantees given by the euro area member states in proportion to their share in the paid-up capital of the European Central Bank (ECB).
The €440 billion lending capacity of the Facility may be combined with loans up to €60 billion from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (reliant on funds raised by the European Commission using the EU budget as collateral) and up to €250 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a financial safety net up to €750 billion.
Had there been no financial operations undertaken, the EFSF would have closed down after three years, on 30 June 2013. However, since the EFSF was activated in 2011 to lend money to Ireland and Portugal, the Facility will exist until its last obligation has been fully repaid.
Lending.
The Facility can only act after a support request is made by a eurozone member state and a country programme has been negotiated with the European Commission and the IMF and after such a programme has been unanimously accepted by the Euro Group (eurozone finance ministers) and a memorandum of understanding is signed. This would only occur when the country is unable to borrow on markets at acceptable rates.
If there is a request from a eurozone member state for financial assistance, it will take three to four weeks to draw up a support programme including sending experts from the Commission, the IMF and the ECB to the country in difficulty. Once the Euro Group have approved the country programme, the EFSF would need several working days to raise the necessary funds and disburse the loan.
Guarantee commitments.
The table below shows the current maximum level of joint and several guarantees for capital given by the Eurozone countries. The amounts are based on the European Central Bank capital key weightings. The EU requested the eurozone countries to approve an increase of the guarantee amounts to €780 billion. The majority of the risk of the increase from original €440 billion falls on the AAA rated countries and ultimately their taxpayers, in a possible event of default of the investments of EFSF. The guarantee increases were approved by all Eurozone countries by 13 October 2011.
The €110 billion bailout to Greece of 2010 is not part of the EFSF guarantees and not managed by EFSF, but a separate bilateral commitment by the Eurozone countries (excluding Slovakia, who opted out, and Estonia, which was not in Eurozone in 2010) and IMF.
In addition to the capital guarantees shown in the table, the enlarged EFSF agreement holds the guarantor countries responsible for all interest costs of the issued EFSF bonds, in contrast to the original EFSF structure, significantly expanding the potential taxpayer liabilities. These additional guarantee amounts increase if the coupon payments of the issued EFSF bonds are high. On 29 November 2011, European finance ministers decided that EFSF can guarantee 20 to 30% of the bonds of struggling peripheral economies.
(° Estonia entered the eurozone on 1 January 2011, i.e. after the creation of the European Financial Stability Facility in 2010). Greece, Ireland and Portugal are "stepping out guarantors", except where they have liabilities before getting that status. Estonia is a stepping out guarantor with respect to liabilities before it joined the eurozone.
Management.
The chief executive officer of the EFSF is Klaus Regling, a former Director General of the European Commission's Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, having previously worked at the IMF, the German Ministry of Finance and in the private sector as Managing Director of the Moore Capital Strategy Group in London.
The Board of the European Financial Stability Facility comprise high level representatives of the 17 eurozone member states, including Deputy Ministers or Secretaries of State or Director Generals of the Treasury. The European Commission and the European Central Bank can each appoint an observer to the EFSF Board. Its chairman is Thomas Wieser, who is also chairman of the EU's Economic and Financial Committee.
Although there is no specific statutory requirement for accountability to the European Parliament, the Facility is expected to operate a close relationship with relevant committees within the EU.
Developments and implementation.
On 7 June 2010 the eurozone member states entrusted the European Commission, where appropriate in liaison with the European Central Bank, with the task of:
On the same day the European Financial Stability Facility was established as a limited liability company under Luxembourg law (Société Anonyme), while Klaus Regling was appointed as chief executive officer of the EFSF on 9 June 2010 and took office on 1 July 2010. The Facility became fully operational on 4 August 2010.
On 29 September 2011, the German Bundestag voted 523 to 85 to approve the increase in the EFSF's available funds to (Germany's share €211bn). Mid-October Slovakia became the last country to give approval, though not before parliament speaker Richard Sulík registered strong questions as to how "a poor but rule-abiding euro-zone state must bail out a serial violator with twice the per capita income, and triple the level of the pensions – a country which is in any case irretrievably bankrupt? How can it be that the no-bail clause of the Lisbon treaty has been ripped up?"
Granting of EFSF aid to Ireland.
The Euro Group and the EU's Council of Economics and Finance Ministers decided on 28 November 2010 to grant financial assistance in response to the Irish authorities' request. The financial package was designed to cover financing needs up to €85 billion and would result in the EU providing up to €23 billion through the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism and the EFSF up to €18 billion over 2011 and 2012.
The first bonds of the European Financial Stability Facility were issued on 25 January 2011. The EFSF placed its inaugural five-year bonds for an amount of €5 billion as part of the EU/IMF financial support package agreed for Ireland. The issuance spread was fixed at mid-swap plus 6 basis points. This implies borrowing costs for EFSF of 2.89%. Investor interest was exceptionally strong, with a record breaking order book of €44.5 billion, i.e. about nine times the supply. Investor demand came from around the world and from all types of institutions. The Facility chose three banks (Citibank, HSBC and Société Générale) to organise the inaugural bonds issue.
Granting of EFSF aid to Portugal.
The second Eurozone country to request and receive aid from EFSF is Portugal. Following the formal request for financial assistance made on 7 April 2011 by the Portuguese authorities, the terms and conditions of the financial assistance package were agreed by the Euro Group and the EU's Council of Economics and Finance Ministers on 17 May 2011. The financial package was designed to cover Portugal's financial needs of up to €78 billion, with the European Union—through the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism—, and the EFSF each providing up to €26 billion to be disbursed over 3 years. Further support was made available through the IMF for up to €26 billion, as approved by the IMF Executive Board on 20 May 2011.
EFSF was activated for Portuguese lending in June 2011, and issued €5 billion of 10-year bonds on 15 June 2011, and €3 billion on 22 June 2011 through BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs International and The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Enlargement.
On 21 July 2011, the eurozone leaders agreed to amend the EFSF to enlarge its capital guarantee from €440 billion to €780 billion. The increase expanded the effective lending capacity of the EFSF to €440 billion. This required ratifications by all eurozone parliaments, which were completed on 13 October 2011.
The EFSF enlargement agreement also modified the EFSF structure, removing the cash buffer held by EFSF for any new issues and replacing it with +65% overguarantee by the guaranteeing countries. The increase of 165% to the capital guarantee corresponds to the need to have €440 billion of AAA-rated guarantor countries behind the maximum EFSF issued debt capital (Greece, Ireland, and Portugal do not guarantee new EFSF issues as they are recipients of Euroland support, reducing the total maximum guarantees to €726 billion).
Once the capacity of EFSF to extend new loans to distressed Euroland countries expires in 2013, it and the EFSM will be replaced by the European Stability Mechanism (once it is ratified, see Treaties of the European Union#Eurozone reform). However, the outstanding guarantees given to EFSF bondholders to fund bailouts will survive ESM.
On 27 October 2011 the European Council announced that the member states had reached agreement to further increase the effective capacity of the EFSF to €1 trillion by offering insurance to purchasers of eurozone members' debt. European leaders have also agreed to create one or several funds, possibly placed under IMF supervision. The funds would be seeded with EFSF money and contributions from outside investors.
Greek bailout.
As part of the second bailout for Greece, under a retroactive Collective action clause, 100% of the Greek-jurisdiction bonds were shifted to the EFSF, amounting to (130bn new package plus 34.4bn remaining from Greek Loan Facility) throughout 2014.
Rating.
The Facility aimed for ratings agencies to assign a AAA rating to its bonds, which would be eligible for European Central Bank refinancing operations. It achieved this in September 2010 when Fitch, and Standard & Poor's awarded it AAA and Moody's awarded it Aaa, making it easier for it to raise money. The rating outlook was qualified as stable. On 16 January 2012 the Standard and Poors (S&P) lowered its rating on the European Financial Stability Facility to AA+ from AAA; the downgrade followed the 13 January 2012 downgrade of France and eight other euro-zone nations which has sparked worries that EFSF will have further difficulties raising funds. In November 2012, Moody's downgraded it. In May 2020, Scope Ratings – a leading European rating agency – assigned the European Financial Stability Facility a first-time long-term rating of AA+ with a Stable Outlook.
Controversies.
The EFSF enlargement process of 2011 proved to be challenging to several Eurozone member states, who objected against assuming sovereign liabilities in potential violation of the Maastricht Treaty of no bailout provisions. On 13 October 2011, Slovakia approved EFSF expansion 2.0 after a failed first approval vote. In exchange, the Slovakian government was forced to resign and call new elections.
On 19 October 2011, Helsingin Sanomat reported that the Finnish parliament passed the EFSF guarantee expansion without quantifying the total potential liability to Finland. It turned out that several members of the parliament did not understand that in addition to increasing the capital guarantee from €7.9 billion to €14.0 billion, the Government of Finland would be guaranteeing all of the interest and capital raising costs of EFSF in addition to the issued capital, assuming theoretically uncapped liability. Helsingin Sanomat estimated that in an adverse situation this liability could reach €28.7 billion, adding interest rate of 3.5% for 30-year loans to capital guarantee. For this reason the parliamentary approval process on 28 September 2011 was misleading, and may require a new Government proposal.
Operations.
As of January 2012 the EFSF had issued 19 bn euro in long-term debt and 3.5 bn in short-term debt.


Hell Gate Bridge

The Hell Gate Bridge, originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge or the East River Arch Bridge, is a steel through arch railroad bridge in New York City. Originally built for four tracks, the bridge currently carries two tracks of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and one freight track across the Hell Gate, a strait of the East River, between Astoria in Queens, and Randalls and Wards Islands in Manhattan.
The arch across the Hell Gate is the largest of three bridges that form the Hell Gate railroad viaduct. An inverted bowstring truss bridge with four spans crosses the Little Hell Gate, a former strait that is now filled in, and a fixed truss bridge crosses the Bronx Kill, a strait now narrowed by fill. Together with approaches, the bridges are more than long. The designs of the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, England and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in New South Wales, Australia were derived from the Hell Gate Bridge.
History.
The bridge was conceived in the early 1900s to link New York and the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) with New England and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad (NH).
In June 1906, the NH applied for and received a franchise to operate trains from the northeastern suburbs of New York City to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan, built by the PRR. The New Haven would be able to accomplish this by constructing a spur from the four-track New Haven Railroad and New York Central Railroad main line in the Bronx (these railroads are now respectively the modern-day New Haven Line and Harlem Line of the Metro-North Railroad). The spur, now the Port Morris Branch, would split north of Melrose station in the South Bronx, then merge with the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad (HR&PC; now part of the Northeast Corridor) just north of the Harlem River. The HR&PC would pass from the Bronx to Queens via the Hell Gate Bridge, then continue south through Queens, eventually connecting to the East River Tunnels and Penn Station. As part of the plan, the Hell Gate Bridge would carry four tracks, which would connect to the NH's four-track lines on either side of the Hell Gate.
Construction was overseen by Gustav Lindenthal, whose original design left a gap of between the steel arch and the masonry towers. Fearing that the public assumed that the towers were structurally integral to the bridge, Lindenthal added aesthetic girders between the upper chord of the arch and the towers to make the structure appear more robust. The original plans for the piers on the long approach ramps called for a steel lattice structure. The design was changed to smooth concrete to soothe concerns that asylum inmates on Wards and Randall's islands would climb the piers to escape.
The engineering was so precise that when the last section of the main span was lifted into place, the final adjustment needed to join everything together was just . Construction of the Hell Gate Bridge began on March 1, 1912 and ended on September 30, 1916. The bridge was dedicated and opened to rail traffic on March 9, 1917, with Washington–Boston through trains first running on April 1. It was the world's longest steel arch bridge until the Bayonne Bridge opened in 1931.
During World War II, its economic value made it a target of the Nazi sabotage plan known as Operation Pastorius.
In the 1990s, the bridge was repainted for the first time since it opened. It was painted a deep red called "Hell Gate Red". Due to a flaw in the paint, the red color began to fade before the work was completed, leading to the bridge's currently faded, splotchy appearance.
Usage.
Tracks.
The bridge originally carried four tracks, two each for passenger and freight, but one freight track was abandoned in the mid-1970s. At one time, all tracks were electrified with the 11 kV, 25 Hz overhead catenary, the standard of NH and PRR. The passenger tracks have been electrified since 1917, and the freight tracks from 1927 to 1969, using Amtrak's 25 Hz traction power system.
Fares.
Some passengers paid to use the bridge; some fares over the bridge were higher than the usual fares for the same mileage. In September 1940, coach fares were two cents per mile, so Boston to either Grand Central Terminal or New York Penn Station was the same amount, at $4.60, even though only trains to Penn Station used Hell Gate. But Boston to Washington, D.C. was $10.00 instead of the expected $9.10; for a few decades after 1920, 90 cents was added to all fares via Hell Gate except tickets to New York itself. In April 1962, New Haven to New York cost $3.43, New York to Philadelphia cost $3.91, and New Haven to Philadelphia was $8.24. (1962 fares do not include federal tax, then 10 percent.)
Current use.
The bridge and structure are owned by Amtrak, and lies in the New York Terminal District, part of its Boston to Washington, D.C. electrified main line known as the Northeast Corridor. The bridge's two west most tracks are electrified with 12.5 kV 60 Hz overhead power and are used by Amtrak for "Acela Express" and "Northeast Regional" service between New York and Boston. In September 2009, the Metro-North Railroad's "Train to the Game" services, operated by New Jersey Transit from key stations on the New Haven Line to Secaucus Junction, started using the bridge during every Sunday Giants or Jets NFL game at MetLife Stadium. However, this service was suspended in 2017.
The bridge is also part of the New York Connecting Railroad, a rail line that links New York City and Long Island to the North American mainland. The third track forms part of the CSX Fremont Secondary and carries CSX, Canadian Pacific and Providence & Worcester Railroad freight trains between Oak Point Yard in the Bronx and Fresh Pond Yard in Queens, where it connects with the New York and Atlantic Railway.
In September 2009, Metro-North revived its planning efforts for its Penn Station Access project, which would use the Hell Gate Bridge to connect the New Haven Line to Penn Station. Such a service would terminate at Penn Station on platforms freed up by the planned completion of the Long Island Rail Road's East Side Access tunnel to Grand Central Terminal, which is scheduled for completion in late 2022. If the plan is implemented, through-running between the New Haven Line and New Jersey Transit would be possible, linking business centers in Connecticut and New Jersey while providing access to Newark Liberty International Airport. The draft Environmental Assessment was originally expected to be available for public review in late 2018. Subsequently, in January 2019, it was announced that Amtrak and the MTA had reached an agreement regarding track usage rights, and $35 million was approved for initial engineering design work. The MTA expected to begin service on the line by 2023.
References.
Notes
Citations
Further reading


Pierre Moscovici

Pierre Moscovici (, ; born 16 September 1957) is a French politician who served as the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2014 and as Minister for European Affairs between 1997 and 2002.
Previously a member of the Trotskyist group the Revolutionary Communist League, Moscovici joined the French Socialist Party (PS) in 1984 and has since that time been a member of the Departmental Council of Doubs and of the French Parliament and the European Parliament. He has been National Secretary of his party since 1995.
In May 2014 he was entrusted by the Prime Minister of France with a six-month mission to assess how European policies can better contribute to growth and employment. In July 2014 French President François Hollande proposed him to be France's representative in the next European Commission. In September 2014, he was named as European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs by President-designate of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.
Early life and education.
Born in Paris, Moscovici is the son of the influential Romanian social psychologist Serge Moscovici and of the Polish psychoanalyst Marie Bromberg-Moscovici.
Moscovici obtained his Baccalauréat at the Lycée Condorcet in 1974, a DEA in economics and in philosophy, and he graduated from Sciences Po Paris and the École nationale d'administration – National School of Administration, where he studied under Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who became a friend and mentor in politics. He was a president of "À gauche en Europe", a group founded by Strauss-Kahn and Michel Rocard and also created his own group "Besoin de Gauche".
After graduating from the École nationale d'administration in 1984, Moscovici was appointed to the Cour des comptes – French Court of Audit -, of which he is currently a senior member.
Political career.
Early political career.
Initially active in the Revolutionary Communist League, he left in 1984 to join the PS and, in 1986, became secretary of the "experts' group" created by Claude Allègre.
In 1988, he moved on to the Ministry for National Education in Minister Lionel Jospin's cabinet, first as conseiller technique, then as chargé de mission.
From 1990 to 1994, he headed the Public Service Modernisation and Financing Department at the Commissariat général du Plan – French Planning Office.
Member of the European Parliament.
From 1994 to 1997, Moscovici was a Member of the European Parliament. In parliament, he served on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the Parliament's delegation for relations with the countries of Central America and Mexico.
Minister delegate for European Affairs.
Elected to the French Parliament from the Doubs département in 1997, he went on to become a Member of the Franche-Comté Regional Council from 1998 to 2004, and of the Doubs département General Council from 1994 to 2002.
From 1997 to 2002, Moscovici was Minister delegate for European Affairs in the government of Lionel Jospin. At the request of Chirac, he represented the French authorities at the Convention on the Future of Europe in 2002.
Member of the European Parliament.
On 20 July 2004, Moscovici was elected one of the 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament and was re-elected on 17 January 2007. In addition, he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Member of the French National Assembly and Minister for Finance and Economy.
From 2007 to 2012, Moscovici was a Member of the French National Assembly (4th constituency in the Doubs), serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and subsequently the Finance Committee. He also served as vice-president of the Assembly's Committee on European Affairs.
He was President of the Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération (PMA – Greater Montbéliard Authority) from 2008 to 2012.
In 2011, Moscovici endorsed François Hollande and ran his successful campaign for the 2012 French presidential election. In the subsequent legislative election, Moscovici was re-elected to the National Assembly from the 4th constituency in the Doubs.
Moscovici served as France's Minister for Finance and Economy from May 2012 to April 2014.
Moscovici served as a Member of the French National Assembly. In May 2014 he was entrusted by the Prime Minister of France with a six-month mission to assess how European policies can better contribute to growth and employment.
Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs.
In July 2014 President Francois Hollande nominated Moscovici to be France's candidate for the European Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker. Juncker subsequently nominated Moscovici as Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs.
Moscovici served as Commissioner from 2014 until 2019. In this capacity, he was in charge of the application of the Stability and Growth Pact, as well as ensuring the economic soundness of Commission proposals and deepening the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union to create the conditions for jobs, growth and investment, and encouraging further structural reforms. On taxation matters, he was responsible for developing a value added tax system at the European level, improving the functioning of the internal market in both direct and indirect taxation and fighting tax fraud and tax evasion. His responsibilities also included the development and management of an efficient European Union Customs Union.
By 2017, Moscovici openly advocated a fully formed eurozone finance minister, and admitted that he would be interested in that position. In the meantime, the as Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs should also assume the presidency of the Eurogroup.
In a 2018 letter to Sergei Stanishev, then chairman of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Moscovici ruled himself out of the race to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker and become the Commission's next president, “due to profound disagreements with [the French Socialist Party’s] political line and strategy on Europe.”
Wiretapping by NSA.
In 2015, WikiLeaks revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency wiretapped Moscovici’s communication during his time as Minister of Finance.
Opinion.
"We sincerely hope that Greece remains in the eurozone", Moscovici said.


Optimal labor income taxation

Optimal labor income tax is a subarea of optimal tax theory which refers to the study of designing a tax on individual labor income such that a given economic criterion like social welfare is optimized.
Efficiency-Equity tradeoff.
The modern literature on optimal labor income taxation largely follows from James Mirrlees' "Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation". The approach is based on asymmetric information, as the government is assumed to be unable to observe the number of hours people work or how productive they are, but can observe individuals' incomes. This imposes incentive compatibility constraints that limit the taxes which the government is able to levy, and prevents it from taxing high-productivity people at higher rates than low-productivity people. The government seeks to maximise a utilitarian social welfare function subject to these constraints. It faces a tradeoff between efficiency and equity:
Mechanical, behavioral and welfare effects.
Emmanuel Saez in his article titled "Using Elasticities to Derive Optimal Income Tax Rates" derives a formula for optimal level of income tax using the both compensated and uncompensated elasticities. Saez writes the tradeoff between equity and efficiency is a central consideration of optimal taxation, and implementing a progressive tax allows the government to reallocate their resources where they are needed most. However, this deters those of higher income levels to work at their optimal level. Saez decomposes the marginal effects of a tax change into mechanical, behavioural and welfare effects, as follows:
The sum of these effects should be zero at the optimum. Stipulating this condition results in the following formula for the optimal top tax rate, if incomes are Pareto distributed:
where:
Empirical estimation of the parameters of this equation suggests that the revenue-maximising top tax rate is between approximately 50% and 80%, although this estimate neglects long-run behavioural responses, which would imply higher elasticities and a lower optimal tax rate. Saez's analysis can also be generalised to tax rates other than the top rate.
Arithmetic vs. economic effects.
In the late 1970s, Arthur Laffer developed the Laffer curve, which demonstrates that there are two effects of changing tax rates:
These correspond to the mechanical and behavioural effects discussed by Saez. The Laffer Curve illustrates that, for sufficiently high tax levels, the (negative) behavioural effect will outweigh the (positive) mechanical effect of a tax increase, and so increasing tax rates will reduce tax revenue. In fact, tax revenue with a tax rate of 100% is likely to be 0, since there is no remaining incentive to work at all. Therefore, the tax rate that maximises revenue collected will typically be below 100% - as estimated by Saez, the revenue-maximising top rate is between 50% and 80%.
Family and gender effects.
Since only economic actors who engage in market activity of "entering the labor market" have an income tax liability on their wages, people who are able to consume leisure or engage in household production outside the market by say providing housewife services in "lieu" of hiring a maid are taxed more lightly. With the "married filing jointly" tax unit in U.S. income tax law, the second earner's income is added to the first wage earner's taxable income and thus gets the highest marginal rate. This type of tax creates a large distortion disfavoring women from the labor force during years when the couple have great child care needs.
Optimal linear income tax.
Eytan Sheshinski has studied a simplified income-tax model, in which the tax is a linear function of the income: formula_9, where "y" is the income, "t(y)" is the tax paid by an individual with an income of "y", 1-"b" is the tax rate, and "a" is a lump sum tax. The goal is to find the values of "a" and "b" such that the social welfare (the sum of individual utilities) is maximized.
In his model, all agents have the same utility function, which depends on consumption and labor: formula_10. The consumption "c" is determined by the after-income tax: formula_11. The before-tax income "y" is determined by the amount of labor "l" and an innate ability factor "n", where the relation is assumed to be linear too: formula_12. Each individual decides on the amount of labor "l" which maximizes his utility: formula_13. These decisions define the labor supply as a function of the tax parameters "a" and "b".
Under certain natural assumptions, it is proved that the optimal linear tax has "a">0, i.e., it provides a positive lump-sum to individuals with zero income. This coincides with the idea of negative income tax.
Additionally, the optimal tax rate is bounded above by a fraction that decreases with the minimum elasticity of the labor supply.
Developments.
The theory of optimal labor income taxation started with a simple model of optimal linear taxation. It then developed to consider optimal nonlinear income taxation. Then, it considered various extensions of the standard model: tax avoidance, income shifting, international migration, rent-seeking, relative income concerns, couples and children, and non-cash transfers.


Amur Waves

Amur Waves () is a waltz (opus 12) by composer and conductor Max Kyuss. Has orchestral, instrumental, choral and vocal and instrumental processing.
History.
Waltz was written by Max Kyuss in 1909, during his service as a conductor of the 11th East-Siberian regiment, stationed in Vladivostok since 1906. It is believed that the waltz is dedicated to a Far Eastern public activist Vera Yakovlevna Kirillenko, to whom, according to some sources, the composer was in love. According to some reports, the waltz was presented to them by Vera Yakovlevna, who at that time was a member of the board of the Vladivostok branch of the Society for Universal Help to War Rows and Their Families, and thus contributed as a charitable contribution.
Initially, the waltz was called "Waves of the Amur Bay". Vladivostok is located on the shores of the Amur Bay. Then the bay fell out of the name, and the waltz became associated with Amur River.
During a short period of time, the waltz became popular not only in the Far East, but also in the center of Russia. Waltz was performed everywhere; the notes were reprinted many times and were actively bought up. On the cover of the music album, this was a portrait of Kirillenko.
In the 1920–1930s, the waltz began to be performed without specifying the name of the author, sometimes folk music was announced.
The second peak of waltz popularity came in the middle of the 20th century, when a text was written to it and it began to be performed with a choir. The initiator of the waltz arrangement for the choir was the head of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Far Eastern Military District, Rumyantsev. The text was written by actor Serafim Popov.
At the same time, the name of the author of waltz music was returned. Subsequently, the text was somewhat revised by Konstantin Vasilyev, a soloist of the ensemble of the Baltic Fleet.
In the following years, the waltz became so popular that, to a certain extent, it earned the right to be considered a musical symbol of Eastern Siberia and the Far East: its performance in the USSR opened musical programs for Siberia and the Far East.
This tradition has been preserved: the waltz melody is the call sign for some of the Far Eastern and East Siberian radio stations and television channels. In addition, the Far Eastern express Ocean from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok sets off for this music. In general, the ocean is sent to farewell slav.
There are vocal and instrumental waltz treatments; It is performed abroad, primarily in China and Japan.


Union Public Service Commission

The Union Public Service Commission (ISO: ), commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruiting agency for central government public servants. It is responsible for appointments to and examinations for Group A & Group B posts under civil services cadre and defence services cadre of central government . While Department of Personnel and Training is the central personnel agency in India.
The agency's charter is granted by Part XIV of the Constitution of India, titled as "Services Under the Union and the States." The commission is mandated by the Constitution for appointments to the services of the Union and All India Services. It is also required to be consulted by the Government in matters relating to the appointment, transfer, promotion and disciplinary matters. The commission reports directly to the President and can advise the Government through him. Although, such advice is not binding on the Government. Being a constitutional authority, UPSC is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary and lately the Election Commission.
The commission is headquartered at Dholpur House, in New Delhi and functions through its own secretariat. Pradeep Kumar Joshi has been the Chairman of UPSC since August 2020.
Established on 1 October 1926 as Public Service Commission, it was later reconstituted as Federal Public Service Commission by the Government of India Act 1935; only to be renamed as today's Union Public Service Commission after the independence.
History.
The Royal Commission on the superior Civil Services in India was set up under the chairmanship of Lord Lee of Fareham by the British Government in 1923. With equal numbers of Indian and British members, the commission submitted its report in 1924, recommending setting up of a Public Service Commission. The Lee Commission proposed that 40% of future entrants should be British, 40% Indians directly recruited, and 20% Indians promoted from the provincial services.
This led to the establishment of the first Public Service Commission on 1 October 1926 under the chairmanship of Sir Ross Barker. A mere limited advisory function was granted to the Public Service Commission and the leaders of the freedom movement continually stressed on this aspect, which then resulted in the setting up of a Federal Public Service Commission under the Government of India Act 1935.
The Federal Public Service Commission became the Union Public Service Commission after independence. It was given a constitutional status with under of Constitution of India on 26 January 1950.
Constitutional status.
Articles 315 to 323 of Part XIV of the constitution, titled as "Services Under the Union and the States", provide for a Public Service Commission for the Union and for each state. Accordingly, as per "Art. 315", at Union level, Union Public Service Commission is envisaged by it. UPSC is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary and lately the Election Commission.
Appointment.
As per "Art. 316", the Chairman and other members of Union Public Service Commission shall be appointed by the President. In case the office of the Chairman becomes vacant his duties shall be performed by one of the other members of the Commission as the President may appoint for the purpose.
Also, nearly half of the members of the Commission shall be persons who at the dates of their respective appointments have held office for at least ten years either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State. A member of a Union Public Service Commission shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he enters upon his office or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier. Under "Art 318," the President is empowered to determine number of members of the Commission and their conditions of service. Further, he can make provision with respect to the number of members of the staff of the Commission and their conditions of service too. Also, conditions of service cannot be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.
As per "Art 319", a person who holds office as Chairman shall, on the expiration of his term of office, be ineligible for re-appointment to that office. But, a member other than the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission, or as the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State. Also, the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission.
Removal and suspension.
As per "Art. 317", the Chairman or any other member of a Public Service Commission shall only be removed from their office by order of the President on the ground of "misbehaviour" after the Supreme Court, on reference being made to it by the President, has, on inquiry reported that the Chairman or such other member ought to be removed. The President may suspend the Chairman or other member of the Commission until report of the Supreme Court is received.
The President may also remove the Chairman or any other member of the commission if he/she/they:
Functions.
As per "Art. 320," it shall be the duty of the Union Public Service Commissions to conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union. It shall also assist two or more States, if requested so, in framing and operating schemes of joint recruitment for any services.
The Union Public Service Commission shall be consulted:
It shall be the duty of a Union Public Service Commission to advise on any matter referred to them; provided that the President has not made any regulations specifying the matters in which it shall not be necessary for Union Public Service Commission to be consulted.
Expenses.
As per "Art. 322", the expenses of the Union Public Service Commission, including any salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of the members or staff of the Commission, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.
Extension of functions.
As per "Art. 321", an Act made by Parliament may provide for the exercise of additional functions by the Union Public Service Commission w.r.t. services of the Union.
Reporting.
As per "Art. 323", it will be the duty of the Union Commission to annually present a report to the President of the work done by the Commission. On receipt of such report, the President shall present a copy before each House of Parliament; together with a memorandum, if any, explaining the reasons where the advice of the Commission was not accepted by him.
Organizational structure.
The Commission consists of a chairman and other members appointed by The President of India. Usually, the Commission consists of 9 to 11 members including the chairman. Every member holds office for a term of six years or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.
The terms and conditions of service of chairman and members of the Commission are governed by the Union Public Service Commission (Members) Regulations, 1969.
The chairman and any other member of the Commission can submit his resignation at any time to the President of India. He may be removed from his office by the President of India on the ground of misbehaviour (only if an inquiry of such misbehavior is made and upheld by Supreme Court) or if he is adjudged insolvent, or engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of his office, or in the opinion of the President unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or body.
Secretariat.
The Commission is serviced by a Secretariat headed by a Secretary with four Additional Secretaries, a number of Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries and other supporting staff. The secretariat, for administrative purpose, is further divided into divisions, each undertaking having a specific responsibility:
List of chairmen.
Following is the list of Chairman of UPSC:


Rajiv Mehrishi

Rajiv Mehrishi (born 8 August 1955) was the 13th Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG) and Vice Chairman of the United Nations Panel of External Auditors. He is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1978 batch belonging to the Rajasthan cadre.
He was appointed the Home Secretary of India on 31 August 2015. Prior to his appointment as the Home Secretary, he was the Finance Secretary. Prior to his stint as the Finance Secretary, he was the Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan.
Personal life.
He is married to Mira (née Sahni) also an officer of the IAS, now retired. His brother-in-law is the lieutenant general Anoop Malhotra. He has three sons, Tarun (married to Aastha Jain), Tushar (married to Pragya Misra) and Abhinav (Vishakha Mehta). One son lives in Bangalore, one in Mumbai and other in the United States.
Education.
Rajiv Mehrishi holds a degree in business administration from Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow. His earlier degrees of BA (History) and MA (History) were from the St. Stephen's College.
Career.
As an IAS officer.
Apart from being the Home Secretary of India, Rajiv Mehrishi has served in various key posts in both Union and Rajasthan governments, such as Chief Secretary of Rajasthan, Principal Resident Commissioner of Rajasthan, Principal Secretary (Finance), Chairman of Indira Gandhi Nahar Board and District Magistrate and Collector of Bikaner in Rajasthan Government, and as the Union Finance Secretary, Union Fertilizers Secretary, and Union Overseas Indian Affairs Secretary, Special Secretary in Ministry of Agriculture and Joint Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, in the Union Government.
Rajiv Mehrishi retired on 30 August 2017.
Chief Secretary of Rajasthan.
Mehrishi was appointed the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan on 21 December 2013.
Finance Secretary.
Mehrishi was appointed as the Economic Affairs Secretary by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). As he was the senior-most Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, he was designated as Finance Secretary.
Home Secretary.
Rajiv Mehrishi was appointed as the Union Home Secretary by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on 31 August 2015.
As Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Rajiv Mehrishi assumed the office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG) on 25 September 2017. Mehrishi also concurrently became the Vice - Chairman of United Nations Panel of External Auditors.


Uhniv

Uhniv (, , ) is a city in Sokal Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. Population:
Uhniv (or Uhnow, Uchnów or Hivniv) is the smallest city of Ukraine. It is part of the Sokal Raion and is located 22 km from Belz and 21 km from Rava Ruska. The capital of the district is Lviv (Lwów). It is located almost on the Ukrainian-Polish border. It was passed to Ukraine as a result of the 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange.
History.
At the end of 2nd century AD the Goths invaded Galicia. They conquered the Hivniv area and settled there. At the end of the 4th century the Huns conquered and replaced the Goths. In the middle of the 5th century the Slovenes took control of the area. In 1019 the area was conquered by Polish Crown; until 1462 the area was under ducal control. In that year Belz was established as a capital of voivodeship (pol. "województwo") under Polish rule - this district included the town that was later called Hivniv. The settlements in the Belz area belonged to various owners; some to the kingdom (these were called crown cities) and some individuals called squires.
In that year (1462) King Casimir IV Jagiellon gave town privileges and the name Uhnów (Hivniv) to the place, so the village became an independent town, free of wider supervision. The inhabitants were not under the squires control but under the king's rule.
In 1477 several villages were included in the general area of Hivniv, This area was extended 1n 1595.
In 1914 there were more than 20 villages surrounding the town of Hivniv.
In 1497 the crusaders came to the district to help the Polish king against Turkish invaders. In 1548-9 the Tatars invaded; from 1648 to 1655 the area suffered from the Cossack uprising under Bohdan Khmelnytsky, hetman of the Zaporozhian who joined forces with the Tartars against Poland. In the following years many wars took place there.
From the first partition of Poland in 1772 until 1918, the town (named "UHNOW") was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austria side after the compromise of 1867), in the "Rawa ruska" (Rava-Ruska) district, in Austrian Galicia province (Crown land). The fate of this province was then disputed between Poland and Ukraine, until the Peace of Riga in 1921.
A post-office was opened in 1857. The Onyshkevych family supposedly had its origins in Uhniv, and many Onyshkevychs were born in this city. For instance, Rev. Stepan Onyshkevych, a Deputy in the Imperial Council of Austria, member of the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance, and friend of Mykhailo Hrushevsky and Ivan Franko, was born here in 1861. Myroslav Onyshkevych, a colonel in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and commandant of UPA forces in Military District-6 "San", was born here in 1911, and a dedication to him and his brother Taras Onyshkevych (also born in Uhniv, 1914) was created in 2000, on the house where both brothers were born. After World War II, along with the 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange, the Soviet Union took control of the area.
Jews of Hivniv.
The Jewish community of Uhnow (Hivniv) goes back very far. There is little historical evidence of this since. The place is too small to be mentioned in Jewish or other records. But thanks to famous rabbis who are mentioned in various sources because of their importance, it is clear that a Jewish community existed there for at least 350 years and even had a rabbinical court and Judge.
In 1629 30 families.
In 1648-9 100 families.
Rabbi Shmuel Feivish, son of Rabbi Nathan Feitel, wrote in 1658, in his description of the Khmelnytsky massacres called "Tit ha-Yaven":
"From there the enemy went to Magerov where there were about 100 families who escaped to Narol (mentioned before). From there the enemy went to Potelych - also about 100 families - who escaped to Narol. The enemy went to Rava-Ruska which had 100 families and they also ran away to Narol... In Narol there were 600 householders, not counting refugees; altogether more than 5000 families. As a result of our many sins, a terrible decree was issued and more than 10,000 people were killed, including woman and children.
from there, the enemy advanced to Belz which had about 200 families. In addition, Belz had more than 10,000 families who escaped from other towns because Belz was a very strong city. But some died of hunger. From there the enemy went to Uhnów (Hivniv) which had 100 families - they all were killed by their enemies. From there the enemy went to Tishevitz which had 100 families and killed most of them. The enemy went to Sokal which had 100 families who had behind a very thick wall which was built like a fortress and so were saved".
The Jewish community was rebuilt by Jews from the surrounding area. After calm restored, they came out of hiding, built new homes, and lived there until World War II.


Prosafe SE

Prosafe SE is a company specialized in owning/operating semi-submersible accommodation vessels. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
Operations.
Prosafe’s operations are related to maintenance and modification of installations on fields already in production, hook-up and commissioning of new fields, tie-backs to existing infrastructure and decommissioning.
Prosafe is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with ticker code PRS.
Accommodation/service rigs.
Prosafe owns and operates eight semi-submersible Accommodation, Safety and Support Vessels (ASVs) and one Tender Support Vessel (TSV) that can also operate as an accommodation vessel.
Prosafe have an agreement with COSCO shipyard for flexible delivery and long-term financing of two new build harsh environment vessels: Safe Nova and Safe Vega. These vessels are completed and ready for worldwide operations.
The vessels are positioned alongside the host installation and are connected by means of a telescopic gangway so that personnel can walk safely to work.
History.
Prosafe was formed in 1997, when the platform drilling and technical services divisions de-merged from Transocean as a separate company and became listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange as Procon Offshore ASA. This company merged with Safe Offshore ASA, thereby entering the business segment of accommodation/service rigs, and changed its name to Prosafe ASA.
Prosafe acquired floating production company Nortrans Offshore in 2001, extending its activities to include the conversion, chartering and operation of FPSOs and FSOs.
In 2005, Prosafe sold the Drilling Services division. In 2006, the company acquired Consafe Offshore AB, which owned three semi-submersible accommodation/service rigs and one accommodation jack-up. This acquisition cemented Prosafe’s leading position in the market for semi-submersible accommodation/service rigs.
In May 2008, Prosafe spun off business division Floating Production. This business division became an independent company, named Prosafe Production Public Limited. On November 25, 2010, BW Offshore completed the 100% acquisition of Prosafe Production Public Ltd., for approximately NOK3,120.92m ($489.88m).


Edward FitzGerald-Villiers

Edward FitzGerald-Villiers (c. 1654 – January 1693) was an Anglo-Irish soldier in the English Army from the Villiers family.
He was the eldest son of George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison and his wife Mary, daughter of Francis Leigh, 1st Earl of Chichester. In 1677 he married the heiress Katherine FitzGerald, through whom he gained substantial property in County Waterford. He adopted the surname of FitzGerald to reflect this inheritance. Their children included:
FitzGerald-Villiers was a Brigadier-General in the Army and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Queen's Regiment of Horse. He also sat in the Irish House of Commons for County Waterford.
He died in 1693, so on his father's death in 1699 his son John succeeded to the viscountcy. In the same year his widow was granted the title Viscountess Grandison as if her late husband had succeeded. She later married General William Steuart.


Lindsay Johnstone Watt

Lindsay Johnstone Watt is a retired diplomat of New Zealand.


Louise Taft

Louisa Maria "Louise" Torrey (September 11, 1827 - December 8, 1907) was the second wife of Alphonso Taft, and the mother of U.S. President William Howard Taft.
Background.
She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the first daughter of Samuel Davenport Torrey (1789-1877) and his second wife, the former Susan Holman Waters (1803-1866). Her three sisters were Delia Chapin Torrey, Anna Davenport Torrey (who married geologist Edward Orton, Sr.), and Susan H. Torrey. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College (then "Mount Holyoke Female Seminary") in 1845.
From 1846 to 1858, she intermittently published "The Yale Gallinipper," a "scathingly satirical" Yale newspaper with Olivia Day (daughter of Jeremiah Day) and Henrietta Blake (descendant of Eli Whitney). The three women wrote anonymously, pretending to be "three brothers" who were undergraduates at Yale. They were known for their hard-hitting criticisms of the students, faculty, and the Yale Literary Magazine.
Marriage and family life.
She married Alphonso Taft, widowed in 1852, on December 26, 1853 in Millbury, Massachusetts, becoming stepmother to his two living sons by his first wife, Fanny Phelps, Charles Phelps Taft, who became the publisher of the "Cincinnati Times-Star" and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1895 to 1897, and Peter Rawson "Rossy" Taft.
They had five children, four of whom lived to adulthood. The first, who died aged 14 months of pertussis, was Samuel Davenport Torrey Taft. The second was President William Howard Taft; next was Henry Waters Taft, who became a lawyer in New York City; fourth was Horace Dutton Taft, founder of the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, and the last was Frances Louis "Fanny" Taft, who married surgeon William A. Edwards.
The family lived in Cincinnati during her husband's tenure as judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. Then in Washington, D. C. when he served successively as Secretary of War and Attorney General. Also, in Austria-Hungary and Russia when he served as U.S. ambassador to each country.
Death.
Louise Taft died at Millbury, Massachusetts, aged 80 years, and was interred at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Less than one year later, her eldest surviving son was elected President.


Euro summit

The Euro summit (also referred to as the eurozone summit or euro area summit) is the meeting of the heads of state or government of the member states of the eurozone (those EU states which have adopted the euro). It is distinct from the "EU summit" held regularly by the European Council, the meeting of all EU leaders.
History.
The Euro summit began as an offshoot of the Euro Group, which is the meeting of the eurozone member's finance ministers. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the Euro summit to replace the Euro Group as a "clearly identified economic government" for the eurozone, stating it was not possible for the eurozone to continue without it. The eurozone economic government would discuss issues with the European Central Bank, which would remain independent. Sarkozy stated that "only heads of state and government have the necessary democratic legitimacy" for the role. This idea was based on the meeting of eurozone leaders in 2008 who met to agree a co-ordinated eurozone response to the banking crisis.
They first met in the summit format in October 2008, in response to the debt crisis. Subsequent meetings took place in March 2010, May 2010, March 2011, July 2011 and October 2011. In the October 2011 meeting, it was agreed to formalise the Euro summit, as at least twice yearly meeting. This change was formalised in the 2012 Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. Since this formalisation, Heads of State or Government have failed to meet this target of twice yearly meetings in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. A Euro summit President, separate from the Euro Group President, would be elected at the same time as the President of the European Council and under the same rules. Until such an election takes place, the European Council President fulfils that role.
Meetings.
In October 2011, the Eurozone head of states agreed to meet at least twice per year, as part of measures to improve governance of the Eurozone. Meetings were chaired by president Herman Van Rompuy from March 2010 to November 2014. Donald Tusk has been the Euro Summit president since 1 December 2014, and ends his term on 31 May 2017. The table below lists the date and summary reports of all previous Euro Summits.
New procedure rules for "Euro summits" were adopted on 14 March 2013, regulating the Euro Summit shall meet at least twice a year, convened by its president on preferably one of the same dates as the EU summits. However, for unknown reasons, only one Euro Summit meeting per year took place in 2013 and 2014, and none took place in 2016.
President.
In its informal capacity, the "de facto" summit President has been the European Council President, meaning that Herman Van Rompuy chaired all meetings since March 2010 to December 2014. The proposals for formalisation of the summit include electing a President along the same lines (and term) as the European Council President, and until then Van Rompuy continues to chair the summit. On 1 March 2012, according to the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG), he was formally elected as President of the Euro Summit for the term 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014. New president for the term 1 December 2014 until 31 May 2017, is the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was elected new president on 2 July 2019, taking office on 1 December 2019.
Members.
Presidents of other EU institutions, such as the President of the European Commission and the European Central Bank President also attend. Presidents of the Euro Group and of the European Parliament may be invited and the President of the Euro Summit shall present a report to the European Parliament after each of the meetings of the Euro Summit. Heads of state or government of non-eurozone signatories to the European Fiscal Compact treaty participate, at least once a year, for those policies of the treaty that apply to them. In some summits, other leaders might attend discussions, for example the British Prime Minister attending the 2008 summit.


Silas Wright

Silas Wright Jr. (May 24, 1795 – August 27, 1847) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. A member of the Albany Regency, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, New York State Comptroller, United States Senator, and Governor of New York.
Born in Amherst, Massachusetts and raised in Weybridge, Vermont, Wright graduated from Middlebury College in 1815, studied law, attained admission to the bar, and began a practice in Canton, New York. He soon began a career in politics and government, serving as St. Lawrence County's surrogate judge, a member of the New York State Senate, and a brigadier general in the state militia.
Wright became a member of the Albany Regency, the coterie of friends and supporters of Martin Van Buren who led New York's Democratic Party beginning in the 1820s. As his career progressed, he served in the United States House of Representatives (1827–1829), as State Comptroller (1829–1833), and U.S. Senator (1833–1844). In the Senate, Wright became chairman of the Finance Committee, a post he held from 1836 to 1841. In 1844, Van Buren lost the Democratic presidential nomination to James K. Polk; Polk supporters nominated Wright for vice president as a way to attract Van Buren's support to the ticket, but Wright declined. Later that year he was elected governor, and he served one two-year term. Defeated for reelection in 1846, he retired to his home in Canton. He died in Canton in 1847, and was buried at Old Canton Cemetery.
Early life.
Wright was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, one of nine children born to tanner and shoemaker Captain Silas Wright (1760–1843) and Eleanor (Goodale) Wright (1762–1846). The family moved to Weybridge, Vermont in 1796, where they operated a farm on the banks of the Otter Creek. The elder Silas Wright commanded a company of militia during the War of 1812 and took part in the Battle of Plattsburgh. In addition, he was an early adherent of the Democratic-Republican Party, and served in local offices including member of the Vermont House of Representatives. The younger Silas Wright was educated in the public schools of Addison County and at Middlebury Academy.
Wright was an exceptional student, and received his teaching credentials when he was thirteen. He taught school in Rutland and Addison Counties from 1808 to 1810 while preparing to attend college. In 1811 he began attendance at Middlebury College. Following his graduation with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1815, Wright moved to Sandy Hill, New York to study law, first at the law firm headed by Henry C. Martindale, and then with the firm of Roger Skinner, with whom he a formed a close friendship that lasted until Skinner's death. Through Skinner, Wright became acquainted with Martin Van Buren and other members of the group known as the Albany Regency, which came to dominate the Democratic Party in New York. Wright was admitted to the bar in 1819 and began to travel through upstate New York looking for a place to establish himself in a legal career.
Start of career.
Upon arriving in Canton, Wright met Medad Moody, a family friend from Weybridge who persuaded him to settle there. Wright began a law practice and was soon involved in politics as a Democratic-Republican, and served in local offices including justice of the peace, overseer of roads, town clerk, and school inspector. For several years he served as Canton's postmaster. He was surrogate of St. Lawrence County from 1821 to 1824.
Military service.
In 1822, several of Canton's young men formed a militia company, which they elected Wright to lead with the rank of captain. When his company was grouped with several others to form the 7th Regiment in 1825, Wright was appointed commander with the rank of major. In 1826 he was promoted to colonel. In 1827 his regiment was organized as part of the militia's 49th Brigade, 12th Division and the brigade's officers unanimously elected him as commander, which resulted in his promotion to brigadier general. Wright resigned in 1829, when his assumption of the New York State Comptroller's post required him to spend the majority of his time in Albany.
State senator.
In 1823, the Democratic-Republican county convention in St. Lawrence County nominated Wright for the New York State Senate. The convention was dominated by supporters of Governor DeWitt Clinton and Wright was known to be a member of the Bucktails faction (adherents of Martin Van Buren), but St. Lawrence County's Democratic-Republicans were anxious to end the Clinton-Van Buren rivalry prior to the 1824 presidential election. As a result, the Clintonians in St. Lawrence County supported Wright. The Federalist Party had all but disappeared, but Clintonians in Washington County nominated Allen R. Moore. The district covered six counties and while Moore ran well in most, Wright's large majority in St. Lawrence County (he received every vote in Canton but his own) was sufficient for him to prevail in the general election. He was elected to a four-year term.
When Wright took his seat in January 1824, he became involved in an Albany Regency effort to remove DeWitt Clinton from the Erie Canal Commission. Clinton had long been identified as the main proponent of the project, and though his political career was at an ebb, voter outrage over his removal propelled Clinton's return to the governorship in 1825.
In 1826, Senator Jasper Ward was accused by the press of corruption in the legislature's approval of acts of incorporation for two insurance companies. Ward requested that the senate investigate, and Wright was named chairman of the committee that examined the question. Wright's committee concluded that most of the charges in the newspapers were false, but that there was enough truth in them to recommend that Ward be expelled from the senate. Ward resigned, and the senate took no further action.
Congressman.
In 1826, Wright was elected to the U.S. House as a Bucktail. In the two-member 20th District, Wright and his running mate Rudolph Bunner defeated Clintonians Nicoll Fosdick and Elisha Camp. Wright served in the 20th Congress, March 4, 1827 to February 16, 1829. In the House, Wright supported the protectionist Tariff of 1828 (the Tariff of Abominations), though he later changed his stance and became an advocate of low tariffs to fund the federal government - "for revenue only" in the political language of the day.
Wright was a candidate for reelection to the 21st Congress in 1828, but appeared to lose to George Fisher. Wright contested the results, but Fisher was seated and served from March 4, 1829 to February 5, 1830, when the contest was decided in Wright's favor. Already serving as state comptroller, Wright declined to qualify for the House seat, which remained vacant until Jonah Sanford was seated following a special election in November 1830.
State comptroller.
In January 1829, incumbent William L. Marcy resigned as New York State Comptroller in order to accept a judgeship. The comptroller was elected by a joint ballot of the state legislature for a three-year term and the legislators selected Wright to fill the vacancy. In this office, Wright was also an "ex officio" member of the state canal commission, and his duties included oversight of the state canal system as well as management of the state's general fund. During his term, he focused on the Bucktail priority of avoiding debt, arguing for limited canal maintenance and construction paid for from available funds rather than financing more expansive improvements over time. He was reelected in February 1832 and served until January 4, 1833, when he resigned to accept election to the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Senator.
After DeWitt Clinton's death in 1828, Van Buren's Bucktail supporters became known as Jacksonians (followers of Andrew Jackson at the national level) and the Jacksonians eventually adopted the name Democrats. In 1833, Wright was the successful Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of William L. Marcy. He was reelected in 1837 and served from January 4, 1833 to November 26, 1844.
Wright served as chairman of the Finance Committee from 1836 to 1841. He supported Henry Clay's compromise Tariff of 1833 and voted for the Tariff of 1842.
An opponent of centralized banking, Wright defended Andrew Jackson's removal of federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States during the Bank War and opposed the recharter of the United States Bank. He also opposed Clay's plan to distribute surplus federal funds to the states. When Van Buren succeeded Jackson as president in 1837, Wright supported his plan for an Independent Treasury to replace the Bank of the United States.
Wright voted no when John C. Calhoun moved to stop receiving petitions to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but voted yes on excluding anti-slavery materials from U.S. mail in the slave-holding states. In 1838, Wright opposed William Cabell Rives' resolution declaring that citizens of the states had no right to interfere with slavery in the federal territories and that the residents of the territories had jurisdiction.
During the administration of President John Tyler, Wright voted against the treaty for the annexation of Texas, believing immediate annexation would cause unrest on the slavery issue. In 1844, Wright declined Tyler's offer to appoint him to a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.
1844 Democratic national convention.
Wright had campaigned for Martin Van Buren in 1840, when Van Buren lost his bid for reelection as president. In 1844, Wright again supported Van Buren for president. Van Buren was initially the front runner at the party's May national convention, but his opposition to Texas annexation cost him support among southern delegates who favored the expansion of slavery, and he could not obtain the two-thirds majority required under the convention's rules. Upon learning that some delegates were considering him as a compromise choice for the presidential nomination, Wright sent a letter to a New York delegate asking to be withdrawn from consideration and pledging his continued support for Van Buren.
When dark horse James K. Polk won the presidential nomination, southern Democrats attempted to appease Van Buren supporters by nominating Wright for vice president. Samuel Morse was in Washington, DC to demonstrate the telegraph, which he used to send and receive convention updates from Baltimore. Upon being informed by telegraph of his selection, Wright declined the nomination, partly from refusal to support a ticket backing the annexation of Texas, and partly to avoid accusations of intriguing against Van Buren to benefit himself. Skeptical delegates then dispatched a committee to Washington by train to confirm the news in person. When Wright told the emissaries his refusal was firm, they returned to Baltimore, then spent the next day sending messages by telegraph in an effort to get him to reconsider. Finally persuaded that he would not change his mind, delegates nominated George M. Dallas for vice president. Despite his misgivings on the Texas question, Wright campaigned for the Polk-Dallas ticket, which won the general election and took office in 1845.
Governor.
In August 1844, the New York state Democratic convention nominated Wright for governor. He accepted, and entered the general election contest against Whig nominee Millard Fillmore. Wright defeated Fillmore, and took office in January 1845.
As governor, Wright continued his conservative approach to state finances, vetoing a bill appropriating money for work on the state's canals because he thought the amount was excessive. He also took the side of the patroon landlords in New York's Anti-Rent War. When anti-rent tenants caused unrest in Delaware County, Wright declared a state of insurrection and dispatched the militia to restore order. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1846, losing to Whig nominee John Young, who was supported by the anti-rent tenants.
Death and burial.
On August 27, 1847, Wright suffered a heart attack or stroke while at the post office in Canton, which his friends believed was brought on by overwork while tending to outdoor chores at his farm in hot weather. In addition, Wright had recently given up alcohol after years of heavy drinking, and quitting suddenly may have had a negative effect on his health. Medical attention was summoned, and he was soon well enough to walk home, but he collapsed again and died shortly after reaching his house. He was buried at Old Canton Cemetery. Wright's death was sudden and surprised his political supporters, who had been planning to offer him as a candidate in the 1848 presidential election.
Family.
In 1833, Wright married Clarissa Moody (1804–1870), the daughter of the family friend who had persuaded him to settle in Canton. They had no children.
Legacy.
In 1838, Wright received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Vermont.
The people of Weybridge, Vermont erected a monument to Wright; it includes sculptures by Erastus Dow Palmer and stands in the center of town along Vermont Route 23. The Wright memorial inspired the name of a nearby dairy, Monument Farms.
Silas Wright was the namesake of Wright County, Missouri and Wright County, Minnesota. In addition, he was the namesake of Wright, New York, a town in Schoharie County.
Wright Peak, an Adirondack Park mountain in North Elba, New York, is named for Wright.
The Silas Wright House at 3 East Main Street in Canton is now a museum and the home of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association.


Imperial Bank of Persia

The Imperial Bank of Persia () was a British bank that operated as the state bank and bank of issue in Iran (formerly known as Persia until 1935) between 1889 and 1929. It was established in 1885 with a concession from the Persian government to Baron Julius De Reuter (born Israel Beer Josaphat) a German–Jewish banker and businessman who later became a Christian and a British subject.
The bank was the first modern bank in Iran and introduced European banking ideas to a country in which they were previously unknown. The legal centre of the bank was in London and whilst it was subject to British law, its activities were based in Tehran. It also had operations in other Middle Eastern countries. It was later named British Bank of the Middle East (BBME) and is now called HSBC Bank Middle East Limited. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, all the Iranian activities of this bank were transferred to Bank Tejarat.
Background and history.
Nineteenth-century Iran has been described as "one of the most backward countries in the world." As usury was forbidden under Islam, the traditional money lenders in Iran were the Jewish sarrafs, who continued to dominate the field after the Imperial Bank's arrival due to greater loan flexibility and cultural ties. At the time the only form of money in circulation was gold and silver coins.
Reuter was granted the Reuter concession in 1872 which granted him exclusive rights over virtually all the resources in the land of Persia. While the real reason Reuter wanted the concession was in order to develop the railroad in Persia, it also gave him monopoly over banking for sixty years. The concession was hidden from the British government till the last minute, and alarmed both the British and Russian governments upon its revealing. The concession was resented by the local population, which protested that the Shah had granted all the resources of the land to a foreigner and by Russians who saw the British competing with their interest in Persia. Due to mounting pressure, the Shah subsequently cancelled the concession in 1873, citing the fact that Reuter failed to initiate the railway project within 15 months.
Reuter was not to go down without a fight. However it was not until 1889 that he was able to get exclusive banking and mining rights for sixty years. Although this new concession was not as immense as the first one, it still granted him valuable control over Persian banking and mining with the energetic support of British minister, Henry Drummond Wolff.
The Imperial Bank of Persia was finally established in 1889 on the basis of the 1872 concession to Baron Julius De Reuter from the Persian government (Reuter concession) which made it the state bank, with the exclusive right to issue notes and tax free status for sixty years. The Imperial Bank was publicly floated in London.
Between 1889 and 1928, the bank operated as the state bank and bank of issue of Iran, and held a virtual monopoly on banking in the country. Sir William Keswick was the bank's chairman. The bank was principally funded by Glyn, Mills & Co., J. Henry Schröder & Co. and David Sassoon & Co.. Despite holding a monopoly, the bank's management was farcical, according to Geoffrey Jones, and the bank struggled to make a profit. However, Jones also notes that British banks in this period were allowed to disguise their profits by making transfers to or from "inner" or "secret" reserves before reaching their published profits figure. The Imperial bank's real profits were on average twice as high as the published profits between 1890 and 1952. The bank contributed to the Iranian economy by mobilizing domestic savings, but many were doubtful of the real use of these savings as the Bank often "discriminated against Persians in giving credit". In 1927, 80% of the loans granted in Bushehr, Shiraz and Esfahan were to finance Iranian export of opium, whereas most of the loans in the northern cities related to the trade with Russia. The imperial bank did not employ locals as managers; in contrast, the Imperial Ottoman Bank, which was under mixed British, French and Turkish ownership employed middle eastern nationals in managerial positions. The bank's first owner, Joseph Rabino, born in London to an Italian Jewish family, was always regarded with great suspicion by his board.
He served eighteen years in Persia and was instrumental in building up the bank's reputation. At the time, Persians were wary of giving up silver and gold coins for paper notes. He ordered all branches to keep enough silver coins to be able to redeem paper notes for silver on demand. However bank runs did occur in the early years of the bank, and these runs were sometimes instigated by the Russians who were the British rival in Persia. The bank issued only small notes in the early years to be able to redeem the notes for silver even in the remote areas. With the protection of Persian soldiers, the bank supplied even remote branches with enough silver coins.
The bank's high level contact in Tehran was general Albert Houtum-Schindler who was, like Reuter, a British subject of German origin. Schindler lived in Persia for many years and was the most informed member of the European community in Persia at the time. Henry Drummond Wolff liked him so much that he tried unsuccessfully to persuade the foreign office to engage him as a member of Legation staff. Reuter employed him instead. Schindler and Rabino were instrumental in increasing the bank's reputation.
The bank was instrumental in providing British loans to the Shah between 1892 and 1911. These loans were secured using Caspian fisheries and the custom dues of the Persian Gulf ports and raised the alarm of Persian nationalists.
By 1928 the bank had 24 branches in all major Iranian cities.
Between 1928 and 1952, the Imperial Bank was subject to criticism and attack from the nationalistic Iranian governments. Bank Melli, an Iranian-controlled central bank, was established in 1928. In 1933, Imperial Bank was forced to relinquish its note-issuing powers. In the 1930s, exchange controls and barter agreements destroyed the Imperial Bank's business in financing foreign trade. Imperial Bank began to rapidly lose market share to Bank Melli, and by 1939 the Imperial Bank held just 9 percent of Iranian bank deposits. The bank sold off half of its branches in the 1930s.
In the late 1940s, the bank opened branches in the Persian Gulf States, and was the first bank in Kuwait, Dubai and Oman. In 1952 the bank abandoned the Iranian market and renamed itself the British Bank of the Middle East. In 1959 the British Bank of the Middle East was acquired by Hongkong Bank in a friendly takeover, and now forms part of its HSBC Bank Middle East subsidiary.
Assessment.
According to Jones, "the Bank was widely seen as an agent of British imperialism, and with reason". Jones argues that during the two World Wars and in the early 1920s, the bank placed British diplomatic interests before those of Iran's elites.


Green Light (Valery Leontiev song)

"Green Light " () - is a Soviet song written by Raimond Pauls and . that was first released on Valery Leontiev album Dialogue in 1984.
Song In popular culture.
Green Light was Soundtrack in popular Soviet animated series Nu, pogodi!, The Soundtrack was voiced by Anatoli Papanov in 16 episode (1986).