Rover Group

The Rover Group plc was the British vehicle manufacturing conglomerate known as "BL plc" until 1986 (formerly British Leyland), which had been a state-owned company since 1975. It initially included the Austin Rover Group car business (comprising the Austin, Rover, Mini and MG marques), Land Rover Group, Freight Rover vans and Leyland Trucks. The Rover Group also owned the dormant trademarks from the many companies that had merged into British Leyland and its predecessors such as Triumph, Morris, Wolseley, Riley and Alvis.
The Rover Group was owned by British Aerospace (BAe) from 1988 to 1994, when BAe sold the remaining car business to the German company BMW. The group was further broken up in 2000, when Ford acquired the Land Rover division, with the Rover and MG marques continuing with the much smaller MG Rover Group until 2005. Ownership of the original Rover Group marques is currently split between BMW (Germany), SAIC (China), and Tata Motors (India), the latter owning the Rover marque itself with its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover owning much of the assets of the historic Rover company.
History.
"For the history of the Rover Group prior to 1986, see the main article: British Leyland"
The Rover Group plc was formed by renaming BL plc in 1986, soon after the appointment by Margaret Thatcher of Canadian Graham Day to the position of Chairman and Managing Director of BL.
After divesting of its commercial vehicle and bus manufacturing divisions (Leyland Trucks, Leyland Bus and Freight Rover), and the spares and logistics firm Unipart, the company then consisted of the car manufacturing arm Austin Rover Group and the Land Rover Group. This group was privatised in 1988 by the sale of the company to British Aerospace (BAe) for £150 million, who retained Day as joint CEO and Chairman, and made Kevin Morley MD of Rover cars. The group changed its name again in 1989 to Rover Group Holdings Limited., whilst the car manufacturing subsidiary "Austin Rover Group Limited" shortened its name to "Rover Group Limited". By this time, all but the Rover, Land Rover and MG brands were still active – Austin had already been dropped in 1987, because it was felt by Graham Day's new management that many of the other marque names within the former BL had been tarnished by their association with the poor quality cars of the 1970s. The strategy going forward, therefore, was to concentrate on the upmarket Rover brand instead.
On 31 January 1994 BAe sold its 80% stake in the company on to German vehicle manufacturer BMW for £800 million (a takeover which caused uproar in the House of Commons), the name changing again in 1995 to BMW (UK) Holdings Limited. The Japanese manufacturer Honda, who owned the remaining 20% stake, terminated the long-standing alliance with BL/Rover which had been in existence since 1980 and also sold its shares to BMW a month later, although the licensing agreements surrounding the manufacture of the collaboratively developed Rover 200, 400, 600 and 800 models remained in place.
Millions of pounds of investment by BMW failed to turn the company into profit. It has been estimated that the entire Rover bankruptcy cost BMW fifteen billion Marks. In March 2000, BMW announced it planned to sell the Rover Group. Within two months, the core of the group (the MG and Rover sections) had been sold to the Phoenix Consortium, while BMW retained the rights to build the forthcoming new Mini family of vehicles. Meanwhile, Land Rover was sold to Ford, where it was ultimately reunited with former BL stablemate Jaguar to form Jaguar Land Rover when Ford dissolved the Premier Automotive Group in the late 2000s.
Subsequent developments.
Land Rover was spun off from Rover and sold to the Ford Motor Company, becoming part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, ultimately reuniting it with Jaguar which had been divested from British Leyland in 1984. Following bids from Alchemy Partners and Phoenix Consortium, core areas of manufacturing capability, along with a collection of marques (such as MG), were purchased by the Phoenix Consortium. Much smaller than its predecessors, the newly created manufacturer struggled as it continued the heritage of building cars at the Longbridge plant, which included the original Mini for the final few months of its 41-year production life.
Despite trading as MG Rover Group, the new company's key Rover marque was a property licensed from BMW. The new Mini, which had been developed at Longbridge by Rover Group and was due for launch within a year, along with marques (Riley, Triumph) and former-Rover trademarks (Metro, Maxi) were also strategically retained by BMW. It is believed these names are associated with the heritage of sports saloon car manufacturers, or with the heritage of Mini.
After MG Rover Group's financial crisis and talks of acquisition or investment by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) failed in early 2005, the MG Rover Group went into receivership. Following liquidation, SAIC bought the design rights to the acclaimed Rover 75 platform, along with the marques of Austin, Morris, and Wolseley. Nanjing Automobile Corporation bought the rights to the MG marque. In December 2007, Nanjing and SAIC announced their merger, which reunited some of the marques that had formed Rover Group.
Despite BMW agreeing to sell the Rover marque to SAIC, Ford gained control of the luxury saloon name. When Ford's Jaguar and Land-Rover businesses were sold to TATA Motors of India, the rights to the historically prestigious Daimler, Lanchester, and Rover marques transferred to TATA Motors.
Models.
Rover 800 series.
Although the Rover 800 went on sale shortly after BL plc changed its name to Rover Group in July 1986, it had been developed in conjunction with Honda (whose corresponding model was the Legend). It was initially available as a saloon with a fastback version launching in 1988. It sold well among buyers in the executive market, with a facelift in November 1991 and the introduction of a coupe version a few months later. However, it stagnated after a replacement targeted for the 1992 model year was cancelled. Many of its duties as a flagship were performed by the 600. The 800 series was updated again in 1996 which gave the car a chrome and silver grille and a lot more standard kit. By its demise in 1999, it was looking considerably dated and was replaced with the 75.
Rover 200 series.
The Rover Group's first significant new car launch was the Rover 200, which was introduced in October 1989. Unlike its predecessor, it was a three or five-door hatchback, the former to launch later, instead of a four-door saloon which would become the Rover 400. It used a new range of 16-valve K Series petrol engines as well as a Peugeot 1.9 diesel and 1.8 turbodiesel both fitted to the Phase 1 Peugeot 405. Sales were stronger than its successors and its launch coincided with a winding-down in production of the similarly sized Maestro, which finally ceased production at the end of 1994 having spent the final years of its life as a budget alternative to the more upmarket Rover 200. Coupe and cabriolet versions of the 200 were later launched in 1992 and these were sold alongside the all-new 1995 model and continued until that model was upgraded to become the Rover 25 in 1999. The 1989 Rover 200 was a strong seller throughout its life and its successor continued this trend, though its final year of production (1999) saw a significant dip in sales. These strong sales were not as high as the ever-popular Ford Escort and Vauxhall Astra. The Rover 200 had been around since 1988 as the Longbridge-built Honda Concerto, which offered a higher level of equipment but only achieved a fraction of its sales.
Rover 400 series.
In April 1990, Rover launched the Rover 400 range. The 400 was essentially a four-door version of the 200 hatchback, but was slightly longer and offered more stowage space. It also replaced the saloon version of the previous 200. It was sold as an alternative to the likes of the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier, but was never able to match the success of these cars. An estate version of the 400 was launched in 1994 called the Tourer and continued alongside the all-new Honda Civic-based model that was launched the following year. The 1995 Rover 400 was a more substantial and popular alternative to other large family cars than its successor was, offering impressive equipment levels, but a relative shortage of interior space because it was nearer in size to cars in the next category down. The Rover 400 was facelifted in 1999 to become the Rover 45, and at the same time the estate version of the original 400 was dropped.
Rover Metro/Rover 100.
May 1990 saw Rover give the decade-old Metro a major reworking, which most notably included internal and external restyling, as well as new 1.1 and 1.4 K-Series petrol engines. The new Metro offered some of the best standards of specification in any supermini at the time, and it sold well until being replaced by the Rover 100 (essentially another update of the original 1980 design) in December 1994. The Rover 100 remained in production for three years, selling reasonably well, until it was discontinued after a dismal crash test performance that saw demand fall dramatically. Its demise marked the passing of the last design from the British Leyland era of the company with production ceasing at the end of 1997.
Rover 600 series.
Rover entered the compact executive market in April 1993 with its 600 range. Sold only as a four-door saloon, the 600 was based on the Honda Accord but used Rover engines as well as Honda engines (Honda used Rover's diesel engine in their European Accord) and had a classier interior. It was very popular in the compact executive market, but could not match the ever-popular BMW 3 Series. This was down in part to the pricing and model restrictions BMW (Rover group's owner) had placed on the 600 series and its very close ties with the more downmarket Honda Accord. Production ended in early 1999 to make way for the new 75 model.
Maestro/Montego.
Unlike the Metro, which had received a major reengineering and was rebadged a Rover, the two last bastions from the British Leyland era had become increasingly uncompetitive in the marketplace and were kept in production merely to cater for the budget end of the market and for sale to fleets, as the newer Rover badged models were pushed further upmarket compared to rivals from Ford and General Motors (Vauxhall/Opel). The MG and high specification variants were both dropped from the Maestro/Montego ranges in 1991 so as not to overlap with the more expensive Rovers. Both had already lost their Austin badging in 1987 and were now known simply by their model names. Although the Montego had received a package of revisions for the 1989 model year, the Maestro remained essentially unchanged until 1992 when it received the Montego's revised dashboard. The Maestro/Montego production line was effectively closed in 1993 (leading to the eventual sale and demolition of the old Morris Motors' works at Cowley in which it was located), and the last cars were essentially hand built on a purpose built line. By 1994 the Montego saloon was only available to special order, and the Maestro was produced in basic 'Clubman' trim with either 1.3 petrol or 2.0 diesel power.
Both models were discontinued in December 1994, being replaced by the new Honda Civic based Rover 400 series.
Land Rover.
The Land Rover arm of the Rover Group expanded dramatically after the late 1980s. The Ninety/One Ten models received minor equipment and driveline upgrades and sales began to improve after a severe and near-terminal decline in the early part of the decade. The Range Rover enjoyed increased sales following its repositioning as a luxury vehicle, with higher equipment levels and options such as an automatic transmission and a diesel engine option being offered for the first time. The successful Discovery 'family' 4x4 was launched in 1989 and became Europe's top-selling 4x4 within 18 months. The Discovery brought with it an advanced diesel engine, which was soon fitted to the other models in the range. This period saw Land Rover rationalise its operations, closing down satellite factories and increasing parts-sharing between models (axles, transmissions and engines were all shared, and the Discovery used the same chassis and many body panels as the Range Rover). The Ninety/One Ten range was fitted with the new diesel engine and renamed the Defender in 1990. An all-new Range Rover was launched in 1994, together with an improved Discovery which maintained high sales. A fourth model, the 'mini-SUV' Freelander was introduced in late 1997 and replaced the Discovery as Europe's best-selling 4x4 vehicle.
MG.
The MG badge-engineering project (first implemented by Austin Rover in 1982 with the Metro) ended in 1991 despite some reasonable success for its Maestro and Montego ranges (the MG Metro had been discontinued after the facelift in 1990). The MG badge was revived in 1992 on the RV8 – an updated MGB which made use of a 3.9 V8 Range Rover power unit, but lacked modern refinements that were expected in similarly priced sports car of its era. The car didn't sell as strongly as earlier MG sports car, and production had ended by 1995.
The "real" rebirth of MG sports cars occurred in 1995, when the MG F was launched. Powered by a 1.8 16-valve mid-mounted engine, it was an instant hit with buyers thanks to its distinctive styling and excellent ride and handling. It was a huge success in the roadster renaissance of the late 1990s, despite some buyers being let down by lacklusture build quality and reliability.
The MG name was revived on passenger cars in 2001 when the ZR, ZS and ZT models launched, based on the Rover 25, 45 and 75 models respectively.
Sponsorship.
Rover Group sponsored the Scottish football team Dundee United from 1994 to 1996. The first match of the sponsorship was Dundee United's Scottish Cup triumph in 1994, the club's first ever success in the competition.


S. M. Sabry

S. M. Sabry was the 35th Auditor General of Sri Lanka. He was appointed on 26 January 1993, succeeding W. Gamini Epa, and held the office until 13 August 2000. He was succeeded by Sarath Chandrasiri Mayadunne.


Udai Singh II

Udai Singh II (4 August 1522 – 28 February 1572) was the Maharana of Mewar and the founder of the city of Udaipur in the present-day Rajasthan state of India. He was the 12th ruler of the Mewar dynasty. He was the fourth son of Rana Sanga and Rani Karnavati, a princess of Bundi.
Early life, marriage, and parenthood.
Udai Singh was born in Chittor in August 1522. After the death of his father, Rana Sanga, Ratan Singh II was crowned King. Ratan Singh II was assassinated in 1531. He was succeeded by his brother Maharana Vikramaditya Singh. During the reign of Vikramaditya, when the Muzaffarid Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah sacked Chittor in 1535, Udai Singh was sent to Bundi for safety. In 1537, Banbir killed Vikramaditya and usurped the throne. He tried to kill Udai Singh as well, but Udai's nurse Panna Dai sacrificed her own son Chandan to save him from his uncle Banbir and took him to Kumbhalgarh. She started living in Bundi and did not allow Udai Singh to come and meet her. He lived secretly in Kumbhalgarh for two years, disguised as a nephew of the governor Asha Shah Depura (Maheshwari).
In 1540, he was crowned in Kumbhalgarh by the nobles of Mewar. His eldest son Maharana Pratap from his first wife, Maharani Jaivantabai Songara (daughter of Akhey Raj Songara of Jalore), was born in the same year. He had 24 sons. His second wife, Sajjabai Solankini gave birth to his son Shakti Singh, Sagar Singh and Vikram Dev. Dheerbai Bhattiyani was his favourite wife and was the mother of his son Jagmal Singh. His fourth wife was Rani Veerbai Jhaala.
Reign.
In 1544 Sher Shah Suri invaded Marwar after defeating Maldev at Sammel. Udai Singh had just dealt with the civil war in Mewar and did not have the resources to fight the Sur Empire, he thus surrendered Chittor to Sher Shah Suri on the terms that Sher Shah does not harm the people of Mewar. Sher Shah also accepted the terms as he knew that the siege would be long and costly.
Udai Singh and his council felt that Chittor was too vulnerable and thus planned to shift Mewars capital to a safer location. In 1559 work started in the Girwa portion of Mewar and in the same year a man made lake was made to promote cultivation. The lake was completed in 1562 and the new capital soon came to be known as Udaipur.
In 1557, he was defeated by Maldev Rathore at the Battle of Harmada and lost Merta to him.
In 1562, Udai gave refuge to Baz Bahadur. the last ruler of the Malwa Sultanate, whose kingdom had been annexed into the Mughal Empire.
In September 1567, his son Shakti Singh came to him from Dhaulpur and told him of Akbar's plan to capture Chittor. According to Kaviraj Shyamaldas, Udai Singh called a council of war. The nobles advised him to take refuge along with the princes in the hills, leaving a garrison at Chittor. On 23 October 1567 Akbar formed his camp near Chittor. Udai Singh retired to Gogunda (which later became his temporary capital) leaving Chittor in the hands of his loyal chieftains Rao Jaimal and Patta. Akbar captured Chittor after a four-month-long siege on 23 February 1568; the siege culminated in a brutal sacking of the city, leaving Chittor's garrison and 25-40,000 civilians dead. With Chittor lost to the Mughals, Udai would later shift his capital to Udaipur.
He died in 1572 in Gogunda. Before his death, Jagmal tried to seize the throne but the nobles of Mewar prevented Jagmal from succeeding and placed Maharana Pratap Singh on the throne on 1 March 1572.


Amtrak Susquehanna River Bridge

The Amtrak Susquehanna River Bridge is a Howe deck truss structure that carries two tracks of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line across the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland.
History.
The vicinity of the bridge has been used as a river crossing for more than 300 years. In 1695, the colonial General Assembly granted the first licenses to operate a ferry between Perryville and what is now Havre de Grace. In 1837, railroad lines south from Wilmington, Delaware, and north from Baltimore arrived at the riverbanks. For 29 years, including the duration of the American Civil War, a train ferry carried passengers (on foot) and freight cars between the two towns. In 1854, a larger ferryboat began to transport entire passenger cars across the river.
In 1866, after 12 years of intermittent construction, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) completed a wooden single-track railroad bridge. Iron reinforcements were added between 1874 and 1880. In 1881, when the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) formally took control of the PW&B, it cut rival Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's access to the PW&B. The B&O was forced to construct a parallel route between Baltimore and Philadelphia, including a new bridge about upstream.
In 1904-06, the PRR replaced the PW&B crossing with a new bridge just a few yards upstream. Opened on May 29, 1906, it includes a center swing span to increase vertical clearance for water traffic from the nominal . In 1934, the PRR began installing catenary on the span to help extend 11,000-volt electrification south from Wilmington to Washington, D.C. Regular electrified passenger service across the bridge began on February 10, 1935.
Ownership of the bridge passed to Amtrak in 1976 when it acquired much of the Northeast Corridor infrastructure.
Present status.
About 100 Amtrak and MARC passenger trains cross the bridge each weekday at a speed of ; about 12 freight trains a day cross at a speed of . Freight traffic, operated by Norfolk Southern Railway under a trackage rights agreement, is generally restricted to nighttime hours to avoid interfering with passenger operations.
The only significant commercial water traffic under the bridge consists of barges from a large granite quarry just upstream of Havre de Grace. The bridge's swing span rarely needs to be opened; vessels that require such an opening must provide 24-hour advance notice.
In 2005 and 2007, Amtrak replaced the ties on the bridge, installed continuous welded rail, and installed new deck-level maintenance walkways, changes meant to extend the life of the bridge by 20 to 25 years.
In May 2011, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $22 million in funding for engineering and environmental work to replace the bridge. The Bush River and Gunpowder River bridges, two spans of similar age on the Northeast Corridor in Maryland, are also under consideration for replacement. The project study began in 2013 and was completed in 2017. Amtrak has identified the bridge replacement as one of their 'Ready To Build' projects for the Northeast Corridor.


Nest ferch Rhys

Nest ferch Rhys (c. 1085 – c. 1136) was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last king of Deheubarth in Wales, by his wife, Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys. Her family is of the House of Dinefwr. Nest was the wife of Gerald de Windsor (c. 1075 – 1135), constable of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, by whom she was the ancestress of the FitzGerald dynasty.
Nest had two younger brothers, Gruffydd ap Rhys and Hywel, and, possibly, an older sister named Marared, as well as several older illegitimate half-brothers and half-sisters. After their father's death in battle in 1093, "the kingdom of the Britons fell" and was overrun by Normans. Nest's younger brother Gruffydd was spirited into Ireland for safety; their brother Hywel may have been captured by Arnulf de Montgomery, along with their mother, unless, as appears likelier, their mother was captured with Nest; their fate is unknown. Two older brothers, illegitimate sons of Rhys, one of them named Goronwy, were captured and executed.
First marriage and issue.
Nest was brought as a prized hostage to the court of William Rufus, where she came to the attention of his younger brother Henry Beauclerc (the future King Henry I), to whom she may have borne one of his illegitimate children, Henry FitzHenry (c. 1103–1158).
Some time after the rebellions of Robert of Normandy and Robert of Belesme, head of the powerful Montgomery family of Normandy and England, the king married Nest to Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor, Arnulf de Montgomery's former lieutenant and constable for Pembroke Castle. In 1102, for siding with the Montgomerys against the king, Gerald had been removed from control of Pembroke, and one Saher, a knight loyal to Henry, installed in his place. When Saher proved untenable in his new position, the king restored Gerald to Pembroke in 1105, along with Nest as his wife. By Gerald, Nest is the maternal progenitor of the FitzGerald dynasty, a prominent Cambro-Norman noble family.
Nest bore Gerald at least five children, three sons and two daughters.
William FitzGerald, Lord of Carew and Emlyn (died c. 1173). William's children included Raymond FitzGerald le Gros.
Second marriage and issue.
After Gerald's death, Nest's sons married her to Stephen, her husband's constable of Cardigan, by whom she had another son, Robert Fitz-Stephen (d. 1182), one of the Norman conquerors of Ireland.
Rape and abduction.
The details of this most famous episode of Nest's life, thought to have occurred in 1109, are obscure differ from one account to another. The most common alternative narratives are:
The earliest account, that of Caradoc of Llancarfan, relates that "At the instigation of the Devil, he [Owain] was moved by passion and love for the woman, and with a small company with him...he made for the castle by night."
The story that takes place at Carew Castle says Nest urged her husband to escape via a lavatory chute, while she stayed to face Owain. Owain took Nest and her children to a hunting lodge by the Eglwyseg Rocks north of the Vale of Llangollen.
The abduction of Nest, whether or not it was with her consent, aroused the wrath of the Normans, as well as of the Welsh. The Norman lords, the Justiciar of Salop, and at least one bishop, bribed Owain's Welsh enemies to attack him and his father, which they promptly did. Owain's father tried to persuade him to return Nest, but to no avail. According to Caradoc, Nest told Owain, "If you would have me stay with you and be faithful to you, then send my children home to their father." She secured the return of the children. Owain and his father were driven to seek exile in Ireland. Nest was returned to her husband.
In recent years, Nest has been given two specious children by her rapist, Llywelyn and Einion. In fact, Owain had a brother, but not a son, named Einion, and Welsh genealogies do not name the mother of Owain's son Llywelyn. The omission of the name of a mother with the highborn status of Nest is startling, if it were true.
In the 19th century, this "abduction", as well as the fighting which followed, earned Nest the nickname "Helen of Wales". She was depicted at having connived with Owain at her rape and abduction, given more children than she had borne, along with more lovers than she had had.
In 1112, her brother Gruffydd returned from Ireland, spending most of his time with Gerald and Nest. When he was denied his inheritance from his father, and accused to the king of conspiring against him, he allied with the prince of Gwynedd, and war broke out. Owain ap Cadwgan had, by now, been pardoned by the king, and was prince of Powys; in 1111, his father had been assassinated by Owain's cousin and former comrade-in-arms, Madog ap Rhiryd, whom Owain captured, castrated, and blinded. Being then on the king's good side, Owain was ordered to rendezvous with a Norman force to proceed against Gruffydd. En route, he and his force chanced to run into none other than Gerald FitzWalter. Despite Owain being a royal ally, Gerald chose to avenge his wife's rape, and killed Owain.


Neuhaus (chocolatier)

Neuhaus is a Belgian chocolatier which manufactures and sells luxury chocolates, chocolate truffles, biscuits and ice cream. The company was founded in 1857 by Jean Neuhaus, a Swiss immigrant, who opened the first store in the "Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert" in central Brussels. In 1912, his grandson, Jean Neuhaus II, invented the chocolate "praline", a decadent chocolate cream ganache center inside a chocolate shell, the original filled chocolate.
Today, Neuhaus has over 1,500 selling points in 50 countries. All Neuhaus products are still made in Vlezenbeek, near Brussels, and are exported worldwide. In 2000, the company received the Royal Warrant of Appointment to the Belgian court.
History.
Having arrived in Brussels from his native Switzerland, Jean Neuhaus opened an apothecary shop in 1857 at the "Galeries Royales", near the Grand Place. He began his business by covering the medicines in chocolate to make them easier to handle. Liquorices, "guimauves" (similar to marshmallows) and dark chocolate tablets soon joined more traditional preparations on the display counter.
With the assistance of his son Frédéric, he spent an increasing amount of time and effort in preparing and inventing new delicacies to the point where the regular pharmaceutical products gradually ended up making way for them.
In 1912, the year of Frédéric's death, his son Jean II created the first chocolate-filled bonbons or "pralines". They were immediately successful. They were followed by another innovation. Louise Agostini, Jean's wife, realized that the pralines were getting crushed inside the paper cornet bags used to wrap them up. Together with her husband, she developed a gift wrap box in 1915 which became known as the "ballotin." The design for the ballotin was patented, the registration document is date 16 August 1915 at 2.30pm (Belgian time).
Jean's son-in-law, Adelson de Gavre, took over the running of the business. In 1958, he created a series of highly acclaimed pralines such as the "Caprice" and the "Tentation" which were first displayed at Expo 58. Suzanne Neuhaus, his wife, specialized in decoration and gift wrapping. The company expanded and stores soon appeared across the country and abroad. The first Neuhaus chocolate boutique in the United States opened in 1999 in New York City.
Today the Neuhaus Belgian chocolate range still includes traditional pralines, but has expanded to include chocolate bars & tablets, BonBons, confectionery, individually wrapped chocolate squares ("Carres"), and hot chocolate. They also create chocolate truffles, which in 2017, "Bloomberg Pursuits" named "the Best Chocolate Truffle in the World." Their chocolate is 100% UTZ Certified, made with 100% ingredients of natural origin, and is still crafted entirely in Belgium. 25% of the chocolate is produced with cocoa from Neuhaus's own cacao farm.


Deposit interest retention tax

Deposit interest retention tax (DIRT) is a form of tax on interest earned on bank accounts in Republic of Ireland that was first introduced in the 1980s. In Ireland, income from any source is reckonable for taxation purposes. The Revenue Commissioners believed that the large majority of interest earners were declining to report it and that the most efficient method to collect at least the basic rate tax would be to deduct it at source. After PAYE, it was Ireland's second experience of a withholding tax.
Rates.
Current Rate.
DIRT is deducted at source by financial institutions. The current rate of DIRT is 33%, having been reduced from higher rates in preceding years.
Higher DIRT Rate.
A 'higher rate' of 36% applied to some interest up until the end of 2013. This applied where interest could not be calculated at least annually or could not be determined until it was paid.
Exemptions and Refunds.
People who are permanently incapacitated, as well as people who are at least 65 years old and receive income less than the exemption limit (currently €18,000), may claim a refund of DIRT or may submit an appropriate form to their banks or financial institutions to have interest paid free of DIRT.
History.
It was controversial because taxpayers cannot withhold it in protest because it is taken at source. Some argued that it discourages saving among low-income families, who would not otherwise be liable for taxation, but who might also not understand the need to claim exemption.
Evasion.
In the late 1990s a parliamentary inquiry under Jim Mitchell, TD, established the existence of a culture of encouraging tax evasion within Irish banks, which had allowed wealthy customers to set up non-resident (off-shore, international) bank accounts into which money was transferred, enabling the account holder to avoid paying DIRT. (Such accounts in theory should only have been set up by foreign investors, who would of course pay any tax due to their local authorities.) Thousands of tax-evaders were prosecuted as were leading banks, producing hundreds of millions of Irish pounds of the Irish Exchequer through financial settlements and fines. Several famous Irish people have been found evading the tax, including (former) Minister for Justice Pádraig Flynn. The Committee was of the view that the Central Bank of Ireland had an inappropriate and outmoded approach to supervision in the context of the growing sophistication of banking and the changing role of banks. It also found there was an insufficient concern with ethics and supervision other than from the standpoint of a traditional and narrow concern with prudential supervision in the Central Bank. The Chairman of the inquiry was "shocked and horrified" at the "careless and reckless" manner in which the Governor had quoted false statistics to the Public Accounts subcommittee.


Manuel de Amaya

Manuel de Amaya (c. 1740 - c. 1800) was a Spanish merchant and politician, who served during the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata as administrator general of the Real Renta de Tabaco of Buenos Aires.
Biography.
Amaya was born in Sevilla, (Spain), son of Juan José de Amaya and Agustina Andrés Pollos, belonging to a noble Spanish family. He arrived in the port of Buenos Aires to fulfill governmental functions in the city towards the year 1775. And he was the first holder in the Administración General of Tabaco of the Río de la Plata, to which he was appointed in 1778.
He was married to Valentina Zenzano, born in the city, daughter of Don Joseph Zenzano, a royal notary, born in Álava and Doña Agripina de Mansilla, born in Cádiz.


William Duane (journalist)

William Duane (1760–1835) was an American journalist.
Born in Newfoundland, he moved to Calcutta in 1788, and founded the "Bengal Journal" in 1791. Later that year, after the Governor-General of India John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth shut down the "Bengal Journal" for a libel against the French royalist government in exile in Calcutta, Duane founded his second newspaper, "The World". He was deported for a libel in this newspaper in 1794 and emigrated to the United States.
Before he died of yellow fever on September 8, 1798, Benjamin Franklin Bache hired Duane to work on the "Aurora" newspaper and printing business. Duane married fellow journalist Margaret Hartman Markoe Bache at the Christ Church in Philadelphia on June 28, 1800. They lived at 316 Market Street some time after their union. After 25 years of marriage, Bache told Thomas Jefferson in 1824 that she had the qualities of "a Roman matron".
According to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson attributed his presidential victory to this paper. Jefferson named Duane a lieutenant colonel, and by the War of 1812 he was an adjutant general. He died in Philadelphia in 1835 and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.
William John Duane was his son.


Pan Shih-wei

Pan Shih-wei (; born 27 July 1955) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs from 28 September 2012 and subsequently the Minister of Labor from 17 February 2014 until his resignation on 24 July 2014.
Education.
Pan obtained his bachelor's degree in political science from Tunghai University and master's degree in labor studies from Chinese Culture University. He continued his graduate study in the United States, obtaining master's and doctoral degrees in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University.
Political career.
During the 2008 ROC Presidential Election, Pan wrote the labor policy for Ma Ying-jeou and Vincent Siew ticket of the Kuomintang.
Council of Labor Affairs Ministry.
Ministry appointment.
Pan was appointed to be the Minister of CLA after the incumbent Minister Wang Ju-hsuan resigned amid an uproar over her proposal to raise the minimum wage in Taiwan.
Taiwan new pension reform.
In mid April 2013, Pan announced new pension reforms for Taiwan due to the projected Labor Insurance Funds bankruptcy in 2027. He added that the ROC government had launched a series reform methods to sustain the fund for at least another 30 years. He warned that this change would be painful.


Charlotte Williams-Wynn (aristocrat)

Charlotte, Lady Williams-Wynn ("née" Grenville; – 29 September 1830), was a British aristocrat.
Williams-Wynn was born in Llanforda, Oswestry. She was the eldest child of the Prime Minister George Grenville and his wife, the former Elizabeth Wyndham, daughter of the Tory statesman Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet. Lady Williams-Wynn was a first cousin of Prime Minister William Pitt through her paternal aunt Hester Grenville, who married William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.
Her mother and father died in 1769 and 1770 respectively, and guardianship of their daughter Charlotte was assumed by George's elder brother, Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple. On 21 December 1771, she married Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, and became known as Lady Williams-Wynn. The couple had eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood, including Watkin (who went on to be the 5th Baronet), Charles, Henry, and Henrietta, who married Thomas Cholmondeley, 1st Baron Delamere of Vale Royal.
Upon her husband's death, Lady Williams-Wynn became the sole administrator of his Welsh estates under the terms of his will, and functioned as such until her eldest son reached the age of majority.


Harri Holkeri

Harri Hermanni Holkeri () (6 January 1937 – 7 August 2011) was a Finnish statesman representing the National Coalition Party of Finland (Kokoomus / Samlingspartiet). He was the Prime Minister of Finland 1987–1991, speaker of the UN General Assembly 2000–2001 and headed the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo from 2003 to 2004 (leaving the position in the spring of the second year because of health issues).
Domestic offices.
Harri Holkeri was member of the board of directors of the Bank of Finland from 1978 to 1997, and candidate in the president elections of 1982 and 1988. He also served as a member of Parliament from 1970 to 1978 and as the chairman of the National Coalition (Conservative) Party from 1971 to 1979. On 1 July 1991 he made the world's first GSM call. The historic call used Nokia gear on GSM's original 900 MHz band.
Legacy.
He chaired the United Nations General Assembly during the 55th session (2000–2001). He also played a constructive role in securing the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.
Later years and death.
In his last years, Holkeri resided in Kruununhaka, Helsinki. In November 2008 Holkeri was walking outside a grocery store in Kruununhaka, when a robber tackled him while fleeing. Holkeri was badly wounded, broke his hip and needed a joint replacement surgery on his hips. The suspect turned himself in to the police, but stated that he did not intend to harm Holkeri and that the tackle was an accident. Holkeri sued the suspect for temporary and permanent damages for a total of 8,400€.
Holkeri died in 2011 in Helsinki.
Honors and awards.
Domestic.
Holkeri was awarded the highest Finnish honorary title of Counselor of State in 1998 by the President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari.
Foreign.
Holkeri's efforts in Northern Ireland were rewarded with an honorary KBE from Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.


S. K. Shivakumar

S. K. Shivakumar (1953 – 13 April 2019) was an Indian scientist from Karnataka state who worked at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centres. He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015.
Early life and education.
Shivakumar was born in 1953 in Mysore in Mysore State (now Karnataka), India. He earned a BSc from Mysore University followed by a BE in Electrical Communications Engineering and an MTech in Physical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He received PhD in Electronics from Kuvempu University in 2014.
Career.
He joined the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and started his career at its ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Sriharikota in 1976. He later worked in its Indian Space Research Organisation Satellite Centre (ISAC) from 1978 to 1998. He was the project director for the development of the dish antenna of the Indian Deep Space Network which is used for telemetry for the missions such as the Chandrayaan-1, India's first lunar exploration mission and Mangalyaan, India's first interplanetary mission.
He was involved in several satellite missions such as Bhaskara, Indian National Satellite System (INSAT), Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment (APPLE) and Indian Remote Sensing Programme (IRS). Shivakumar was the mission director of the IRS-1B and IRS-1C satellite missions. He also served as the director of the ISTRAC between September 1998 and November 2010. Shivakumar was later the associate director of the ISAC from November 2010 to June 2012 and director of the program from July 2012 to March 2015. As of 2019, he was serving as chairman of Karnataka Science and Technology Council.
Death.
He died on 13 April 2019 at the age of 66 in Bangalore and was cremated at the Banashankari Crematorium. The cause of death was reported to be post-hepatic jaundice.


Masked and Anonymous

Masked and Anonymous is a 2003 American-British drama film directed by Larry Charles. The film was written by Larry Charles and Bob Dylan, the latter under the pseudonym "Sergei Petrov". It stars Dylan alongside a star-heavy cast, including John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Penélope Cruz, Val Kilmer, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Angela Bassett, Bruce Dern, Cheech Marin, Ed Harris, Chris Penn, Steven Bauer, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Paul Chan, Christian Slater, and Fred Ward.
Plot.
An iconic rock legend, Jack Fate (Bob Dylan), is bailed out of prison to perform a one-man benefit concert for a decaying future North American society. The film touches on many subjects from the futility of politics, the confusion of loosely strung government conspiracies, and the chaos created by both anarchy and "Nineteen Eighty-Four"-styled totalitarianism. It further reflects on life, dreams, and God's place in a seemingly increasingly chaotic world.
Fate makes it clear that he "was always a singer and maybe no more than that". He produces no solutions to any of the problems the film presents. Rather, he makes it clear that he "stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago".
Pre-production.
In the late 1990s, Dylan was allegedly inspired by the films of Jerry Lewis, and decided he wanted to write and star in a slapstick television show for the HBO network. Larry Charles, who had written and produced for "Seinfeld" and "Mad About You", was brought in to meet with the musician regarding the project at Dylan's boxing gym in Santa Monica.
Charles said that during their initial meeting, a chain-smoking Dylan brought "out this very ornate beautiful box, like a sorcerer would, and he opens the box and dumps all these pieces of scrap paper on the table...every piece of scrap paper was a hotel stationery, little scraps from Norway and from Belgium and Brazil and places like that, and each little piece of paper had a line, like some kind of little line scribbled or a name scribbled, 'Uncle Sweetheart,' or a weird poetic line or an idea or whatever, and he was like 'I don't know what to do with all this'. And for some reason I was able to go 'oh y'know you can take this...this is a line, this is the character, and the character could say this line". Dylan's scraps of paper served as the inspiration for much of the project's story and script.
A meeting was arranged with HBO executives and the television project was given the green light. However, upon leaving the meeting, Dylan told Charles, "I don't want to do it anymore, it's too slapsticky". Charles decided to stay on as co-writer and director, with the concept of the project eventually evolving from a slapstick television show into the dramatic film "Masked and Anonymous". Speaking about his intentions while creating the film, Charles later said, "I wanted to make a Bob Dylan movie that was like a Bob Dylan song. One with a lot of layers, that had a lot of poetry, that had a lot of surrealism and was ambiguous and hard to figure out, like a puzzle".
Production.
The film was shot in twenty days and was funded by the BBC, who also distributed the film in the United Kingdom. It was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in the United States, a well-known distributor of independent productions. The soundtrack is composed almost entirely of covers of Bob Dylan songs ranging from his very early 1960s-era material to work as recent as songs from his 1997 Grammy-award-winning album "Time Out of Mind". Artists who perform the songs include Los Lobos, Sertab Erener, Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia.
Many of the film's actors worked for "scale" (union wages) for a chance to appear alongside Dylan, including Jeff Bridges, John Goodman (reunited after their work together in the 1998 Coen Brothers film "The Big Lebowski", which also featured the 1970 Dylan song "The Man in Me"), Bruce Dern, Jessica Lange (who has had a longtime relationship with playwright Sam Shepard who co-wrote the 1986 composition "Brownsville Girl" with Dylan, from the album "Knocked Out Loaded"), Penélope Cruz, Luke Wilson, Cheech Marin, Ed Harris, Chris Penn, Giovanni Ribisi, Christian Slater, Mickey Rourke, and Angela Bassett. In addition to several other actors of note, the band of the lead character (which is called "Simple Twist of Fate", taken from the song of the same title from Dylan's album "Blood on the Tracks") is played by Dylan's actual touring band of the time. Other stars in the film include Fred Ward and Val Kilmer.
Music from Dylan's entire career is presented in the movie, though his then recent album "Time Out Of Mind" receives considerable play, with "Dirt Road Blues" and "Not Dark Yet" both used as background in scenes; Dylan also plays a new arrangement of "Cold Irons Bound" in the film's climax. Furthermore, a live performance of "Standing in the Doorway" was cut from the final edit, but included as a bonus on the DVD.
Reception.
"Masked and Anonymous" was given very poor reviews upon release. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 24%, based on 82 reviews, and an average rating of 4.03/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Unintelligible and self-indulgent Bob Dylan vehicle". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
"Chicago Sun-Times" critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/2 star (out of a possible four) rating, and deemed it "a vanity production beyond all reason". A number of reviewers commented on Dylan's acting, writing that he appeared "near-catatonic" and that he stared "in mute incomprehension", "never speaking more than one line at a time" and only making remarks that "evoke the language and philosophy of Chinese fortune cookies". The film was also panned by "Rolling Stone", "Entertainment Weekly", "The Village Voice" and at least twenty other noteworthy periodicals.
Amongst the positive reviewers was "The Washington Post", stating that the film is a "fascinating, vexing, indulgent, visionary, pretentious, mesmerizing pop culture curio".
Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate of Great Britain, published an enthusiastic essay about the film which concluded: "[This film] is revelatory – in the paradoxical sense that it allows Dylan to say some important things out loud, and to keep the silences, and retain the elements of mystery, which are essential to his genius. We should ask for nothing else".
Jonathan Rosenbaum rated the film a "Must See" in the "Chicago Reader" then included it on his ten-best list for the year 2003. The film also received positive reviews from Stephanie Zacharek at "Salon", Ben Greenman in "The New Yorker", "Premiere", and "Art Forum". Glenn Kenny, who gave the film a negative review upon its initial release, reappraised it for the occasion of the Blu-ray release in 2020, rating it an "A-" and apologizing in his capsule review to director Larry Charles.
Dylan was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for his new rendition of "Down in the Flood" on the film's soundtrack.
Unreleased recordings.
From 1999 to 2002, Dylan's touring band was joined by veteran guitarist Charlie Sexton. Already an accomplished unit, the band's new configuration was acclaimed as one of Dylan's best touring groups ever. Highlighted by the interplay of Sexton and guitarist Larry Campbell, the group also featured Dylan's longtime bassist Tony Garnier, as well as two drummers: David Kemper (who left the band in late 2001) and George Receli (who was Kemper's replacement). Dylan began filming "Masked and Anonymous" soon after Receli's arrival.
"Masked and Anonymous" marked the first (and besides one song on "", only) release of "live" material from this unit. According to director Larry Charles, who recorded an interview for the film's DVD release, 20 or more songs were recorded for the film, with Charles telling Dylan he could play anything he wanted. For the most part, the songs were recorded at Stage 6, Ray-Art Studios, Canoga Park, California, on July 18, 2002. Though all were presumably filmed, only a handful were used. The following songs were featured in the film, with unedited versions included in the soundtrack release: "Down in the Flood" (a song from "The Basement Tapes"), "Dixie" (traditional), "Diamond Joe" (traditional), and "Cold Irons Bound" (a song from "Time Out Of Mind" ).
The following songs were used for the film, but were never issued on CD: "Drifter's Escape" (a song from "John Wesley Harding"), "I'll Remember You" (a song from "Empire Burlesque"), "Blowin' in the Wind" (from "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan"), "Watching the River Flow" (a song dating from 1971, when it was released as a single), "Dirt Road Blues" (from "Time Out Of Mind" ) and "Amazing Grace" (traditional). Of these songs, only "I'll Remember You" was featured unedited and uninterrupted in the film.
As mentioned, "Standing in the Doorway" (another song from "Time Out of Mind" ) was featured as an alternate scene on the DVD. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (a song Dylan first recorded for "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" ) was also filmed, but only a brief portion appears in the DVD's supplemental material. A new 'fiddle' arrangement of "If You See Her, Say Hello" (from "Blood on the Tracks") was also filmed, but it only appears as background music during the DVD's supplemental material. Larry Charles mentions "All Along the Watchtower" (a song from "John Wesley Harding") during his interview on the DVD – saying Dylan intended to play it until the last moment, then decided not to.
As mentioned, a new recording of "Blowin' in the Wind" was used for the film. This is heard over the film's final shots and end credits. Unlike the other performances used in the film, this was a concert performance recorded at Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, California, on March 16, 2000 (when David Kemper was still with the band). This performance was previously found on the limited edition bonus CD single given away with "The Best of Bob Dylan Vol. 2" in the United Kingdom, and it was also featured on a promo CD single "Live & Rare 2". Approximately 45 seconds of the harmonica solo was cut for the film while the previous CD releases feature the performance unedited.


Adam de Tyninghame

Adam de Tyninghame was a 14th-century cleric and, as his name suggests, a probable native of Tyninghame in East Lothian.
Biography.
Adam appears in the records as rector of Falkirk (under Holyrood Abbey) from 1344, and by 1360 he was the secretary of William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas. In 1378, he was sent as one of four ambassadors sent to France for the Scottish king. He was Dean of the diocese of Aberdeen - briefly dean of Dunblane in 1361 - from 1362 until 1380, the year in which he was elected as Bishop of Aberdeen.
In 1382 Bishop Adam was engaged in a struggle with the husbandmen of "Fermartyne" (Formartine), who had not paid their second tithes, and Adam had to get an order from the Lieutenant of Scotland, John, Earl of Carrick, to enforce payment. Adam, however, did not enjoy a good relationship with Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, who was the main warlord of the north and brother of Carrick. He continued his close relationship with the Douglases, his first patrons, and at different points in the 1380s can be found witnessing documents by Margaret, Countess of Mar, window of the first Earl of Douglas and mother to the second.
Adam died on 18 September 1389.


Minimum wage in Romania

The minimum wage in Romania is the lowest monthly or hourly remuneration that employers are legally allowed to pay their workers in Romania. The sum is decided by the Romanian government.
Starting 1 January 2021, the gross monthly minimum wage is 2300 RON (€471.75) during a working schedule of 167.333 hours per month.


Wellsboro and Corning Railroad

The Wellsboro and Corning Railroad is a shortline railroad that operates between Wellsboro, Pennsylvania and Corning, New York, passing through Tioga, and Lawrenceville. It parallels PA Route 287 and U.S. Route 15, following the valleys of Marsh Creek, Crooked Creek, and the Tioga River. The railroad connects with Norfolk Southern's Southern Tier Line at Corning.
The line was formerly part of the New York Central Railroad system, and was bought from Conrail by Growth Resources of Wellsboro in 1992. The WCOR began operations in 1993, and was controlled by Richard Robey, owner of the North Shore Railroad System, until January 2008, when Myles Group of Exton, Pennsylvania bought the company. The Tioga Central Railroad operates tourist trains over the line between Wellsboro and Tioga. In April 2012, RailAmerica purchased a 20% shareholding.
History.
Most of the WCOR was once part of a main line from the New York Central's (NYC) Water Level Route at Lyons south to Williamsport. The Tioga Coal, Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company opened the portion from Corning south to the state line at Lawrenceville in 1840, and in 1872 the Wellsboro and Lawrenceville Railroad completed an extension through Wellsboro to Antrim. (The main line, finished in 1883 by the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek & Buffalo Railway, branched off north of Wellsboro.) NYC leased the lines in 1899, and in 1914 absorbed successor Geneva, Corning and Southern Railroad.
Conrail retained the line when it began operations in 1976, but later abandoned it south of Wellsboro Junction, through Pine Creek Gorge (also known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania), turning the line into a minor branch. Growth Resources of Wellsboro bought the line in December 1992, and the WCOR began operating in January 1993. The Tioga Central Railroad, which had operated freight in Tioga County, New York until May 1992 (when the Owego & Harford Railway took over), began operating tourist trains in May 1994.
Marcellus Shale and railroad operations.
The railroad's geographic orientation covers one of the largest and most active portions of the Marcellus Shale formation, which is being actively explored for natural gas. This has resulted in customers referring to the railroad as the "Main Line to the Marcellus". Working closely with sister company IWG Logistics, the family-owned and operated companies provide complete railroad, transloading, logistics, and railcar repair services.
The railroad had its busiest year in more than two decades in 2009, fueled by demand from a booming natural gas industry in the region, which uses sand in hydraulic fracturing operations. The sand-hauling portion of the railroad's operations began in 2009, and made up 80% of their business in 2010.


Mariano Palacios Alcocer

Mariano Palacios Alcocer (born May 27, 1952 in Santiago de Querétaro) is a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
He is a former governor of Querétaro and has presided twice over the PRI.
Mariano Palacios received a doctorate in law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1995; he also holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in law from the Autonomous University of Querétaro. He is married to Ana María González de Palacios, with whom he has seven children.
Political career.
Palacios began his political career at the age of 21 when he became a Querétaro state deputy in the 54th legislature (1973–1976). He has been mayor of Santiago de Querétaro (1976–1979), senator for the State of Querétaro (1982–1985), Governor of Querétaro (1985–1991), federal congressman in the 57th Legislature (1997) and President of the National Executive Committee of the Revolutionary Institutional Party from 1997 until 1999 and again in 2005.
He has also been President of the Advisory Council of the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL), Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (1993–1994), Mexican Ambassador to Portugal (1995–1997), and Secretary of Labor (1999–2000) in President Ernesto Zedillo's cabinet.


Fin 48

FIN 48 (mostly codified at ASC 740-10) is an official interpretation of United States accounting rules that requires businesses to analyze and disclose income tax risks. It was effective in 2007 for publicly traded entities, and is now effective for all entities adhering to US GAAP. A business may recognize an income tax benefit only if it is more likely than not that the benefit will be sustained. The amount of benefit recognized is based on relative probable outcomes.
Background and concept.
Income for financial statements may differ from taxable income for many valid reasons. U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles have long required that income tax be accrued for all events recognized for financial reporting purposes. The tax must be accrued if the liability is probable of assertion and can be determined with reasonable accuracy. The tax must be recognized on all worldwide income of the business that may eventually be taxed. Credits expected to be claimed may reduce this tax. Certain limited exceptions apply. Thus, the total income tax of a U.S. company is generally the U.S. Federal income tax rate times book income, plus state and foreign taxes, less credits to be claimed presently or in the future. This tax expense is recorded as a combination of taxes currently payable and deferred tax assets and liabilities.
In 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued FASB Interpretation No. 48 on the above rules. Under FIN 48, businesses must analyze all tax positions that are less than certain. Only those positions that are more likely than not to produce benefit can be recognized in accruing tax. This is known as the recognition step. The likely outcomes of recognized positions are then computed and assigned probabilities. The most favorable set of outcomes that achieves 50% probability is then recognized. This is known as the measurement step. The business must then record tax expense or benefit, liabilities, and assets, as so measured.
Tax positions requiring analysis include all aspects of tax returns, including whether tax returns are filed in a jurisdiction. Further, businesses must accrue and disclose the effect of interest and penalties as part of the FIN 48 analysis.
Recognition.
Income tax expense, just as any other expense, must be generally recognized when income is earned. Credits or other items that reduce this tax are recognized only if it is more likely than not that the reductions will be sustained by tax authorities. FIN 48 clarifies several aspects of this process:
The level of detail of the analysis (unit of account) depends on how the business keeps its records, presents its financial statements, and deals with tax authorities. This may vary from business to business, and may change over time. Further, materiality is determined at the unit of account level.
One key clarification is the presumption of examination of all positions by knowledgeable tax authorities and a resolution of disputes over those positions solely on the technical merits of each position. All relevant tax law is to be considered for the individual position. Positions that are not technically correct are allowed only where there is widely understood administrative practice allowing the position. Thus, for example, a position would not be acceptable merely because an Internal Revenue Service agent allowed it in a previous year.
Measurement.
If it is more likely than not that a position will be sustained, then the effect of the position must be measured. Measurement is a three-step process:
For example, assume a position exists which is more likely than not to be sustained at least in part. Management determines that it is 25% likely that $100 of benefit will be sustained, and 30% likely that $75 of benefit will be sustained. The business must accrue only $75 of benefit.
Positions that are highly certain of full recognition may require very limited analysis.
Disclosure.
In addition to accruing the tax, FIN 48 requires disclosures in footnotes to the financial statements. Year end statements must include:
Impact on Acquisitions and Dispositions of Businesses.
Parties involved in disposition of a business to US publicly traded companies need to take into account the potential that FIN 48 disclosures might alert relevant tax authorities to aggressive tax positions taken by the business. This may be of particular concern in countries such as Brazil with complex tax legislation. .


Abdullahi Ahmed Addow

Abdullahi Ahmed Addow (, ) is a Somali politician and diplomat.
Early life.
Addow was born on 15 May 1936 in Brava, situated in the southeastern Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. He hails from the Habar Gidir sub-clan of the Hawiye.
Career.
Ambassador and Finance Minister.
Between 1970 and 1980 and again from 1986 to 1988, he served as Somalia's Ambassador to the United States. From 1980 to 1984, he was also Minister of Finance of Somalia.
Presidential candidate.
Addow has thrice run for President of Somalia. In 2000, during the Somali peace process held in Arta, Djibouti, he was defeated in the third ballot by the eventual winner, former Interior Minister Abdiqasim Salad Hassan. Addow received 92 votes against Hassan's 145.
In 2004, Addow again for office in that year's presidential elections, losing 189–79 in the third round to former Puntland President, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.In mid-2012, Addow ran once more for president in Somalia's 2012 elections.


Kretshnif (Hasidic dynasty)

Kretshnif (also written as "Kretchinev", "Kretchniv", "Kretshniff") is a Hasidic Jewish dynasty that comes from the Nadvorna dynasty. Kretshnif is located in present day Romania, near Târgu Mureș. The town name in Romanian is Crăciunești.
The first rebbe of Kretshnif was Grand Rabbi Meir Rosenbaum, a son of Grand Rabbi Mordechai of Nadvorna. His sons and successors included Rabbi Eliezer Zev in Kretshnif, Romania and Sighit, and Rebbe Issamar of Nadvorna (d. 1973) in Chernowitz. The descendant rabbis of this dynasty span the globe, mainly in Israel, New York City, England, and Canada.


Tamara Drewe (film)

Tamara Drewe is a 2010 British romantic comedy film directed by Stephen Frears. The screenplay was written by Moira Buffini, based on the newspaper comic strip of the same name (which was then re-published as a graphic novel) written by Posy Simmonds. The comic strip which serves as source material was a modern reworking of Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel "Far from the Madding Crowd".
The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May and was released nationwide in France on 14 July 2010. Momentum Pictures released the film in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2010.
Plot.
Set in Ewedown, a fictitious village in Dorset, England. Tamara Drewe, a young and attractive journalist, returns home after living in London, with the intention of selling her now-deceased mother's house which she has inherited, and in which she grew up. Locals are amazed at the improvement in her appearance after she had rhinoplasty while away. Andy had been interested in her when she was a girl, and when he sees her now it is clear he is attracted to her.
Across the valley is a neighbour's home where authors retreat to work on their stories. The owner, Nicholas, is a prolific crime novelist and a serial philanderer, while his wife Beth provides food, lodging, and encouragement for her patrons. At one point Nicholas embarks on an affair with Tamara, after she finishes with rock-band drummer Ben. Andy has been asked by Tamara to work on the house so she can sell it, and he becomes aware of the affair, as do two local teenage schoolgirls (Jody and Casey) who cause some havoc due to their childish jealousy of Tamara.
Jody is infatuated with Ben & distraught she won't see him again, because he left Ewedown after he & Tamara split up. So Jody uses her wiles to lure him back. Eventually her deceit is discovered and she receives a hard dose of reality. In a strange turn of events, Nicholas is accidentally killed by stampeding cows. Beth's friend (Glen), a Thomas Hardy scholar who had become infatuated with her over the months he spent there, reveals his love for her despite feeling guilty about Nicholas' demise, and she easily persuades him to remain at the retreat with her. By this time the true love of Andy and Tamara brings them together. Tamara then decides to stay in Ewedown after all.
Premiere.
The premiere was held on 6 September 2010 at the Odeon Leicester Square. Most of the cast and crew were in attendance as well as Jack Gregson, Lily Allen and Stephen Fry.
The public premiere was also held on 6 September 2010 at the National Film Theatre. Most of the cast were in attendance as well as director Stephen Frears, screenwriter Moira Buffini, and book author Posy Simmonds. The film's showing received long applause and was followed by questions to the stars from the audience.
Reception.
Box office.
The film grossed $11,910,695.
Critical response.
, the film holds a 64% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 125 reviews with an average rating of 6.27 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads: "A robust comedic cast and Stephen Frears' gift for satire elevate "Tamara Drewe"s slight scenario into a tart treat." Metacritic gave it a score of 64 out of 100 based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating 'generally favourable reviews'.
"Empire" gave four stars out of five stating the film was "Very intelligently funny, with stellar performances." Lisa Mullen wrote in "Sight & Sound" in September 2010:


Pacific Architects and Engineers

Pacific Architects and Engineers (commonly known as PAE, or PA&E) is an American defense and government services contractor. Founded in 1955 by Edward Shay, it is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Since 2016 it has been owned by Platinum Equity.
PAE is a major supplier of services to the U.S. Department of State. Other significant clients have included the United Nations, the UK Ministry of Defence, the New Zealand Defence Force, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
History.
PAE was founded in California in 1955 by Edward Shay, an American engineer who had worked in Japan during the occupation of Japan; its earliest business deals involved property development in Japan. Shay continued as chair, CEO, and sole shareholder of PAE until 1974 when 40 percent of the company was sold to an employee stock ownership program. The program sold its shares back to Shay in 1988. Following Shay's death in 1995, his son – Allen E. Shay – assumed control of the company as chairman and CEO.
PAE was acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2006 in what was reported, in a subsequent court filing, to be a cash transaction valued at approximately $1.2 billion. During Lockheed's ownership, PAE moved its headquarters from Los Angeles, California to Arlington, Virginia. It was sold by Lockheed, in 2011, to Lindsay Goldberg for about $700 million.
Lindsay Goldberg sold PAE to Platinum Equity in 2016.
The company became publicly traded on the NASDAQ in February 2020.
Acquisitions.
In 2015 PAE acquired both A-T Solutions and the Global Security and Solutions unit of U.S. Investigations Service. Two years later, in 2017, it purchased FCi. In 2018, PAE acquired Macfadden & Associates (Macfadden), a leader in international disaster response operational support.
Operations and clients.
PAE specializes in "expeditionary logistics" and "nation building" including construction and supply of basecamps for peacekeeping missions, airfield management and maintenance, foreign aid distribution, police training, and elections monitoring, and it has additional capabilities including technical support for weapons of mass destruction elimination, vessel and cargo tracking software, crime scene software, and weather forecasting. According to PAE, its clients – as of 2016 – included the United Nations, New Zealand Defence Force, U.S. Department of Energy, UK Ministry of Defence, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Department of State, among others.
As of 2015, PAE was 57th in a list of the top 100 contractors of the United States government based on total value of contracts signed, receiving $1.04 billion in contract awards that year. The same year it, along with two sub-contractors, agreed to a $1.45 million out-of-court settlement with the United States over claims it had engaged in bid-rigging of a U.S. Army contract for support in Afghanistan. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "former managers of PAE and RM Asia funneled subcontracts paid for by the government to companies owned by the former managers and their relatives by using confidential bid information to ensure that their companies would beat out other, honest competitors". A PAE program manager, his spouse, and two employees of a sub-contractor also pleaded guilty to criminal charges of procurement fraud over the matter. In 2017 it paid a $5 million fine to the U.S. government after it "failed to follow vetting requirements for personnel working in Afghanistan under a State Department contract for labor services"; $875,000 of the fine was awarded to a PAE whistleblower who first reported the issue.
Central Intelligence Agency.
During the Vietnam War, PAE provided cover for the Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program; Colston Westbrook was among Phoenix Program operators formally employed by PAE. PAE was also awarded the contracts for the construction of 44 Province Interrogation Centers (PICs) in South Vietnam.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
According to PAE, since 2016 it has operated NASA's Stennis Space Center and Michoud Assembly Facility as part of a joint contract with BWX Technologies. As part of the joint contract, the two companies "do everything from cutting the grass to supporting advanced manufacturing and rocket engine testing" at the two facilities.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As of 2017, PAE was supplying approximately 130 technical support personnel to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Data Buoy Center.
National Science Foundation.
In 2012, PAE was awarded a $100 million contract to support the United States Antarctic Program for the National Science Foundation. Under the terms of the contract, PAE was tasked with providing medical support, facility construction and management, and equipment and personnel transportation to sites in Antarctica.
New Zealand Defence Force.
In 2014, PAE was awarded a NZ$72 million contract by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) for "building and facility construction and maintenance services". According to PAE, it was the "first facilities provider to support Land, Sea and Air operations simultaneously for the NZDF". Specific projects undertaken by PAE for the New Zealand Defence Force have included refurbishment of the RNZAF Survival Training Centre at RNZAF Base Auckland and renovation of classrooms at the New Zealand Defence College.
United Nations.
In 2006, the UN awarded PAE a $250 million no-bid contract for the construction of camps for use by UN peacekeepers in the Sudan. PAE has also provided contract police to UN missions in Haiti and Liberia.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
In 2012, PAE was among the top five companies in terms of value of contracts awarded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). That year its contract for developing CBP operational systems was valued at $97 million.
U.S. Department of State.
In 2007, Thomas P. M. Barnett called PAE the "KBR of the State Department".
According to PAE, its earliest work for the State Department began in the 1950s and included design of the Kandahar International Airport and Kabul University, and construction of the U.S. Embassy in Laos.
In 1986, PAE was contracted to provide support staff to the United States Embassy in Moscow and Consulate General in Leningrad.
Since 2000, PAE has been responsible for recruiting and hiring elections observers to fill the United States quota to OSCE elections monitoring missions. Under a separate contract with the U.S. State Department, PAE provided almost "all of the logistical support for the deployment of AMIS" beginning in 2004. In the early 21st century it also supported, via the State Department, ECOWAS missions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In 2015, when the U.S. Agency for International Development supported a program by the German NGO Welthungerhilfe to build four ebola treatment centers in Liberia, PAE was awarded contracts for the management of the sites.
In 2017, according to the company, it received a $423 million contract from the State Department to "provide administrative, technical, maintenance, training, safety and logistics/procurement support for the Colombian National Police's" aviation unit.


Ewald Nowotny

Ewald Nowotny () (born June 28, 1944 in Vienna) is an Austrian economist and social democratic politician and former governor of Austria's central bank Oesterreichische Nationalbank. He was also a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council.
Early life and education.
Nowotny graduated with a doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1966, took his habilitation at the Johannes Kepler University Linz in 1972 and was a full professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business from 1981 until 2008.
Political career.
Since 1974, Nowotny has held various functions in the Austrian Social Democratic Party. He was a member of the National Council, the more important chamber of the Austrian parliament, from 1978 to 1999.
Career at financial institutions.
From 1999 to 2003, Nowotny was vice president of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg. From the beginning of 2006 until mid-2008, he was CEO of BAWAG P.S.K.. During his time in office, he managed BAWAG’s sale to US buyout-fund Cerberus Capital.
Since September 2008 Nowotny has served as Governor in Austria's central bank Oesterreichische Nationalbank and as a member of the ECB governing council. With the 2011 round of the Greek financial crisis, "[s]ome analysts [saw] signs of growing tensions between European officials and the ratings agencies" and Nowotny gave voice to the concern, saying "that rating companies were making it more difficult to stabilize the Greek debt situation. 'We have a somewhat strange situation. The banks themselves are ready, because they also have an interest in that, to stabilize Greece,' Nowotny said in Vienna, according to Dow Jones Newswires. 'The ratings agencies are being in this European matter much stricter and more aggressive than in, for example, similar cases in South America.'” In summer 2011, Nowotny said it’s the ECB’s responsibility to decide whether or not to accept Greek debt as collateral in case rating agencies slap the country with a default rating. “At the end of the day it has to be the decision of the ECB. The ECB should not be totally dependent on rating agencies,” Nowotny said in an interview with CNBC. “It is our own responsibility, our own decision. We have proved this in the case of Ireland, Greece and Portugal, with regard to what kind of collateral we accept.” In May 2015, with a new round of the Greek government-debt crisis, Nowotny said while discussions "may be refreshing by bringing in new ideas" "but at the end of the day, they must [end in] results", adding that discussions are "not about playing games"
and are "more a political question than an economic question." He said at the same time that he "doesn't see the ECB's role as creating a federalized financial government inside the euro zone."
He wants to regulate and have legal restraint at Bitcoin.
Personal life.
Nowotny is married and has a son. His private interests include reading, collecting old books, sailing, archaeology and modern art.


James E. Johnson

Sergeant James Edmund Johnson (January 1, 1926–December 2, 1950) was posthumously awarded the United States' highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his heroic lone fight on December 2, 1950, to cover the withdrawal of his platoon during the bitter Chosin Reservoir campaign in Korea. When last seen by his comrades he was wounded, but still engaging the enemy in close grenade and hand-to-hand combat. The enemy were wearing the uniforms of friendly troops at the time. He was listed as missing in action until January 1954, when his status was officially changed to "presumed dead."
Sergeant Johnson, a veteran of the Peleliu and Okinawa campaigns in World War II, was the seventh Marine awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Korea.
Although Sgt Johnson was serving with a provisional company of the 7th Marines when he earned the Medal of Honor, his regular outfit was the 11th Marines, the same regiment his father had served in during World War I.
Biography.
James Edmund Johnson was born in Pocatello, Idaho, on January 1, 1926. He attended public schools there and played junior varsity basketball for two years in high school before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps on November 10, 1943.
After serving in the Pacific theater during World War II and at San Diego, he was discharged on February 7, 1946, and returned to Pocatello, where he worked as a machinist in the Naval Ordnance plant. He also attended Western Washington College in Bellingham, Washington, before re-enlisting in the Marines on January 13, 1948. He embarked for Korea after a year as an instructor in post exchange accounting at the Marine Corps Institute, Marine Barracks, 8th and I Sts., S.E., Washington, D.C.
He departed for Korea in August 1950, just five days after the birth of his daughter. On November 2, 1950, in Yudam-ni, Korea, Sergeant Johnson heroically fought against a disguised enemy force, allowing his unit to successfully withdraw and saving the lives of many. He was declared missing in action and as of December 2, 1953, his status was updated to killed in action. Decades after the war it was said by a fellow Marine that James E. Johnson was last seen engaging numerous hostile enemies in hand-to-hand combat while suffering numerous gunshot wounds so they could escape. He was one of many who lost their lives in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and whose remains were never recovered.
The Medal of Honor was presented to his widow on March 29, 1954, by Secretary of the Navy Robert B. Anderson. Medals of Honor were presented in the same Pentagon ceremony to the families of Sgt Daniel P. Matthews and Cpl Lee H. Phillips.
James is memorialized in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. His cenotaph grave can be found in the Memorial Section H, Lot 451.
Awards and decorations.
Sgt Johnson is also an alumnus of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity.
Medal of Honor citation.
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to
SERGEANT JAMES E. JOHNSON
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
for service as set forth in the following CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Squad Leader in a Provisional Rifle Platoon composed of Artillery men and attached to Company J, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces at Yudam-ni, Korea, on 2 December 1950. Vastly outnumbered by a well-entrenched and cleverly concealed enemy force wearing the uniforms of friendly troops and attacking his platoon's open and unconcealed positions, Sergeant Johnson unhesitatingly took charge of his platoon in the absence of the leader and exhibiting great personal valor in the face of a heavy barrage of hostile fire, coolly proceeded to move about among his men, shouting words of encouragement and inspiration and skillfully directing their fire. Ordered to displace his platoon during the fire fight, he immediately placed himself in an extremely hazardous position from which he could provide covering fire for his men. Fully aware that his voluntary action meant either certain death or capture to himself, he courageously continued to provide effective cover for his men and was last observed in a wounded condition single-handedly engaging enemy troops in close hand grenade and hand-to-hand fighting. By his valiant and inspiring leadership, Sergeant Johnson was directly responsible for the successful completion of the platoon's displacement and the saving of many lives. His dauntless fighting spirit and unfaltering devotion to duty in the face of terrific odds reflect the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.
/S/ HARRY S. TRUMAN


Edward Hand

Edward Hand (31 December 1744 – 3 September 1802) was an Irish soldier, physician, and politician who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of general, and later was a member of several Pennsylvania governmental bodies.
Early life and career.
Hand was born in Clyduff, King's County (now County Offaly), Ireland, on 31 December 1744, and was baptised in Shinrone. His father was John Hand. Among his immediate neighbours were the Kearney family, ancestors of U.S. President Barack Obama. He was a descendant of either the families of Mag Fhlaithimh (of south Ulaidh and Mide) or Ó Flaithimhín (of the Síol Muireadaigh) who, through mistranslation ("Flaithimh"/"Flaithimhín" into "Láimhín"; "laimh" = "hand"), became Lavin or Hand.
Hand earned a medical certificate from Trinity College, Dublin. In 1767, Hand enlisted as a Surgeon's Mate in the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot. On 20 May 1767, he sailed with the regiment from Cobh, Cork, Ireland, arriving at Philadelphia on 11 July 1767. In 1772, he was commissioned an ensign. He marched with the regiment to Fort Pitt, on the forks of the Ohio River, returning to Philadelphia in 1774, where he resigned his commission.
In 1774, Hand moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he practiced medicine. On 13 March 1775, he married Katherine Ewing (born 25 March 1751 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Lancaster was the region of some of the earliest Irish and Scots-Irish settlements in Pennsylvania; as a people, they were well known for their anti-English and revolutionary convictions. Hand was active in forming the Lancaster County Associators, a colonial militia.
Hand was a 32nd degree Freemason, belonging to the Montgomery Military Lodge number 14.
American Revolution.
Hand entered the Continental Army in 1775 as a lieutenant colonel in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment under Colonel William Thompson. He was promoted to colonel in 1776 and placed in command of the 1st Continental (then designated the 1st Pennsylvania). Promoted to brigadier general in March 1777, he served as the commander of Fort Pitt, fighting British loyalists and their Indian allies. He was recalled, after over two years at Fort Pitt, to serve as a brigade commander in Major General La Fayette's division.
In 1778, Hand attacked the Lenape, killing Captain Pipe's mother, brother, and a few of his children during a military campaign. Failing to distinguish among the Native American groups, Hand had attacked the neutral Lenape while trying to reduce the Indian threat to settlers in the Ohio Country, because other tribes, such as the Shawnee, had allied with the British.
After a few months, he was appointed Adjutant General of the Continental Army and served during the siege of Yorktown in that capacity. In recognition of his long and distinguished service, he was, in September 1783, promoted by brevet to major general. He resigned from the Army in November 1783.
He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
After the Revolution.
Hand returned to Lancaster and resumed the practice of medicine. A Federalist, Hand was active in civil affairs, holding posts that included:
Beginning in 1785, he owned and operated Rock Ford plantation, a farm on the banks of the Conestoga River, one mile (1.6 km) south of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Georgian brick mansion remains today; the farm is a historic site open to the public. Hand is suspected to have died from typhoid, dysentery or pneumonia at Rock Ford in 1802. Medical records are unclear, but some sources state Hand died of cholera. There is no evidence Lancaster County suffered from a cholera epidemic in 1802. Hand is buried in St. James's Episcopal Cemetery in Lancaster, the same church where he had served as a deacon.


Noorullah Delwari

Noorulah Delwari is a former Governor of the central bank of Afghanistan, Da Afghanistan Bank, he served from 2004 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2014.
Delawari was born in Kabul on November 23, 1942. He studied in the UK and the US and stayed in the US after the invasion of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in 1979. He served for sixteen years at Lloyds Bank of California, rising to be vice-president and head of its international division.
Delwari returned to Afghanistan in early 2002, to work as senior advisor to the minister of Finance. In 2003 he founded the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency and served as its president until November 2004 when he became head of Da Afghanistan Bank in 2005. Although the House of the People initially rejected his appointment as governor of the central bank in 2006, he stayed on as governor until 2007.
After 2007 Delwari became chief of an Afghan investment support NGO and was reappointed as governor of Da Afghanistan Bank in November 2011, after previous governor Abdul Qadir Fitrat in the aftermath following the Kabul Bank scandal. Fitrat claimed he was under threat for investigating fraud at the privately owned Kabul Bank. Although critics said Delwari does not have a good record from his previous stint as director of the bank, the trusted acquaintance of Karzai kept his position until he handed in his resignation on 6 December 2014. Delawari currently serves as Co-Chairman of The Private Sector and Civil Society Enabling Council.


William Ambrose Wright

William Ambrose Wright (January 18, 1844 – September 13, 1929) was a lieutenant in the Confederate States Army, and Georgia state comptroller for fifty years, as well as insurance commissioner. He was born in Louisville, Georgia. His grave is in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.


Long Branch and Barnegat Bay Railroad


No Coward Plays Hockey

"No Coward Plays Hockey" () could be called the anthem of ice hockey in the Soviet Union and Russia. The song was composed in 1968 by Aleksandra Pakhmutova (music), Sergei Grebennikov and Nikolai Dobronravov (lyrics - both). During this period of Soviet history, ice hockey was very popular in the Soviet Union, which is why it was not a big surprise when such a song appeared. Since then, it has been performed by many musicians - and some hockey arenas in Russia use its theme to open the game.
The original version of this song was performed in 1968 by Vadim Mulerman.
The Canadian distribution rights to the song were owned by Aggie Kukulowicz, who acted as Team Canada's translator during the Summit Series.


Rupali Bank Limited


Granville Leveson-Gower, 3rd Earl Granville

Granville George Leveson-Gower, 3rd Earl Granville (4 March 1872 – 21 July 1939) was a British diplomat from the Leveson-Gower family who was envoy to several countries.
Career.
The elder son of the 2nd Earl Granville, Leveson-Gower was educated at Eton College and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1893 as an attaché in Berlin. He served in Cairo, Vienna, The Hague and Brussels, then was appointed back to Berlin with the rank of Counsellor in 1911. In 1913 he was appointed to Paris, again as counsellor, and moved to Bordeaux when the French government relocated there in September 1914 as the German army approached the capital before the First Battle of the Marne.
On 1 January 1917 he was appointed Diplomatic Agent to the Greek provisional government of Eleftherios Venizelos in Salonika, shortly afterwards formalised as Minister Plenipotentiary.
In June 1917, King Constantine abdicated, the previous British Minister to the Greek Government, Sir Francis Elliot, departed and Granville became official Minister to Greece in Athens. He was Minister to Denmark 1921–26, Minister to the Netherlands 1926–28 and Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg 1928–33.
As a Privy Counsellor, Earl Granville took part in the official procedures legalising the accession of King Edward VIII in 1936 and, later that year, his abdication and the accession of King George VI.
Honours.
Earl Granville was appointed MVO in 1904, raised to CVO in 1913 on the occasion of King George V's visit to Berlin, and knighted GCVO in the King's Birthday Honours of 1914. He was given the additional, senior knighthood of KCMG in the New Year Honours of 1924 and raised to GCMG in 1932.
He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1928. The King of Belgium awarded him the Order of Leopold.
He had also been a Lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria in 1895, to King Edward VII from 1905–10 and to King George V from 1910–15.
Family.
On 27 September 1900, he had married Nina Ayesha Baring (daughter of the diplomat Walter Baring, and son of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet) but died without issue and his titles passed to his brother William.


June Kenton

June Kenton is a British businesswoman who owned Rigby & Peller for 29 years. She received the official Royal Warrant at the time of her purchase of the company in 1982. Since then she has fitted several members of the British royal family, and several well-known actresses and entertainers.
Business career.
Kenton and her husband purchased Rigby & Peller in 1982 for £20,000. Although Rigby & Peller gained the Royal Warrant on the establishment of their store in 1939, Kenton had to get it personally when she bought the business in 1982. In August 2011, they sold an 87 percent stake of the firm to Van de Velde for £8 million. Kenton remains on the board of the company, with her son David.
After Kenton developed breast cancer, she created a line of lingerie specifically for mastectomy patients. She discovered prosthetists were making prosthetics based on the size of the bra the woman believes she is wearing is correct and thus created her own line of corrected-fitted lingerie for mastectomy patients.
She also rebranded Rigby & Peller, expanding to seven different locations worldwide including the US and Dubai. She provided all the underwear and swimwear for "How to Look Good Naked" by Gok Wan as well as the movie "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day".
Kenton's clients have included H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother, the Countess of Snowdon, Princess Margaret, Diana, the late Princess of Wales and Kate Middleton, among others. Outside of the royal family, famous clients include: Kim Kardashian, Joan Collins, Jessie J, Lady Gaga, Cherie Blair, Dawn French, Scarlett Johansson, and Jo Brand among others.
Her autobiography "Storm in a D Cup" is due to be published by Troubador (publishers) at the end of 2017.
Awards and recognition.
Kenton was awarded an honorary degree from Leeds Metropolitan University "in recognition of her lifelong services to the British intimate apparel industry. She also has a Lifetime Achievement Award from the UK lingerie industry.
Kenton was one of the speakers at the 2012 MT Inspiring Women Conference and a charity evening for Jewish Child's Day in March 2017, entitled "Fit for a Queen".


Business Gateway

Business Gateway is a Scottish Government resource that offers advice and guidance to startup companies and established companies across Scotland. Business Gateway is the Scottish equivalent of Business Link, aiming to provide free, impartial, and confidential advice to anyone who uses the service.
The Scottish Government funded programme provides free business support to SMEs in Scotland. An extension of the Small Business Gateway (2001), it was introduced in July 2003 and is currently delivered by 12 Lead Local Authorities in Lowland Scotland and 6 in the Highlands and Islands.
Responsibility for management of the Business Gateway contracts was transferred to Local Government from Scottish Enterprise on 1 April 2008. The transfer arrangements made provision for Lead Local Authorities in Lowland Scotland. Where there was more than one Local Authority in the contract area, Local Government was required to nominate a Lead Local Authority to manage the contract. The Business Gateway service was introduced in the Highlands and Islands in September 2009 with service delivery based on the six Local Authority areas there. The 2011 evaluation of Business Gateway, endorsed by the Business Gateway Scotland Board (BGSB) and the Scottish Government, recommended that the Lead Local Authority arrangements be continued for the new Business Gateway contracts from 1 October 2012.
There are three key service areas which together form the core areas which Business Gateway offers across Scotland. Often other services are available and may be subject to local variations depending on markets and Local Authority focus. The core service covers three areas:
1. Start-Up Advisory Service
The principal components are training workshops and advisory services. The Start-Up Advisory Service covers both pre-start and start-up/early stage support. The advisory services (one-to-one support) focus on higher value start-up businesses which are capable, with the support of Business Gateway, of employing staff. A start-up is a business that has been trading for less than 6 months. The advisor support will help the business achieve their growth objectives and aspirations.
For start-up businesses not expected to employ staff, the support is predominantly through the Business Gateway website, workshops on specific business areas, the Business Gateway Enquiry Service and referrals to other services. Additional local support services may also be available to this group at the discretion of the local provider/Local Authority.
2. Growth Advisory Service
The principal components are training workshops and advisory services. The Growth Advisory Service is available to businesses with the potential to meet growth thresholds identified by the Local Authority. The Growth Advisory Service makes nominated one-to-one advisor support available to the customer to help them achieve their growth objectives through delivery of an Action Plan for Growth.
3. Local Services
In addition to the core services outlined above, the Business Gateway Local Services package provides Local Authority designed services which complement but do not duplicate existing Business Gateway national core services. The purpose of this element of the service is to ensure that Business Gateway services are able to:
• respond quickly and appropriately to changes in the needs of the local business base; and
• accurately reflect the specific pressures felt by local businesses.
These interventions include: Business Gateway recovery/sustainability advisory support; expert help and specialist support; localised bespoke training workshops; and networking events to inequality groups.
Business Gateway providers in Scotland are a mix of contractors and Local Authority in house operations. The service is overseen by a Management Group which is currently (Jan 2018) being restructured and benefits from a national operations unit based in Edinburgh.


Andrey Beketov

Andrey Nikolayevich Beketov , 8 December 1825, Saratov Governorate, Russian Empire, — 1 July 1902, Shakhmatovo, Moscow Governorate) was a prominent Russian botanist, an Honourable member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Beketov, the Meritorious Professor of Saint Petersburg University (which he was the head of in 1876-1883) was also a famous pedagogue and lecturer; among his best-known students were Andrey Krasnov, Vladimir Vernadsky, Kliment Timiryazev and Ivan Shmalhausen. Beketov initiated the inception of the High Women's Courses which he was the head of until 1889 when they were reorganized, to be known later as the Bestuzhev Courses.
He edited the Works of Free Economical Society (for which he was for several years the secretary and, since 1891 its vice-president) and, in 1861—1863, the Russian Geographical Society Herald (Вестник Русского географического oбщества). Together with Khristofor Gobi he co-founded "Scripta Botanica" (Ботанические записки), the first ever Russian magazine on botany. In 1892-1897 he edited the botany section of the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary.
In the early 1860s Beketov authored the first comprehensive Russian textbook on botany, followed in 1896 by the texbook on the geography of plants. He translated into Russian several seminal works by
Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, August Grisebach, Matthias Jakob Schleiden and Thomas Henry Huxley.
The renowned Silver Age poet Alexander Blok was his grandson.


Outline of Taiwan

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Taiwan:
Taiwan – a country in East Asia, officially named the Republic of China (ROC). Originally based in mainland China, the ROC now governs the island of Taiwan, which makes up over 99% of its territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands. Taipei is the seat of the central government. Following the Chinese civil war, the Communist Party of China took full control of mainland China and founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The ROC relocated its government to Taiwan, and its jurisdiction became limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands. In 1971, the PRC assumed China's seat at the United Nations, which the ROC originally occupied. During the latter half of the 20th century, Taiwan experienced rapid economic growth and industrialization and is now an advanced industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Taiwan evolved into a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage. Taiwan is one of the Four Asian Tigers and a member of the WTO and APEC. The 19th-largest economy in the world, its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy.
Government and politics of Taiwan.
Branches of government.
The government of the Republic of China has five branches, called "yuan".
Foreign relations of Taiwan.
International organization membership.
The Republic of China is a member of:
The Republic of China is excluded from: