Inheritance Tax in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Inheritance Tax is a transfer tax. It was introduced with effect from 18 March 1986, replacing Capital Transfer Tax.
History.
Prior to the introduction of Estate Duty by the Finance Act 1894, there was a complex system of different taxes relating to the inheritance of property, that applied to either realty (land) or personalty (other personal property):
In 1894, estate duty replaced probate duty, account duty, certain additional succession duties, and temporary estate duty.
Legacy duty and succession duty were later abolished by the Finance Act 1949, followed by the abolition of corporation duty by the Finance Act 1959. The three-year period for gifts made prior to death was extended to five years by the Finance Act 1946, and then to seven years by the Finance Act 1969.
Estate duty became more progressive in scale, eventually peaking in 1969 with the highest marginal rate fixed at 85% of amounts in excess of £750,000, provided that total duty did not exceed 80% of the value of the total estate.
Estate duty was abolished with the passage of the Finance Act 1975, which created the Capital Transfer Tax, with the following characteristics:
CTT was reduced in scope during the Thatcher years, with most lifetime gifts removed by the Finance Act 1986. The tax was renamed as Inheritance Tax.
Framework of IHT.
Estate on death.
For IHT purposes, a person's estate includes:
Excluded property comprises:
Relief is also granted, where the value of the estate is reduced with respect to specified business property, agricultural property, woodlands, certain transfers made within three years of death made at a diminished value, and certain other cases.
Chargeable transfers prior to death.
Deductions will be made from an estate's nil rate band with respect to transfers of value made in excess of specified limits, other than "potentially exempt transfers" made more than seven years before the transferor's death. Transfers of value made within specified limits are known as "exempt transfers".
Transfers of value will also include gifts arising from the amount by which an asset is sold for less than it could have been sold on the open market, as for a sale from a parent to a child. Gifts can also arise where:
Where the value of such transfers exhausts the amount available to the nil rate band, IHT is assessed on the excess amount, to which the recipients of such transfers bear the liability to pay.
Types of estates exempt from IHT.
For deaths occurring on or after 1 September 2006, the following estates are effectively excepted from liability for IHT:
Rate of tax.
Tax is assessed at 40% of the net value of the estate, after application of the nil rate band. The applicable nil rate band will depend on the date of death: if the date falls at any time from 6 August to 5 April in a given tax year, the current year's band will apply; but, where the date is after 5 April but before 6 August, and application for a grant is filed before 6 August, the prior year's band will apply.
For deaths occurring after 5 April 2012, the tax is assessed at 36%, where at least 10% of a specified baseline amount of the estate has been bequeathed as charitable gifts. For purposes of calculation, the property of the estate is separated into three components, each of which is tested to see if the charitable gifts are sufficient to qualify for the lesser rate:
If applicable gifts meet the 10% threshold for a given component, in certain circumstances, upon election, the 36% rate applies to the whole estate. There are several options available for estates to be able to achieve that threshold, such as having the will specifying relevant gifts in terms of percentages of assets, or successors executing a deed of variation to attain the desired result.
Nil-rate band.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's Autumn Statement on 9 October 2007 announced that with immediate effect inheritance tax allowances (often referred to as the nil-rate band) were to be transferable between married couples and between civil partners. Thus, for the 2007/8 tax year, a married couple will in effect have an allowance of £600,000 against inheritance tax, whilst a single person's allowance remains at £300,000. The mechanism for this enhanced allowance is that on the death of the second spouse to die, the nil rate band for the second spouse is increased by the percentage of the nil-rate band which was not used on the death of the first spouse to die.
For example, if in 2007/08 the first married spouse (or civil partner) to die were to leave £120,000 to their children and the rest of their estate to their spouse, there would be no inheritance tax due at that time and £180,000 or 60% of the nil-rate band would be unused. Later, upon the second death the nil-rate band would be 160% of the allowance for a single person, so that if the surviving spouse also died in 2007/08 the first £480,000 (160% of £300,000) of the surviving spouse's estate would be exempt from inheritance tax. If the surviving spouse died in a later year when the nil-rate band had reached £350,000, the first £560,000 (160% of £350,000) of the estate would be tax exempt.
This measure was also extended to existing widows, widowers and bereaved civil partners on 9 October 2007. If their late spouse or partner had not used all of their inheritance tax allowance at the time of the spouse's death, then the unused percentage of that allowance can now be added to the single person's allowance when the surviving spouse or partner dies. This applies irrespective of the date on which the first spouse died, but special rules apply if the surviving spouse remarries.
In a judgement following an unsuccessful appeal to a 2006 decision by the European Court of Human Rights, it was held that the above does not apply to siblings living together. The crucial factor in such cases was determined to be the existence of a public undertaking, carrying with it a body of rights and obligations of a contractual nature, rather than the length or supportive nature of the relationship.
Prior to this legislative change, the most common means of ensuring that both nil-rate bands were used was called a nil band discretionary trust (now more properly known as NRB Relevant Property Trust*). This is an arrangement in both wills which says that whoever is the first to die leaves their nil band to a discretionary trust for the family, and not to the survivor. The survivor can still benefit from those assets if needed, but they are not part of that survivor's estate.
It is worth noting that as the Government seeks not to profit from the death of those who (a) gave their lives in military service, or (b) died from the results of a wound, injury, or disease associated with that military service, that the estates of such servicemen and women are exempt, totally, from any Inheritance Tax regardless of the value of the estate even if it amounts to millions of pounds as long as (a) or (b) apply...and that that exemption is then transferable to the serviceman's or servicewoman's widow or widower. That they do qualify as at (a) or (b) may be certified by application to the British MOD "Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre" (JCCC). The JCCC then inform the HMRC of that decision. The exemption does not apply to ex-servicemen or servicewomen who die from other causes unrelated to their military service.
Additional nil rate band on main residence.
In the summer budget of 2015 a new measure was outlined to reduce the burden of IHT for some estates by providing additional tax-free allowances in cases where the family home passed to direct descendants. This measure, called the Residence Nil-Rate Band (RNRB) came into effect upon the passage of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015, and provided for the following scheduled amounts:
The Finance Act 2016 provided further relief in cases where all or part of the additional band could be lost, where a person had downsized to a less valuable residence or had ceased to own a residence after 8 July 2015 (and before the person has died). This is conditional upon the deceased having left that smaller residence, or assets of equivalent value, to direct descendants. These are defined as lineal descendants, spouses or civil partners of such lineal descendants, or former spouses or civil partners who have not become anyone else's spouse or civil partner.
The introduction of the RNRB means that a married couple leaving a residence to direct descendants can currently leave up to £900,000 tax-free between them (2018/19 tax year), with this tax-free amount rising to £1 million by April 2020. This tax-free allowance is diminished for estates worth more than £2 million.
Pre-owned assets.
Effective with the 2005-06 tax year, the Finance Act 2004 introduced a retrospective income tax regime known as pre-owned asset tax (POAT) which covers transactions not made at arm's length, where a person either:
and then subsequently benefits from its use.
The person liable for POAT may, while he is still alive, elect on a timely basis to have such transactions treated as gifts with reservations (thus subject to IHT) with respect to such transactions made in a given tax year.
Controversy.
In 2002, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother left her estate (estimated at £50 million) to her daughter Elizabeth II, including works of art, jewels, antiques and her thoroughbred racehorses. A deal made back in 1993 ensures that The Queen is spared inheritance tax of an estimated £20 million on her mother's estate.
In 2016 published letters and a prominent article in "The Guardian" by a leading accountant supported by Jeremy Corbyn criticised the tax-exempt arrangements of many largest landowners and the most capital-endowed. They advocated reform of tax on such wealth and for transparency of trusts, namely:
This critique followed the death of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, whose significant at-death loose "interests", the benefit of which his children by trustees' discretion perhaps receive demonstrate suspected tax savings. The unpublished size of the late Duke's death estate compares with the valuation of the family-related landholdings of £9,000,000,000. Critics claim inheritance tax impacts more on the living standards of the middle class and less on plutocrats and the super rich. If the family assets were taxed as if one taxable estate the taxation would equate to the inheritance taxes paid nationally for 2014–2015.
Since c. 2006 tax of 20% must be paid on assets entering most UK non-death trusts combined with periodic charges of between 2% and 6% are due on the total value of the trust every 10 years. This is designed to replicate the 40 per cent death charge once a generation (assuming a normal life span to be around seven decades).
George Hodgson, interim chief executive of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, counter-argued for trusts to remain private on three grounds: many beneficiaries are children or vulnerable adults; the inheritance tax exemptions and counter-tax-planning structures help to protect jobs; "An awful lot of trusts are used to hold family businesses".


Clark Williams

Myron Clark Williams (May 2, 1870 – December 18, 1946) was an American banker and politician.
Life.
Born in Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, Williams was the son of George N. Williams, a banker, and Abigail (Clark) Williams (daughter of Governor Myron H. Clark). He was educated at Canandaigua Academy, and graduated from Williams College in 1892, as a member of The Kappa Alpha Society. He later served for many years as a Trustee of Williams. After graduation, he became a clerk at the First National Bank in New York City, then at the New York Guarantee and Indemnity Company, and later at the United States Mortgage and Trust Company of which he became Vice President. On April 29, 1897, he married Anna Murphy Plater in Nashville, Tennessee, a portrait of whom by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury is in the Williams College Faculty Club/Alumni Center, Williamstown.
In 1905, he left US Mortgage & Trust to co-organize the Columbia Trust Company of which he became Vice President. On October 23, 1907, he was appointed by Governor Charles E. Hughes Superintendent of Banks. In November 1909, he was appointed New York State Comptroller to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles H. Gaus, and remained in office until the end of 1910. Afterwards he became President of the Windsor Trust Company and then of the Industrial Finance Corporation.
He served as a Red Cross representative with the First American Infantry Division in World War I. He was in the field at the Battles of Cantigny and Château-Thierry. Later he was field director of the Bureau of Army Field Service, in charge of all Red Cross service during the Argonnes Campaign. He finished the war with the rank of major, and in 1922, he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross for his services.
He died December 18, 1946 in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Mary Clark Thompson was his aunt.


Southern Water

Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximately half of this area. Some areas within the Southern Water region are supplied by a number of smaller water supply companies. Southern Water supplies an area totalling 4,450 sq. km. and serves 2.26 million customers.
Southern Water is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991 and since 2007 has been owned by Greensands Holdings Limited, a consortium of investors representing infrastructure investment funds, pension funds and private equity. Currently the largest shareholders are JP Morgan Asset Management (40%), UBS Asset Management (22%), Hermes Infrastructure Funds (21%) and Whitehelm Capital (8%).
In June 2019, Ofwat proposed a fine of £126 million as a result of Southern Water's failures to operate its wastewater treatment works properly and deliberately misreporting its performance. Ofwat found that failings had resulted in unpermitted and premature spills of wastewater from treatment works, with wastewater being released into the environment before going through the required processes.
History.
Origins.
The Water Act 1973 resulted in the formation of the Southern Water Authority (SWA), taking the responsibility away from the local authorities. Nevertheless, the SWA maintained a regional management approach, retaining three separate regional headquarters:
The authority took over the assets and duties of the following water undertakings:
Privatisation.
In 1989 the ten publicly owned water and sewerage authorities were privatised. This was achieved by transferring the water supply and sewerage assets, and the relevant staff, of the Southern Water Authority into the limited company Southern Water Services Ltd. Privatisation was accompanied by the raising of capital by floating parent companies on the London Stock Exchange, a one-off injection of public capital, the write off of significant government debt, and the provision of capital tax allowances.
Takeovers.
In 1996 Southern Water was purchased in a hostile takeover bid by Scottish Power. Southern Water assets were considerably impacted during the period under Scottish Power. During this period, the bulk of in-house scientific laboratory services and assets were shut down, dismantled and sold off. In 2002, Scottish Power sold the company to First Aqua Limited.
In October 2007, Greensands Investments Limited purchased Southern Water Capital Limited, the owners of Southern Water Services Limited.
Southern Water today.
The three main office buildings continue to be used for the administration and management of the company, along with a newer building in the West Durrington area of Worthing, West Sussex, which is the company's registered headquarters and houses the company's call centre and control centre.
Today the company supplies drinking water to roughly 1.1 million properties through its 91 water treatment works and 13,870 kilometres of water mains. Wastewater is treated by the company's network of 365 wastewater treatment works and 39,594 kilometres of sewers. Also, the treatment of sludge results in a nutrient-rich granulated fertiliser which the company sells to the farming industry.
Southern Water has also opened up some of their activities to the public. This includes the company running guided tours of the Victorian sewers of Brighton and Hove and public access to Bewl Water, one of the largest reservoirs in England.
Performance.
Legal issues.
2005-2007.
In 2007, Ofwat announced its intention to fine Southern Water £20.3 million for 'deliberate misreporting' and failing to meet guaranteed standards of service to customers. The misreporting resulted in Southern Water being able to raise its prices by more than it should have done. Southern Water Chief Executive Les Dawson said: "Today's announcement draws a line under a shameful period in the company's history" and "we accept this fine - we have no arguments with it".
2009-2011.
Crawley Magistrates' Court heard that the Environment Agency received calls from members of the public after dead fish were seen in the Sunnyside Stream in East Grinstead on 30 August 2009. The court also heard that a similar incident occurred along the same sewer line some 4 years earlier in September 2005. Following an investigation, in June 2010 Southern Water was fined £3,000 after it admitted polluting 2 km of the Sussex stream with raw sewage, killing up to a hundred brown trout and devastating the fish population for the second time in five years.
In 2011 Southern Water Ltd was fined £25,000 when sewage flooded into Southampton water.
The company was ordered to pay £10,000 in fines and costs after sewage seeped into a stream at Beltinge in Kent.
A leak of sewage from Southern Water's plant at Hurstpierpoint pumping station, West Sussex, lead to fines and costs of £7,200 in 2011.
Southern Water was fined £50,000 in April 2011 for two offences relating to unscreened discharges into Langstone Harbour, Hampshire, between November 2009 and April 2010.
2014-2016.
In November 2014 Southern Water were fined £500,000 and agreed to pay costs of £19,224 at Canterbury Crown Court after an Environment Agency investigation found that untreated sewage was discharged into the Swalecliffe Brook, polluting a 1.2 km stretch of the watercourse and killing local wildlife. Although sewage directly polluted a 1.2 km stretch, the Swalecliffe Brook flows through the Thanet Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) before it joins the north Kent coast to the east of Whitstable.
In December 2016 Southern Water was fined a record £2,000,000 for flooding beaches in Kent with raw sewage. As a result of a series of failures at a wastewater pumping station, raw sewage flooded on to beaches, forcing Thanet district council to close the beaches to the public for nine days including during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend. The Environment Agency called the event “catastrophic”, with tampons, condoms and other debris costing more than £400,000 to clean up. The Environment Agency said that the discharge along a considerable length of coastline, resulted in a risk to public health and negative impact in an area heavily reliant on the tourism industry. A judge at Maidstone crown court said that Southern Water’s repeat offending was “wholly unacceptable”. Following the investigation, Southern Water director Simon Oates apologised unreservedly for the failure of the wastewater plant.
2019.
In June 2019, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) announced its intentions to issue Southern Water with a financial penalty of £37.7 million reduced exceptionally to £3 million for significant breaches of its licence conditions and statutory duties. Following a lengthy investigation, Ofwat concluded that Southern Water deliberately misreported data about the performance of its wastewater treatment works. The investigation concluded that Southern Water had failed: to have adequate systems of planning, governance and internal controls in place to manage its wastewater treatment works; to accurately report information about the performance of these works; and to properly carry out its statutory duties as a sewerage undertaker, to make provision for effectually dealing with and treating wastewater. Ofwat found that Southern Water's failure to operate its wastewater treatment works properly resulted in unpermitted and premature spills of wastewater from its treatment works, with wastewater being released into the environment before going through the required processes.
Following the investigation, Southern Water agreed to pay customers approximately £123 million by 2024, partly a payment of price review underperformance penalties the company avoided paying in the period 2010 to 2017 and some of which is a payment to customers for the failures found in Ofwat's investigation. In response to Ofwat's findings, Southern Water announced that following its own internal review, which highlighted multiple failures between 2010 and 2017, it was 'profoundly sorry' and 'working very hard to understand past failings and implement the changes required' to ensure it meets the standards its customers deserve.
Work in the community.
Southern Water has an extensive sponsorship programme for charities, schools and community groups which includes:


Nyalali Commission

The Nyalali Commission of February 1991 was a Presidential Commission set up under the leadership of then-Chief Justice Francis Nyalali of Tanzania to collect the views of citizens and make appropriate recommendations on whether the country should adopt a multiparty or single party system. It sat during the term of President Ali Hasan Mwinyi. Based on the reports given by the Commission, the Constitution of Tanzania was gradually modified in the following years to accommodate a multi-party system.


Swiss nationality law

Swiss citizenship is the status of being a citizen of Switzerland and it can be obtained by birth or naturalisation.
The Swiss Citizenship Law is based on the following principles:
Swiss nationals are citizens of their municipality of origin, their canton of origin, and the Confederation, in that order: a Swiss citizen is defined as someone who has the bourgeoisie of a Swiss municipality (article 37 of the Swiss Federal Constitution). They are entered in the family register of their place of origin. The manner by which Swiss citizens acquire their place of origin differs depending on whether they acquired Swiss citizenship by filiation (jus sanguinis), ordinary naturalisation, or facilitated naturalisation. Marriage has in and of itself no effect on the places of origin of the spouses.
Acquisition of Swiss citizenship.
Acquisition by filiation.
A child acquires Swiss citizenship at birth by either:
A child of a Swiss father not married to the mother is considered Swiss by birth when a link of paternity is declared; any children of that child also acquire Swiss citizenship by filiation.
The child of two Swiss citizens who are married at the time of the child's birth acquires the places of origin of the parent whose surname the child acquires.
Foundlings.
A foundling acquires Swiss citizenship and the citizenship of the canton in which they are found. The canton decides which place of origin the child receives. Once paternity is determined, the child loses Swiss citizenship, unless this would leave him or her stateless.
Adoption.
A child adopted by a Swiss parent acquires the place of origin of the Swiss parent, thereby acquiring Swiss nationality.
Naturalisation.
Ordinary naturalisation.
Ordinary naturalisation in Switzerland is a cantonal competency but regulated by federal legislation.
On 20 June 2014, the two Chambers of the Swiss Parliament passed the Total Revision of the Federal Law Concerning the Acquisition and Loss of Swiss Nationality ("Révision totale de la loi sur l'acquisition et la perte de la nationalité suisse"). The Law, first introduced in 2011 by the Swiss federal government, aimed to lower, among other requirements, the residency requirement from 12 years to 8 years. During the parliamentary debates and the ensuing disagreements between the more conservative National Council (lower house) and the more liberal Council of States (upper house), the residency requirement was increased to 10 years. The time spent in Switzerland between the ages of 8 and 18 is doubled when counted for purposes of applying for naturalisation, however, an applicant must have spent at least 6 years in Switzerland. The law also requires cantons to set a minimum residency requirement of between 2 and 5 years, as well as requiring applicants to have a permanent residency permit (Autorisation d'établissement), which is commonly referred as a C permit. Additionally, time spent in Switzerland with temporary admission ("Permis d'admission provisoire") is halved counting the years spent in Switzerland for the purposes of naturalisation. The 2014 Total Revision of the Federal Law Concerning the Acquisition and Loss of Swiss Nationality entered into force on 1 January 2018.
Applications for naturalisation submitted prior to the entry into force of the new nationality law will continue to be processed under the 1952 law.
The federal nationality law of 2014 imposes two formal conditions which an applicant for naturalisation must satisfy:
In addition to the aforementioned formal conditions, the federal nationality law of 2014 also imposes material conditions which an applicant for naturalisation must meet:
Cantons can impose further requirements which are complementary to the federal requirements.
Simplified naturalisation.
Confederation.
Foreigners in the following categories may apply for simplified naturalisation:
Simplified naturalisation by virtue of marriage.
A person married to a Swiss citizen may apply for Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation after living in Switzerland for five years and having been married for at least three years. No language test is required, but one must show the following:
Children from the person's previous relationships (but not same-sex couples) are given citizenship along with the partner.
It is also possible for the spouse of a Swiss citizen to apply for facilitated naturalisation while residing overseas after the following:
Spouses acquiring Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation will acquire the citizenship of the place and canton of origin of their Swiss spouse.
Simplified naturalisation for third generation immigrants.
The federal constitution declares that the Confederation will facilitate the naturalisation of third generation immigrants (Art. 38 §3 part a). Legislation has yet to be introduced describing the precise requirements for an application for facilitated naturalisation under article 38 §3 part a.
Canton of Vaud.
The Canton of Vaud legislated in 2004 to allow for second-generation foreigners to acquire Swiss nationality more easily under the following conditions:
The 2004 law also facilitates the naturalisation of foreigners of the 3rd generation under the following conditions:
Demographics.
The yearly rate of naturalisation has quintupled over the 1990s and 2000s, from roughly 9,000 to 45,000 naturalisations per year.
Relative to the population of resident foreigners, this amounts to an increase from 8% in 1990 to 27% in 2007, or relative to the number of Swiss citizens from 0.16% in 1990 to 0.73% in 2007.
Reacquisition of Swiss nationality.
Foreigners in the following category can apply to have their nationality restored:
Formal conditions:
Loss of Swiss citizenship.
Loss due to cessation of paternity.
A child whose Swiss citizenship depends on paternal links loses citizenship when those are cut.
Loss due to adoption.
A Swiss child adopted by foreign parents is considered to have lost Swiss citizenship; if the adoption is subsequently annulled, the loss of nationality is retroactively invalidated.
Loss due to birth abroad.
A Swiss citizen born abroad to at least one Swiss parent and holding at least one other nationality loses Swiss citizenship at age 25 if:
Equally, the child of a person who loses Swiss nationality in this manner also loses Swiss nationality.
Exceptionally, a person who has been prevented, against their will, from taking the necessary actions to retain Swiss citizenship may undertake the required actions within a delay of 1 year following the cessation of such hindrances.
Triple citizenship level within Swiss citizenship.
Each municipality in Switzerland maintains its own registry of citizens, which is separate from the registry of people living in the municipality. Many Swiss citizens do not live in their place of origin; therefore, they are often required by the municipality in which they live to get a certificate of citizenship ("acte d'origine/Heimatschein/atto d'origine") from their place of origin. The constitution forbids discrimination based on one's place of origin, with the exception of bourgeoisies.
Dual nationality.
According to the Federal Office for Migration, there has been no restriction on multiple citizenship in Switzerland since 1 January 1992. Thus, foreigners who acquire Swiss citizenship and Swiss citizens who voluntarily acquire another citizenship keep their previous citizenship (subject to the laws of the other country). An estimated 60% of Swiss nationals living abroad in 1998 were multiple citizens.
Since many nationality laws now allow both parents to transmit their nationality to their common child (and not only the father, as used to be often the case), many children automatically acquire multiple citizenship at birth. This is especially prevalent in Switzerland, since a relatively high proportion of the population holds a foreign passport (up to 54% in Geneva and 20% nationally). However, the Federal Office for Migration specially notes that this has not resulted in any significant practical problems. Military service, the most likely problem to arise, is usually done in the country where the applicant resides at the time of conscription.
Even though Swiss nationality law permits multiple citizenship, a Swiss national who also holds another country's citizenship may be required to renounce a citizenship, if that foreign country's nationality law forbids such multiple citizenship.
Political discussions and referendums about Swiss citizenship in Switzerland in recent years.
Swiss citizenship laws have been widely debated over recent years. In comparison to other nationality laws, access to Swiss citizenship is relatively narrow and restricted, and several modifications to widen access to Swiss citizenship via constitutional initiatives and referendums have been proposed. The referendums on the matter – held in 1983, 1994, and 2004 – were all rejected by Swiss voters. In particular, during the referendum held in September 2004, Swiss voters rejected proposals to give some long-resident Swiss-born persons aged between 14 and 24 the right to apply for "facilitated" naturalisation (which bypasses cantonal and municipal requirements) and grant automatic Swiss citizenship to persons born in Switzerland with a parent also born in Switzerland.
While minimal requirements for obtaining Swiss citizenship by naturalisation are set at the federal level, Swiss cantons and municipalities are free to introduce more stringent requirements. Some municipalities had previously had no procedure for allowing naturalisations, effectively rendering it impossible, such as in La Chaux in the Canton of Vaud. In 1999, the municipality of Emmen and the canton of Lucerne began using referendums to decide the outcome of naturalisation requests. The practice was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in July 2003. A referendum directed at legalizing this practice was rejected on 1 June 2008.
Rights and obligations of Swiss citizens.
Swiss citizens are entitled to
Male Swiss citizens, including dual citizens, can be required to perform military service or civilian service (women can do it voluntarily). Male citizens who do not complete their military service or who do not do civilian service must pay a supplementary tax. Swiss citizens are not allowed to work for a foreign (non-Swiss) military, unless they are a citizen of – and are resident in – the country in question. The Swiss Guards of the Vatican State are regarded as police, not as an army.
Travel freedom of Swiss citizens.
Visa requirements for Swiss citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Switzerland. In May 2018, Swiss citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 185 countries and territories, ranking the Swiss passport 5th in the world according to the Visa Restrictions Index.
The Swiss nationality is ranked ninth, together with Ireland, in The Quality of Nationality Index (QNI). This index differs from the Visa Restrictions Index, which focuses on external factors including travel freedom. The QNI considers, in addition, to travel freedom on internal factors such as peace & stability, economic strength, and human development as well.


Kiril Bagration

Kiril Bagration (, "Kirile Bagrationi"; , "Kirill Aleksandrovich Bagration") (1749 – 19 April 1828) was an Imperial Russian general and official of Georgian origin, descended from the royal line of the Bagrationi-Mukhraneli of Kartli. He was a grandson of King Jesse of Kartli and uncle of General Pyotr Bagration of the Napoleonic Wars fame.
Career.
Prince Kiril Bagration was a son of Prince Alexander, a natural son of King Jesse of Kartli. Kiril was nine years old, when Alexander fled the unfavorable political climate in Kartli and joined his émigré relatives in Russia in 1759. Kiril and his elder brother, Ivan, following their father's suit, entered the Russian service. Kiril enlisted in the Pskov Carabinier Regiment as a wachtmeister in 1767 and fought in the 1768–74 Russo-Turkish War which he ended as a captain. From 1776 to 1777, he took part in bringing the Crimean Tatars to submission and eventually represented the Crimean nobility at the court of the tsarina Catherine II. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1786, he was present at the siege and capture of Bender during the 1787–92 Russo-Turkish War and commanded a vanguard in General Wilhelm Derfelden's corps during the 1792 invasion of Poland. Bagration became a colonel in 1793 and enlisted in the Chuguyevsky Cossack Regular Regiment, which he accompanied in the Persian Expedition of 1796. He was promoted to major-general in 1797 and put in command of a jäger regiment, which was given his name in 1798.
In 1800, Prince Bagration resigned from military due to deteriorating health and was transferred to civil service as a pivy councilor. In this capacity, he attended the Moscow department of the Governing Senate and then was tasked with inspecting the Belorussian Governorate. In 1805 he was moved to the 7th Department of the Senate and remained its member until his death in Moscow at the age of 78 on 19 April 1828. He was buried at the necropolis of the Georgian nobility at the Donskoy Monastery.
Family.
Prince Bagration was married twice, first with Varvara Alekseyevna Khovanskaya (1769–1788), of Gediminid stock, and then Aleksandra Ivanovna Golikova (1778–1853), daughter of a co-owner of the Russian-American Company. He had six children:


Universal basic income in the Netherlands

The issue of the universal basic income gained prominence on the political agenda in Netherlands between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s but it has disappeared from the political agenda over the last fifteen years.
History.
The political discussion on basic income was initiated in 1975 by Leo Jansen, an MP for the progressive Christian Political Party of Radicals (PPR) and Vrije Universiteit professor J. P. Kuiper. In 1977 the issue had been incorporated in the election manifestos of the PPR. The idea was also endorsed by several smaller trade unions of the Federation of Dutch Labour Unions.
In 1985, the Scientific Council for Government Policy, an independent think tank of the Dutch government, endorsed a partial basic income. However, the council's proposals were never acted upon. The PPR and the trade unions which favoured the basic income rejected the Council's proposals because the proposed basic income would be too low and implementation would be accompanied by abolition of the minimum wage. The proposal of the Scientific Council broadened, however, the debate and the issue is debated upon in the social-democratic Labour Party, the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the progressive liberal Democrats 66, but these parties did not adopt the basic income in their programs. In 1989 the PPR merged into the GreenLeft, with the Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP), the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) and the Evangelical People's Party. In early 1990s the GreenLeft was ambiguous to the idea of a basic income, not endorsing it in its 1989 election manifesto, but debating the issue in several publications.
In 1992 the debate is re-opened by the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, an economic advisory body of the government, which like the Scientific Council endorsed a low basic income as part of simplified social security system. By 1995 the basic income was a prominent issue on the Dutch political agenda. The issue continued to be debated by political parties; the Labour Party debated the issue in its 1994 election manifesto but still rejected it. The GreenLeft, however, endorsed a negative income tax in its 1994 election manifesto, which in the long term could be made into a basic income, according to the party. In 1994 D66 minister Hans Wijers publicly favoured the basic income, leading to negative reactions by his colleagues in cabinet. D66 endorsed his position in 1995, but did not incorporate it in its 1998 election manifesto.
After the success of the first cabinet-Kok to implement its agenda of "work, work, work" and increase the levels of employment the debate about the basic income lost attention and momentum. A welfare state policy oriented at the activation of the unemployed became accepted by nearly all parties.
In 2006, Femke Halsema, leader of the GreenLeft, endorsed a partial basic income and her ideas were taken over in the party's 2006 election manifesto.
Academic background.
A prominent Dutch academic in the academic debate on the basic income is , who also participated in the September group of Philippe van Parijs.


Krister Wickman

Hans Krister Wickman (13 April 1924 – 10 September 1993) was a Swedish politician. He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1971 to 1973. He was Governor of Sveriges Riksbank from 1973 to 1976. He also served as Minister of Industry from 1969 to 1971.
He served as chairman of the board of the Swedish Film Institute from 1963 to 1967.
At the 4th Guldbagge Awards in 1967 he won the award for Special Achievement.


Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) was launched by the United Kingdom government on 6 April 2012 in order to encourage investors to finance startups by providing tax breaks for backing projects they may otherwise view as too risky. SEIS acts as a powerful incentive to encourage investors to invest as the tax relief can allow individual investors to reduce their effective income tax liability, for the year in which they make the investment, to zero.


Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad

The Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad is a short line railroad that operates of track in Blair, Centre, and Clinton counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. It is part of the North Shore Railroad System.
The line runs generally northeast between Tyrone (in Blair County) and Lock Haven (in Clinton County). Other communities served include Port Matilda, Milesburg (both in Centre County), and Mill Hall (in Clinton County). There is a spur at Milesburg that runs southeast to Bellefonte, then splits, with a track going northeast to Pleasant Gap and another going southwest to Lemont and State College (all in Centre County). There are of track in Blair County, in Centre County, and in Clinton County.
The rail line follows Bald Eagle Creek northeast in Centre and Clinton counties, and runs roughly parallel to U.S. Route 220 between Tyrone and Milesburg, and parallel to Pennsylvania Route 150 between Milesburg and Lock Haven. The spur to Bellefonte follows Pennsylvania Route 144 and the line from Lemont to Pleasant Gap follows Pennsylvania Route 26.
There are connections to the Norfolk Southern Railway at both Tyrone and Lock Haven as well as an indirect connection to Canadian Pacific Railway.
The system has trackage rights via the Norfolk Southern line. These allow the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad to connect via Lock Haven to the east and south with the Lycoming Valley Railroad at Muncy and the village of Linden in Woodward Township, Lycoming County, the Union County Industrial Railroad at Milton, the North Shore Railroad at Northumberland, and the Shamokin Valley Railroad at Sunbury.
History.
The line operated by the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad was formerly the Bald Eagle Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad Tyrone Division, later part of the Penn Central, and then Conrail. SEDA-COG JRA (Susquehanna Economic Development Association - Council of Governments Joint Rail Authority) was formed in July, 1983 to continue to provide rail service to communities whose rail lines Conrail had decided to abandon. In 1984 the JRA took over the line when Conrail abandoned it, and the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad was born (along with the North Shore Railroad). In 1989, more track was purchased, extending the Nittany and Bald Eagle line to Lock Haven. The name of the railroad comes from Mount Nittany in Centre County and Bald Eagle Creek.
Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society (BHRS).
The Bellefonte Historical Railroad is a tourist/excursion railroad that also uses the line operated by the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad. Because Norfolk Southern also uses the line increasingly for coal and other traffic, the Bellefonte Historical Railroad "is thought to be the only volunteer operation in the country that runs in conjunction with a Class I railroad". Unfortunately this also hampers their ability to operate on the main line at times, as Class I traffic has the right of way.
The Bellefonte Historical Railroad has limited operations at this time and hosts special excursion runs. Their website is http://www.bellefontetrain.org.


Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad

The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad , sometimes shortened to Reading and Northern Railroad, is a regional railroad operating in eastern Pennsylvania, with headquarters located in Port Clinton. The RBMN provides freight service on of track, with its mainline consisting of the Reading Division between Reading and Packerton and the Lehigh Division between Lehighton and Dupont. In addition to freight service, passenger excursions also run along the RBMN system. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway (LGSR) is a tourist railroad that operates passenger excursions along the RBMN between Jim Thorpe and Lehigh Gorge State Park. The RBMN also operates passenger excursions from Reading and Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe.
Main lines.
RBMN operates the following two main lines as part of its of track:
Commodities.
The main transported freight of Reading & Northern is anthracite coal.
History.
Originally known as the Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad, the railroad was founded in 1983 to provide freight service on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Division between Hamburg and Temple. Starting in 1985, the BM&R began operating passenger excursions over the line, and two steam locomotives, ex-Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad 4-6-2 425, and ex-Reading Company T-1 4-8-4 2102. The BM&R also began operating 3 additional state-owned lines. Additionally, the BM&R entered into a partnership with the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society who leased track space in Leesport and in return leased two diesel locomotives and assorted passenger cars for use on the line.
In 1990, The Blue Mountain and Reading took ownership of 150 miles of track located in the Coal Region north of Reading. Shortly thereafter, the company was renamed Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad and relocated its headquarters from Hamburg to Port Clinton. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the RBMN acquired more lines in northeastern Pennsylvania, primarily of Reading Railroad, Central Railroad of New Jersey, and Lehigh Valley Railroad heritage.
In the mid 1990s, the RBMN discontinued the regularly scheduled passenger operations between Hamburg and Temple and instead focused on occasional excursions throughout the rest of its system. The partnership between the RBMN and Reading Company Technical and Historical Society had more or less ended by this point, but the group still leased track space in Leesport until 2008 when they moved to the Hamburg yard and opened the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum.
Despite the discontinuation of the Hamburg to Temple excursions, steam operations continued. In 1995, both of the RBMN's steam locomotives were present at the grand opening of Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, though only 425 was operational. The two would remain at Steamtown until 1997. Between 1998 and 2009, all steam operations were suspended.
In 2005, regularly scheduled passenger excursions resumed with the introduction of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway in Jim Thorpe. In December 2016, the RBMN announced that it invested $2 million to construct a train station at Pennsylvania Route 61 and Bellevue Avenue in Muhlenberg Township outside Reading called Reading Outer Station, with plans to operate passenger excursions from there to Jim Thorpe. On May 29, 2017, the first round-trip excursion from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe operated, utilizing refurbished Rail Diesel Cars that were built by the Budd Company in the 1950s and formerly operated along the Pottsville Line between Pottsville and Philadelphia via Reading until SEPTA discontinued diesel service in 1981. In 2019, an audit by the borough of Jim Thorpe revealed the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway owed the borough $90,000 in amusement tax. The issue went to court and the judge sided with the borough; the railway appealed the decision. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway threatened to leave the borough of Jim Thorpe over the unpaid taxes. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway briefly ceased excursion operations in November 2019, with the RBMN citing a refusal to pay the amusement tax, stating the tourist railroad was "not an amusement". Following a new agreement with the Jim Thorpe Borough government, excursions resumed in February 2020.
Between 2009 and 2010, RBMN expanded operations due to the emergence of Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in northeastern Pennsylvania. The railroad spent $100,000 to transform an outdated and lightly used Pittston Yard between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. RBMN also purchased two new locomotives, 101 rail cars and of track between Monroeton and Towanda where much of Northeastern Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale economic activity is focused.
In 2017 the connection of the "Hazleton Shaft" and "Hazleton Hiller Drying Plant" to the railroad was finally finished.
Connections.
 RBMN operated occasional passenger excursions utilizing restored steam locomotive #425. In addition, RBMN operates the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, a heritage railway based in Jim Thorpe. RBMN interchanges with the following railroads:
Passenger excursions.
The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway (LGSR) is a tourist railroad that operates passenger excursions along RBMN trackage from the former Central Railroad of New Jersey station in Jim Thorpe to Old Penn Haven, following the Lehigh River through Lehigh Gorge State Park. Excursions run on weekends, holidays, and some weekdays between May and December. The regular excursion consists of a , 70-minute round-trip out of Jim Thorpe, following the Lehigh River to Lehigh Gorge State Park. In October, the LGSR operates abbreviated 45-minute trips that offer views of fall foliage in Lehigh Gorge State Park. There are several special excursions that are operated by the LGSR. The Hometown High Bridge train is a , 2-hour round-trip excursion that runs on the first full weekend in October from Jim Thorpe through Nesquehoning to the long Hometown High Bridge that passes over the Little Schuylkill River, offering views of fall foliage. The Bike train is a , 1-hour one-way trip from Jim Thorpe to White Haven and it allows passengers to ride their bicycles for the journey along the Lehigh Gorge Trail from White Haven back to Jim Thorpe. The Santa Claus Special train operates out of Jim Thorpe between the day after Thanksgiving and the weekend before Christmas, with a visit from Santa Claus aboard the train. LGSR trains are usually diesel-powered and consist of an open-air car, standard coaches, a gondola car that allows passengers to transport the bicycles aboard the train and ride their bicycles back to Jim Thorpe, and a caboose.
The RBMN also operates passenger excursions out of the Reading Outer Station located outside of Reading in Muhlenberg Township, with Rail Diesel Car trains running from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe with an intermediate stop in Port Clinton. The train runs from Reading and Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe in the morning, allowing passengers time to explore Jim Thorpe. The return trip leaves Jim Thorpe in the late afternoon and returns to Port Clinton and Reading in the evening. This excursion operates on select weekends and holidays from May to November.


Chivas Regal

Chivas Regal () is a blended Scotch whisky produced by Chivas Brothers, which is part of Pernod Ricard. It was founded in 1786, with its home being in the Strathisla distillery at Keith, Moray in Speyside, Scotland, and is the oldest continuously operating Highland distillery.
Chivas Regal has been the market-leading Scotch whisky aged 12 years and older in Europe and Asia Pacific. Its sales grew by 61% between 2002 and 2008. In global terms, Chivas Regal recorded volume sales of 4.9 million nine-litre cases in 2012 and 2013, but sales decreased to 4.4 million cases in 2015. This blended whisky has been the world's fourth best seller since 2016.
History.
Pre-1823: prior to legalisation of whisky distillation.
Brothers James and John Chivas, born in 1810 and 1814 respectively, were two of fourteen children born to Robert and Christian Chivas, living on a remote Strathythan farm in the Ellon Parish of Aberdeenshire. In 1836, aged 26 and 22 years, James and John decided to leave their impecunious rustic lifestyle in search of better options in Aberdeen, away.
James joined one William Edwards, who in 1828 had bought a well known well-stocked high-quality grocery, luxury goods, wines and liquor emporium from the family members of one John Forrest. Forrest had opened his store in 1801, but died in 1828. James became a partner in 1838. John began working at a wholesale footwear and apparel firm, DL Shirres and Co. This firm would be awarded distribution rights of Chivas Bros from 1860-1886, from around John Chivas' entry until James Chivas' death and again later.
Edwards died in 1841, and one Charles Stewart took over. In 1843, Stewart and Chivas was granted a Royal Warrant to supply goods to Queen Victoria. In 1850, Stewart and Chivas was appointed Royal Grocer to the queen's mother, the Duchess of Kent, and many other Royal Warrants followed over the years. The huge advantage of getting a Royal Warrant was that upper class gentry followed royalty without a second thought, to be seen as both conformal and of cognizable status. This automatically resulted in a considerably increased footfall of the wealthy.
1823–1893: legalisation of whisky distillation and origins of whisky production.
In Scotland, the money trail followed "uisge beatha", Gaelic for whisky. Distilling whisky had been legalised in 1823, leading to a proliferation in the number of brands in the market. Some were rotgut, some produced at 70-72% alcohol by volume (ABV), but the majority were at 60-65% ABV, imbibed after cutting with water. There were a few good brands too, news of which spread by word of mouth. Arthur Bell defined a "fine whisky" as one that was sold at ~65% ABV. These were savoured after adding soda.
Vatting of whiskies within Bond Warehouses was legalised in 1853 by The Forbes-Mackenzie Act, and, with blending, the number of brands made available for sale increased overnight. During this period, Stewart and James Chivas decided to respond to their affluent customers' demands for better whisky, by blending select malts to create a proprietary blend. The firm's first blended Malt Scotch whisky, the Royal Glen Dee, was launched in 1854. Stewart left in 1857, making way for John and the company could now be named Chivas Brothers. In 1863, they launched a proprietary Blended Scotch whisky, a smoothly crafted blend of 10 year old malt and grain Whiskies, Royal Strathythan.
The May 8, 1890, edition of Scotland Magazine described Chivas Brothers as "undoubtedly the finest purveying business in the north of Scotland".
1893–present: post-Chivas family.
The last actively occupied Chivas family member, Alexander, son of James, died in 1893. Control of the company henceforth was exercised by the Board of Trustees; Alexander Smith, the reliable aide and right-hand man of Alexander Chivas; and their Master Blender, Charles Stewart Howard. In 1895, Smith and Howard offered to buy out the Board of Trustees and the distaff side of the family, removing any residual trace of Chivas family members. This proposal was accepted with the one proviso that the company name would remain Chivas Brothers forever.
Chivas had agents assess market conditions in the US in the 1890s. The marketing team reported a booming economy which was looking for luxury. In 1900, Howard decided to create a new blend in memoriam of the founding brothers, James and John. Using the best malt and grain whiskies available in the market and inhouse, Howard blended a malt-dominated recipe fitting the bill. Introducing the term 'Regal', Howard created a 25 year old whisky in 1909 called Chivas Regal, the oldest Blended Scotch Whisky of its era, and launched it in the US, establishing it as the world's first and oldest luxury whisky.
It was all one way street then for Chivas Regal, from 1909 till mid 1915, during which period World War I started and became a sluggish, long-drawn affair (1914-18). Existing stocks were exhausted rather quickly as demand outstripped supply. Shipping lanes to USA closed down, and Chivas Bros switched to building reserves at home.
Whisky Brokers Morrison & Lundie bought the company in 1936, and decided that it was far too onerous to maintain aged barrels of whisky. They wound up the 20 YO Loch Nevis and reduced the production of the Chivas 25 drastically, resulting in its withdrawal as their standard-bearer and ultimate demise. They switched focus to a 12 YO heavily marketed 'premium' brand, a decision that would be seen as wise a lustrum later, when World War II (1939-1945) broke out in Europe. 1939 saw the debut and continued success of Chivas Regal 12 YO Blended Scotch in the US at what was to become a global standard proof value of 75 degrees, i.e., 42.8% ABV. (The Americans mark it as 86 proof as they double the ABV to arrive at proof value.) Henceforth, quality, age (generally 12 years), cost (high), popularity (sales) and demography (high-end) would define a 'Premium' Scotch Whisky.
Chivas Regal was purchased by Seagrams in 1949, which enabled a much wider distribution and marketing system. Seagrams was owned by a Canadian Jew, Samuel Bronfman. When the Middle East opened up as a market post oil domination/OPEC, Seagrams' products, including Chivas Regal, were banned in the entire Arab controlled area in the early 1960s. Chivas would limp back nearly four decades later, when under Pernod Ricard, but rise rapidly thereafter to its leading position in the Asia Pacific area.
In 1950, the firm bought Milton (Miltown) distillery, renaming it Strathisla, which is the brand's home in Keith to this day. Its product, Strathisla single malt, is a key malt component of the blend.
In 1997, the Chivas Regal range was expanded with the launch of much older whiskies like the Chivas Regal 18 year old, and in 2007 the new Chivas Regal 25. Other expressions followed, like the Mizunara in 2014, The Icon in 2015 and the XV in 2018.
Pernod Ricard acquired Chivas Regal in 2001.
Strathisla Distillery.
Strathisla Distillery in Speyside is home to Chivas Regal and its visitor centre. Founded in 1786 as Milton/Miltown distillery, it is the oldest working distillery in the Highlands of Scotland. The Strathisla single malt is the core malt whisky in all Chivas Regal blends, buttressed by malts from Longmorn, The Glenlivet, Allt-a-Bhainne, Miltonduff and Braes of Glenlivet (now Braeval) among other distilleries, and grain from Strathclyde distilleries in the Lowlands.
Awards.
Chivas Regal whiskies have performed well at international spirit ratings competitions. In 2013, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition jury awarded its Double Gold Medals to the Chivas Regal 18yr, 21yr and 25yr whiskies.
In popular culture and sponsorships.
In the 1973 film "The Exorcist", the character Father Dyer brings this whisky for Father Karass to drink after the death of his mother. They share it and he remarks "Chivas Regal! Where'd you get the money for it—out of the poor box?"
1975 film The Prisoner of second ave, Jack Lemmon orders bottle of Chivas Regal in liquor store after having his apartment robbed.
In "Only Fools And Horses" Series 2, episode 3, A Losing Streak, first broadcast in 1982 Delboy asks for a 'Large Chivas Regal' at the bar to try and impress Boycie.
In "Risky Business" (1983) Joel Goodson (played by Tom Cruise) pours a glass of Chivas Regal and Coca Cola after returning home from dropping his parents off at the airport.
The Beastie Boys song Brass Monkey, released in 1987, includes the lyric "we don't mind Chivas".
In "Working Girl", from 1988, savvy New York City receptionist Tess McGill played by Melanie Griffith orders a "Chivas" during an engagement party for her friend Cynthia (Joan Cusack), immediately prior to a proposal from her boyfriend Mick Dugan played by Alec Baldwin.
In the 1993 film "Mrs. Doubtfire", Daniel and Jonathan drink shots of Chivas during their business dinner at Bridges.
Kelly Clarkson's 2007 album "My December" includes a hidden track entitled "Chivas". The track is about an ex she ran into at a bar while drinking Chivas.
In the "Mad Men" season 6 episode, "The Better Half", Ted Chaough compares Fleishchmann's margarine to Chivas Regal (because it's a relatively expensive brand of margarine), while Don Draper compares it to Budweiser (because he compares margarine to butter).
In the "American Dad!" season 6 episode, "Spring Break-Up", Roger (as "Scotch Bingington") invites Spring Breakers to party at the Smith household. As the self-proclaimed "King of Spring Break," he has a staff that dispenses Chivas Regal.
In the House of Cards season 3 episode "Chapter 29", First Lady Claire Underwood orders "Two Chivas, neat" during a scene in the White House.
In 2011, Chivas Regal sponsored The Asian Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sports Category.
Chivas Regal signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the British Premier League football team Manchester United in August 2018. As a follow up in October 2019, it created a special Manchester United-themed 13-year-old blended Scotch whisky in honour of former team manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Partly matured in ex-rye casks, this expression was created exclusively for the US where Man U reportedly has over eight million fans.
The launch of Chivas 13 Manchester United edition follows that of a similar release in Australia in August 2019, viz., Chivas Extra 13 American Rye, a 13-year-old Australia-exclusive blend finished in ex-rye whisky casks.
The Chivas Regal Ultis 1999 Victory Edition: a 20 year old Blended Malt bottled in 2019, using single malts of 1999 vintage from the Strathisla, Longmorn and Braeval distilleries, in tribute to Manchester United winning The Treble (the Premier League, FA Cup and the European Cup in the same season) in 1999.


Christian Klingberg

Christian Klingberg (16 December 1765 – 9 February 1821) was a Danish Supreme Court attorney and chief legal officer of the Danish Asia Company.
Early life and education.
Klingberg was born on 16 December 1765 in Copenhagen, the son of lottery inspector-general Jacob K. (1719–82) and Karen Lund (1733–1806). He graduated from Frederiksborg Latin School in 1783 and passed his legal exams (cand.jur.) at the University of Copenhagen in 1787.
Career.
He was a lawyer at the Hof- og Stadsret from 1791 and became a Supreme Court Attorney in 1792. He was in addition chief legal officer of the Danish Asia Company 1812–19 and briefly served as director of the Bank of Denmark in 1818. In 1813, he was designated as Supreme Court justice but never used this appointment.
Klingberg was recognized as one of the leading lawyers of his time and acted as defense attorney in a number of high-profile cases, for instance for Conrad Malte-Brun.
Personal life.
Klingberg married Lovise Elisabeth Klingberg (20 February 1772 – 13 February 1855), a daughter of Lauritz K. (1728–95) and Catharina Elisabeth Schumacher (1745–92), on 28 May 1796 in the Church of Holmen.
Klongberg died on 9 February 1821 in Copenhagen and is buried at Valsølille Cemetery.


History of taxation in France


Walter William Massey

Walter William Massey (1882 – 8 November 1959) was a New Zealand politician of the Reform Party.
He represented the Hauraki electorate from the 1931 by-election (after the death of Arthur Hall), to 1935 when he was defeated by Charles Robert Petrie of the Labour Party.
He was a son of Prime Minister William Massey, and brother of Jack Massey who represented the Franklin electorate.
In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.


Jefferson S. Burton

Jefferson "Jeff" S. Burton is an American politician and retired Army Major General. He is a member of the Utah House of Representatives serving the 66th district. Elected in 2020, he replaced Mike McKell who moved to a position in the Senate.
Personal life and education.
Burton was born and raised in Payson, Utah, graduating from Payson High School. He attended Brigham Young University, enrolling in their ROTC program before leaving school and joining the Army in 1984. He eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology at the State University of New York at Albany in 1986. Burton and his wife live in Spanish Fork, Utah.
Career.
Burton served in the United States Army from 1984 to 2019, including the last seven years as Adjutant general of the Utah Army National Guard. Following his retirement he was appointed by Utah Governor Herbert to lead day-to-day operation of the Utah Department of health's COVID-19 response, on the unified command staff. He was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 2020 and assumed office on January 1, 2021.
Election.
After Mike Mckell announced he would not seek reelection in the House of Representatives, but instead seek the seat in the Utah State Senate, Burton announced his intention to run for the 66th seat. In the Repuclican primary he beat Kari Malkovich, a Woodland Hills City council member, carrying 60% of the vote. He ran uncontested in the 2020 general election.
Burton faced public criticism after he violated DOD rules by using images of him in uniform on multiple iterations of his campaign flyers.


National Association of State Budget Officers

The National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) has served as the professional membership organization for state finance officers for more than sixty years. NASBO is the instrument through which the states collectively advance state budget practices. As the chief financial advisors to our nation’s governors, NASBO members are active participants in the public policy discussions at the state level. The major functions of the organization consist of research, policy development, education, training, and technical assistance. These are achieved primarily through NASBO’s publications, membership meetings, and training sessions. NASBO is an independent professional and educational association and is also an affiliate of the National Governors Association.
Membership.
NASBO is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organization. Each state and territory may designate up to three members. Members are often the directors of state finance departments, the states’ chief budget officers, and their deputies. All staff in the budget offices are associate members. The organization also awards honorary and life memberships. The organization’s Executive Committee is the policy-making body. The Executive Committee consists of the President, the Immediate Past President, the President- Elect, four Standing Committee Chairs, four Regional Directors, two Members- at-Large, and up to two Special Committee Chairs.
Publications.
Fiscal Survey of States
This survey is published jointly with the National Governors Association twice a year in the spring and fall. Narrative analysis of trends and significant developments on the fiscal condition of the states, along with tabular summaries of state general fund revenues, expenditures, and balances are included in the report. It includes both individual and aggregate totals based on states' responses to a survey conducted by NASBO. The spring survey details governors' proposed budgets while the fall survey details enacted budgets.
State Expenditure Report
This annual report examines spending in the functional areas of state budgets: elementary and secondary education, higher education, public assistance, Medicaid, corrections, transportation, and all other. It also includes data on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and on revenue sources in state general funds.
Budget Processes in the States
This report is a state-by-state compilation of data on gubernatorial budget authority, budget agency organization and functions, balanced budget requirements and other aspects of the state budget process. It is a significant reference for state budget officers and others interested in the organization and operation of state government.
State Health Expenditure Report
This report provides a perspective of the significance of state health spending within the context of the nation’s provision of personal health care services. As both employers and providers of services, states have felt the demands from rising health care costs. States also have additional expenditures for population health, including an expanded role to protect the public’s safety.
Capital Budgeting in the States
This report provides information on how states approach capital budgeting by covering topics such as preserving facilities, managing the process, setting priorities, and financing projects.
Meetings and awards.
NASBO provides numerous training opportunities. The organization has an Annual/Summer Meeting, a Fall Meeting, and a Spring Meeting. These national meetings focus on policy issues, intergovernmental issues, and economic trends. Associate meetings provide an opportunity for budget staff to meet their peers from other states and to engage in an informal exchange on various topics of regional or topic specific interest. NASBO also hosts an annual introductory seminar for new state budget staff. This seminar focuses on budget strategies, current events, ethics and techniques in state budgeting.
Each year, NASBO honors state budget office employees at the executive and associate level. The Gloria Timmer award recognizes exceptional performance for those at the executive level within a state budget office. Most often, the recipients of the Gloria Timmer award have been budget directors or deputy budget directors. The George A. Bell award recognizes an associate member of NASBO who, as an employee of a state budget office, has made an exceptional contribution to state budgeting and management. Associate Members are budget analysts, unit supervisors, and other staff. NASBO also recognizes an associate NASBO member in each region for outstanding contributions to public budgeting and management in state government with the following regional awards: John E. Burton Eastern Region Award, J.H. Rester Southern Region Award, Robert M. Armstrong Midwest Region Award, and the Fred W. Links Western Region Award.


Herbert Asquith (poet)

Herbert Dixon Asquith (11 March 1881 – 5 August 1947) was an English poet, novelist, and lawyer. Nicknamed "Beb" by his family, he was the second son of H. H. Asquith, British Prime Minister, with whom he is frequently confused, and the younger brother of Raymond Asquith.
Asquith was greatly affected by his service with the Royal Artillery in World War I. His poems included "The Volunteer" and "The Fallen Subaltern", the latter being a tribute to fallen soldiers. His poem "Soldiers at Peace" was set to music by Ina Boyle. His novels include the best-selling "Young Orland" (set during and after the First World War), "Wind's End", "Mary Dallon", and "Roon".
In 1910, he married Lady Cynthia Charteris, who was also a writer. She was the eldest daughter of Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss, and his wife, Mary Constance Wyndham. They had two sons.


Janez Stanovnik

Janez Stanovnik (4 August 1922 – 31 January 2020) was a Slovenian economist, politician, and Partisan. He served as the last President of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia between 1988 and 1990. From 2003 to 2013, he was the president of the Slovenian Partisan Veterans' Association.
Biography.
He was born in Ljubljana, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, to a Slovene Roman Catholic family. His father Ivan Stanovnik was a prominent member of the left wing of the Slovene People's Party and served as deputy mayor of Ljubljana. His mother was the niece of the Bishop of Ljubljana .
He attended the classical gymnasium in Ljubljana. As a high school student, he became active in the Christian Socialist association "Zarja" (Dawn), where he became acquainted with the Christian left intellectuals like Edvard Kocbek and Bogo Grafenauer. After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, he became active in the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People and was imprisoned by the Italian occupation regime between autumn 1941 and February 1942. Soon after his release from jail, he joined the partisan resistance in the Province of Ljubljana. In February 1944, he joined the Communist Party. Between April 1944 and May 1945, he was among the organizers of the partisan resistance in the Slovenian Littoral and was member of the regional national liberation committee.
In 1946, after the war, he became the personal secretary of the Slovene Yugoslav Communist leader Edvard Kardelj. He graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School. Between 1952 and 1956, he was member of the Yugoslav mission at the United Nations. In 1956, he returned to Yugoslavia and started studying economics. He was a professor at both the Institute of Social Sciences in Belgrade, and the University of Ljubljana.
Between 1965 and 1966, he served as an advisor to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and between 1968 and 1983, he worked on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. There he served as the executive secretary of the commission from 1968 to 1982.
In 1988, he was appointed as President of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. Due to the political upheaval, he managed to use this largely ceremonial position in order to negotiate with the opposition groups, especially the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights during the Slovenian Spring. Because of his support for a peaceful transition to parliamentary democracy, he was called by the press, somewhat ironically, "father of the nation".
In 2003, he was elected as Chairman of the Association of Slovenian Partisan Veterans, he stayed at this position until 2013, when he was named the honorary president of the Association.
Personal life.
Stanovnik was married twice and had four children. He was the recipient of several awards, including the Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941, and was an honorary citizen of Ljubljana.
He spent his last years in a retirement home and died on 31 January 2020, aged 97.
Stanovnik was the cousin of the Christian Socialist activist , who was executed by the Italian occupation forces in 1942. He was also the cousin of , former member of the Slovene Home Guard and prominent activists of the Home Guard veteran association "Nova slovenska zaveza" (New Slovenian Covenant) after 1990.


National Centre for Women Development

The National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) is a Nigerian state-owned enterprise based in Abuja. It was established in 1997.
History.
The NWCD was commissioned on 17 October 1997, and modelled on the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). It works in collaboration with Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. Between 1997 and 2003 the NCWD published a magazine, "Images of the Nigerian Woman".
In 2013 President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Onyeka Onwenu as Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NCWD. Onwenu served for two and a half years, claiming to have raised morale under difficult conditions in which she faced some ethnic opposition. In February 2016 President Muhammadu Buhari removed Onwenu, appointing Abdulmalik Dauda to succeed her as Acting Director General. Onwenu criticised Dauda for reversing some staffing changes. Dauda died in April 2016. In 2017 Mary Ekpere-Eta was appointed Director General of NCWD.
Hall of Fame.
The NWCD celebrates the achievement of prominent Nigerian women with a Hall of Fame. Names of notable Nigerian women are etched in marble on the wall. The wall includes First Ladies of Nigeria such as Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, Maryam Babangida, Stella Obasanjo and Patience Jonathan, and other prominent women such as Dr Elizabeth Awoliyi, Senator Franca Afegbua, Dr (Mrs) Dora Akunyili, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Mrs Doyin Abiola, Prof Grace Alele Williams and Mrs Sarah Jibrin. In 2007, 27 women were inducted into the Hall of Fame. In June 2019, 22 more women were inducted:


Modified endowment contract

A modified endowment contract is a cash value life insurance contract in the United States where the premiums paid have exceeded the amount allowed to keep the full tax treatment of a cash value life insurance policy. In a modified endowment contract, distributions of cash value are taken from taxable gains first as compared to distributions taken from non taxable contributions. In other words, withdrawals will typically be taxed as ordinary income (typically the highest rates for investments) instead of treated as non taxable income.
History.
Modified endowments were created in the Technical Corrections Act of 1988 (H.R 4333, S. 2238) in response to single-premium life (endowments) being used as tax shelters. The Act of 1988 established the 7-Pay Test, which is a stipulated premium that would create a guaranteed paid up policy within 7 years from policy inception. If premiums paid to the contract go beyond (i.e. are higher than) the premium amount stipulated then the contract has failed the 7-Pay Test and is reclassified as a Modified Endowment Contract.
Tax rules.
Distributions will switch from a First In First Out (FIFO) basis to a Last In First Out (LIFO) basis. This means that withdrawals will require the policy owner to withdraw taxable gain before withdrawing untaxable basis.
Policy loans will be realized as ordinary income to the policy owner and could be subject to income taxes in the year the loan is made.
Distributions (either withdrawals or loans) that go beyond the policy basis will be subject to a 10% penalty tax for policy owners under the age of 59.5 (this can be avoided by the use of a 72(v) distribution)
Transferring funds from a Modified Endowment Contract to a new life insurance policy via the 1035 exchange privilege will render the newly issued contract as Modified Endowment Contract as well.
Use.
In some cases, such as for estate planning, a person may purposely create a modified endowment contract in order to purchase the least insurance and therefore have the lowest insurance costs possible in order to receive the desired benefit. It may be used to pass more money on to heirs.
See also.
Endowment policy


Operation Smokescreen

Operation Smokescreen was an American interagency counterterrorist operation to disrupt fundraising by Hezbollah, that took place in early 1995, ending in 2002. The operation involved the Sheriff's Office in Iredell County, North Carolina, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).
Detective Sergeant Robert Fromme made repeated observations of a group of men purchasing large quantities of cigarettes, often with $20,000 - $30,000 in cash. The joint counterterrorism operation ended the fundraising operation, resulting in the arrest, trial, and conviction of the cell members. The operation led to the creation of the North Carolina Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).
Hezbollah operations.
Hezbollah cell leader Mohamad Youssef Hammoud was denied a travel visa by the US embassy in Syria, after which he traveled to Venezuela. After purchasing a forged travel visa, arrived in New York City in 1992. By 1995, Hammoud set up operations in Charlotte, North Carolina, working at a local pizza restaurant. At least two additional members of the Hezbollah Charlotte cell entered the United States with false travel visas from Venezuela purchased for $200, and three had travel visas issued in Cyprus. Half the cell members were born in Lebanon, and the other half were US-born, of Lebanese descent. Early in the spring of 1995, Detective Robert Fromme, working a second job at the tobacco wholesaler JR Discount (in Statesville, North Carolina) observed the cell purchasing massive quantities of cigarettes, paying for them in cash. The cash was usually carried in large grocery bags, containing as much as $20,000 to $30,000 at a time.
Surveillance.
Detective Fromme continued to monitor the purchases for several months, and determined cell members were transporting the cigarette cartons across state lines, in violation of federal laws. Each of the four men Fromme was watching purchased 299 cartons of cigarettes, the legal limit permitted without filing legal paperwork. Cigarettes were moved from North Carolina to Tennessee and Virginia. Fromme notified John Lorick, of the Charlotte ATF. ATF officials informed Fromme that cigarette trafficking was likely an attempt to sell the merchandise for as much as twice the price in states such as Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania - which had considerably higher taxes on tobacco. North Carolina's tax on cigarettes was five cents, whereas it was seventy-five cents in Michigan at the time. The Hezbollah cell was selling the cigarettes through "front store" operations, and to local convenience stores in Dearborn, Michigan, with a price difference between North Carolina and Michigan ranging from $8.00 - $10.00 per carton. Each 680-mile cigarette smuggling trip to Michigan carried between 800 and 1,500 cartons of cigarettes, worth between $3,000 and $10,000. Some cell members fraudulently secured a $1.6 million loan from the federal government's Small Business Administration, which funded the opening of a gas station.
The Iredell County Sheriff's Office signed a memorandum of understanding with the Charlotte ATF, permitting the formal collaboration between the two agencies. As a result, Detective Fromme was officially reassigned to the ATF. Additional federal agencies were assigned to the case, including the Diplomatic Security Service, and Immigration and Naturalization Service. The FBI, which had already been wiretapping communications of two of the cell members, apparently without the knowledge of local law enforcement, also participated in the joint operations. In all, sixteen law enforcement and intelligence services from state, local, and federal agencies contributed to the operation, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Surveillance was run from an empty storefront across from the JR Discount wholesaler building. The cell was secretly followed by a team of five vehicles, which took turns driving behind the cigarette smugglers. "As an extra precaution, the agents sometimes changed clothes and switched license plates during pit stops."
Raid.
The assembled joint task force penetrated the Hezbollah cell, developing more than ten informants from within the group, as well as from a pool of witnesses. Informants were gleaned from cell staff members, including drivers, smugglers, and even spouses. Simultaneous raids in North Carolina and Michigan at 6:00 a.m. on July 20, 2000 captured many cell members and accomplices. A total of 18 arrest warrants were executed. The arrest of Said Muhammad Harb provided invaluable insights into the structure of the Hezbollah cell, its members, and operations. In exchange for his cooperation, Harb received a lighter sentence, and his family was relocated from Lebanon to the United States. At least 230 local, state, and federal agents participated in the raids.
Outcome.
Hezbollah members from the Charlotte cell were arrested, tried, and convicted in a federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina. The case brought against the cell included "copyright violations, cigarette tax violations, counterfeit violations... bank scams, bribery, credit card fraud, immigration fraud, identity theft, tax evasion, and money laundering," and "material support to a terrorist organization." Federal courts estimate the cell collected a total of $8 million, funneled through some 500 different bank accounts. The Hezbollah cell also purchased and shipped "Night vision goggles and scopes, Surveying equipment, Global Positioning Systems, Metal detection equipment, Video equipment, Aircraft analysis & design software, Military compasses, Binoculars, Naval equipment, Ultrasonic dog repellers, Laser range finders, Digital cameras, zoom lenses, Computer equipment (laptops, high-speed modems; processors, joysticks, plotters, scanners, and printers), Stun guns, Handheld radios & receivers, Cellular telephones, Nitrogen cutters, Mining, drilling & blasting equipment" to the Middle East, for use by Hezbollah, mostly purchased by Harb. Mohamad Youssef Hammoud, the cell's leader, was sentenced to 155 years in federal prison. Hammoud's older brother, Shawqi Youssef, (a.k.a. "Bassem"), and "right-hand man" received a prison sentence of 70 years. Overall, 26 people were indicted in the operation. The Operation Smokescreen case is the first conviction for the violation of federal code 2339B, "Providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations". Similar cases were later uncovered in Asheville, North Carolina, and Louisville, Kentucky.


Abram Garfield

Abram Garfield (November 21, 1872 – October 16, 1958) was the youngest son of President James A. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, and an architect who practiced in Cleveland, Ohio.
Garfield received a bachelor of arts from Williams College in 1893 and a bachelor of science in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology three years later. Beginning his architectural practice in 1897, in 1898 he formed Meade & Garfield with Frank Meade to form the architectural firm Meade & Garfield in Cleveland, Ohio; the firm was noted for its premier residential designs. When the partnership ended in 1905, Garfield opened his own firm until 1926 when he along with Rudolph Stanley-Brown, George R. Harris, and Alexander Robinson started an architectural practice. In 1935 it was renamed Garfield, Harris, Robinson and Schafer until Garfield’s death in 1958. The firm, which still exists, was known as Westlake, Reed, Leskosky Architects until 2016 when purchased by DLR group. Garfield specialized in residential architecture, designing large houses in Shaker Heights and other Cleveland suburbs, but his work also included more modest houses for the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority and institutional projects such as schools and a hospital. Garfield served as chairman of the Cleveland Planning Commission from 1930 to 1942 and was a founder and first president of the Cleveland School of Architecture, which became part of Western Reserve University in 1941. He was named a trustee of the university that year and two years later was made an honorary lifetime member of the board; he received an honorary doctorate from Western Reserve University in 1945. Garfield was also a director of the American Institute of Architects from 1919 to 1922 and served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1925 to 1930, including as vice chairman from 1929 to 1930. In 1949 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician. He lived in Bratenahl, Ohio.
A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Works.
Garfield's works include:


Erland Broman

Erland Carlsson Broman (1 November 1704 – 19 January 1757) was a Swedish official and noble, and a favorite of King Frederick I of Sweden.
Broman was from a lesser noble family and son of "lagman" Karl Broman and Eva Hök.
He became a courtier of King Frederick in 1722, and soon became a personal friend and trusted confidant of the monarch, who entrusted him with the task to organize his infidelities and love affairs. In 1731, he introduced Hedvig Taube to Frederick and managed to install her as an official royal mistress. The same year, he was made "kammarherre", courtier. After the death of Hedvig Taube in 1744, he introduced her successor, Catharina Ebba Horn.
In return for this and similar favors, he was awarded with titles, money and offices: he became the chamberlain of the royal court in 1741 and president of commerce in 1747. Broman frequently used his favored position to accept bribes. Politically he was an ally of the Hats. Despite his great income, he became poor after the death of Frederick due to his gambling and business speculations.
He married Eva Johanna Drakenhielm (1704-1747) in 1726, and in 1747, the maid of honor Vilhelmina Magdalena Taube (1720-1757), sister of the royal mistress Hedvig Taube.


Millbank Tower

Millbank Tower is a high skyscraper in the City of Westminster at Millbank, by the River Thames in London. The tower was constructed in 1963, and has been home to many high-profile political organisations, including the Labour and Conservative parties, and the United Nations.
History.
The tower was constructed in 1963 for Vickers and was therefore originally known as Vickers House or the Vickers Tower. It was designed by Ronald Ward and Partners and built by John Mowlem & Co. It is a landmark on the London skyline, standing beside the River Thames, half a mile upstream from the Palace of Westminster. The tower has been owned by David and Simon Reuben since 2002, while still being managed by its former owner Tishman Speyer Properties. It is a Grade II listed building.
Until the BT Tower's completion in 1964, Millbank Tower was the tallest building in the United Kingdom.
The 2003 edition of the Pevsner architectural guide says that the Millbank Tower is "one of the few London office towers to have won affection", and contrasts it with the "boxy structure" of the Shell Tower at Waterloo.
In 2010 the building was surrounded and occupied by thousands of student protesters who spontaneously branched off from a demonstration called by the National Union of Students, which was campaigning against the Coalition government's increase of tuition fees - Millbank was the location of Conservative Campaign Headquarters at the time. The demostration and occupation helped spawn further student protests that year.
Occupants.
Throughout its history, the Millbank Tower has been home to many high-profile political and other organisations. From 1994 to 2002 the Labour Party rented two floors in the base at the south of the site, for use as a general election campaign centre. Labour ran its 1997 General Election campaign from these offices; after the election, the party vacated its headquarters at John Smith House, Walworth Road SE17, to move to Millbank. Five years later, however, the £1 million per annum rent forced the party to vacate the tower and take out a mortgage of £5.5 million to relocate to 16-18 Old Queen Street, overlooking St James's Park, which had 11,200 square feet of open plan premises.
The United Nations also had offices in the tower, but moved out in June 2003, also citing high rents. Other public bodies have continued to occupy the building, including the Central Statistical Office, the predecessor of the Office for National Statistics; the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman; the Local Government Ombudsman; the UK India Business Council; and the Ministry of Justice Records Management Service.
Between 2006 and 2014, the Conservative Party based its campaign headquarters at 30 Millbank, in the same complex as Millbank Tower.
Other floors in the tower are occupied by organisations and commercial companies, including Environment Agency, the World Bank, Altitude 360 London, foreign exchange specialists World First, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the UK India Business Council, the London office of Medopad, Canonical (company), the Audit Commission, event caterers Salt and Pepper, Private Food Design, the firm Lewis PR, the London office of the Open Society Foundations, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, XLN Telecom and Leave.EU.
The building also houses the studios for RT UK.
Since April 2018, the central People's Vote office has been based in the tower.
In popular culture.
The tower featured in the 1973 film, "The Vault of Horror", in which several characters are trapped in a lift in the building. It was also used for the location filming of the "Doctor Who" serials "The Invasion" (as the London offices of International Electromatics) and "Terror of the Zygons" (as the venue for the World Energy Conference). The tower also featured in "The Persuaders!" episode "Someone Like Me" (1971), in which Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) is seen going into the building to stop Lord Brett Sinclair (Sir Roger Moore) who has been programmed to shoot his friend Sam Milford (Bernard Lee).
Future.
In 2016, the Reuben brothers made a successful application to redevelop the building, notwithstanding its listed status, and convert it into a hotel and luxury apartments.


List of colonial governors of Louisiana

This is a list of the colonial governors of Louisiana, from the founding of the first settlement by the French in 1699 to the territory's acquisition by the United States in 1803.
The French and Spanish governors administered a territory which was much larger than the modern U.S. state of Louisiana, comprising Louisiana (New France) and Louisiana (New Spain), respectively.
At the same time, there are parts of present-day Louisiana which were historically administered by other European powers, with the most prominent example being the area known as the Florida Parishes, north of Lake Pontchartrain and east of the Mississippi River. This territory was originally part of French Louisiana, but it was administered by the Kingdom of Great Britain for twenty years (1763–83) following the British victory in the French and Indian War.


Argenta (bank)

Argenta is a bank based in Belgium that also operates in the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The Argenta headquarters are in Antwerp.
History.
The Argenta Group has been active in Belgium since 1956 and in Luxemburg since 1987. It has been active on the Dutch mortgage market since 1997 and attracting savings in the Netherlands since 2004. All group activities exclusively consist of financial activities for families and individual clients relating to attracting savings, granting loans, distribution of collective investments and offering life and non-life insurance products.
Structure.
Investeringsmaatschappij Argenta NV (abbreviated, Investar NV), a mixed financial holding of the Van Rompuy family, holds 86.81% of the shares in the Parent, with the remainder of the shares owned by Argenta Coöperatieve CVBA ("Argen-Co"), which is a recognised cooperative undertaking in accordance with the Act of 20 July 1955 on a National Council for Cooperatives.
Argenta Bank- en Verzekeringsgroep nv is the holding company of the Argenta Group. Argenta Bank- en Verzekeringsgroep nv is a mixed financial holding within the meaning of article 3, 39° of the Banking Act.
Argenta Spaarbank has one subsidiary, Argenta Asset Management S.A. Argenta Asset Management S.A. is a Luxembourg company which is responsible for the management and central administration of the Argenta Group's collective investment undertakings, i.e. Argenta Fund sicav and Argenta Fund of Funds sicav, which are open-end investment undertakings under Luxembourg law. The latter is a fund of funds (also known as an umbrella fund). This means that the assets of various sub-funds are invested in other collective investment undertakings.
In addition, Argenta Spaarbank has a branch office in the Netherlands.
Argenta Assuranties nv is a duly licensed Belgian insurance undertaking. Argenta Assuranties has one subsidiary, Argenta-Life Nederland N.V., an insurance undertaking organized under the laws of the Netherlands. It offers term life insurance linked to housing loans. It also manages a portfolio of mortgage insurance policies.


Governor of the Central Bank of Iran

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran () is the highest administrative authority of the Central Bank of Iran, making decisions concerning all such current affairs of the bank.
Presently, the President appoints the governor upon the recommendation of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, who must be verified by the CBI's general assembly.
Unlike many countries, the governor of central bank is not mandated to decide on the monetary policy in Iran by himself, but he is head of the body with that responsibility, The Currency and Credit Council, an organ within the central bank but controlled by the government. The governor is assisted by an executive board comprising, in addition to himself as the chairman, the deputy governor, vice-governors, and the secretary-general of the Currency and Credit Council.
The law specifies no fixed term for the governor, however the officeholder is appointed for five years.
List.
The governors of Central Bank of Iran are as follows: