Highlights from Saturday's final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The WEF 2014 ended with delegates being treated to a virtuoso performance of a piece called "Leap", before being exalted to do what they can to improve the state of the world.
Biznews editor Alec Hogg (who hasn't had to scarper for the flight back to London) has the details.
Jim Wallis at closing ceremony of #WEF14: "Skills are not the most important attribute. Sacrifice is. Nelson Mandela taught us that."
Wallis at closing of #WEF14 urges practical action: "Ask yourself what is the one thing you will commit to Improve the state of the world?"
And with that, best wishes from Switzerland, and goodnight.
Earlier today, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook reminded Davos delegates that women are still treated differently in the workplace - eliciting a sea of raised hands when asking which women had ever been asked "why are you working?". Only two men responded to the same question.
We can be cautiously optimistic about the global economic outlook, he says.
Japan is making significant progress.
And emerging markets are likely to maintain growth rates at high level, or accelerate.
Wolf thanks him for giving his summing up for him (make a change from questioners giving the answers, I guess),and then reassures the audience that while the panel was optimistic, they weren't optimistic enough to actually be dangerous.
"In a globalised world, we will need more regulation -- both of financial markets and non-financial markets"
Christine Lagarde takes a question on tapering - pointing out that the flow of capital out of emerging markets has not been that great, so far.
And she adds that some countries have suffered much less capital exit than others. Investors are "very cunning" -- they will look at a country's government, policy mix, etc, to assess whether to put money in, or take it out.
Now Wolfgang Schauble is asked whether there is more chance of collective debt, or eurobonds, in the euro area now that there is a new German government with a large majority.
Schauble argues that it would be the end of any hope of pushing through the "uncomfortable but needed structural reforms" that the eurozone needs.
Without a treaty change (that would bring in tighter fiscal controls), eurobonds cannot happen, he says, because it is essential that countries in Europe fix and improve their economies.
So it helps if they're all on the verge of bankrupcy, says Wolf (who is a leading critic of eurozone austerity).
You can help us create a new treaty, and allow a new fiscal policy if you like, Schauble hits back.
Wolf suggests the UK wouldn't be happy about such a treaty.
Asked why the US dollar is so weak when the US economy is so strong, Fink argues that the Fed's huge stimulus programme swamped all other central bank efforts.
He expect to see a much weaker euro, especially if the ECB takes new stimulus measures this year.
OK, now it's Lawrence Fink, head of BlackRock, says we are entering a world of much higher volatility, and while that isn't a bad thing in itself "there will be disruptions", warning.
"We've been used to very calm equity markets for the last three years"
He also warned that governments need to crack on with structural reforms, both in the developed and developing world.
It is very hard to tell men and women, whether in India or in Italy, that it's harder to get a job.
Fink also claims that governments are too willing to blame Fed tapering for their problems, when often bad government is to blame.
Governments are very happy when capital rushes in, but they shout about capitalism when capital rushes out.
On forward guidance, Carney acknowledges that the jobless rate will soon hit the 7% threshold he set before he'd consider raising interest rates.
The Bank of England will assess its policy, he confirms (something pledged earlier this week), looking at issues like the broader health of the labour market.
"As good as the numbers have been in the last three quarters", we're talking about house-hold driven growth, that is below capacity, that has not yet rebalanced,and which is still vulnerable to problems at its neighbour (the eurozone), Carney says.
Exceptional monetary policy is still relevant, he concludes.
Now onto Mark Carney to talk about the UK economy, and the recent marked pick-up.
Households have been repaying debts at an impressive rate.
The core of the financial system has been repaired, mainly thanks to his predessor's work. UK banks have raised 140bn pounds of fresh capital since the crisis,out of 500bn dollars raised by all banks.
And a reduction in uncertainty. Carney cites a quote which says "Confidence grows at the speed of the coconut tree, and falls at the speed of the coconut".
"The slow growth of the coconut tree in the UK", helped by the situation in Europe, and in monetary policy terms low interest rates and his own forward guidance, have helped.
Japan's central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda,says that the country's Abenomics programme (one of the most exciting innovations in central banking in years).
Kuroda says that Japan is halfway to getting inflation up to its 2% target, and believes it should be there within two years time.
Abenomics as a whole is making progress, and monetary policy target is making good progress.
And he warns that Japan saw the perils of deflation in the past,when people's inflation expectations dwindled, pushing prices down.
Innovation was not very strong, investment in fixed assets and human capital was very slow.
Alhuwalia touches on the US Federal Reserve's tapering programme.
There will be spillover effects, he says, hopefully they will be managed.
Alhuwalia is also encouraged by Mario Draghi's point that other central banks could step in if markets reacted badly to the end of the Fed's bond-buying programme.
Now Montek Singh Alhuwalia, deputy chair of India's planning committee , who says he shares Christine Lagarde's cautious optimism.
China may have slowed down, but it's still growing at above the official target (7.7% I think).
He says that some of India's slowdown, from 8% growth per year to 5%, is because of domestic economic problems.
We have run into domestic structural restraints, Alhuwalia says, citing "environmental activism" and "legal activism" for causing many large projects to slow down.
We're reacting by offering more permits, Alhuwalia says, but the key is to change the system to make it easier to get projects going, "and that's going to happen".
Onto Wolfgang Schauble, who says that the eurozone's challenge is that it has one currency but 18 different countries in different situations.
We must avoid wrong incentives, because the temptation not to stick to the necessary fiscal and structural policies is very high.
We have regained confidence that the euro will remain an important currency.
Portugal is doing very well, Spain is doing extremely well, Greece did better than we expected, Cyprus is doing very well.
And on banking union, Schauble says that good progress has been made, within the context that we are constricted by the current treaty.
This means we have taken decisions for a common European banking supervision, harmonised rules for savings, agreed clear rules for restructuring.
And we agreed a single resolution fund that will be funded by the banks itself --Schauble continues (although he can only force German banks to chip in - it's up to each nation to manage its own sector).
And we mustn't weaken on structural reforms, Schauble concludes.
We are ready to use all the instruments allowed by our Treaty to fight deflation, Draghi concludes.
Draghi acknowledges that there's a lot of interest in whether the ECB could launch a quantitative easing programme.
But he points out that sovereigns and banks are issuing more bonds today -- so there is no need to offer help there.
He suggests that an asset that would package bank loans in the right way. (which could then be traded in the markets,and potentially bought by the ECB).
Onto Draghi - with inflation so low (just 0.8%), is your monetary policy a failure?
Draghi replies that inflation will probably be below target (close to but below 2%) for the next two years, and remain at the low end of its target for an extended period.
Some is due to low price of energy and food -- if you look at core inflation in the US it's not that much different.
And core inflation levels are similar to after the Asian crisis and the Lehman crisis -- suggesting this is a phenomenon after a crisis.
Draghi repeats a point he made last night - Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus are mainly responsible.
Lagarde's second "R" is Reset.
Stimulus measures launched by central bankers should not be unwound until recoveries are well underway.
And governments must implement structural reforms -- not in just advanced developed countries, but in some developing nations too.
Christine Lagarde says we face old risks, and new risks.
The old risks include that unbalances between economies could widen again.
The tapering of the US 's stimulus programme is a key new risk - how it is communicated, how it is implemented, and what the impact on the rest of the world is.
This is clearly a new risk on the horizon,and it needs to be clearly watched.
And her other new risk is deflation.
No-one could argue that inflation in the eurozone is below the ECB's 2% target, she says.
The danger is that inflation expectations could fall if inflation remains below target for an extended time.
And that's why the IMF has flagged up deflation as a possible risk.
Wolf says that the background today is optimism,but with real concerns.
Growth forecasts have been raised recently, but there emerging market concerns, exchange rate volatility, China's rebalancing act.
Draghi has to leave early, so the session will start with Europe and then move onto the bits of the world economy that actually shows decent growth, jokes Martin Wolf.
Japan's central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda - the most exciting central banker in the world, says Martin Wolf of the FT who will chairing the session.
OK, now the big session on the Global Economic Outlook -- here's the livestream.
Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam's executive director, has told us that many business people at Davos have woken up to unfairness caused by the financial crisis, and that inequality is bad for their economic prospects too.
Following the financial and economic crisis, austerity measure in Europe have hit the poorest hardest, taking away essential services from them. On the other hand, the rich have got away scot-free, with bailouts that helped the banks and big investors.
This is a clear rigging of the rules. The policies that should help everybody are helping the rich more than the poor, in a crisis that was caused by the rich.
It is political capture of wealth and power - the wealthy capturing political power and influencing policy in their favour.
And I didn't get any rich person here challenging me on that. Clearly showing that they see it. They see the injustice of it.
The other thing I tried to show them is that it is clearly not in their economic interest, she added.
That message is also coming from mainstream institutions like the OECB and the World Bank, taking about inequality and the damage it does to growth. It's really the issue of today, it's really not a fringe issue by crazy NGOs, Byanyima concluded.
Oxfam is also pushing companies hard on transparency at Davos -- some, she warned, are talking the talk on fighting inequality but not yet walking the walk.
Schauble ends the session on a gloomy note: We must resist "excessive optimism" today.
I believe that things were not as bad they looked at the time [of the crisis], and they are not as good as they look for some people [today].
Now they're summing up, with Lord Turner repeating that Europe has "woken up to the idea that a currency union needs a banking union", but needs to finish the job properly.
I'm not denying that progress has been made - but we will need further banking union.
By doing it without treaty changes, a series of complimses have been made… we could do to get a bit closer to perfection.
Wolfgang Schauble says Europe must not rely too much on monetary policy -- we must fight for structural reforms,he says.
We have to avoid too much inequality, otherwise we will fail. In this world of communications, everyone can see – before not everyone say, and that makes the stability of the political system much more fragile.
Anshu Jain, co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank, says lending to SMEs will not recover until there is clarity about issues such as leverage ratio -- urging finance ministers to reach agreements soon.
Olli Rehn: France and Italy need to step up reforms.
Into questions, and Olli Rehn is asked about whether France and Italy are doing enough to improve their economies.
France has recently announced a wide-ranging programme of reforms, now the government has to implement it, says the EC commissioner.
Spain, Ireland, and Portugal have all made significant structural progress in recent years -- "Now it's time for France and Italy to follow suit.
Is the 55bn euro fund which Europe has agreed to set up for struggling banks big enough?
Wolfgang Schauble says he wanted a larger fund, but others want a smaller one.
Schauble also says he agrees with Adair Turner that Europe need treaty changes, although that can be difficult to get through.
And Dijsselbloem reiterates that there are three lines of defence for a bank which fails the stress tests.
2) They can apply to national resolution funds -- national backstops, which would mean some creditors are bailed-in.
Wolfgang Schauble points out that creditors will also be bailed-in before taxpaper money is used to recapitalise European banks.
Euro-Dijsselbloem at wef14#: as last step we will allow for direct recapitalisation of banks through ESM, with strong bail in conditions.
Lord Turner has clashed with the finance ministers on the panel, saying that Europe needs a proper backstop in place, soon, for its banks.
Problem with European stress tests in 2010 is we couldn't say what would happen if you failed, he says.
There is much less chance of a really big European bank failing...but you can't shut one down because it will scare the markets, Turner says.
Until that fund is in place, you're still running a risk.
It's not unclear. Banks that are unviable will have to be shut down.
If a bank fails they have set time to raise funds, and if they can't they can go to their governments.
There's only one rule - state aid rules apply.
Turner responds: Can they get funding from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) (the main bailout fund)?
Dijsselbloem says the eurogroup is working on rules for direct recapitalision of banks, with strict conditionality, as a last step.
If a bank applied for ESM help before 2016, there would be a deep bail-in of creditors, he concludes.
In the past, national regulators had an incentive to not fail their banks, says Olli Rehn.
This time it's different, as the ECB's supervisor is taking the lead and will test the banks hard.
I'm sure Mario [Draghi] does not want a big chunk of <pause> impaired banks in his hands -- i could use a worse word, but I don't want to here.
Lord Turner saying that he hopes the ECB's stress tests will be credible, and believes they will be.
He points out that previous stress tests of European banks weren't convincing, partly because if you'd marked assets to market accurately during the height of the crisis then some banks would have gone under.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup (and also the Dutch finance minister), says he hopes that some bad news will come out of the ECB's stress tests.
I rather hope that it will unveil some unpleasantness, as that will give me a good feeling that it is being done properly.
Unicredit's CEO, Federico Ghizzoni, agrees that the tests will need some bad news to persuade the markets.
Wolfgang Schauble responds to Lord Turner's call for rapid banking union, saying that it is "always a pleasure" to hear people from the UK tell him that Europe needs to be more like America.
"We are not the United States of America, we are not the United States of Europe, we are the European Union - quite complicated , but we are rather successful", the German finance minister insists.
Now Lord Adair Turner warns that the European Asset Quality review probably won't unleash a lot of extra lending -- arguing that the lack of borrowing is due to demand problems as well as supply problems.
I fundamentally believe that for the eurozone to work, it has to go to a fairly deep level of federalisation which will requite a treaty specific to the eurozone - I'm slightly out of line with most British opinion on that.
Need full banking union, Turner adds - making the comparison with America. There's no way Americans would tolerate an Illinois bank account being covered by a Illinois fund, he says..
Olli Rehn, European Commissioner, points out that a "critical reason" in America's more rapid recovery is that it tackled its banking problems much sooner than Europe.
Unicredit's CEO, Federico Ghizzoni, says that he hopes that the upcoming Asset Quality Review will let Italian banks deal with their remaining problems.
We've come an enormous difference in a very short time.
Must pay tribute to French and German government, and the ECB, he says, for this progress.
But a lot remains to be done -- Europe needs to implement the single supervisory mechanism and banking union.
And crucially, Jain, says, banks are still too weak. We still aren't where we should be --banks aren't able to create capital as quickly as the economy needs.
Heads-up: the debate on rebuilding Europe's banking sector is about to start.
It's being streamed live here.
On the circular economy panel,Stanford professor William McDonough argues that the term 'sustainable' simply lacks passion.
I don't know that I'd get a lot further by saying it's circular, shoots back Ali Velshi of Al Jazeera.
Heads-up: Dame Ellen MacArthur is appearing on a panel on"From Waste to Wealth", outlining her vision of a circular economy.
Rather than today's "take, make and dispose" economy, it is based on a more sustainable approach. A report yesterday argued it could create $1tn in annual savings by 2025 and 100,000 new jobs within five years.
There's strong evidence that a circular economy can generate faster economic growth, and new jobs, she says.
Other panelists are agreeing that dwindling natural resources means companies need to take a circular approach.
The e-waste is enormous in this world. There's more gold coming out of e-waste than out of the mines.
My colleague Jo Confino wrote about the idea of a Circular Economy here, yesterday.
Davos delegates were in two minds when asked whether technology was driving joblessness up.
Larry Summers, now a professor at Harvard, painted a bleak picture of the world of the work – not because of technology, but because of changes to the economy.
Summers looked at the age bracket 25-64 to show that in 1965 one in 20 men were out of work and predicted that one in seven will not be working in 2017/8, assuming a full recovery.


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Testimony: The State of Patent Eligibility in America' before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Intellectual Property Subcommittee
Access PDF
Abstract – via papers.ssrn.com
This invited testimony was prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee, Intellectual Property Subcommittee, hearing on reforming § 101. It identifies several reasons that justify congressional action in reforming § 101 and abrogating the Alice-Mayo framework created by the Supreme Court in its patent eligibility cases between 2010 and 2014. First, it details the very high rates of invalidation of patents and rejection of patent applications under § 101 since 2014. Second, it explains why the USPTO's recent reforms in its § 101 examination guidelines are insufficient to solve the problems of excessive cancellations of patents by courts and uncertainty for innovators. Third, it identifies a guidepost for congressional action today in the 1952 Patent Act. Congress has abrogated Supreme Court doctrines many times before, and its enactment of § 103 in the 1952 Patent Act is a model for reform of § 101 today. Section 103 is succinct, technology neutral, and simple in setting forth procedural and substantive limits for nonobviousness doctrine. It does this because it responded to the same problems in nonobviousness doctrine that innovators face today under patent eligibility doctrine: the Supreme Court created a very restrictive test ("the flash of creative genius") that resulted in extensive invalidations of patents and uncertainty for innovators. In 1949, Justice Robert Jackson lamented in dissent that "the only patent that is valid is one which this Court has not been able to get its hands on." This could have been written today about patent eligibility cases. Congress should act again to rein in a judicial doctrine that is undermining the function of the patent system in driving the innovation economy.
Chair, Forum for Intellectual Property and Senior Fellow
Countering Global Kleptocracy: A New US Strategy for Fighting Authoritarian Corruption
Nate Sibley & Ben Judah
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Amicus Brief by Adam Mossoff in Ericsson v. Samsung (E.D. Texas, Jan. 5, 2021)
Amicus curiae Adam Mossoff is a law professor who teaches and writes about patent law and policy. He specializes in patent licensing and standard esse...
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Trump's Final Act on Drug Prices Put Foreign Ip Thieves Before American Patients
More than any other president in recent memory, President Trump defended American innovators against attacks by foreign governments. But sadly, in one...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Solitary confinement in torture-like conditions for reporting on human rights abuse in occupied CrimeaRussia breaks all records in Crimea with level of persecution of 8 Crimean TatarsRussia brings charges of 'planning to violently seize power' for Crimean Solidarity with political prisonersRussia fights Crimean Solidarity with long prison sentences and shattered childhoodsCrimean Tatar Civic Activists arrested in new offensive against Crimea SolidarityCrimean Tatar faces huge sentence in Russian FSB's 'machine of wholesale persecution'FSB's 'secret witness' exposed during trial of 6 Crimean political prisonersRussia condemned for launching 'machine of wholesale persecution' in occupied CrimeaProfoundly cynical trial begins of Crimean Tatar human rights activist and five other Crimean MuslimsRussian FSB "make their careers" by jailing Crimean Muslims on fake 'terrorism' & 'extremism' chargesNew weapon of religious persecution and arrests in Russian-occupied CrimeaCrimean Tatar Political Prisoner Moved to Notorious Prison in RussiaCrimean Tatars sentenced to 18, 17 and 13 years for discussing their faith and Russian persecution 2020: There was no worse year in the realm of human rights after the Revolution of DignityInvestigation of individual terrorist crimesNext, Russia will come for the children Russian-controlled militants sentence 70-year-old pensioner to 17 years for 'spying' after torturing him and his familyA brief description of the KHPG strategic litigations in July–December 2020Russia begins its most repressive trial of Crimean Tatar journalists and activistsRussian invaders of Crimea imprison Ukrainian for 'state treason'
• Topics / The right to health care
Coronavirus death trap for Ukrainian political prisoners in occupied Crimea and Russia
Russia has banned any visits from family members to Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners held in SIZO [detention prisons] in occupied Crimea and Russia, claiming that this is to prevent the spread of coronavirus. It is, however, continuing to hold even gravely ill political prisoners in overcrowded and grossly unsanitary conditions, despite the lack of any grounds for their imprisonment.
With typical brutality, no warning of the ban was given, and Ayshe Asanova was turned away at the doors of the SIZO in Rostov [Russia] when she came to see her husband, civic activist and journalist, Marlen Asanov. She is also facing prosecution quite literally for holding up a piece of paper at the end of the court hearing on 17 March when she held up the following message to her husband: "I need you like the air I breathe". Court guard Mikhail Chernovol decided to issue an administrative protocol, claiming that this simple message of love constituted inadmissible communication with a defendant. She now faces a magistrate court hearing and a likely fine.
While any penitentiary service must take precautionary measures in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the abrupt ban on visits without any obvious grounds or testing does not seem particularly warranted. The ban does not apply to the men's lawyers, and open court hearings have continued in the 'trial' of Asanov and seven other Crimean Tatar civic activists and journalists, even when some of the men had fevers and evidently needed, but did not receive, medical treatment.
It is possible that the penitentiary service are looking after their own personnel, but all prisoners held in the SIZO in occupied Simferopol and those in Rostov in Russia are held in conditions that are equivalent to torture. The men are deprived of adequate medical treatment and held in cells which are filthy, stuffy and so overcrowded that men have to take turns sleeping on the same bunks. It is easy to imagine how swiftly the coronavirus would spread in such conditions. Some of the political prisoners, like 58-year-old Dzhemil Gafarov, have medical conditions that should have prevented them ever being placed in detention, and they are now in even greater danger.
At present 35 Crimean political prisoners are held in two Rostov SIZO. All are facing charges or are awaiting appeals against politically motivated sentences on charges linked with unproven involvement in the peaceful Hizb ut-Tahrir party which is legal in Ukraine and most countries. Russia is the only country in the world to have labelled Hizb ut-Tahrir 'terrorist' and has never provided any good reason. With respect to occupied Crimea, it is very obviously using these 'terrorism trials' as a weapon against civic activists and journalists, particularly from the civic initiative Crimean Solidarity which provides support to political prisoners and their families, and also reports on political repression in occupied Crimea.
There are also a large number of Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners held in the Simferopol SIZO in occupied Crimea where the conditions are at least as bad.
The issue in all of these cases is not merely that these men have not been convicted of a crime. In the case of virtually all of the Ukrainian political prisoners, they are not even accused of anything which a law-based country would regard as a crime. All of the Crimean Tatars facing Hizb ut-Tahrir charges have been targeted for their faith and / or civic activism, while 48-year-old Jehovah's Witness Serhiy Filatov was openly sentenced to six years' imprisonment (and is now in the Simferopol SIZO, awaiting appeal) from prayers in his own home. Where, as in the case of Ukrainian activist Oleh Prykhodko, there are 'real charges', there is literally no evidence at all to back them.


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By Lynn Rushlau on Friday, November 22, 2019
Carriel felt like a cloud of gloom hovering over a parade. The morning sun cast the snow into piles of glitter. Excited, bubbly people swarmed around her sister, Lionye's golden child, winner of the Emberithshire Skating Championship, Junior Division. Bree laughed and chatted with friends, rivals, and fans.
Even Garray looked excited. Well, of course he did. Their grasping brother had set up this race to give himself another reason to gamble. He'd be thrilled all day, unless their little sister lost.
A whisper, like a sudden gust of wind, ran through the crowd. She turned, following the ripple. The crowd shifted, allowing a woman and a girl about Bree's size to cross the park to the pond. She shielded her eyes against the glare of the sun on the snow, but even standing on tiptoes, she couldn't catch more than a glimpse of the competition's knit cap through the press.
Whistles sounded. Cheers erupted. Her sister flashed an elated grin. The head of the Lionye's Skating Commission stepped away from the judges' table and raised a megaphone to his lips.
"Welcome to today's special event race. We're pitting our very own Bree, the Winter Wind, against Tayla of the Peolline district of Feballiase."
The crowd roared. Bree waved to her cheering fans. Tayla turned at her name and gave a tentative smile. Carriel blinked. What?
"Ladies, please take your places at the starting line."
Snapping out of her shock, she grabbed her sister's arm before she could hobble more than a couple of steps towards the starting line.
"What?" A bemused smile on her face, Bree turned. She clearly expected wishes of luck or advice. The usual before a race.
"She's not human."
"Huh?" Her sister glanced at the starting line.
"She's some sort of winter Fae. I think she's an ice sprite."
Wild excitement filled her sister's face. "Really?"
She gritted her teeth. "I know what I see."
"Bree of Lionye, please join us at the starting line." The ice sprite already stood there. She smiled, too innocently to be believed, when they looked at her.
"I've got to go."
"You can't–"
"So she's an ice sprite. It's just a race."
"It'll be a laugh. Tell Stacia."
"You cannot hope to win."
Her smirk turned mischievous. "Tell my coach. Let the word spread. Think about it. Racing an ice sprite? Sure I can't win, but depending on how close I come? How fast and famous does that make me?"
The officials called for Bree again. Laughing, she spun and hobbled quickly to the ice sprite.
Carriel dashed over to her sister's coach. Stacia cursed at the news and ran to the alert the head of Lionye's Skating Commission. Blood drained from his face. Stacia continued to talk for a few minutes. The Commission Head turned and raised his whistle to his lips. One bleat.
Ice sprayed from their skates. The crowd roared. Neck and neck as they neared the first curve.
Carriel's heart pounded. This wasn't right. She shouldn't have allowed this.
The ice sprite pulled ahead on the first curve. On the opposite side of the pond, the ice sprite lengthened her lead. The crowd screamed for their Winter Wind to speed up.
A determined frown creased Bree's face. Carriel had watched her sister skate enough times to pick up the minute increase in speed. She skated as fast as she could, perhaps faster than her fastest time. They wouldn't know for sure on that until she crossed the finish line.
Which she did a good forty-five seconds after the ice sprite.
A crack echoed across the park.
Bree flashed out of existence.
The ice sprite pivoted. The glee on her face twisted into a good facsimile of shock.
The constable took the ice sprite and her coach into custody. Angry townsfolk followed them to the jailhouse and refused to go home. Bree had disappeared by magic and the ice sprite was magic. She–and likely her coach–must have done it.
The constable put both in a room for questioning and left them alone for no more than two minutes to send a fast messenger to Feballiase to request Winter Knight assistance. With their magic dedicated to protecting the kingdom, the Knights would be best suited to negotiate Bree's return.
The constable left to inform Tayla and her coach about the wait. He returned, ashen and trembling. The room was empty. They were gone.
Numb, Carriel staggered back to the park. The two guards exchanged a look, but allowed her to enter. She fell to her knees beside the finish line and stared dumbly at the ice.
She didn't know what to do. She couldn't go home. Not without her sister. What could she tell their parents?
Hands lifted her. Her frozen legs refused to cooperate. Stacia and a guard carried her to a carriage. She understood nothing of what the coach tried to tell her on the way home. The only words that mattered, Stacia couldn't offer. At the house, someone wrapped her in a blanket, shoved a hot mug of tea into her hands. An arm rested over her shoulders. The tea grew tepid. Her brain remained numb.
People chattered around her. None of the words cut through her fog, not until she heard the name "Garray." She looked up sharply.
Her dad blinked at her. "Honey?"
"He arranged the race. Where is he?"
Dad turned and bellowed in the direction of the door to the living room, "GARRAY!"
She leapt to her feet. Her father on her heels, they ran up the stairs to her brother's empty room. Sighing, her father went back downstairs. She searched the room. Tore apart his bed. She shook his books and papers, ignoring the drawings, looking for anything related to the race. Tossed everything not useful on the floor. Hidden in his dresser, she discovered a dozen betting tickets and pocketed those for leverage.
Downstairs their father stood at the door, bundling up.
"To find him." He slammed out before she could offer to go with him.
She paced the room. Dad would never locate him. He hadn't the slightest idea where Garray went to drink. She strode to the door and shoved her boots back on.
"What are you doing?" Her mother looked up from the cold cup of tea she'd been staring at for at least the last hour.
"Going out to help find Garray."
Her mother only slumped back over her tea. Sitting alone at the table. Though her heart ached at the sight, Carriel left anyway.
He wasn't at either of the closest bookies, but she hadn't expected to find him there. Not at this time of night. He thought the neighborhood pubs beneath his notice, but she swung through them before going to his hangouts. He wasn't drinking at The Lost Hound, Lucky Star, or Flecks. Nor did she see any of his friends.
She ran into Dravitt drinking at The Checkered Past. Gods, she hated him. Why must he be the first of her brother's friends she found? She strode to the table, jerked his drink out of his hand, and demanded to know where Garray was.
"Who?" Smirking, he reached for his drink.
Holding the beer out of reach, she growled. "You know damned well who my brother is."
"Haven't seen him, have I? He's courting that fancy girl. Too good to drink in The Checkered Past these days."
What fancy girl? "Where is he?"
"Give us a kiss and I'll tell."
"Tell me and I won't upend this beer on your head." She bared her teeth.
Dravitt snarled. "Try Pillars."
She huffed and tilted the beer towards his head. "Bullshit."
He held up both hands. "Swear it. I know, their beer is total swill, but that's where his fancy girl's brother and their friends drink. He'll be there."
Garray lacked the funds to drink there. She lowered the glass and set it on the table. Couldn't afford the stakes at cards. No wonder he needed Bree to win for him again. His winnings from the championship must be gone.
But he would have won nothing on today's race. Unless he bet against her? She clenched her fists. If he'd planned all this, she'd kill him.
Just as soon as he explained where their little sister was.
Pillars' doorman was not inclined to let her inside. She'd dressed that morning to watch a race in the park, not visit an aristocrats' pub. They argued for ten minutes before a group of young lordlings arrived, rolled over the doorman, and swept her inside with them.
Their compliments left her blushing and off-balance, and untangling herself from them wasted a good half hour. The longer the Fae had Bree the more harm they could do.
She stood alone in the center of the bar and turned slowly searching for her brother in the crowd of bright-colored silks and satins and smoky blacks. Garray dressed as flamboyantly as he could afford, which wasn't much since he couldn't hold down a job.
She found him at a booth in the corner with four extravagantly dressed young men. Beside them her brother looked like a valet. No, not quite well dressed enough for a servant. He looked like a charity case.
He wasn't. She clenched her jaw. Their father was a barrister, who'd sent them all to the same good schools, provided a decent allowance, and offered all his offspring the chance to pursue their interests whether in sports or the arts or education. Garray neither appreciated nor took advantage of any of it.
She strode across the room and grabbed him by his aubergine ascot, pulling him out of the booth, choking him. "Where is Bree?"
"Are you crazy?" He easily broke her hold. "How did you get in here?"
"What did you do with our sister?"
He looked around with an expression of horror on his face. "I didn't do anything with her. Something magical–"
She backhanded him. A couple of men seized her before she could decide her next action. Bouncers tossed the two into the street. She slipped and fell on the ice. He landed beside her.
"Banned for life. Both of you."
"But I didn't do anything," her brother protested. Ignoring him, the bouncers strode back inside the pub.
She took advantage of his distraction and pinned him down. "Where is she? What did you do?"
He started to cry, of all things. "I thought she'd win."
She slapped him again. "Against an ice sprite? How?"
"She's the best–the fastest skater–"
"HUMAN."
"But the other girl was–"
"An ice sprite."
He shook his head. "No. I met them both. They were human."
She raised her hand to smack him again, but he caught her arm. Pushing her away, he staggered to his feet.
Glaring against the burn of tears, she scrambled after him. "What did you bet? Why'd you set up that race?"
He winced. Tears continued to trickle down his cheeks. "They promised me a fortune if she won."
"And. If. She. Lost?"
He mumbled something.
He sighed heavily. "She said if her skater won she would take Bree. I didn't know what they meant, but figured we'd win."
"You asshole. You sold our sister."
"I thought she'd win."
"WINNING WASN'T POSSIBLE!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't know–"
This was her fault. She knew better than to trust him. Should have shut the idea of the race down the minute he proposed it. "Where are they?"
He shook his head. "I have no idea."
She spluttered unable render her feelings into words. In the end, she settled on, "Don't come home."
He followed her home. She tried to bar him entry but their father let him in. Even after she explained that he'd sold Bree to the Fae. Dad made an excuse for the "boy" as always. Poor boy only meant to set up a race, never could have known fairy folk were involved. After all, of this generation Carriel was the only one in the family who could see through glamour.
"I'm heading to bed. Your mother needs to know you're back okay." Dad kissed them both on the head and left them alone together.
"I can find them again," he said softly.
"Why? To sell me into slavery as well?"
He looked pained. She didn't buy it. He cared for no one but himself. "I'll get her back. I'll find them and get her back."
"No you won't. There's nothing in it for you."
"You can believe me or not, but I'm going after them tomorrow morning. At dawn."
She laughed. She couldn't believe she could still make that sound on a day like today, but he was ludicrous. He never rose before midmorning, and only woke by then if someone forced him to. He preferred to sleep in until–Oh.
"Oh, I see. You found them at some gambling den. Of course you want to return–"
"Moonsliver Falls."
That brought her up short. Moonsliver Falls stood more than half a day's ride away. In the dead of winter. Her brother liked his comfort.
"What were you—never mind. Thank you for doing something right for once in your life. I'll go after her at dawn. You can stay warm in your comfy bed." She pivoted and stormed from the room.
"I'm going," he called after her.
Before anyone could leave the next morning, a Winter Knight roused the house. Sir Drift wasted an hour in interrogations before setting out. He allowed both Carriel and Garray to escort him. The three remained silent until they'd ridden past the last farm on the outskirts of Lionye.
"What were you doing at Moonsliver Falls in the winter?" Drift asked Garray.
Her brother shot her an uneasy look. She pretended not to notice. He couldn't possibly think she'd come to his aid. The Falls were a popular place for picnics, hikes, camping–summer sports all.
"There's this story. Well, lots of stories about the most famous highwayman in these parts."
"Tarvin of Vere?" Drift asked.
"Yes." Garray squirmed uncomfortably. His horse shied to the side. "There's this story I heard that his hideout was somewhere near Moonsliver. They said–the story included some key places to look for to find it. I thought maybe I could."
Carriel snorted. Drift smiled.
"If it was ever there, I'm sure someone found it years ago," he said. "Tarvin of Vere died nearly two centuries ago."
"That's not what the stories say."
The Knight looked amused. "Would you tell everyone if you found it?"
"Hell, yeah." Garray grinned.
"He'd want to be robbed blind," she said. "My brother hasn't the brains to keep his mouth shut and actually keep the treasure."
He glared at her. "I am not stupid."
"Of course, you're not," Drift said.
"Could have fooled me," she muttered.
Drift shot her a warning look. "All of that treasure is stolen. Anyone who found it would not only confront other thieves coming after it, but the Winter Knights and other security forces pressing claim on the stolen goods on behalf of the original owners."
"Original owners?" Garray scoffed. "They're all dead."
"Lord Yeterin is the currently Duke of Thistleflown. While Ladies Jioli and Johlyn have been fighting over the title of Countess of Gladevish for a decade now, they're both much alive. Duchess Hashley rules Pommelith. The young Earl of Tawnloff might be underage, but he has regents running his territory who will press claims on his behalf. Jewels, silvers, golds, all of it on record–with drawings and descriptions–as lost at the hands of Tarvin of Verre. Any court in the Kingdom would uphold their claims.
"I would keep such possessions quiet should I have them."
Garray's jaw hung open.
"Then what would be the point of even finding them?" Carriel asked. "The coins are useful, but the rest of it is only good to sell."
"Much of it could be melted down, or you'd need a fence, someone you already knew, someone you could trust–"
"Oh sweet gods," she said. "Please do not give him any help on how to become a better criminal. He's already sold his own sister to the Fae."
"I didn't mean to."
"Yet you did."
"Let's focus on getting your sister back." Drift held up a hand. "Tell me about the Fae. Were they there in a coach or on horseback?"
Garray frowned. "I don't remember. They must have been."
"You saw no horses? No carriages?"
"I didn't pay any attention."
"This is important." Drift pointed at him. "Don't just answer. Think about it. Remember. Picture the scene in your head. Look at that memory a few minutes. Then tell me what you saw."
They rode along in silence for several minutes accompanied only by the clopping of their horses' hooves. She cast skeptical looks her brother's way.
"There were no horses. I was too stupid to notice."
"Don't beat yourself up. That's great news," Drift said.
"How?" she asked, glad of the chance to interrupt. Her brother deserved no sympathy. This was his fault.
And hers, a quiet voice in her head reminded. She was the responsible one. She was the one who knew better than to trust him or anything related to him. And still she'd not objected to the race.
She thought Bree would win too. Wanted another chance of riding on the glory of her little sister's coattails. Basking in the sun that was Lionye's champion.
She was almost as bad as Garray.
"No horses means they're from there." The Knight grinned grimly. "We're heading to their home. How did they approach you?
"They sat–She walked–I turned–" He rubbed his forehead as if it pained him.
"It's okay. What do you remember?"
"We picnicked. The girl skated on the frozen river. We talked about racing. Her coach and I. I bragged about Bree. She proposed a race."
"Were she and the girl the only Fae present?"
"Yes. No. Wait. The girl was with a group, holding races. She wasn't their fastest."
He couldn't provide any other information. Drift gave up after his following questions resulting in nothing but stammering. They rode the next few hours in silence after the Knight's attempts at small talk fell flat.
Carriel was too worried about her sister to make polite conversation. Too upset with herself. She had seen what Tayla was, and still allowed the race to go on.
Her nose, toes and fingers ached and then went numb. She expected her brother to complain and insist on going back. To avow he'd done all he could in providing what little information he'd been able to recall for Sir Drift.
He didn't. He fell back. Trailed behind her and the Knight. But he didn't say a word, not the rest of the way to Moonsliver.
Her heart fell to see the frozen waterfall. As ridiculous as she realized it to be, she'd expected to find her sister here. To see her right away. Trapped amongst the Fae, but in plain sight.
Three crows perched on two trees in the field before the frozen waterfall. Regular crows, nothing eldritch. There was no sight or sound of any other living creature.
"She's not here," she pointed out the obvious as they dismounted.
"Give me a few minutes," Sir Drift said with another grim smile.
He paced along the frozen bank, squatting a few times to touch the ice below his feet and whispering. She glanced at her brother before she could stop herself and found him looking back at her in puzzlement. Uneasy, she looked away. She didn't want to share anything with him.
The Knight rose and turned to face them.
"I need you two to stay quiet and stay back. No matter what the Fae say, you must stay out of it. No bargaining, no accepting their offers. Let me do the talking. I'd like all four of us to leave here together. Promise me, you'll stay still and quiet, no matter what is asked of you."
"I promise," Garray said.
She frowned. "What might be asked?"
"They like to bargain. They might propose something that sounds entirely reasonable, like the race did to your brother, but like that race, the proposition will be filled with hidden meaning and great cost. I aim to get your sister returned to us."
She nodded. That was all she wanted.
"Promise me, Carriel."
"I do. I promise."
Drawing free the staff he'd worn strapped across his back, the knight pivoted on the spot and strode back to the frozen stream. He slammed the wooden staff down, it crashed through the ice. Flying shards glittered in the sunlight.
"Fae of Moonsliver Falls, I, Sir Drift of the Winter Knights, demand your presence as is my right under article four of the Treaty of Fallen Snow."
He glared around the waterfall for several minutes. Nothing happened.
Carriel opened her mouth, remembered her promise, and snapped it close. Between one heartbeat and the next, Fae surrounded them.
Hulking abominable snowmen hovered on the tops of the cliffs. Creatures made of snow shaped like people and animals popped up along the opposite bank. Tiny snowflake fairies whirled and swooped around the falls. A dozen sprites twirled on the ice.
A whirlwind of snow spun on the far bank between two majestic snow griffins. The whirls of snow fell and a woman stood there.
Her skin and hair were the blinding white of snow in sunlight. Her dress glittered like ice as did the jeweled tiara on her brow. Carriel reeled. A snow queen, surely, but her face … her face was the same as the ice sprite's coach.
How could she not have seen that before? Nothing magic had ever before been able to hide itself from her.
"Why do you trespass on our lands with your magics?" the Queen asked.
"You've broken the treaty. Stolen a human."
The queen's laugh was that of icicles shattering. "Does the boy lie to you? He traded a human child to us."
"He traded someone not his to trade."
The queen's smile deepened. "He is her kin. The girl admitted as much."
"No, he–"
Drift whipped around and gestured for Carriel to shut up. She winced. She'd promised. The Winter Knight would handle this. She must leave it to him. She'd apologize later. Once he rescued her sister.
"You know the law. The Treaty of Fallen Snow states that a human may trade themselves away to the Fae without consequences, but cannot trade another person away. Bree is a person. She did not trade herself."
The Queen drew herself up haughtily. "The girl agreed to the race."
"A race only. No one informed her of any consequences if she lost."
"The bindings that created the event required her advocate to inform her of the terms."
Fist clenched, Carriel stepped forward. "She only agreed to the race to see how fast–"
The Knight glared her into silence. "The girl was never informed. Would never have participated in the race had she been. The peoples of Lionye use magical protections. Perhaps those destroyed your coercion before this young man could pass on the message."
The Queen glowered. She twirled and half the Fae, the Queen included, disappeared in a swirl of snow.
Face twisted in fury, long white braids flying, Drift rounded on her. "Anything you say gives the Fae leverage and could change the outcome of this conversation for the worst. They left to consult amongst themselves.
"They know they've lost, but will try to find a way to squirm out of this. As long as you remain quiet, I will be able to retrieve your sister. They cannot afford to break the Treaty. Whatever happens from here, you must remain silent or risk losing her forever. Need I gag you?"
Tears pricked her eyes. His ominous words left her shaking with fear. She whispered, "I can stay quiet."
He relaxed and nodded. "She'll be okay. Stay strong."
Another swirl of snow. He walked forward, but the sight before him caused him to miss a step. Carriel clamped her hands over her mouth. An abominable stood beside the Queen. Her sister hung upside down, her legs trapped in his massive hand.
"There are consequences when one lies to the Fae."
The abominable clenched his fists. The snaps of Bree's bones dropped Carriel to her knees. She screamed with her sister.
Drift yelled protests that went unheard over the screams. The abominable tossed Bree to the ground. Blood spilled from too many wounds to count. Shards of bones poked through her legs.
Drift's yells barely broke through her horror. "–COMPLETELY ILLEGAL. –ACT OF WAR. IF YOU DO NOT FIX–"
A high-pitched scream tore through the falls. Sharp enough to break eardrums. Carriel slammed her hands over her ears and turned.
Garray held an ice sprite tight in his arms. No, not an ice sprite, the ice sprite. The one who'd pretended to be a girl named Tayla. The tip of an iron knife pierced its throat. A thin trickle of electric blue blood dripped down its snow-white attire.
"Unleash her!" The Queen's growl vibrated bones and internal organs.
Drift looked wildly from Garray to the Queen. "Fix the girl, set her free, and he'll release your sprite."
"This violates the Treaty of Fallen Snows. I will kill you all," the Queen screamed.
"You've already violated the Treaty. Look at what you've done." Drift pointed dramatically at Bree. "Undo your damage. The longer the contact with iron the more likely your sprite will suffer irreparable damage."
"And how will you fix what you've reaped?"
"This is in your power," Sir Drift growled. "Fix the girl. Set her free, whole and well, as she was before you took her, before too much time passes. Save your sprite that damage."
The Queen's hiss knocked Drift off his feet. She flung out a hand over Bree. A flurry of snow engulfed her. Screams sounded inside the small blizzard. The storm floated over the river and landed a few feet from Drift.
Carriel ran, but the Knight beat her to Bree's side. He squatted down, ran his hand over her legs. She shuddered at his touch. "Are you okay?"
Carriel crashed to the ground beside her sister, pulling the nodding, crying Bree into her arms. She barely noticed the queen screaming orders and threats in the background.
But the Winter Knight paid her heed. Rising, Drift pivoted. "Let the sprite go."
Not moving, Garray glared.
"Let. The. Sprite. Go!" Drift thundered.
Garray held the knife up. Stepping back, he released the sprite. Free of his hold, the ice sprite disappeared. Moments later, she popped back up beside the Queen, crooning and squeaking. The Queen gathered the bleeding sprite in her arms. The look she shot Drift promised retribution. The Fae winked out of existence.
Drift hollered after them. Carriel didn't care. Hugging her sister, being hugged back that was all that mattered. She didn't even care that Garray looked pleased with himself. That her useless brother was now her hero.


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Latest Banking jobs » ranks and reports
Recent Ranks and Reports of India 2023: List of Ranks and Reports
This article has important facts regarding ranks and indexes in news 2022 as well important reports in news 2022.
Posted byAnmol Varshney Last updated on January 14th, 2023 12:55 pm Leave a comment on Recent Ranks and Reports of India 2023: List of Ranks and Reports
Ranks and Indexes
Reports Highlights
Reports :January 2023
Reports: December 2022
Recent in News updated on 11 January
According to the latest Henley Passport Index, Japan has retained its position as the most favourible passport in the world, allowing visa-free entry to 193 global destinations. which the country tops for the fifth consecutive year. Singapore and South Korea came in a joint second on the ranking, followed by Germany and Spain, and then a slew of other European nations.
Delhi was the most polluted city in India in 2022 with PM 2.5 levels more than double the safe limit and the third highest average PM10 concentration, according to an analysis of Central Pollution Control Board data
Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) has been ranked 1st in Services Sectors across categories Gross Block, Value Addition, Net Profit, Net Worth, Dividend Declaration, and Contribution to the Central Exchequer and has also been ranked 3rd among the Top 10 profit-making Closes.The results were published in the Public Enterprises Survey 2021-2022 by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Bangalore's Kempegoda International Airport and Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport both ranked second and seventh in Cirium's list of the world's best-performing airports for 2022.
Cuisines of the World: India is ranked fifth on the global list of the best cuisines for 2022, according to Taste Atlas.
India's badminton star, PV Sindhu is the only Indian sportsperson to feature in the top 25 of Forbes' annual list of the world's highest-paid female athletes.
Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan has become the only Indian to be named in an international list of 50 greatest actors of all time by a Empire British magazine.
Social Progress Index (SPI) for States and Districts made by the Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative was submitted to Economic Advisory Council- Prime Minister and released.
Union Minister for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh has revealed that India had jumped from 7th to 3rd in global scientific publications and scholarly output, according to a report by America's National Science Foundation.
The 2022 Global Food Security Index (GFSI) report was released by the British weekly The Economist. The 11th Global Food Security Index shows a deterioration in the global food environment for the third year, threatening food security. In this report, South Africa overtook Tunisia to become the most food-secure country in Africa.
The United Nations has recognised the Namami Gange initiative to rejuvenate India's sacred River Ganga as one of the top 10 World Restoration Flagships to revive the natural world. The award was received by G Ashok Kumar, Director General, Namami Gange, at the 15th Conference of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada.
In various competitive exams like Bank Po, Bank Clerk, Regulatory bodies: RBI Grade B, SEBI Grade A, SSC CGL, State PCS exam; recent ranks and reports are asked. This article is regularly updated so that students can have all the awards at one place. Bookmark it for revision purposes.
Rank/ Index Name By whom India's Rank Important Facts
list of 50 greatest actors Empire British Magazine – Shahrukh Khan only Indian actor in the list.
Henley Passport Index
Henley and Partners 85 Japan : 1st rank
Singapore and South Korea: 2nd
Afghanistan: last
Cuisines of the World Taste Atlas 5 Italy: 1st, Greece : 2nd, Spain: 3rd
PE Survey Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Ministry of Finance – Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) topped it
world's best-performing airports Cirium's list – Topped by Haneda, Tokyo , Japan
Bangalore : 2
Delhi : 7th
world's highest-paid female athletes.
Forbes – PV sindhu is the only Indian to be in the list. Topped by Naomi Osaka
Social Progress Index (SPI) for States and Districts
Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative – Puducherry topped
he index assesses states and districts based on 12 components across three critical dimensions of social progress – Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. The index uses an extensive framework comprising 89 indicators at the state level and 49 at the district level.
Global scientific publications and scholarly output
America's National Science Foundation.
10 World Restoration Flagships
UN Namami Gange one of them
2022 Global Food Security Index (GFSI) report
The Economist 68
grievance redressal index
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances Department (DARPG) – topped by UIDAI
Hurun Global 500 rankings
Hurun Research Institute 5 topped by USA
Apple retained the title of the most valuable company
Reliance Industries (RIL) topped the charts of Indian companies, while it ranked 34th in the world
World's 100 Most Powerful Women' list
Forbes – Ursula von der Leyen sits atop
6 Indian , Nirmala Sithraman on top.
At rank 100, Iran's Jina "Mahsa" Amini
Passport Index
Arton Capital 87 topped by UAE
Last: Afghanistan
Asia Heroes of Philanthropy list
Forbes – 16th edition
Gautam Adani, HCL Technologies's Shiv Nadar, and Happiest Minds Technologies' Ashok Soota in the list
100 most influential women in the world
BBC – four Indians: Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, author Geetanjali Shree, engineer and astronaut Sirisha Bandla, and social worker Sneha Jawale
Highest risk for mass killing in 2022 and 2023 Early Warning Project 8, earlier it was 2 Pakistan Topped, Yemen ranked second, Myanmar third
Global Aviation Safety Ranking International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 48 Singapore(1st), followed by the UAE and South Korea at the second and third positions, respectively. China is at the 49th place.
India's 100 Richest 2022 Forbes – 1. Gautam Adani ( $150 billion),2. Mukesh Ambani, 3. Radhakish and Damani
Global Prime Cities Index Knight Frank – Dubai (1st),Wellington was the weakest.
Mumbai got 22nd rank, highest in India. earlier it has 39th rank.
The prime global cities index is a valuation-based index tracking the movement in prime residential prices in local currency across 45-plus cities worldwide.
Global Leader Approval Ratings Morning Consult. – PM Modi topped, followed by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at 69 per cent and Australian PM Anthony Albanese at 56 per cent,
According to a survey by Avtar, a company that specializes in workplace inclusion, Chennai is India's top city for women's employment. Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai are the next best cities for women's employment.
A total of 1,668 Journalists have been killed worldwide with murders, contract killings, ambushes, war zone deaths, and fatal injuries in last two decades. report from Reporters without borders
YouTube creators contributes over Rs 10,000 cr to India's GDP: According to YouTube, its creative ecosystem supported more than 750,000 full-time equivalent jobs in India in 2021.
The Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri launched draft guidelines for a new ranking system of cities based on finance and beauty.
The Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar has got A grade by scoring 3.85 points in National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grading, thereby becoming the only University in India to get this score. GNDU is the only State/Central/Private University in India to get this score. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is the only other educational institution with a higher grade of 3.89 in the country.
Three new cultural sites in India, including the iconic Sun Temple at Modhera, historic Vadnagar town in Gujarat, and rock-cut relief sculptures of Unakoti in Tripura, have been added to the tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites.
A study report, titled 'Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage Policy Framework and its Deployment Mechanism in India', was released by NITI Aayog. The report explores the importance of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage as an emission reduction strategy to achieve deep decarbonization from the hard-to-abate sectors. The report outlines broad level policy interventions needed across various sectors for its application.
Google has released its "Year in Search 2022" report, which highlights the topics that generated the most interest and were most frequently searched :IPL most searched in India and Wordle in the world.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has published the list of 100 most influential women in the world and has included women from several areas such as politics, science, sports, entertainment, and literature. The BBC's 100 most influential women's list also includes four Indians: Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, author Geetanjali Shree, engineer and astronaut Sirisha Bandla, and social worker Sneha Jawale.
According to GroupM's global end-of-year forecast, India is expected to surpass Brazil to become the eighth-largest advertising market in 2023. In 'This Year, Next Year 2022', GroupM has ranked India as the ninth-largest advertising market globally.
Recent Appointments in India 2022: List of Important Appointments
Recent Books and Authors in India 2022: List of Important Books and Authors
Recent Awards and Recognitions in India 2022: List of Important Awards
Recent Summits and Conferences 2022: List of Summits and Conference
Posted byAnmol Varshney January 12, 2023 January 14, 2023 Posted inArticle, Current Affairs, Daily Current Affairs, general awarenessTags: IBPS PO, SBI PO
How to read important reports in news?
Reports released by important institutions like world bank, IMF, Niti Aayog, RBI. Major highlights are asked in the reports.
IBPS PO Reserve List 2021-22 Out, Provis...
IBPS PO Interview Call Letter 2023, Phas...
Letters & Essays Asked in Bank Mains...
Mission Karmayogi: National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building
Quantitative Aptitude Quiz For SIDBI Grade A Prelims 2023- 12th January


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Final Warning: Illuminati North Korea Invasion To The America 2016
Andra February 5, 2016 0 Comments
Blackout USA / EMP, War
Illuminati North Korea Invasion, War
Everyone is speculating over what North Korea is going to do – and although we do not know exactly when or if, we do know that Major Ed Dames and his remote viewing team warned that the North Koreans would use a nuke in anger – and this young leader is angry and wants to prove himself – and now even China is getting concerned, but said that if war breaks out, they will come to the aid of North Korea. But we also know that nothing of importance happens that is not approved and well planned by the Illuminati. And that comes from an insider. So then, what exactly is going on and what can we expect?
It appears to me that we may be watching a slow, or perhaps very fast, unwinding of a plan known as the Armageddon Script – a series of conflicts that are unleashed upon the world all at once that leads to WWIII. In this so-called script – the North Koreans launch a strike against the South. At the same time, the Chinese take advantage of this and launch an attack upon Taiwan. Then trouble breaks out in the Middle East. That spreads out the United States military to such a degree that we would be fighting on behalf of allies on three or perhaps four fronts – something we could not do. As to the truth of the Armageddon Script, no one knows – but it does make sense if you wanted to break the USA down and weaken her to come in for the final kill during the Ezekiel 38/39 war.
We know that the Illuminati must and will bring America down, and war is just one way to accomplish it, the second being economics – or in this case, the possibility of both. If we end up in a major conflict with North Korea, the Chinese will have to support their neighbor, even if they may not agree with all of the bellicose remarks coming from there.
This is a very touchy situation, and the North Korean military knows it. They are a wild card, and no one knows what they might or might not do. They could launch several missiles claiming they are testing them when in fact they are real. They could have underground tunnels and use an underground nuke no one knows anything about – but one thing is certain – the U.S. Government is beginning to take these threats much more seriously than ever before.
Well, it could be a major EMP attack because we know the North Korea launched a satellite not long ago and no one really knows what it was for, and no one really knows what types of missiles they have either. It comes right over the USA a number of times in just the next few days – days that their dear young leader has said "trouble is coming".
Does this satellite contain a hidden EMP weapon? No one knows but we could soon find out. This brings us to HOPI prophecy, in that they said that from the East came a device that caused all modern high tech stuff to stop dead in its tracks – like cars, trucks, computers, all of it. HOPI prophecy claims it is one of TWO possibilities – so it is not a sure thing. The only thing that could bring American high tech stuff to stop is an EMP.
Tokyo had already deployed Aegis class destroyers equipped with missile interceptors in the Sea of Japan to counter the North Korean threats, and authorized its forces to shoot down any missile emanating from North Korea.
(Comment – The shooting down of any missile from North Korea will most likely lead to an escalation of hostilities because North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is mentally unbalanced and is already very angry with everyone. He would view the shooting down of a test missile as an act of war, and might then proceed to unleash whatever weaponry he has. He has in effect, talked himself into a corner – where he has to act or his own people and military would consider him just a liar and weak willed. He is in a dangerous area now both in the world and at home. Who knows what orders or rewards he has been offered by the Illuminated Ones?
And here is another indication of how serious this may be getting:
NORTH KOREA – North Korea issued its latest dispatch of ominous rhetoric Tuesday, telling foreigners in South Korea they should take steps to secure shelter or evacuation to protect themselves in the event of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The unnerving message came as Japan set up missile defenses in Tokyo, and North Korean workers failed to turn up for work in the industrial complex jointly operated by North and South Korea. In the statement published by state-run media Tuesday, the North's Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee reiterated accusations that Washington and Seoul were seeking to provoke a war with Pyongyang. "Once a war is ignited on the peninsula, it will be an all-out war," the committee said, adding that North Korea doesn't want foreigners in South Korea to "fall victim" to a conflict."
He may be insane enough to think he could actually bring down America in the long run – and he might be right, because we simply do not have enough good intelligence to know what weapons he actually has. We are guessing – and that can be very dangerous.
This guide is for families preparing for imminent terrorist or strategic nuclear attacks.
The other thing to remember here is that while we are seeing no major troop build-ups in the North is that the North Koreans may have dug a huge underground complex of tunnels that go all the way into South Korea – thus the North could send thousands of troops underground to pop at when ordered to do so. In as much as these tunnels are huge all around the world – what is to say that they have not acquired missiles we know nothing about – and nuke technology we know nothing about. Inasmuch as Iran and North Korea are "buddies", and both hate the United States with a passion – and well, we have found out previously that U.S. Intelligence and their assessment of things is almost always wrong. This, coupled with where we are of the Lord's timeline should give everyone pause.
This just in as I was posting:
WASHINGTON – If North Korea were to launch an attack, U.S. intelligence analysts tell WND the barrage of hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds and missiles would destroy not only South Korea's capital, Seoul, but also most of the U.S. troops stationed primarily around the capital and near the Demilitarized Zone separating the two countries.
Through a cold mist, South Korean troops scan their frontier for signs of an attack by warmongering North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Behind razor wire and machine gun nests, nervous soldiers man artillery positions ready to blitz the dictator's forces dug in less than a mile away.
But while their eyes peer into the mist, the onslaught may yet begin where they cannot see… 100 feet below their boots.
Because military chiefs fear Kim's troops have dug a series of secret underground tunnels reaching behind the South's defensive lines.
And in one nightmare scenario they believe up to 30,000 elite commandos are ready to pour through them.(source)
By. MyDailyInformer
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Backyard Liberty (Easy and cheap DIY Aquaponic system to grow your organic and living food bank)
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Survive Any Crisis (Best Items To Hoard For A Long Term Crisis)
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A Warning from Russia to America
North Korea Issues Fresh War Warning to U.S. and Japan
ARE YOU READY TO DIE ? – The War is Coming to the USA and Then Russian Invasion on the East and Chinese on the West…
ALERT Russia Deploys Troops to N.Korea Border,as Kim Jong-un Warns of'Super-Mighty Pre-EmptiveStrike – "Kim Jong UN Fires Another Ballistic Missile" "Armageddon" Coming
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America Warning Is "Past The Point Of No Return" –"Breathtaking Path Of Destruction" Blazed By US Supreme Court Backs Russia And China


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Tag: christmas songs
Sufjan Stevens Returns To His Majestic Winter Wonderland With 'Silver & Gold'
It's not even Thanksgiving yet, and I've already listened to 100 Christmas songs — all by Sufjan Stevens. To some this may sound great. To far more, this may sound tortuous. And to think, for a time there, I wasn't totally sure we'd get more songs from Sufjan Stevens.
Back when Stevens released his Illinois album in 2005, I, like many, geekily hoped he would make good on his plan to do a record for each of the 50 states. It was fun to imagine what state might be next to get the Sufjan treatment ("Maybe it'll be Kansas next!," I may have actually thought). But deep down, I think we all scratched our heads over how such an ambitious project would even be logistically possible.
It wasn't. Stevens more or less dropped out of the scene after that, worked on his cinematic symphonic work, The BQE, and pondered out loud that he wasn't so sure he wanted to write "songs" anymore. Stevens eventually did resurface obviously with 2010's EP, All Delighted People and its immediate follow-up, the radical and majestic masterpiece Age Of Adz, but not before quashing any remaining hope of another states album, admitting that the whole idea was just a "promotional gimmick."
So while the Fifty States Project never actually materialized, Stevens was indeed busy in those five years. It turns out, he'd been quietly plugging away at writing and recording more Christmas songs. A lot of them.
As you might recall, Stevens first released 2006's Songs For Christmas, a sprawling 42-song, 5-disc set of Christmas-themed EPs, initially created for his family and friends each year from 2001-2005. Mixing gorgeous original works with re-arranged Christian traditionals — like his stunning banjo and piano rendition of "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing" — that idiosyncratic and fun treasure trove rejuvenated a somewhat tired Christmas canon with vibrancy, spiritual reverence, and conflicted feelings about the over-commercialization of the holiday.
Now, six years later, Sufjan Stevens has unloaded Silver & Gold, a whopping 58-song follow-up recorded between 2006 to 2010. For those that purchased this new box set, the collection contains a huge 80-page booklet, stickers and temporary tattoos, and one of those fold-it-yourself paper ornaments. Oh yeah, and five discs of original songs and faithful and odd interpretations of traditional holiday fare that rolls through a variety of styles: choral pieces, ramshackle jingles, instrumental interludes, weirdo genre exercises and under-developed sketches.
Each disc is more or less split up thematically, and each has its own distinct personality. The first and fourth EPs, Gloria and Let It Snow, feel the most traditional, with the biggest concentration of straight ahead buoyant takes on familiar jingles and carols. But each successive entry — I Am Santa's Helper, Christmas Infinity Voyage, and Christmas Unicorn — begins to experiment in form and texture, while also looking inward, grappling with what's important about Christmas.
Perhaps the most interesting and bizarre set is the third EP, Christmas Infinity Voyage, which incorporates the newfound glitched-out 8-bit synths and Auto-tuned vocals Stevens has developed recently. On Christmas standards we've heard for years, like "I'll Be Home For Christmas" or "Joy To The World," it remarkably works, as bits of noise, static and otherworldly computerized cacophony begin to creep into the corners, only to climax with a reprise the jubilent chorus of "Impossible Soul" from Adz.
And some of the best entries are those that throw away the basic structure, sliding into expansive electronic jams, such as the 15-minute epic "The Child With The Star On His Head" or "Christmas Unicorn," which peaks with a repeated chant of Joy Divisions "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
In all Silver & Gold is yet another really excellent addition to Stevens' ever-ballooning Christmas catalog, even if it might not be the most satisfying listen if you set out to play each EP straight through. I Am Santa's Helper, in particular, has the most inconsistent or undeveloped ideas. Ultimately that's also the nature of such a project: Even if it doesn't all succeed, I'm glad someone like Stevens is out there trying and experimenting. Still, buried within these five volumes are plenty of pieces — both playfully heartwarming and dark– that will easily sit alongside your favorite Christmas songs, if not your favorite Sufjan songs.
For an unpredictable artist always searching for something grand, and aspiring to high concept ideas, Sufjan Stevens' imaginative musical world is, at his best, powerful, moving, and always worth visiting. Here's hoping there's more songs to come.
With so much to hear and wrap your mind around, it's easy to miss out on some of the gems of Silver & Gold. Hear six more of my favorite highlights from the album.
1) "Baracola (You Must Be A Christmas Tree)" (Disc one, track 7)
A melancholy ballad that builds to a cathartic chorus of voices as emotionally satisfying and lovely as anything on this collection.
2) "Mr. Frosty Man" (Disc two, track 13)
A fun, rough and tumble garage-rock banger, all blown speaker fuzz and feedback, it's as if the Seeds or Velvet Underground decided to sing about about a super-cool bossy snowman.
3) "Angels We Have Heard On High" (Disc three, track 1)
A traditional call-and-response Christmas carol, reworked with new lyrics from Stevens that reference flying saucers and feeling lost amidst the commotion of the holiday, all while tiny bursts of feedback swell underneath the autoharp, banjo and angelic voices.
4) "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (Disc three, track 2)
One of the most inventive re-envisioned songs, this 9-minute, multi-part piece brings in the serrated computer beats, Casio-synth sounds and vocoder, allowing it to easily reside in the middle of Steven's Age Of Adz universe.
5) "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow" (Disc four, track 7)
A holiday favorite of mine, given a complete re-harmonization, turning this joyful winter tune into a haunting and enrapturing minor-key lament.
6) "Justice Delivers Its Death" (Disc five, track 8)
With the lines "Silver and gold, everyone wishes for it / How do you measure its worth, just by the pleasure it gives here on Earth?" Sufjan's ponders his place in a world that values wealth and youth in one of the most beautiful songs he's written in years.
Posted on 16 November 2012 4 February 2014 Author Mike KatzifCategories helloMike, Lists, Reblogging, reviewsTags christmas songs, Sufjan Stevens


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De 44ste wereldkampioenschappen schermen werden gehouden in de Houtrusthallen in Den Haag, Nederland in 1995. De organisatie lag in de handen van de FIE.

Resultaten

Mannen

Vrouwen

Medaillespiegel

1995
Schermen 1995
Schermen in Nederland
Sportevenement in Den Haag
Schermen in 1995

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Moby re-imagines his back catalogue on forthcoming album 'Reprise'
Back in 1999, no dinner party, student digs or chillout room was complete without a copy of Moby's Play – arguably the crossover album to beat all crossover albums – which turned the Go producer into a household name.
As Spin magazine's Will Hermes put it at the time, Play was "the high-water mark for populist electronica", blending gospel, roots music, disco and electronica.
With the past few months offering plenty of scope for reflection, Moby has re-imagined some of the biggest tracks from Play, along with other highlights from his back catalogue, on a forthcoming new album, Reprise, which lands on 28 May.
Released on classical music label Deutsche Grammophon, the album sees Moby team up with the Budapest Art Orchestra as well as a range of artists, including Jim James, Kris Kristofferson, Luna Li, Skylar Grey and Víkingur Ólafsson.
There's also a music documentary to accompany the new album – Moby Doc has been described as a 'surrealist biographical documentary' narrated by the man himself, as he traverses various genres and personal challenges during 30-odd years of musical output.
The release of Reprise has already been preceded by a couple of singles, including reworkings of Porcelain (featuring Jim James) and The Lonely Night, featuring Kris Kristofferson and Mark Lanegan, and the third release, a new take on Natural Blues, has just landed, featuring Gregory Porter and Amythyst Kiah on vocal duties.
"When I first heard Moby's 'Natural Blues' I had an immediate connection with the song," Porter commented in a press release. "It sounded very modern, but at the same time, it felt a thousand years old.
"The different influences that flow through this music are brought to the fore again in this new version – amplifying the soul, spirit and voice of another time. It's a pleasure to lend my voice to this classic tune, reimagined and renewed."
Tracklisting for Moby – Reprise, released 28 May
1 – Everloving
2 – Natural Blues (featuring Gregory Porter & Amythyst Kiah)
3 – Go
4 – Porcelain (featuring Jim James)
5 – Extreme Ways
6 – Heroes (featuring Mindy Jones)
7 – God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters (featuring Víkingur Ólafsson)
8 – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? (featuring Apollo Jane & Deitrick Haddon)
9 – The Lonely Night (featuring Kris Kristofferson & Mark Lanegan)
10 – We Are All Made Of Stars
11 – Lift Me Up
12 – The Great Escape (featuring Nataly Dawn, Alice Skye & Luna Li)
13 – Almost Home (featuring Novo Amor, Mindy Jones & Darlingside)
14 – The Last Day (featuring Skylar Grey & Darlingside)
Tags: Moby, Natural Blues, Reprise
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Yup, we got one of these! We believe children shouldn't be stuck inside all day. That's why we have a private, outdoor play area for students. It was designed with the beauty of the natural environment in mind, and encourages children to play, explore and learn (though not necessarily in that order). Our play area is completely fenced off to ensure safety and privacy.


Have questions? Get answers from Muamir Design & Engineering Consultancy LLC (Ibri) or OmanYP.com users. Visitors haven't asked any questions yet.
Muamir Design & Engineering Consultancy LLC (Ibri) is located in Ibri, Oman. Company is working in Consultants, Sports, Golf courses, Event equipment, Exhibition stands, Architectural services, Interior design, Property consultants business activities.


Multidisciplinary team develops mathematical approach that could help in simulating materials for solar cells and LEDs.
Disordered materials, such as this slice of amorphous silicon (a material often used to make solar cells), have been very difficult to model mathematically. New mathematical methods developed at MIT should help with such modeling.


Please completely fill out the below form and submit. Once you have, a spot will be reserved for you.
You must, however, remit payment and a preliminary roster for the tournament you have selected within (5) days from the day of submission. If payment is not received in this timeframe, the spot may be made available for other teams.


To really WOW clients we are finding we need the renders to be photo realistic, to achieve this we quite often find thru the web items that need to be placed in a design and because the renders are so good on 2020, they need to look exactly how they would in real life. We struggle to import them and make them look exactly how the real item would. I know its possible but nowhere can I find detailed instructions of how to do this. So my suggestion is to run some sort of training to teach us how to do it, including resizing the items cropping them and whatever else some of the experts in 2020 do to make it realistic?
Considering each design is different, I would recommend a custom online class with one of our trainers to work with you one on one. It includes an email analysis to create a custom agenda of topics, preparation and development for your class and 1 hour or more on online training. This type of training has an hourly rate and based on your custom agenda, you can choose the best plan that fits in your budget for training.
Thanks for your suggestion but the rendering presentation just glosses over the area.
Can you email me directly and I'd be more than happy to discuss both topics (2020 Cloud and training) directly with you. Thanks!
Like trying to print a tiny thumbnail into a poster.


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Attendees Complain of Feeling Ripped Off By Last Weekend's Margarita Festival
by Eric Sandler Oct 16, 2012, 10:00am CDT
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Last week, the first ever Houston Margarita Festival took place at Downtown's Discovery Green park. The premise was simple: pay either $15 or $60 (VIP) to try a bunch of different kinds of margaritas and listen to live music. However, as with the Houston Beer Fest in 2011, organizers couldn't deliver on their promises.
Specifically, upset attendees complained that lines to get in and order drinks were too long, the promised food for VIPs disappeared and the only margarita flavors available were lime and strawberry. People flooded the event's Facebook page with complaints; when they started to disappear, people moved to this thread on the Eater Houston page to express their outrage.
Here's a few of the complaints:
It was absolutely horrible. No organization at all. There were no signs telling you where to go, the staffers either ignored you or were rude if you asked them a question, VIP area was out of food and was selling drinks to non VIPs. I actually witnessed a couple of staffers yelling at a couple who was politely asking for a refund due to the lack of organization. We left after lass than 30 minutes and will never go back.
Three friends and I purchased VIP tickets at $64 each for the Houston Margarita Festival, which supposedly included admission, VIP tents, a variety of margarita flavors at a discounted price, a buffet, and unlimited chips and salsa. We arrived at the event at 3:30pm, only to be asked to stand in a very long line for our VIP entrance, while people without tickets, or with general admission tickets, were getting in immediately. After speaking with 3 different staff members, we received our bands and made our way in. There was no designation as to where the VIP area was located, the drink lines were ridiculously long, and they only had 2 flavors of margaritas. We then asked about the location of the VIP area, and when we made our way there, there was not enough seating, not enough tents, absolutely NO margaritas or food. We were able to get some chips, but they had even run out of salsa.
We arrived right when it opened and did not have the problems of others. There were no lines or crowds, and we even found seats in the shade. It still sucked-there was no variety, things were way too expensive and very few interesting vendors. We stayed 40 minutes and will never go back. I am very happy we did not pay full price for the tickets, but between parking, entrance and drink tickets, we spent $45 for three not very good margaritas.
Organizers have been apologetic but not very accommodating. In a statement, they said that "We are aware of frustrations and disappointments from some festival goers regarding the VIP section, lines and food/drink selections (among other things) and regret any festival attendee's experience that was less outstanding." They apologized for removing people's Facebook posts and said it was an accident. In lieu of a refund, they've invited festival goers to visit Double Cross Lounge, Hearsay Houston or the Distillery to receive a free margarita tomorrow and Thursday between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, as CultureMap's Sarah Rufca suggests, when it comes to first year festivals, "Maybe Houstonians should adopt the philosophy of savvy tech users — no matter how great the product sounds, wait for the second version — that's when they've worked all the issues out."
· Houston Margarita Festival [Facebook]
· Long Lines and No Tequila?! Houston Margarita Festival Leaves Sour Taste [CultureMap]
[Photo: Houston Margarita Festival/Facebook]
1500 McKinney Street, Houston, TX 77010
The 18 Hottest New Restaurants in Houston, January 2022 Find late night pizza and so much more at these exciting newcomers


ID continues and we come back to Barcelona.
We bring you Dubtil aka Robert a key figure in Bucharest's underground scene. Established producers, his cutting edge sets are both seminal and energetic, the bond between new and old, minimal, techno or house is determined only by the vibe he finds out there.
And Piticu our baby boy that doesn't need any introduction will break the dance floors as he usually do.
Keep posted for more info soon.


Each project team is comprised of three to five students and is required to meet periodically outside of class for four hours (longer, if needed).
Project teams function as mutual support mechanisms through which students can learn more efficient problem-solving skills from the professional expertise of peers.
The skills one learns in project teams -- such as how to combine and share talents, experience, and learning resources -- are held in high regard by corporations and organizations.
When it comes to finding a new hobby or acquiring a new skill we would all love to learn everything from our own experience but we also know that that is not always possible.
Self improvement is a liberating occurrence and you can go down that road by signing up to courses with specialised instructors that will make sure you meet your potential.
Reputed to be the first African American in the United States to graduate from college, Alexander Twilight was born on a farm in Corinth, Vermont to a white or fair-skinned mother, Mary Twilight, and a mixed-race father, Ichabod Twilight, who had served as a private in the American Revolution.
Because of the killer whale's size, it is not preyed on by any other creature in the ocean.
Start Year : 1940 When the Louisville Board of Education denied the petition for equal pay for African American teachers, a suit was filed by the NAACP on behalf of Vallateen Virginia Dudley Abbington. Board of Education of Louisville was filed on December 5, 1940, in the Federal District Court.


A Google-backed project known as Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) has recently started to gain traction among certain brands and websites. The main objective for the project is to improve the mobile experience.
Pages optimized with AMP HTML will load instantly for mobile devices. So far it has mainly been used by news publishing sites, but in the past several months, organizations like eBay and others, beyond the publishing world, have started to implement AMP. As the technology spreads, it will create more competition for other websites that need to be optimized to stay relevant in the advancing mobile market. The benefits of this optimization are not only efficiency and speed, but also more exposure for your website as viewers will be more inclined to spend more time exploring pages for information they seek.
So how does it work? AMP mobile pages work just like a standard HTML page, the difference is that AMP takes advantage of certain technical and architectural properties to prioritize speed to improve the mobile experience. AMP users are still able to leverage media options such as images and videos, advertising, and collecting data. Cloud technology is also available to cache AMP files so that download time is reduced.
The goal of this project is to improve the mobile experience in any way. AMP was designed to be open source to accommodate multiple platforms and reach a wide variety of audiences. Developers and companies have been encouraged to get involved with AMP as the project continues to grow.
A comScore report says smartphones and tablets combined now account for 60% of all online traffic up from 50 % a year ago – with these kind of numbers it is paramount for your website to have the ability to reach as many potential consumers as possible. Salesforce states that 68% of companies have integrated mobile marketing into their overall strategy. Mobile optimization is a key factor to stay relevant in mobile marketing. The technology of AMP is designed to do just that. Currently, publishers and Content Management System (CMS) providers are developing AMP integrations for CMSs. Automattic has already provided users with a WordPress AMP plugin.
For developers, getting familiar with AMP is simple and won't take more time than it normally would to develop a site. AMP HTML is already built using existing web technologies so that the development process is the same as what publishers are currently using. Anyone new to the technology can pick it up and be able to use it effectively. Sign up to Github to stay up to date on any new developments or information.
When optimizing your site (whether it is using AMP or not) be sure to make it pleasing to the viewer. It needs to be easily accessible on the desktop and mobile devices. Keep in mind that different screens may make it harder to scroll and keep up with heavy content. CMS Report claims that 57% of users won't recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. Media like videos and pictures will not only look better, but also can be used to give the user important information. Picture and video downloading is what accounts for most of the data usage on the average cell phone. An effective call-to-action is also a game changing aspect for a mobile site. A simple and enticing CTA button is perfect for mobile users and good for conversion rates.
In the end, all of the strategy and planning in the world can go into your site but it won't matter if your videos won't load or your links take too long to open a page. That is why AMP is so important in creating a powerful site. AMP is like the air in the tires of a Ferrari. If the tires are flat you may have a nice looking car, but you can't maximize its full potential.