Moshe Sanbar

Moshe Sanbar (; March 29, 1926 – October 1, 2012) was an economist and Israeli public figure. He served as governor of the Bank of Israel during 1971–1976.
Sanbar was born in Hungary, surviving the Second World War as a prisoner at Dachau Concentration Camp. Following his immigration to Israel he became associated with economic research and gradually involved in the work of the Ministry of Finance. He was in charge of the state budget and served as a personal, professional consultant to ministers Levi Eshkol and Pinhas Sapir, acting for the latter in his post as Minister of Trade and Industry (1970–1971).
Sanbar was active in four main fields:
Biography.
Early life.
Sanbar was born as Gusztáv Sandberg on March 29, 1926 in Kecskemét, Hungary. In his youth he was active in various sports: table tennis, fencing, wrestling and soccer. As a competitive wrestler he was champion of the highschool league in Kecskemét. His high school studies ended upon the Nazi occupation of Hungary. In response to the removal of Jewish players from the various sport teams, Sanbar founded a national soccer league for Jewish players. Following the war he was a member of Hapoel movement.
In early June 1944, Sanbar was recruited to the labor battalions of the Hungarian Army. In October 1944 his unit was marched to the Austrian border and taken by train to Dachau concentration camp in Germany. His parents, Solomon and Margaret Sandberg, perished in 1944. His time in the camps was later recorded in his book "My Longest Year", translated to several languages and winning a literary prize from Yad VaShem.
Upon his liberation by the Allied forces in April 1945, Sanbar contracted typhus. Following his recovery he returned to Hungary and studied economy in Budapest University. He was active in HaOved HaTzioni movement and headed the emigrant training programs in Hungary. In March 1948 he left his studies and migrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, arriving to the newly founded State of Israel in May 1948.
Sanbar was drafted to the IDF and discharged after his injury in the 1947–1949 Palestine war in the battles of Latrun. His MA studies at the Hebrew University of economics, statistics and sociology were completed in 1953.
Professional work.
Sanbar began working in 1951 as a researcher and statistician at the Institute for Social Applied Research headed by Louis Guttman. Four years later, in 1956 he became deputy director of the institute. He was a pioneer researcher in the fields of consumer economics and the division of income. His comprehensive research in the latter field served as a basis for a series of articles printed in The Economic Quarterly.
Leaving the institute in 1958 to work for the Ministry of Finance, he directed the research division of the Income Directorate (1958–59) and appointed as a professional deputy director of the directorate (1960–63). Between 1960–1971 he held high level functions in the Israeli Ministry of Finance, concluding as a financial advisor to Minister Pinhas Sapir and as the Director of Budgeting.
During these years Sanbar was involved with financial legislation and headed several government committees. On the subject of budget planning he was invited to advise the UN and later published his book titled Budget and Planning. These concluded his initiatives in the Budget Directorate including the presentation of an annual estimate on the effects of the budget proposal on various income groups. He also chaired the governmental Efficiency Commission aimed at improving the public service in both quality and production.
Through his work in the Ministry of Finance Sanbar promoted the development of industry and science, replacing governmental loans with research grants and by establishing the first scientific complexes nearby university campuses. In 1967 he completed the legislative process founding the Football pool and became its first chairman. He also sat on various boards of governmental corporations such as Mekorot and serving as chairman of El Al's Finance Committee.
Throughout the 1960s, Sanbar took an active part in leading several of the government's economic policies such as the 1962 devaluation, the 1965 recession and the 1970 "package deal" signed with the Histadrut. At the request of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, following the Six-Day War he conducted the economic policies concerning the Palestinians, as well as the development of unified Jerusalem. In 1969, Prime Minister Golda Meir appointed him to draft a national plan dealing with settlement of refugees and compensations on abandoned properties.
In 1970 he was appointed Acting Minister of Trade and Industry, acting for Minister Sapir who remained active in his simultaneous appointment as Minister of Finance. He held this position for 14 months.
Governor of the Bank of Israel.
Between 1971 and 1976 Sanbar served as Governor of the Bank of Israel. His actions during and after Yom Kippur War maintained a stabilized market. Following almost two decades of David Horowitz's tenure, he was instrumental in the modernization of the bank and the update of the existing Banking Law. For the first time, the central bank was given responsibility supervising the foreign exchange market, and devaluation of the Israeli lira were being done in relation to the currency basket instead of the American dollar. Further actions during his term included the foundation of the First International Bank and the dissolving of Bank Eretz Yisrael – Britain.
Sanbar sat in various forums of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Two of his international initiatives gained fame: A Proposal for the establishment of an institution providing guarantees for the export of capital between developing countries (This was later adopted by the organization of Latin American states), and a plan for gradual sale and disposal of monetary gold under the supervision of the IMF.
Sanbar Commission.
Despite leaving the civil service, in the years 1977–1981 he accepted Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's request to chair a governmental commission on municipal affairs. Chairing the commission as a volunteer, he examined the relations between the central and local governments. The work was concluded following 20 interim reports and its report submitted to Prime Minister Menahem Begin. Despite its final product being supported by the Knesset and used as a textbook in higher education institutes, its recommendations were only partially executed.
Central recommendations in the commission's report called for: Increase in the independent income of local authorities, setting criteria for government support in the local government and the listing of standard services to be controlled by the local authorities and/or supported by the state budget. These were mainly objected by Finance Minister Yoram Aridor.
Private sector.
From 1977 onwards, Sanbar held many duties in the private sector, as head of industrial and financial institutions: Electrochemical Industries, Atzmaut Bank for Mortgages and Development, Le Nacional Insurance, Zelon Ltd., MG Rubber Industries, Hadera Paper Factories, Solel Boneh and others.
From 1988 to 1995, Sanbar chaired Bank Leumi's board of directors and its subordinate banking firms worldwide, including the Africa-Israel Group and Bank Leumi for Investments. Throughout this time period he initiated the foundation of a local Bank Leumi in Hungary, the First International Palestinian Bank, and Teuza company for high-tech investments. Aside from his official role he dealt with various crises such as debts of the Kibbutz Movement, the Koor Industries affair, financial breakdown of Caesarea Carpets and Schiff Hotels, and others.
In the years 1992–2003 he was President of ICC Israel, on two occasions being appointed to serve as a member of the ICC's international executive in Paris.
In 1995 Sanbar began working as a financial consultant. He worked with Lev Leviev and Saul Eisenberg, also sitting on the board of directors of Fairchild Corporation and chairing the Rosenrauch Foundation in Zurich.
Public sector.
Throughout the years Sanbar was active in voluntary work in cultural, educational and social organizations. A partial list of his public roles includes:
Sanbar held further positions in the public sector. In the years 1974–1979 he was the first President of the Association of Graduates in Social Sciences and Humanities. Over the years he was a member of the executive at Tel Aviv University and the Technion, also sitting on the board of trustees of the Hebrew University and public councils of other academic institutes.
Sanbar was a member of the executive at Yad Levi Eshkol. in the late 1980s he was appointed by the Israeli government to the President and Prime Minister Memorial Council.
In 2009 he was the closing name in the candidates list of Gil Party for the Knesset.
Work for Holocaust survivors.
Since 1987 Sanbar has been active in various national and international organizations working for the benefit of Holocaust survivors. He was a founding member in 1987 of the Umbrella Organization for Holocaust Survivors in Israel and appointed as its chairman. Under his leadership, the organization became a leading partner in the struggle for improving the lives of holocaust survivors worldwide. In 2003 he was made Honorary President, and in the years 2011–2012 resumed the position of chairman.
In 1992, the organization was inducted to the Claims Conference in New York. Sanbar was made deputy chairman of the Claims Conference, and in 1996 appointed as its international treasurer. In 2002 he was elected as Chairman of the Executive of the Claims Conference and held this position until 2006. As a representative of the Claims Conference in his various duties, Sanbar was a member of the Swiss National Committee on Needy Holocaust Survivors, and in 1998 appointed o the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims led by former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.
Academia and publications.
Over the years Sanbar was a lecturer of statistics in the Hebrew University (1957–1961) and a lecturer on economic research and policy in the Higher School for Law and Economics (1959). At a later time he was made a visiting professor of economics at Tel Aviv University (1977–1979).
In the years 1972–1995 he served as chairman of the board of trustees of The College of Management Academic Studies. In 2003, the College honored him by establishing the Moshe Sanbar Institute for Applied Economic Research.
Sanbar authored many researches and articles on economic policy, taxation, division of income and other monetary issues. In 2010 his memoirs were printed in a Hebrew book titled "Signed on the Bill: An Economist in a Political World". His experiences during the holocaust were printed in the book "My Longest Year", translated to various languages and the recipient of the Yad VaShem Prize for 1955.
Recognition.
He is the recipient of many awards and honors: Herzl Prize for his public activity (1973), Ministry of Interior Award for his special contribution to the municipalities in Israel (1986), the Special Humanitarian Award by B'nai B'rith Organization (1995), Honorary Doctorate by Bar-Ilan University (2000), Israeli Chamber of Commerce honor for lifetime achievements (2004), the Light Award by the Fund for the Welfare of Holocaust Survivors (2012), honorary citizenship of Metula (1973), distinguished citizen of Tel Aviv-Jaffa (2000), and many others.
In 2004 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, the highest civil decoration bestowed in Hungary.
In 2011 he was made an honorary member of the European Shoah Legacy Institute, a title given to only six individuals including Czech President Václav Havel and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.
Death.
Sanbar died on October 1, 2012 in Tel Aviv. He was buried the following day at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery. Among those who spoke during the service were Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Julius Berman, Colette Avital, Rafi Eitan and others.


Patent box

A patent box is a special very low corporate tax regime used by several countries to incentivise research and development by taxing patent revenues differently from other commercial revenues. It is also known as intellectual property box regime, innovation box or IP box. Patent boxes have also been used as base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) tools, to avoid corporate taxes.
History.
In the early 1970s Ireland introduced the first scheme in its Corporation Tax. Section 34 of the 1973 Finance Act allowed total tax relief in respect of royalties and other income from licenses patented in Ireland.
The concept was applied in 2001 by the French Tax Authorities as a reduced rate of tax on revenue from IP licensing or the transfer of qualified IP. Within Europe, Belgium, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom have also introduced similar schemes.
Controversy.
The Irish Patent Box system is one of the key benefits for companies paying Irish corporation tax. The system was criticised by Lionel Jospin in the early 2000s and more recently by both the EU (Ecofin assessment 2014) and the OECD under its Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting (BEPS) project. The system has been key to attracting international IT companies to Ireland. The economic benefits of beneficial tax regimes for revenues from patents led to similar schemes being introduced in France in 2000 and amended there in 2005 and 2010.
Schemes by country.
Cyprus.
IP box rules were changed in October 2016, valid since July 2016 - reduced the list of the qualified IP incomes, no copyrights nor trademarks anymore. 80% of income is exempted after deducting the real expenses, giving an effective tax rate of 2.5% or less. On 17 July 2020, the Cypriot House of Representatives approved a bill amending Section 9(1)(l) of the Income Tax Law which introduced a number of changes with respect to the tax treatment of intangible assets. Specifically, if disposal of intangible assets is a capital nature transaction then the resulting capital gain should not be taxable. The changes became effective from 1 January 2020 and the obligation to prepare a balancing statement upon a transfer or sale of an intangible asset is abolished. A self-assessment of possible tax deductions can be made using the online Cyprus IP Box tax calculator.
Ireland.
The scheme which had existed since 1973 was withdrawn in 2010 under the National recovery Plan 2011-2015 of the Republic of Ireland imposed by the European Financial Stability Facility and the IMF. It exempted revenue from qualifying Patents from Irish corporation tax. The exemption is to be replaced by a "Knowledge Development Box" in 2015 offering a reduced tax rate of 6.25% on qualifying profits generated in periods commencing on or after 1 January 2016.
The key difference in the Irish KDB to those of other European countries is its compliance with the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) programme, Ireland's is the first patent-box type system to offer compliance in this area. Companies availing of the current R&D tax credit should be aware of the KDB and the potential for them to take advantage of both systems.
France.
Introduced in 1979 the Patents and royalties regime allows companies paying French corporation tax to pay a reduced rate of 15% (instead of 33%) on patent and royalties income as they are treated as a long term capital gain. If the licensee is a French corporation and actually uses the qualified IP licensed, the licensee may deduct the royalty payments from its income taxable at the standard 33.33% rate even if the licensor is taxed at the reduced 15% rate
Netherlands.
The Netherlands introduced a patent box tax regime referred to as the ‘innovation box’ in January 2007. This initial regime applied only to patents and applied a 10% rate of corporate tax. On 1 January 2010 the regime was expanded to include a much wider range of IP and the headline rate was reduced to 5%. The reduced rate of corporate tax applies to the net positive income derived from the qualifying IP ( gross income minus all related expenses and depreciation).
Belgium.
The patent box scheme in Belgium was introduced in January 2007, and is known as a patent income deduction (PID). The last revision applies from July 2016. This PID allows a company, liable to pay Corporation Tax in Belgium, to deduct from its taxable income 85% of gross patent income. The remaining 15% of gross patent income is taxed at the standard corporation tax rate of 34% (including a 3% surtax). This results in an effective tax rate of 5.1% on the qualifying income.
Luxembourg.
In Luxembourg the Patent box IP regime became effective in January 2008 and amended in 2008 to also exclude qualifying IP assets from Luxembourg's net wealth tax. The regime applies to the net income derived from the use of qualifying intellectual property acquired or developed after December 2007. 80% of income is exempted, giving an effective tax rate of 5.76%.
The Patent box IP regime was abolished in 2016 in response to BEPS concerns. IP regimes claimed before July 2016 can still continue to benefit from the preferential rate for the next 5 years. In March 2018, Luxembourg created a new IP regime following the OECD criteria.
Hungary.
Hungary introduced a scheme in 2003 including a provision according to which 50% of the pre-tax amount of the royalties received may be deducted from the tax base, this reducing the effective corporate tax rate on such royalties from 9% to 4.5%. The legislation is BEPS compliant.
Spain.
As of January 1, 2008, 50% of the gross income of Spanish domiciled companies derived from qualified Intellectual Property is exempt from Spain's Corporation tax resulting in an effective tax rate of 15%.
United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom introduced a Patent Box scheme in 2013 taxing qualifying IP at 10%.
The Patent Box in the UK is a tax incentive introduced in 2013 designed to encourage companies to make profits from their patents by reducing the UK tax paid on those profits.
History.
The UK Patent Box went live in April 2013. The UK government wants to encourage high-value growth in UK plc through a competitive tax regime that supports UK R&D from conception to commercialisation. The Patent Box forms a key part of this strategy by encouraging companies to "commercialise" their patents and R&D in the UK. Other countries (e.g., Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands) already operate schemes to provide incentives for companies to retain and commercialise existing patents.
The scheme was first proposed in the 2009 Pre-Budget Report and went through various iterations and public consultations until final legislation was passed in the Finance Act 2012. The legislation is now formally a new Part 8A of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 entitled "Profits Arising from the Exploitation of Patents etc". The Finance (No. 2 Bill) 2015/16 includes proposed amendments, which, if implemented, will amend the patent box rules.
The Patent Box initiative is complementary to the R&D tax incentives which encourage companies to "undertake" their R&D in the UK.
The Patent Box allows a 10% tax rate on profits derived from any products that incorporate patents. The net benefit for claiming companies is likely to be several percentage points of their corporate earnings, given that the main rate of UK corporation tax is 19 per cent.
The steady state cost, after the initial phasing- in period, of the Patent Box is forecast to be approximately £1.1 billion in terms of corporation tax revenues foregone by HM Treasury.
The claim process is as follows:
How to claim.
Companies must calculate their qualifying Patent Box profit and then apply a specific formula in their tax computation to calculate the deduction in their tax liability. Then they can take the tax deduction as a benefit in their CT600 tax return.
The formula to calculate the amount of the tax deduction is
where
Qualifying patents.
Qualifying patents must have been granted by an approved patent-granting body, including the UK Intellectual Property Office, the European Patent Office, and designated European territories: Austria; Bulgaria; the Czech republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; Germany; Hungary; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovakia and Sweden.
Currently, the Patent Box excludes patents registered in territories such as the US, France, and Spain because of differences in the search and approval process for patent applications.
The Patent Box excludes products that only have copyright or trademark protection.
Qualifying income.
There are five categories (“heads”) of qualifying income:
Income generated from exclusive licenses will be qualifying income on both sides of the agreement – i.e. for the licensor "and" the licensee – subject to specific conditions concerning the meaning of exclusivity.
“IP-derived income”, where patented products or processes are used in the manufacture or delivery of non-patented products or services, will be qualifying income to the extent of a notional royalty which values the specific patented product or process as a proportion of the value of the non-patented product or service.
Anti-avoidance.
The following situations will be against the law:
Reasonable and commercially appropriate steps to restructure corporate arrangements to take advantage of the Patent Box will be considered legitimate.
Other technology tax reliefs.
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) give generous income and capital gains tax relief to individuals who invest in small early stage businesses.
Government working group.
The government established a working group to complement wider consultation on the Patent Box and to discuss options and proposals in more detail. Members of the Working Group include representatives from: HMRC and HM Treasury; industry (GlaxoSmithKline, Dyson, ARM and Syngenta amongst others), the financial services community including large accounting firms (PWC, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst and Young); independent consultants and representatives from the technology commercialisation sphere and professional bodies.
OECD Forum for Harmful Tax Practices and the EU Code of Conduct Group.
The UK government is in the process of gathering evidence to submit to the Forum for Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP), part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in the forum's work on international base erosion and profit shifting, specifically Action Point 5 of the OECD Action Plan published in July 2013. The forum provides member countries with the opportunity to review each other's tax arrangements and to challenge harmful tax initiatives.
Action 5 focuses on “substantial activity” that must occur in a jurisdiction for a company to benefit from a specific preferential tax regime.
The UK government publicly supports the current work around Action 5 to ensure a better understanding of what constitutes economic substance when businesses carry out R&D activities, so as to effectively address those instances where preferential tax regimes might present an opportunity to shift profits.
Options being discussed include a new method of calculating benefits for IP-incentive tax schemes. This is the so-called nexus approach (where underlying expenditure to create the IP is used to define the proportion of qualifying income generated from the IP), rather than the conventional transfer pricing approach (where transfer pricing principles define a substantial activity test and either the IP commercialisation activity passes the test or it does not, and all IP income thus either qualifies or it does not).
These discussions are also informed by work being carried out by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) and the EU Code of Conduct Group, which started in 2013 to look at the workings of the UK Patent Box scheme. The Code of Conduct Group operates on a similar basis to the FHTP. The Code of Conduct Group partnered with the FHTP in these discussions in early 2014.
Anglo-German accord on the UK Patent Box.
Following a sustained period of international tax scrutiny led by Germany in the FHTP and the EU Code of Conduct Group, a compromise agreement for the UK patent box scheme based on a modified nexus approach was announced by the UK and Germany on 11 November 2014. The acceptance of a nexus based approach will have significant implications for the UK patent box scheme; fundamentally, patent box relief will now be restricted to profits generated from IP initially developed in the UK.
The main points in the Anglo-German accord have been announced as follows:
The UK and Germany submitted their proposal to the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices during its meeting on 17–19 November, and they have also committed to seek formal approval from the OECD and G20 at the January 2015 meeting of the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs.
Switzerland.
Mixed-company.
Switzerland allows companies who predominantly trade internationally to benefit from the advantageous “mixed-company” status that allows them to be taxed at a rate of just 8,5%. In 2007 the European Commission alleged the tax schemes for holding, mixed and domiciliary companies violated the 1972 FTA between the EU and Switzerland because it was by the Commission as "State Aid". Although the Swiss government refuted the allegation in May 2012, the Swiss cantons gave the federal government the go-ahead to commence a tax dialogue with the EU. In May 2014 the EU and Switzerland reached an agreement whereby the disputed tax regimes would be abolished.
Nidwalden Licence-Box regime.
In 2011 the canton of Nidwalden introduced the Licence Box rule which allows companies located in Nidwalden to benefit from a cantonal tax rate on net license income reduced by 80% the effective corporate income tax rate is 8.8%
External links.
Criticism
Resources


United States of Indonesia

The United States of Indonesia (, , abbreviated as RIS), was a federal state to which the Netherlands formally transferred sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies (minus Netherlands New Guinea) on 27 December 1949 following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference. This transfer ended the four-year conflict between Indonesian nationalists and the Netherlands that was fought over for control of Indonesia. It lasted less than a year, before being replaced by the unitary Republic of Indonesia.
Background.
In January 1942, the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, displacing the Dutch colonial government. On 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese surrender, Indonesian nationalist leader Sukarno declared Indonesian independence. The Dutch, viewing Sukarno and the Indonesian leadership as having collaborated with the Japanese, decided to restore their authority. However, British South East Asia Command, under Lord Louis Mountbatten, who had responsibility for the Dutch East Indies, refused to allow Dutch troops to land in Java and Sumatra and recognised "de facto" Republican authority there. However, the Dutch were able to reassert control over most of the area previously occupied by the Japanese Navy, including Borneo and the Great East. Discussions between the British and the Dutch resulted in Acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Hubertus van Mook proposing eventual self-determination for an Indonesian commonwealth. In July 1946, the Dutch organised the Malino Conference in Sulawesi at which representatives from Borneo and eastern Indonesia backed the proposal for the federal United States of Indonesia with links to the Netherlands. It would comprise four elements, Java, Sumatra, Dutch Borneo and the Great East. This was followed on 15 November by the Linggadjati Agreement, in which the Dutch recognised "de facto" republican control over Sumatra, Java and Madura, and the Republic of Indonesia agreed to the principle of a federal Indonesia in which it would be one state. The Dutch then organised the December 1946 Denpasar Conference, which led to the establishment of the State of East Indonesia, followed by a state in West Borneo in 1947.
Military action by the Dutch launched on 20 July 1947 against areas controlled by the Indonesian republicans, Operation Product, resulted in the Dutch regaining control of West and East Java, the areas around Medan, Palembang and Padang in Sumatra. The United Nations called for a ceasefire, and negotiations between the two sides led to the Renville Agreement of January 1948, with a ceasefire along the "Van Mook Line", which connected the most advanced Dutch positions. The Dutch then established states in the areas they had reoccupied, including East Sumatra (December 1947), Madura and West Java (February 1948), South Sumatra (September 1948) and East Java (November 1948). The leaders of these regions then established the Federal Consultative Assembly.
A second Dutch military action, Operation Kraai, aimed at destroying the Republic, was launched on 18 December 1948. Despite recapturing the major cities of Java, including the republican capital of Yogyakarta, and all of Sumatra except Aceh in the far north, it triggered the protest resignation of the cabinets of the State of East Indonesia and Pasundan (West Java) and the Sultan of Yogyakarta from his position as regional head. There was also pressure from the United States and the United Nations, in particular in the form of a Security Council resolution. The Dutch agreed to negotiations with Indonesia to arrange a transfer of sovereignty. The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference took place in The Hague from August to November 1949 and resulted in the Dutch agreeing to hand over sovereignty to the Dutch East Indies, except for Western New Guinea. However, many Indonesian nationalists believed that the Dutch had insisted on a federal state in an attempt to weaken or even break up the new nation, a manifestation of a "divide and conquer" strategy. Nevertheless, on 17 December 1949, sovereignty was transferred to the United States of Indonesia.
Governance.
The RIS had a bicameral legislature. The People's Representative Council consisted of 50 representatives from the Republic of Indonesia and 100 from the various states according to their populations. The Senate had two members from each constituent part of the RIS regardless of population, making 32 members in total. The state was governed according to the Federal Constitution of 1949, which had been drawn up on the sidelines of the Round Table Conference. It had a cabinet of 16 members, led by Prime Minister Hatta.
Constituent entities.
The RIS comprised sixteen main entities: seven states ("negara"), including the "Republic of Indonesia" consisting of parts of Java and Sumatra (a combined population of over 31 million); and the nine formerly directly-ruled territories (neo-lands, ). Apart from the Republic of Indonesia, all these constituent entities, which had populations between 100,000 and 11 million, were established by the Dutch. Also included were some smaller entities not seen as viable as distinct political entities.
Dissolution.
From the outset, the majority of Indonesians were opposed to the federal system resulting from the Round Table Agreement. The main reason was the fact that the whole concept was associated with colonialism. However there were other reasons, including the feeling that a federal state lacked cohesion and would potentially lead to states seceding and that the Indonesian side had only accepted it as a short-term tactic. In addition, most of the non-republican areas were controlled by traditional rulers, who were seen as too pro-Dutch and anachronistic. Finally, there were insufficient ethnic or cultural ties between people in the individual states to overcome the dominance of Java. For example, although the population of the State of Madura was entirely ethnic Madurese, they were separated from the millions of Madurese living in East Java, who in turn meant that state was not homogenous.
Even those who supported the idea of a federal state wanted the form of it to be decided by the people of Indonesia through an elected Constitutional Assembly, rather by than the former colonial power. The Dutch also tried to convince Indonesians that a unitary state would mean Javanese domination, although without much success.
In March and April 1950, all the constituents of the RIS except East Sumatra and East Indonesia dissolved themselves into the Republic. From 3–5 May, a three-way conference between the State of East Indonesia, the State of East Sumatra and the Republic of Indonesia ended with a decision to merge the three entities into a single unitary state. On 19 May, an announcement was issued by the governments of the United States of Indonesia (representing the two remaining constituent states) and the Republic of Indonesia, which stated that all parties, "...have reached an agreement to jointly create a unitary state as the transformation of the Republic of Indonesia proclaimed on 17 August 1945". The United States of Indonesia was officially dissolved by President Sukarno on 17 August 1950the fifth anniversary of his proclamation of independenceand replaced by the unitary Republic of Indonesia.


NITI Aayog

The NITI Aayog (Hindi for "Policy Commission") (abbreviation for National Institution for Transforming India) is a public policy think tank of the Government of India, established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals with cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach. Its initiatives include "15-year road map", "7-year vision, strategy, and action plan", AMRUT, Digital India, Atal Innovation Mission, Medical Education Reform, agriculture reforms (Model Land Leasing Law, Reforms of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act, Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index for ranking states), Indices Measuring States’ Performance in Health, Education and Water Management, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development, Task Forces on Agriculture and up of Poverty, and Transforming India Lecture Series.
It was established in 2015, by the NDA government, to replace the Planning Commission which followed a top-down model. The NITI Aayog council comprises all the state Chief Ministers, along with the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Puducherry, Lieutenant Governors of all UTs, and a vice-chairman nominated by the Prime Minister. In addition, temporary members are selected from leading universities and research institutions. These members include a chief executive officer, four ex-official members, and two part-time members.
History.
29 May 2014, Independent Evaluation Office submitted an assessment report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the recommendation to replace the Planning Commission with a "control commission." On 13 August 2014, the Union Cabinet scrapped the Planning Commission, to be replaced with a diluted version of the National Advisory Council (NAC) of India. On 1 January 2015, a Cabinet resolution was passed to replace the Planning Commission with the newly formed NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). Union Government of India announced the formation of NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015. The first meeting of NITI Aayog was chaired by Narendra Modi on 8 February 2015.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made the following observation on the necessity of creating NITI Aayog, "The 65-year-old Planning Commission had become a redundant organisation. It was relevant in a command economy structure, but not any longer. India is a diversified country and its states are in various phases of economic development along with their own strengths and weaknesses. In this context, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to economic planning is obsolete. It cannot make India competitive in today's global economy." It is a reformation scheme of the day-to-day lifestyles of the people of India.
NITI Lectures.
NITI Aayog has started a new initiative on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi called "NITI Lectures: Transforming India". The aim of this initiative is to invite globally reputed policy makers, experts, administrators to India to share their knowledge, expertise, experience in policy making and good governance with Indian counterparts. This initiative will be a series of lectures started with first lecture delivered by Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He delivered lecture on subject called "India and the Global Economy" at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The Prime Minister spoke about the idea behind this lecture series and stated that his vision for India is rapid transformation, not gradual evolution.
On 31 August 2017, NITI Aayog developed a State Statistics Handbook that consolidates key statistics across sectors for every Indian State/UT. While the State data on crucial indicators is currently fragmented across different sources, this handbook provides a one-stop database of important State statistics.
Initiatives.
NITI Aayog has taken initiative on Blockchain usages in E-governance and has conceptualized the tech stack as 'IndiaChain'. IndiaChain is the name given to Niti Aayog's ambitious project to develop a nation-wide blockchain network.
 The vision is to link IndiaChain with IndiaStack, the digital infrastructure that forms the backbone of the Aadhar project. The NITI Aayog initiative on the blockchain system will enforce contracts quicker, prevent fraudulent transactions, and help farmers through the efficient disbursement of subsidies. This project is the first step to a larger system of record keeping and public good disbursement.
NITI Aayog is developing a job portal to connect employers with workers who have returned to their home states due to nationwide lockdown.
Other initiatives.
Student Entrepreneurship Programme.
The Student Entrepreneurship Programme (SEP) 1.0 was launched in 2019 while the SEP 2.0 launched in 2020 aimed to convert the grassroot innovations of Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) students into end products.The SEP 2.0 which was launched in 2020 provided the opportunity to the students of ATL to work with Dell volunteers and to get mentor support, end user feedback, manufacturing support and launch support of their products in the market. The scheme would be launched and run by "Atal Innovation Mission" (AIM) under NITI Aayog in association with Dell technologies.
Members.
The NITI Aayog comprises the following:
With the Prime Minister as the Chairperson, presently NITI Aayog consists of:
External links.
Refer to Planning Commission of India


Charles, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg

Charles Emil, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg (16 February 1655, Berlin – 7 December 1674, Strasbourg) was a German prince as heir-apparent to the Electorate of Brandenburg.
Life.
He was the second son of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, and his first son to survive infancy - his elder brother William Henry had died at less than two years old in 1649. Born on his father's 35th birthday after six years of unsuccessful pregnancies for his mother Countess Luise Henriette of Nassau.
He was much hoped-for, looked like his father and was raised to be like him - spirited, quick-tempered and always in favour of war and the hunt (the most effective way of subduing him was always for his tutor to take away his sword for a few days).
In 1670 he was made colonel of the Regiment Radziwiłł zu Fuß and four years later he and his father headed the Brandenburg force on its incursion into Alsace during the Franco-Dutch War. The campaign soon became mired into incessant manoeuvring, with the imperial commanded Bournonville afraid or unwilling to give battle. A cold wet autumn arrived, leading to supply and sanitary problems and disease in the Brandenburg army. Charles became ill late in November and at the start of December was sent to Strasbourg to recover. After seven days of a rising fever, he then died of dysentery.


Solidarity Center

The Solidarity Center is a non-profit organization aligned with the AFL-CIO labor federation. It is one of the core grantees of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Its stated mission is to help build a global labor movement by strengthening the economic and political power of workers around the world through effective, independent, and democratic unions.
History.
The AFL-CIO established the Solidarity Center in 1997. The Solidarity Center was created through the consolidation of four labor institutes: the American Institute for Free Labor Development, the Asian-American Free Labor Institute, the African-American Labor Institute, and the Free Trade Union Institute. The pre-existing institutes were merged by John Sweeney shortly after he became president of the AFL–CIO.
The AFL-CIO had worked internationally for many decades. With some funding from the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency, it had worked to stop Communist movements in Western Europe after World War II. With the 1997 launch of the Solidarity Center, those ties ended.
Today, the Solidarity Center works with unions, worker associations and community groups to provide a wide range of education, training, research, legal support and other resources to help build strong and effective trade unions and more just and equitable societies. Its programs—in more than 60 countries—focus on human and worker rights awareness, union skills, occupational safety and health, economic literacy, human trafficking, women’s empowerment and bolstering workers in an increasingly informal economy. Solidarity Center programs support and contribute to the global movement for labor rights.
In 2002, the Solidarity Center, the international arm of the AFL-CIO, received $154,377 from the United States National Endowment for Democracy to assist the CTV in Venezuela. Shortly after, the leader of the CTV, Carlos Ortega, worked closely with Pedro Carmona Estanga, the president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, to stage the failed Venezuelan coup of 2002.
Programs.
The Solidarity Center assisted in Haiti's FTZ (Free Trade Zone). When textile manufacturer Grupo M, the Dominican Republic’s largest employer, applied to the International Finance Corporation (the World Bank’s private sector lending arm) for a $20 million loan to open a factory on the Haiti-Dominican border, the Solidarity Center, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the Dominican Federation of Free Trade Zone Workers (FEDOTRAZONAS) worked together to condition the loan on respect for worker rights.
Funding.
More than 96 percent of its funding comes from the United States federal government, mostly through U.S. Aid for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy.
The NED distributes grants to four institutes, two associated with economic interests and two with political interests. The Solidary Center is associated with labor.
The Solidarity Center receives funding from private foundations as well.
Field offices.
The Solidarity Center's main offices are in Washington, D.C. The organization has field offices in roughly 28 countries and programs in approximately 60 countries.


Grigorios Maraslis

Grigorios Maraslis (, ; 25 July 1831 – 1 May 1907) was an official of the Russian Empire and long-time mayor of Odessa (1878–1895) of Greek origin. A noted philanthropist, he sponsored many buildings and educational institutions both in Odessa and in various cities in Greece and for the Greek communities of the Ottoman Empire. He was awarded Order of the Cross of Takovo and Order of Prince Danilo I.


Liuva II

Liuva II, ( 584 – June/July 603), son of Reccared and possibly Baddo, was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 601 to 603. He succeeded Reccared at only eighteen years of age.
Reign.
In the spring of 602, the Goth Witteric, one of the conspirators with Sunna de Mérida to reestablish Arianism in 589, was given command of the army to repulse the Byzantines. From his position of power at the head of the army, he surrounded himself with people in his confidence. When it came time to expel the Byzantines, Witteric instead used his troops to strike at the king in the spring of 603. Invading the royal palace, and deposing the young king, he counted on the support of a faction of nobles in opposition to the dynasty of Leovigild. Witteric cut off the king's right hand and later had him condemned and executed in the summer of 603.


Banca di Credito Sardo

The Banca di Credito Sardo S.p.A. was an Italian bank headquartered in Cagliari, Sardinia. In 2014 it was absorbed by the parent company Intesa Sanpaolo.
The head office building, located in Cagliari, was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano.
History.
Credito Industriale Sardo, "ente di diritto pubblico con personalità giuridica propria", was established in 1953 as one of the 19 Mediocredito of Italy, as well as one of the three Istituti per il Finanziamento a Medio Terminealle Medie e Piccole Industrie nell'Italia Meridionale e Insulare (Istituti Meridionale), which were funded by Cassa per il Mezzogiorno. The bank provided medium term loan to small and medium industries from the island.
Due to Legge Amato, the bank became a limited company () in 1992. The bank renamed into Banca CIS in 1990s. In 2000 Mediocredito Lombardo, a subsidiary of Banca Intesa, acquired an additional 53.23% stake of Banca CIS from the , making Mediocredito Lombardo owned 55.37% stake.
In February 2009 the 93 branches of Intesa Sanpaolo and Banca CIS were merged to form Banca di Credito Sardo. At the same time the core business (medium term lending to enterprises) was transferred to Mediocredito Italiano (ex-Mediocredito Lombardo). However, Banca di Credito Sardo was absorbed into Intesa Sanpaolo in 2014.


Claude Fonnereau

Claude Fonnereau (1677, La Rochelle – 5 April 1740, Hoddesdon) was a French Huguenot refugee who settled in England and became a prominent merchant. He was the founding father of the Fonnereau family in England.
In 1735 he purchased Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich, Suffolk, from Price Devereux, 10th Viscount Hereford.
He was a Director of the Bank of England from 1738 to 1740.
Family life.
Claude was the son of Zacharie Fonnereau and Marguerite Chataigner. He married Elizabeth Bureau, also a Huguenot, the daughter of Anne Bureau, and had several children:


Operation Power Outage

Operation Power Outage was a sting operation targeted at arresting and indicting members of the criminal group Armenian Power operating in the United States. The group is accused of racketeering offenses, bank fraud schemes, kidnappings, and drug trafficking. Armenian Power (also known as AP-13) which originated 20 years ago in East Hollywood and has over 200 members, has developed from a street gang into an international criminal organization.
Apprehension.
On February 16, 2011, in an operation conducted by the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force which includes the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Office of Inspector General for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Burbank Police Department, the Glendale Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department, law enforcement apprehended 74 members and associates of the Armenian Power transnational criminal organization.
The suspects were arrested in about 90 locations throughout Southern California. About 1,000 law enforcement agents took part in the operation. The lead Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force was assisted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the Bureau of Investigation of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. It took approximately two years of investigations including usage of undercover agents to carry out the February 2011 arrests. Dubbed "Power Outage" the operation is recognized as the biggest one against Armenian Power syndicate to date.
A total of 113 defendants from four U.S. cities of Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Denver and Miami have been charged with racketeering, assault, robbery, bank fraud, kidnappings, firearms and drug trafficking, health care fraud, identity theft and credit card fraud. According to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, "the crimes alleged in these indictments were calculated, wide-ranging, and sophisticated" and ties of Armenian Power group transcend prisons and international borders. It is alleged that more than 400 crimes have been conducted by the group. One of the cases of kidnapping and racketeering involved kidnapping of a businessman and extorting $500,000. The arrests of Armenian Power members follow the 2010 Medicaid Fraud committed by other Armenian American criminals. Arrests took place in a similar crackdown in October 2010.
Charges.
Two federal indictments have been put forth in relation to the arrests. The first indictment charges 29 defendants with RICO conspiracy in violation of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, alleging the indicted criminals have conducted white-collar crimes including identity theft, credit card skimming and production and use of counterfeit checks. The 134-count indictment includes a specific case of bank fraud and counterfeit credit card scheme which victimized hundreds of customers of 99 Cents Only Stores in Southern California, eventually stealing more than $2 million by acquiring customer account information data at cash registers using secretly installed skimming devices and creating counterfeit debit and credit cards. Additionally, the indictment includes charges against Armenian Power members for kidnapping, extortion, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, credit card fraud, marijuana distribution, and carrying out illegal gambling activities. FBI stated that the arrested criminals, if convicted, might face different sentences from 10 to 20 years in prison.
The second indictment from grand jury of Orange County charges 20 defendants, two of whom were also a subject of the first indictment, with bank fraud scheme which targeted elderly victims. Investigations revealed that the members of Armenian Power were cooperating with members of African-American street gangs and bribed some bank employees to obtain information which allowed them to take over bank accounts consequently causing losses amounting to a grand total of $10 million. Additionally, Los Angeles County District Attorney charged 11 defendants in seven cases filed in superior court. Federal authorities also charged 13 members in Miami and one in Denver. The Denver PD has arrested Nadezda Nikitina, 24 of Denver, Colorado, for her role in the Armenian Power-led fraud. A Russian immigrant, Nikitina is charged 10 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud and with conspiring with others to make false statements on credit and consumer, home equity loan applications.
Some examples of racketeering and extortion include kidnapping a victim, threatening him with violence in an auto body shop belonging to one of Armenian Power members as well as targeting another victim with an extortion scheme for repeated payments lasting several months by threats to the victim himself and his family. The defendants were allegedly also in possession of marijuana and firearms. Financial crimes part of the indictments alleges that the members of Armenian Power also engaged in a large scale fraudulent check scheme where they obtained customer information for high value accounts, impersonated the customers of banks to order checks and then cashed and deposited checks thus emptying accounts of actual customers. In addition to ordering checks, members of the group allegedly went to the residences of victims and stole blank checks. A grand total of damages caused by members of Armenian Power is $20 million.


Vega flight VV07

Vega flight VV07 () is the Vega space launch, of the PerúSAT-1 and 4 SkySat satellites.
Payload.
The flight was a multi-payload mission that deployed 5 Earth observation satellites into orbit, with a total payload mass of about including the satellites, their adapters and dispensers.
PerúSAT-1.
PerúSAT-1, with a mass of approximately , was in the lower position and was the last satellite to be separated, approximately 1 hour, 42 minutes and 59 seconds after lift-off. It was deployed into a sun-synchronous orbit with perigee and apogee altitudes of respectively and , and an inclination of 98.2° as target. It later reached autonomously its quasi-circular operational orbit at in altitude.
SkySat-4 to -7.
The 4 SkySats, numbered 4 to 7, with individual masses of approximately , were in the upper position. Their target orbit was a sun-synchronous orbit with a semi-major axis of (perigee of and apogee of ) and an inclination of 97.4°. They were deployed one by one every 2 seconds starting approximately 40 minutes and 21 seconds after lift-off.
Mission description.
Launch date.
The launch took place on at 01:43:35UTC ( at 22:43:35 local time) from the ELV launch pad at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.
Timeline.
The mission last approximately 2 hours, 6 minutes and 38 seconds until re-entry of the third stage into the Earth's lower atmosphere.
Statistics.
The mission was the launch of the Vega launcher (the out of 2 in ), and the Arianespace mission (the out of 11 that year).


Yelena Baturina

Yelena Nikolayevna Baturina (; born 8 March 1963) is a Russian billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist, based in London, and was married to Yury Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow (from 1992 to 2010), until his death in 2019.
She founded (1991) and for two decades served as president of Inteco, an investment and construction company. Her assets are now invested in Baturina's Investment Group. The Group's commercial activities cover a hotel chain (in Ireland, the Czech Republic and Russia), a membrane construction and engineering enterprise (Germany), a renewable energy project (Greece, Cyprus and Italy), a development project (Cyprus) and investments in a number of real estate investment funds focused on residential and commercial construction and development in Europe and the US.
Baturina is the founder of the Be Open foundation. According to "Forbes", with a fortune of $1.2 billion, she was the richest woman in Russia, until Tatyana Bakalchuk overtook her spot in February 2020 with $1.4 billion.
Biography.
Baturina is a Moscow native who began working as a design-technician at the (where her parents worked) after graduating from high school. She later got a degree, graduating from the Moscow-based S. Ordzhonikidze State University of Management in 1986.
Baturina met her future husband, Yury Luzhkov, in 1987 when they were both serving at Mosgorispolkom, a Soviet-era municipal commission. At the period of their co-working the relationships were purely professional. In one of her interviews Baturina remembers: "We never even thought about anything like that when we were working together, it all happened much later". Baturina and Luzhkov married in 1991. The next year he became mayor of Moscow. In 2010 he was dismissed by President Dmitry Medvedev amidst still unproven accusations of corruption and mismanagement voiced on state run television. Yury himself had at one time been tipped to run for president, though he never did.
After her husband's dismissal Baturina moved to London. She explains the choice of the city by the fact that her two daughters decided to study in London
In November 2010 Luzhkov gave an interview to the Telegraph newspaper stating that the couple was sending their daughters to study in London to protect them from possible persecution from the Russian authorities. He also said that a house had been bought in the west of the city for them and that he and his wife intend to visit them regularly. Luzhkov also claimed that the Russian authorities were planning to break up Baturina's business empire and that the couple would fight the attempt: "We will not give up. My wife will battle for her business and for her honour and self-worth. That is for sure".
In September 2009 The Sunday Times erroneously stated that Witanhurst, a large house in Highgate, North London, had been bought by Baturina, via an offshore front company. Baturina sued the papers owners, Times Newspapers, a subsidiary of News International. Times Newspapers apologized for the story and paid damages to her in October 2011.
Baturina is one of many "Russian oligarchs" named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017. The report was "not a sanctions list," the US administration pointed out though. The US Treasury report just listed every senior member of the political administration at the Kremlin, and every wealthy Russian with a net worth of $1 billion or more. So it did not impose any effect on Baturina.
Career.
Inteco.
In 1989 Baturina launched her first enterprise with her elder brother Victor, primarily dealing with computer software and hardware. In 1991 Baturina founded her company, Inteco ("Inteko" (Интеко) in Russian), which focused on construction though it began as a plastics business. In 1994 Inteco purchased a plastic factory. In 1998 the company won the contract for producing 85,000 seats for Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow's largest stadium. The critics claimed that the decision was affected by Luzhkov as Mayor of Moscow, though Inteco stated that their price was 50% less than their nearest competitor's.
In the middle of 1990s Inteco entered the construction business focusing on development of advanced materials and technologies for facade work, cement, brick and poured concrete construction, architectural design and real estate business.
In 2001 Inteco acquired from a private person the controlling stake in one of the leading house-building factories in Moscow DSK-3. Following modernization the construction plant provided 500,000 square meters of housing per year. This acquisition, according to Baturina's interviews, became the starting point for the company's major construction activity. "DSK-3 is my first real step into construction. I had been viewing the market for a long time. I saw how quickly and dynamically it was developing, how many opportunities it was offering. Still the deal took place sort of accidentally. The lawyers of the former main owner’s widow came to me and said that some unfriendly entities were questioning her property rights and trying to simply rob her of her stake. And the frightened woman had decided to sell all the shares to Inteco on the condition that we defend her rights in court. We have successfully managed that and just like that, almost by accident, became the owners of the plant."
At one point Inteco was said to control 20% of construction in the capital. However, according to experts, quoted by media, from 2000 to 2010 of construction activities Inteco's share in the state order was no more than 2%. While the main contractors for the implementation of the Moscow government orders were construction companies MFS-6 (24.5%) Glavmosstroy (20.7%), SU-155 (13.7%) and MSM-5 (12.2%). In 2002 Inteco created a subsidiary "Strategy Construction Company", whose main objective was the construction of monolithic buildings. Such cement plants as "Podgorensky cementnik" and "Oskolcement", one of the largest cement producers in the central Russia, were also bought at that time.
In 2005 Inteco sold its cement works for estimated US$800 000 to Eurocement Group in order to consolidate financial and administrative recourses that the company needed for the implementation of perspective construction programs.
Shortly Inteco sold DSK-3, a producer of prefabricated buildings, as well and fully concentrated on the construction of monolithic housing and commercial real estate.
Part of the proceeds from the sale of these assets were directed by Baturina to buying some high-yield "blue chips" of the largest Russian companies such as Gazprom and Sberbank. This step allowed the visionary businesswoman to later sell the shares in the crisis year of 2009 at a significant profit and return Inteco's earlier business development bank loans ahead of schedule, which allowed to keep the businesses afloat. The interest rate on loans at that time sprang up from 10.8 to 18 percent, which led to the ruin of a significant number of Russian developers.
At the same time, as part of a new cement project, Inteco purchased Verkhnebakansky Cement Plant and the Atakaytsement cement factory located in the Krasnodar region.
As of 2007, the company owned such entities as Inteko Plast (55%), Bistro Plast (50%), construction firms SK DSK-3 (100%), Styre (100%), Inteco CENTER (100%), Inteco Chess (Elista, 100%), Intekostroy (70%). The company also owned enterprises in the city of Sochi - Park (100%), The Matrix (100%), Sochi AO (75.58%), Horizont (50%), Selectioner (Belgorod region., 100%) and Uspensky Agromashplast (Moscow reg., Uspensky, 38%). Inteco Group also included Russian Zemelny Bank and trading house Moscow River involved in the supply of grain.
In 2007, the company's revenue, according to its own data, amounted to $1 billion.
At the end of 2008, along with Gazprom and Russian Railways, Inteco was included into the list of 295 strategic enterprises of the country.
In 2009, the company begins cooperating with an outstanding Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill as part of the programme aimed at creating fundamentally new systems for mass housing in Russia.
In 2010 Inteco launched the construction of the second academic building for the Moscow State University named after Lomonosov.
In 2010, Baturina was named one of the largest taxpayers in Russia, the taxes to the state budget for 2009 amounted to 4 billion rubles. As of 2009, 99% of the company is owned by Baturina, 1% is on the balance sheet of the Company itself. The project development portfolio is more than 7,000,000 square meters, the cement capacities exceed 0.6 million tons per year.
At the end of 2010 Baturina sold its Russian Zemelny Bank (RZB) to foreign investors.
The most significant completed projects of Inteco in Moscow (in the period of company Baturina's ownership) are: the residential quarter "Shuvalov" (270,000 square meters), the residential quarter "Grand Park" (400,000 square meters), the residential site "Volga" (400,000 square meters), the multifunctional complex "Fusion Park" with the "Autoville" - museum of unique cars from private collections (100,000 square meters), the Fundamental Library (60,000 square feet), and the academic building for Humanities (100,000 square meters) of the Moscow State University.
After her husband's resignation Baturina starts selling her assets in Russia. The best offer was filed by Mikail Shishkhanov and Sberbank Investments. They bought the 95% and 5% shares of Inteco correspondingly. The exact amount of the transaction was never disclosed, but the report of Sberbank stated that according to the experts that participated in the preparation of the deal, the market value of Inteco, its projects and structures was around 1.2 billion dollars. The deal did not include the cement plants of Inteco. One of them was later sold to Lev Kvetnoy for estimated 17 billion rubles.
Hotel business.
The first development in the new hotel chain was the five-star Grand Tirolia Golf & Ski Resort, located in the heart of the Eichenheim golf club in Kitzbühel, Austria. Construction, which was completed in 2009, cost in the region of €35-40 million. The hotel is located in the center of the golf club Eichenheim, together they make Grand Tirolia Golf & Ski Resort. In 2009 the hotel achieved honorary status as the "Home of Laureus" in Austria, and became the official venue for the annual ceremony of the prestigious international award that those in the field call the "Oscar" of sports journalism. In 2018 the hotel was sold to the Austrian investor, presumably for €45 million.
In 2010, Baturina opened the New Peterhof Hotel in Saint Petersburg, which received a number of architectural awards. In 2012, following major reconstruction work, Baturina opened the Quisisana Palace in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. Housed in a late 19th century building, the hotel combines elements of Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Gothic styles. The restoration of the historic building required significant investment. The hotel is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World association. In 2013 Baturina opened the Morrison Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. She bought it from NAMA in early 2012 for €22 million. The 138-room hotel on Dublin's Lower Ormond Quay has undergone a €7 million refurbishment.
Morrison Hotel, Dublin.
Acquired in March 2012 for €20 million, fully refurbished in 2013 for €7 million. 7 more rooms added in 2015 with an additional investment of €1.25 million. Currently, the hotel has 145 rooms, 5 conference rooms, a gym, two restaurants and a bar.
Reopened on 1 February 2013, under the DoubleTree by Hilton franchise. The hotel is in the top 10% of Hilton properties annually, according to Hilton Quality Assessments. The hotel employs 118 people.
Grand Tirolia Hotel and Resort, Kitzbühel.
The first development in the hotel chain, located in the heart of the Eichenheim golf club in Kitzbühel, Austria. Its construction was completed in 2009. The hotel has 82 rooms of 9 categories, a spa with an outdoor pool, meeting rooms and conferences halls. In 2015, Grand Tirolia was named the best golf hotel in Austria, Golf Club Eichenheim - the best golf course in Austria. World Golf Awards was awarded to it in 2014 and 2015. In 2018 the hotel was sold to the Austrian investor.
Quisisana Palace, Karlovy Vary.
Quisisana Palace is a restored 19th-century building turned boutique hotel with 19 guest rooms and suites, a restaurant and a wellness centre. It opened in September 2012. Quisisana was awarded Hotel of the Year 2014 by Czech Hotels Awards, and is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World Association. The hotel employs 22 people.
New Peterhof, St. Petersburg.
New Peterhof Hotel opened in June 2010 and has 150 rooms, 2 restaurants, 7 meeting rooms, and a spa. The hotel welcomes more than 15 thousand guests annually and employs 98 people.
Baturina has announced her intentions to the press to continue to expand her hotel chain. "In the future, we think of making up hotel clusters in those regions where we are already present. These are Ireland - United Kingdom, Northern Italy - Austria - Germany, the Baltic States - Russia - Kazakhstan," Baturina said in her interview to "Sobesednik".
Development business.
In late 2015, Baturina launched a development business in New York with an initial investment of US$10 million. The first set of commercial buildings she acquired is located in central Brooklyn, the third largest business centre of the city after Lower and Midtown Manhattan. The company is considering transferring the land they are located on to a category suitable for residential construction, so that a large-scale development project can be realised.
In November 2016 Baturina's structures launched a construction and development project in Europe. Her company acquired a land plot on the coastline in a primary area of Limassol, Cyprus, intended for constructing high-end residential properties. The overall investment into the project will amount to EUR 40 million, and the completion of the construction is planned for 2021.
Membrane Construction.
In Autumn 2015, Baturina's structures became a strategic investor of Hightex GmbH, a global membrane construction company based in Rimsting, Germany, having acquired 75% of the company. Her involvement gave the project the necessary impetus to restructure its operations and future development. 25% of the company belongs to its founder Klaus-Michael Koch, one of the pioneers of membrane construction.
Hightex is a systems engineering company, which designs, fabricates and installs large area, light weight membrane roofs and façades worldwide, including cable and retractable systems. The membranes are typically used in roofs and façades for sporting stadiums and arenas, airport terminals, train stations, shopping malls and other buildings.
In April 2017 Hightex announced the launch of two new international projects in Qatar and the US. Hightex will be responsible for the membrane construction of the roof and façade of the Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar. A total of 200,000 square meters of the stadium's roof and façade will be covered in a lightweight membrane structure. In the US, Hightex has been commissioned to install the membrane elements for the "Canopy of Peace" a landmark in New Orleans.
Renewable energy.
Since 2014 Baturina's Investment Group has been developing a project to generate, use and market renewable energy in Europe. The venture is responsible for the construction and commercial operation of solar parks in the south and south-east of Europe. The total investment into the project by Baturina's structures could reach €20 million in the coming year. Currently the company owns solar parks in the south of Italy and in Greece. The next acquisitions under consideration are in Greece and Cyprus. The company is developing a subproject that consists in applying the technology that allows saving the energy obtained from renewable sources, which constitutes a whole new system of wise energy consumption. Another trend within the energy project is constructing and servicing individual solar parks located mostly on the roofs of enterprises – the consumers of energy.
In 2018 Baturina's enterprise has launched the first ESCO (Energy Services Company) project in Cyprus. The project consists in energy-consumption optimization at a client enterprise or a production. All the necessary technological decisions have been designed by Baturina's company in partnership with Cyprus company Energy & Beyond, the affiliated enterprise of GDL Green Energy Group. The first project realised will be the optimization of energy consumption at one of the largest manufacturers of meat in Cyprus, Paradisiotis Ltd. In 2019 the number of investments into the alternative energy sector and into the energy-efficiency increase will reach €40 million.
Veedern Group.
In 1999 Baturina became chairman of the Equestrian Federation of Russia, and in 2000 acquired the "Veedern" estate in the Suvorovka village of the Kaliningrad Region. Here she planned to revive two-centuries old traditions of horse breeding of the Trakehner horses.
In 2011 the retired Yury Luzhkov took up the management of the estate. He conducted reconstruction of the historical buildings, launched a few innovative cattle-breeding and agricultural projects. Today the estate breeds, trains, rents and sells Hanoverian and Trakehner horses.
Brother.
In 2007 Viktor Baturin, Baturina's brother, with whom she founded Inteco, sued Inteco for US$120 million for wrongful dismissal.
Allegations of Criminal Links.
According to secret cables published by WikiLeaks, the US ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, reported allegations that Baturina had links to major criminal groups, particularly Solntsevskaya Bratva. The full text of the cable makes clear that Mr Beyrle is simply repeating gossip and allegations conveyed to him by journalist Sergei Kanev. Beyrle writes, 'Kanev told us that Luzhkov's wife, Yelena Baturina, definitely has links to the criminal world, and particularly to the Solntsevo criminal group'. Beyrle stated that her husband Yury Luzhkov sat on top of a "pyramid of corruption". "Luzhkov oversees a system in which it appears that almost everyone at every level is involved in some form of corruption or criminal behaviour," wrote Beyrle. "Analysts identify a three-tiered structure in Moscow's criminal world. Luzhkov is at the top. The FSB, MVD and militia are at the second level. Finally ordinary criminals and corrupt inspectors are at the lowest level." Beyrle also suggested that much of Luzhkov's business empire had been acquired using municipal finances to invest in "less than transparent" projects with former Soviet republics. The couple denied the accusations as "total rubbish".
Personal wealth.
In February 2020, Forbes announced that Baturina's position as the richest woman in Russia was overtaken by Tatyana Bakalchuk, the founder of Wildberries, with a net worth of $1.4 billion.
In the 2019 ranking of The World's Billionaires, Baturina with $1,2 billion remains for the 14th consecutive year the richest woman of Russia.
In the 2018 ranking of The World's Billionaires, published by "Forbes" on 6 March, Baturina with $1,2 billion was for the 13th consecutive year the richest woman of Russia, and the only Russian female billionaire.
Baturina is also the only independent self-made woman entrepreneur in the construction section of the Forbes list; she is number 55 of 56 self-made women billionaires who have built their fortune from scratch. Altogether there are 227 women on the list, over 75% of them have inherited their wealth from family.
According to Forbes, Baturina's net worth was US$4.2 billion in 2008, up from US$3.1 billion in 2007, US$2.3 billion in 2006 and US$1.1 billion in 2004. According to magazine Finans, her wealth fell during the credit crunch to just US$1 billion in February 2009, causing her to ask the Russian government for a bailout for Inteko. Her wealth, as of 2012, was listed as US$1.1 billion.
Baturina has a diverse portfolio. She owns hotels in the Black Sea tourist resort of Sochi, a hotel in Dublin through a private foundation in Austria, other hotels in Austria and the Czech Republic, over 72,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Belgorod Oblast, and also a factory that produces a million cans of sweetened condensed milk each year. But now all the assets except for the hotel in Dublin are no longer associated with Baturina.
2013 - 98th place, and $1.1 billion, still the richest business woman in the country. In 2013 the Sunday Times included Baturina into the annual Sunday Times Rich List, the list of the wealthiest people in Britain. The Russian entrepreneur took the 122nd 12th in the women list.
Afterwards a few British journalists pointed out that if you discount the number of women who made the list due to "family wealth" (which they may have contributed towards to a greater or lesser degree), inheritance or divorce — the first self-made female richlister is Baturina. "Money is like cement in construction. Money is not a goal but a means to reach the goal, the opportunity to do the things you want to do. The more money I have, the more large scale tasks I can solve. But I think you will agree that not everyone who owns a lot of money ever sets himself any tasks".
Honours and awards.
Baturina won the State Prize of the Russian Federation for Science and Technology in 2003. Inteco and its projects have won numerous awards and competitions, including: the "Russian Building Olympus" prize for "Architecture and Design Planning" (2008); "Brand of the Year/EFFIE 2007"; national prize for "Construction and Real Estate" (2008); International Star of Leadership award for quality at the 13th Business Initiative Directions (BID) international convention (Paris, 2009), "Company of the Year" national prize for business for "The Best Investment and Construction Company in Russia in 2009" (2009); International Award for Technology & Quality (Madrid, 2010); International Construction Award (France, 2011).
In 2015 due to her public activity Baturina was selected an international ambassador for the WE-Women social initiative set up during the World EXPO in Milan. As an ambassador Baturina spoke of the need of state and public support for women balancing family and professional responsibilities.
Community involvement.
In 2006, Baturina was appointed Deputy Head for the inter-ministerial group under the national project "Affordable and Comfortable Housing for Russian citizens." Baturina was the only representative of the construction industry in the group. In connection to the project Inteco formed a special commission that was inspecting various regions in Russia in order to evaluate the state of the local construction enterprises, to determine the demand for construction materials and to collect demographic and sociological data. As a result, the commission developed the concept of the federal target program "Development of the construction industry". Later on, the Government of the Russian Federation based its "Strategy of development of building materials industry up to 2020" on that program.
In 2010, Baturina became one of the first business leaders to provide support to the victims of fires in the Tula region. Among other projects, Inteco also fully sponsored a construction of a nursery school. In addition, Baturina addressed the leaders of other construction companies in Russia and urged them to follow the example.
Support of sport.
Golf.
Inteco has sponsored Russian Open Golf Championship, one of the stages of the PGA European Tour, as well as provided assistance to members of the Russian junior team during their participation in international competitions. In addition, Baturina supported charity golf tournament for the Russian Federation President Cup and «Rotary Golf World Championship» in Kitzbühel, Austria.
Equestrian sport.
From 1999 to 2005, Baturina served as President of the Equestrian Federation of Russia. During this period, the Federation began arranging international competitions for young sportsmen, formed teams of riders of respective age categories that were qualified for participation in the European championships. In Moscow the Federation held multiple competitions, including the Moscow Mayor Cup, one of the stages of the World Cup.
Baturina succeeded in raising funds for developing equestrian sport in Russia to the sufficient level for such competition. The sponsoring was directed not only to support adult tournaments, but to the development of youth and junior sports schools as well. Many equestrian sport bases underwent reconstruction, too.
Arts and culture.
"Russian seasons" in Europe.
The first "Russian Season" organized by Baturina took place in Kitzbühel, Austria in 2008 - that was a celebration of Russian Orthodox Christmas with classical Russian musicians and Russian folklore ensembles. The following "Russian Seasons" were held not only in Austria but in several other European countries.
Jazza Nova.
Baturina organised the international music festival Jazza Nova in Kitzbühel, which featured headliners such as Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana, Liquid Soul and Brazzaville, "Turetsky Choir", Sergey Zhilin, etc. Entry was free of charge by invitation, which were distributed through public and charity foundations.
"Noosphere".
Baturina is the founder of the charity foundation "Noosphere" designed to support education and to promote tolerance in society. It provides training courses, information and leisure centers, grant and scholarship programs. The "Noosphere" foundation is the initiator and one of the main organizers of the educational festival "Team of Tolerance" in Moscow.
Noosphere implements an astronomic initiative 'Discovery within a Week' in London in cooperation with the Mayor's Fund for London.
Housing charity.
Baturina initiated a charity project called "Revival of Russian tradition of collective house construction". This project was to bring together business organizations, individuals and administrative workers in various regions of Russia in order to address the housing needs of people in dire need of better housing conditions. Within that project Inteco presented flats to a number of families in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Saint Petersburg.
BE OPEN Foundation.
In the recent years, Baturina has been realizing most of her philanthropic initiatives through the BE OPEN Foundation she set up in 2012. It is a cultural and social initiative which aims to become a bridge between the great minds of our time – philosophers, sociologists, designers, architects, artists, publishers, writers, businessmen and opinion leaders – and the promising new minds of the next generation through a system of conferences, competitions, exhibitions, master classes and art events.<ref name="At Design Miami/Basel, the new Be Open think tank focused on design schools: Inside the Academy was the second edition of an initiative which fosters creativity and innovation."></ref>
BE OPEN has been actively cooperating with the world renown designers, international brands, educational and cultural institutions, and state bodies in various countries of the world. Among them: the Government of India, Mayor of London and Greater London Authority, the Municipality of Milan and the EXPO Universal Exposition, and many others.
BE OPEN is currently working in close partnership with the Mayor's Fund for London, the Mayor's Office and GLA on a London youth employment programme titled "Creativity Works" and being a Lead Partner in the London Curriculum for Primary Schools programme. Elena Baturina served as a trustee for the Mayor's Fund for London from 2017 to 2019.
In 2017 a City Pitch project was launched by Mayor's Fund for London in partnership with BE OPEN – the programme gives young Londoners an opportunity to plan and launch a social action project, whilst helping them to develop their leadership, project management and communication skills.
In 2018, in partnership with  SBID (Society of British and International Design) BE OPEN held a national student competition named 'Designed for Business'  It was the first collaboration across the UK universities, and its aim was to specifically connect the students with their potential employers. Hundreds of students from 93 universities submitted their works to one of five categories: Product Design; Art & Design; Fashion; Interior Design and Interior Decoration.
The entries were judged by a panel of top names from the creative industries including key representatives from companies including Sebastian Conran Associates, Amazon UK, Christie's Education, John Lewis, Amara, HG Designworks and VitrA, as well as creative educators from a number of leading universities.
The student awards ceremony was held on 29 November 2018 in the Members' Dining Room at the House of Commons, London. The overall winner got the life-changing £30,000 provided by Elena Baturina, the category winners received £1,000 each.
Maggie’s Centres.
Mrs Baturina is a member of Maggie's London Board which is responsible for the coordination of all Maggie's fundraising activity in London. Maggie's Centres provides emotional and practical support to anyone with cancer and their family and friends through 18 Centres throughout the UK.
Reported association with Hunter Biden.
In 2020, in the midst of President Donald Trump's reelection campaign against challenger Joe Biden, two committees of the majority-Republican US Senate jointly released a report which stated that Hunter Biden had received 3.5 million dollars from Baturina. Baturina had wired that money in 2014 as payment for a "consultancy agreement" to Rosemont Seneca Thornton LLC, which is a consortium combining the Massachusetts-based Thornton Group and the investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners; the latter was co-founded by Hunter Biden and others in 2009. The consortium's current connection with Hunter Biden is not clear.
Personal life.
In 1991 Baturina married Yury Luzhkov. In 1992 their first daughter, Elena, was born, followed in 1994 by Olga. In November 2010 Luzhkov gave an interview to the "Telegraph" newspaper stating that the couple were sending their daughters to study in London to protect them from possible persecution by the Russian authorities. It is understood that the family owns a home in the affluent Kensington area of London, purchased in 2013 through an offshore company domiciled in Gibraltar. The property, near Holland Park, was reported in 2018 to be worth at least £25 million. In her interviews Baturina often said that she and Luzhkov were very lucky, as they still loved each other. She enjoys cooking his favourite dish, borscht, and claims that a traditional "Soviet upbringing" made a good housewife of her.
Baturina has an older brother, Viktor Baturin, who is also a businessman. In 2007 Viktor Baturin tried to sue his sister's company Inteco for US$120 million for wrongful dismissal, but lost the case. Baturina has had no contacts with her brother since a public conflict on business issues that occurred in 2007 and resulted in mutual lawsuits, that later were settled.
She is involved in a libel case against a former financial director for her brother. After failing to appear before a court in December 2019, the court declared Baturina a "fugitive". The subpoena was rescinded in late January by Elista City Court. Allegedly, the subpoena was issued under instruction from the A1 investment company as part of its financial claim to Elena Baturina.
Hobbies and interests.
Baturina enjoys horseriding, and has invested significant money into equestrian sport in Russia. She owns the "Veedern" horse breeding estate founded in the 18th century. After a major reconstruction the estate is now successfully breeding Hanoverian and Trakehner horses. Baturina has said: "You should put a man on a horse to see how he will behave in a team: will he become a leader or not, will he be a dictator or is he ready to compromise. Generally it is easier for men to handle horses. They have a strong hand and they can easily stop the animal. For example, Luzhkov can handle any horse".
Baturina also enjoys mountain skiing, and it was the main reason for her setting up the first hotel of her chain in Tyrol. She is also fond of golf which she plays together with her husband.
She claims to own one of the largest private collections of Russian Imperial porcelain, preferring the porcelain of the era of Nicholay I. In April 2011, Yelena Baturina donated about 40 pieces of art – a part of her collection of rare porcelain – to the "Tsaritsyno" museum in Moscow.


Friends of Syria Group

The Group of Friends of the Syrian People (sometimes Friends of Syria Group, Friends of the Syrian People Group, Friends of Democratic Syria or simply Friends of Syria) is an international diplomatic collective of countries and bodies convening periodically on the topic of Syria outside the U.N. Security Council. The collective was created in response to a Russian and Chinese veto on a Security Council resolution condemning Syria.
History, purpose.
The group was initiated by then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy, with the purpose to find a solution to the Syrian conflict, after Russia and China had vetoed a 4 February 2012 UN Security Council resolution. Its first meeting took place on 24 February 2012 in Tunisia. The second meeting took place the same year on 1 April in Istanbul, Turkey. The third meeting of the Friends of Syria took place in Paris in early July 2012. The fourth summit took place in Marrakesh in December 2012.
Inaugural conference in Tunisia.
On 24 February 2012, the Friends of Syria met for the first time, in Tunis. Then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. officials Anne-Marie Slaughter and Michael Hirsh advocated that Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan would be able to create "no-kill zones", and argued that Syria was more central to American interests than Libya had been. The Syrian National Council featured prominently at the conference, and issued a seven-point list of demands, among which,
Istanbul conference.
Seventy nations participated in the conference held on 1 April 2012 to support Syrian opposition and increase pressure on the Syrian government. The Syrian National Council claiming the opposition is now united called for "serious action" and said they will "take charge of the payment of fixed salaries of Free Syrian Army". The Turkish PM defended what he called "Syrians' right to self-defence" and demanded the international community to speak up for the Syrian people. "We also believe the international community has a moral obligation to act. The bloodshed in Syria must stop," He added. Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (Qatari Prime Minister), Arab League Secretariat and contemporary US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported taking stronger measures against the Syrian government.
The Government-owned Syrian Arab News Agency denounced the meeting calling it "a series of related circles of conspiracy against Syria" and identified participants as "enemies of Syria".
Paris conference.
The third meeting of the Friends of Syria group opened on 6 July 2012 in Paris, France. Speakers addressing the meeting included William Hague, Laurent Fabius, Ahmet Davutoğlu and Hillary Clinton.
Marrakesh conference.
The fourth meeting of the Friends of Syria group opened on 12 December 2012 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Rome February 2013 meeting.
On 28 February 2013, only 11 members of the Friends of Syria held their meeting in Rome.
Amman conference.
On 22 May 2013, a conference in Amman was opened to discuss the US-Russian proposal for peace talks.
Doha conference.
On 22 June 2013, a conference in Doha was opened to discuss how to organise the delivery of military and other kinds of aid for Syrian rebels.
Participants.
The conference in Marrakech, on 12 December 2012, was attended by delegates of 114 states.
In 2013, however, the number of nations represented at the meetings fell to 11.
Countries.
Current members of Friends of Syria, which met in 2013 in Rome, Istanbul and London, are often referred to as the 'London 11'.
International organisations.
International organisations participating in the Friends of Syria conference included:


Taxeringskalendern

Taxeringskalendern (English: "the tax annual" or "the tax calendar") is the Swedish blanket term for a directory that contains public information on taxed income from work and capital of all natural persons above 18 years of age in Sweden. Some "taxeringskalender" also include the income of legal persons.
Sweden and the Swedish Tax Agency applies a uniquely, at least compared internationally, high legal transparency regarding the material privacy of individual citizens, only equivalent to Norway and Finland.
In Sweden the first "taxeringskalender" was published in 1905 (however, SAOB attest the word first in 1923). The two first publishers shall have been "AB Förenade Kalenderföretagen", owned by Albert Bonniers förlag, and "Kalenderförlaget i Västerås AB". Up until 2008 it also contained assets data on individuals, but since the wealth tax was revoked on January 1, 2007, these are no longer published.
The information comes from the Swedish Tax Agency which in turn get their information from the tax return. All records are based on the previous year. So 2020's "taxeringskalender" is based on tax returns from 2019, which in turn is based on the income from 2018. This may render the "taxeringskalender" outdated if the person in question have gotten another job or a pay increase. People who e.g. sold their house without buying a new, e.g. moved to the house of a new spouse, can get a very high one time income listed in the calendar. Newspapers annually list the highest incomes in their publication area.
Today a "taxeringskalender" is published by "Kalenderförlaget" in Solna. It is divided after county and is represented by 23 separate editions. Later editions contain a Top-100 list of Sweden's and individual municipalities largest earners. You can also see the average income (divided by age category) in Sweden as a whole, and by each municipality. In 2016 a top list for limited companies was introduced.
Credit agencies have electronic versions of the "taxeringskalender" from the Swedish Tax Agency and disclose information for payment.
Principle of public access to official records.
In Sweden tax returns are covered by confidentiality according to chapter 27 § 1 "Offentlighets- och sekretesslagen" (2009:400). According to § 6, however, confidentiality according to 1 and 3 §§ does not apply to decisions whereby tax or pensionable income is determined or basis for determining the tax is established.


Lynette Wood

Lynette Wood was the Australian Ambassador to Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein since 2016. She succeeded David Ritchie and replaced by Philip Green (diplomat).
Wood earned a Master of Arts (International Relations) from the Australian National University a Graduate Diploma in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney.


Bank of Cyprus

Bank of Cyprus (, ) is a Cypriot financial services company established in 1899 and headquartered in Strovolos.
Current operations.
The Bank of Cyprus currently operates through a total of 108 branches/business offices, of which all operate in Cyprus. The group has representative offices in Romania (€33 million net exposure) Greece, (€309 million exposure) Russia, (€21 million net exposure) Ukraine and China. It is the largest bank in Cyprus by market penetration, with 83% of Cypriots having active Bank of Cyprus accounts, representing a 60% share in total corporate accounts and a 40% share of the overall banking sector.
The shares of the bank are listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE). The Bank is the largest listed company on the CSE in terms of market capitalization. Since October 8, 2007 the Bank of Cyprus has been part of the Cyprus 10 Index, which comprises the 10 largest companies in Cyprus. The Bank of Cyprus was also listed on the Athens Exchange since 2000 and had been part of the FTSE/Athex Large Cap index from 9 October 2006 until March 2013. However, in late 2016 it has announced plans to de-list from Athens on 9 January 2017 and list on the London Stock Exchange in January 2017.
Controversy.
Bank of Cyprus (Romania) announced in mid-December 2009 that it had purchased 9.7 per cent of TLV's (Banca Transilvania) shares for EUR 58M, and in May 2010 expressed interest in taking over 20 per cent of the bank's stock. DIICOT, the body that investigates organized crime and terrorism, charged the head of Banca Transilvania's administration council, Horia Ciorcila, and the head of Bank of Cyprus (Romania), Georgios Christofourou, with stock market manipulation and money laundering in this transaction. DIICOT also charged a former vice-president of the administration council or Banca Transilvania, Claudiu Silaghi, along with other individuals. Bank of Cyprus (Romania) denied any wrongdoing. The Bucharest Tribunal acquitted Ciorcila and Christofourou on 4 July 2011, as did the Bucharest Court of Appeal on 27 June 2012. On 2 July 2014, the Romanian High Court of Justice rejected the second appeal made by DIICOT, as ungrounded. Consequently, the acquittal decisions issued by the Bucharest Tribunal (2011) and Court of Appeal (2012), have been maintained, confirming the full acquittal of all the defendants. The decision of the Romanian High Court of Justice is final.
Deposit tax and bailout or bailin.
A decision was imposed by EU finance ministers to force depositors in Cyprus to take a loss (bail in), in order to help fund an International Monetary Fund and euro zone bailout (bail-in in the case of Bank of Cyprus: with 47.5% of uninsured depositors, above 100,000 Euro, contributing to the bank's recapitalization).


Quad Cities (train)

The Quad City Rocket is a planned Amtrak intercity rail train that will operate in Illinois between Chicago and Moline. It will be a part of the "Illinois Service". This train will follow the routing of "Carl Sandburg" and "Illinois Zephyr" to Princeton and will split off at Wyanet, Illinois, stopping at Geneseo and Moline using track from BNSF and the Iowa Interstate Railroad.
Background.
Originally, the Rock Island provided passenger service in the Quad Cities under the "Quad Cities Rocket" train. Passenger service to Chicago continued until December 31, 1978.
In 2008, United States Senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Dick Durbin and Barack Obama of Illinois sent a letter to Amtrak asking them to begin plans to bring rail service to the Quad Cities. In October 2010, a $230 million federal fund was announced that will bring Amtrak service to the Quad Cities, with a new line running from Moline to Chicago. They had hoped to have the line completed in 2015, and to offer two daily round trips to Chicago. In December 2011, the federal government awarded $177 million in funding for the Amtrak connection.
In 2015, Illinois Republican governor Bruce Rauner announced a spending freeze that placed both the proposed train service and the "Black Hawk" under review by the IDOT. After being on hold for over a year, IDOT moved forward with the project in order to prevent losing the $177 million in federal funding for the passenger service.
In July 2019, a new transportation bill was passed by the Illinois state legislature, supported by Governor J.B. Pritzker, $225M was appropriated to begin this service.