1.
Flag of Anguilla
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The national flag of Anguilla, a British overseas territory, consists of a Blue Ensign with the British flag in the canton, charged with the coat of arms of Anguilla in the fly. The coat of arms consists of three dolphins, which were featured on the earlier Anguillan flag, and which stand for friendship, wisdom, the flag is Anguillas third flag other than as part of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. The islands first flag was a red flag featuring the name of the island in yellow, variants to this flag were also widely used, with some substituting red for purple and some not bearing the name of Anguilla. This flag was widely disliked, and was replaced during Anguillas brief period of independence by the Dolphin Flag, which is still widely seen around the island. This flag was a banner of the arms found on the current Blue Ensign, the Blue Ensign for Anguilla was adopted in 1990. It is used on land, it is used at sea by vessels operated by the Government of Anguilla. Anguillas civil ensign—that is the ensign worn on civilian vessels registered in Anguilla—is the undifferenced Red Ensign, Anguilla has not yet adopted a distinctive version of the Red Ensign. Ashore, the flag is commonly used as an all-purpose civil flag, either in place of. The Union Jack defaced with the Anguilla coat of arms is used by the Governor, Anguilla at Flags of the World
2.
Coat of arms of Anguilla
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The coat of arms of Anguilla consists of the emblem found on the flag of Anguilla, a traditional symbol of the territory. The coat of arms consists of three dolphins leaping over the sea, the three dolphins are coloured orange and represent endurance, unity, and strength, and they leap in a circle for continuity. The badge has a background, for peace and tranquility, with a turquoise-blue base representing the surrounding sea and also faith, youth. CaribSeek Coat of arms of Anguilla In The World All Countries Coat of arms
3.
God Save the Queen
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God Save the Queen is the national and/or royal anthem in a number of Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant and it is also the royal anthem of all the aforementioned countries, as well as Australia, Canada, Barbados and Tuvalu. In countries not previously part of the British Empire, the tune of God Save the Queen has provided the basis for various patriotic songs, in the United States, the melody is used for the patriotic song My Country, Tis of Thee. The melody is used for the national anthem of Liechtenstein. Beyond its first verse, which is consistent, God Save the Queen/King has many historic, since its first publication, different verses have been added and taken away and, even today, different publications include various selections of verses in various orders. In general, only one verse is sung, sometimes two verses are sung, and on rare occasions, three. The sovereign and her or his consort are saluted with the entire anthem, the first six bars also form all or part of the Vice Regal Salute in some Commonwealth realms outside the UK, as well as the salute given to governors of British overseas territories. He also points to several pieces by Henry Purcell, one of which includes the notes of the modern tune. Nineteenth-century scholars and commentators mention the widespread belief that an old Scots carol, the first published version of what is almost the present tune appeared in 1744 in Thesaurus Musicus. The 1744 version of the song was popularised in Scotland and England the following year and this manuscript has the tune depart from that which is used today at several points, one as early as the first bar, but is otherwise clearly a strong relative of the contemporary anthem. It was recorded as being sung in London theatres in 1745, with, for example, Scholes analysis includes mention of untenable and doubtful claims, as well as an American misattribution. The surgical knife that was purpose-built for the occasion is on display in the Musée dhistoire de la médecine, lully set words by Marie de Brinon to music, and Créquy claims the tune was later plagiarised by Handel. Translated in Latin under the name Domine, Salvum Fac Regem, after the Battle of Culloden, the Hanover dynasty supposedly then adopted this melody as the British anthem. James Oswald, He is an author of the Thesaurus Musicus, so may have played a part in the history of the song. Dr Henry Carey, Scholes refutes this attribution, first on the grounds that Carey himself never made such a claim, second, when the claim was made by Careys son, it was accompanied by a request for a pension from the British Government on that score. Third, the younger Carey claimed that his father had written parts of it in 1745, Scholes recommends the attribution traditional or traditional, earliest known version by John Bull. The English Hymnal gives no attribution, stating merely 17th or 18th cent, God Save the Queen is the national anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Like many aspects of British constitutional life, its official status derives from custom and use, in general only one or two verses are sung, but on rare occasions three
4.
British Overseas Territories
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The 14 British Overseas Territories are territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. They are the parts of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or have voted to remain British territories. These territories do not form part of the United Kingdom and, with the exception of Gibraltar, are not part of the European Union, though the Cyprus SBAs are subject to EU law and use the Euro. Most of the territories are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defence. The rest are either uninhabited or have a population of military or scientific personnel. They share the British monarch as head of state, the term British Overseas Territory was introduced by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, replacing the term British Dependent Territory, introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981. Prior to 1 January 1983, the territories were referred to as British Crown Colonies. With the exceptions of the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Territories retain permanent civilian populations. Permanent residency for the 7,000 or so living in the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri. Collectively, the Territories encompass a population of about 250,000 people, the vast majority of this,660,000 square miles, constitutes the British Antarctic Territory. The current minister responsible for the Territories excluding the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the Sovereign Base Areas is Baroness Anelay, Minister of State for the Commonwealth, the other three territories are the responsibility of Sir Alan Duncan MP, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. The first, unofficial, colony was Newfoundland, where English fishermen routinely set up camps in the 16th century. It is now a province of Canada known as Newfoundland and Labrador and it retains strong cultural ties with Britain. English colonisation of North America began officially in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown, st. Georges town, founded in Bermuda in that year, remains the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in the New World. Bermuda and Bermudians have played important, sometimes pivotal, but generally underestimated or unacknowledged roles in the shaping of the English and British trans-Atlantic Empires. These include maritime commerce, settlement of the continent and of the West Indies, separate self-governing colonies federated to become Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Rhodesia. These and other large self-governing colonies had become known as Dominions by the 1920s, the Dominions achieved almost full independence with the Statute of Westminster. Through a process of following the Second World War, most of the British colonies in Africa, Asia
5.
The Valley, Anguilla
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The Valley is the capital of Anguilla, one of its fourteen districts, and the main town on the island. As of 2011, it had a population of 1,067, new shops have opened in new buildings and renovated West Indian-style cottages. Old shops have been modernized and have enlarged their stocks as well as their space, the ruins of the Old Court House are located on Crocus Hill, the islands highest point. All that remains are the walls of a few basement jail cells. The town is located in the middle of the island, in front of Crocus Bay and nearby Crocus Hill, nearest villages are North Side, The Quarter, North Hill and George Hill. The Valley has a wet and dry climate under the Köppen climate classification. The area has a dry season that covers the months of February and April. However the wet season, though lengthy, does not quite see the heavy precipitation that is commonplace in other Caribbean cities such as Santo Domingo, average temperatures in The Valley are relatively constant throughout the year, ranging from 26–29 degrees Celsius. The Valley is served by Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport with some international flights, cardigan Connor – Former Hampshire County Cricket Club fast bowler. Ronald Webster Park Map of The Valley
6.
Ethnic groups
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive
7.
Multiracial
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Multiracial is defined as made up of or relating to people of many races. Many terms exist for people of multiracial backgrounds. While some of the used in the past are considered insulting and offensive. Individuals of multiracial backgrounds make up a significant portion of the population in parts of the world. In North America, studies have found that the population is continuing to grow. Because of a decline in racism, multiracial people no longer feel the need to hide their heritage, in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, mixed-race people make up the majority of the population. While defining race is controversial, race remains a commonly used term for categorization, insofar as race is defined differently in different cultures, perceptions of multiraciality will naturally be subjective. Some percentage of people who look black will possess genetic markers indicating the majority of their recent ancestors were European. The revised OMB standards identify a minimum of five categories, White, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian. Perhaps the most significant change for Census 2000 was that respondents were given the option to one or more races on the questionnaire to indicate their racial identity. Census 2000 race data are shown for people who reported a race either alone or in combination with one or more other races, in the English-speaking world, many terms for people of various multiracial backgrounds exist, some of which are pejorative or are no longer used. Mulato, zambo and mestizo are used in Spanish, mulato, caboclo, cafuzo, ainoko and mestiço in Portuguese and mulâtre and these terms are also in certain contexts used in the English-speaking world. In Canada, the Métis are an ethnic group of mixed European and First Nation descent. Half-breed is a term that referred to people of partial Native American ancestry, it is now considered pejorative. Mestee, once used, is now used mostly for members of historically mixed-race groups, such as Louisiana Creoles, Melungeons, Redbones. In South Africa, and much of English-speaking southern Africa, the term Coloured was used to describe a mixed-race person, while the term is socially accepted, it is becoming an outdated due to its association with the apartheid era. Charts and diagrams intended to explain the classifications were common, the well-known Casta paintings in Mexico and, to some extent, Peru, were illustrations of the different classifications. Most Brazilians of all groups are to some extent mixed-race according to genetic research
8.
European ethnic groups
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The ethnic groups in Europe are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. The total number of minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people. There is no precise or universally accepted definition of the ethnic group or nationality. There are eight peoples of Europe with more than 30 million members residing in Europe and these eight groups between themselves account for some 465 million or about 65% of European population, Russians, Germans, French, British, Italians, Spanish, Ukrainians, Poles. About 20–25 million residents are members of diasporas of non-European origin, the population of the European Union, with some five hundred million residents, accounts for two thirds of the European population. Of the total population of Europe of some 730 million, over 80% or some 600 million fall within three large branches of Indo-European languages, viz. Slavic, Italic and Germanic, the largest groups that do not fall within these three are the Greeks and the Albanians. Beside the Indo-European languages there are two major language families on the European continent, Turkic languages and Uralic languages. The Semitic languages that dominate the coast of northern Africa as well as the Near East are preserved in Malta, abkhaz–Adyghean, Basque, Kartvelian, and Nakho-Dagestani are linguistic isolates with no known relation to each other or to any other languages inside or outside of Europe. The Basques are assumed to descend from the populations of the Atlantic Bronze Age directly, the Indo-European groups of Europe are assumed to have developed in situ by admixture of early Indo-European groups arriving in Europe by the Bronze Age. The Finnic peoples are mostly assumed to be descended from populations that had migrated to their homelands by about 3,000 years ago. A group of Tyrrhenian languages appears to have included Etruscan, Rhaetian and perhaps also Eteocretan, a pre-Roman stage of Proto-Basque can only be reconstructed with great uncertainty. Regarding the European Bronze Age, the only secure reconstruction is that of Proto-Greek, a Proto-Italo-Celtic ancestor of both Italic and Celtic, and a Proto-Balto-Slavic language has been postulated with less confidence. Old European hydronymy has been taken as indicating an early Indo-European predecessor of the later centum languages, iron Age populations of Europe known from Greco-Roman historiography, notably Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy and Tacitus, Aegean, Greek tribes, Pelasgians/Tyrrhenians, and Anatolians. Armenian Highlands/Anatolia, Armenians Balkans, Illyrians, Dacians, and Thracians, Caucasus, Georgians Italian peninsula, Italic peoples, Etruscans, Adriatic Veneti, Ligurians and Greek colonies. Western/Central Europe, Celts, Rhaetians and Swabians, Vistula Veneti, Lugii, Iberian peninsula, Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Basques and Phoenicians. Sardinia, ancient Sardinians, comprising the Corsi, Balares and Ilienses tribes, British Isles, Celtic tribes in Britain and Ireland and Picts/Priteni. Northern Europe, Finnic peoples, Germanic peoples, iranian influence, Achaemenid control of Thrace and the Bosporan Kingdom, Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Ossetes. The Jewish diaspora reached Europe in the Roman Empire period, the Jewish community in Italy dating to around AD70, the Bulgars, a semi-nomadic people, originally from Central Asia, eventually absorbed by the Slavs
9.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
10.
Politics of Anguilla
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Politics of Anguilla takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Chief Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Anguilla, the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, is an internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom, the United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes Anguilla on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The territorys constitution is Anguilla Constitutional Order 1 April 1982, Executive power is exercised by the Chief Minister and the Executive Council. Legislative power is vested in both the Executive Council and the House of Assembly, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Military defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, Anguilla elects on territorial level a legislature. The House of Assembly has 11 members,7 members elected for a term in single-seat constituencies,2 ex officio members and 2 nominated members. The suffrage is from 18 years, the courts of Anguilla are, The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, this is Anguillas final appeal court. The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, including, the Court of Appeal, Anguillas domestic courts, including, the Magistrates Court, and the Juvenile Court. The ECSC High Court Judge based in Anguilla is The Hon, Anguilla is a member of CARICOM, CDB, International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol, OECS and ECLAC Official website of the government of Anguilla
11.
Parliamentary system
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In a parliamentary system, the head of state is usually a different person from the head of government. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, eventually these councils have slowly evolved into the modern Parliamentary system. The first parliaments date back to Europe in the Middle Ages, for example in 1188 Alfonso IX, the modern concept of parliamentary government emerged in the Kingdom of Great Britain and its contemporary, the Parliamentary System in Sweden. In England, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments, the first, in 1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns. Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution, in the Kingdom of Great Britain, the monarch, in theory, chaired cabinet and chose ministers. In practice, King George Is inability to speak English led the responsibility for chairing cabinet to go to the minister, literally the prime or first minister. By the nineteenth century, the Great Reform Act of 1832 led to parliamentary dominance, with its choice invariably deciding who was prime minister, hence the use of phrases like Her Majestys government or His Excellencys government. Nineteenth century urbanisation, industrial revolution and, modernism had already fueled the political struggle for democracy. In the radicalised times at the end of World War I, a parliamentary system may be either bicameral, with two chambers of parliament or unicameral, with just one parliamentary chamber. Scholars of democracy such as Arend Lijphart distinguish two types of parliamentary democracies, the Westminster and Consensus systems, the Westminster system is usually found in the Commonwealth of Nations and countries which were influenced by the British political tradition. These parliaments tend to have a more style of debate. The Australian House of Representatives is elected using instant-runoff voting, while the Senate is elected using proportional representation through single transferable vote, regardless of which system is used, the voting systems tend to allow the voter to vote for a named candidate rather than a closed list. The Western European parliamentary model tends to have a more consensual debating system, Consensus systems have more of a tendency to use proportional representation with open party lists than the Westminster Model legislatures. The committees of these Parliaments tend to be more important than the plenary chamber, some West European countries parliaments implement the principle of dualism as a form of separation of powers. In countries using this system, Members of Parliament have to resign their place in Parliament upon being appointed minister, ministers in those countries usually actively participate in parliamentary debates, but are not entitled to vote. Some countries such as India also require the prime minister to be a member of the legislature, the head of state appoints a prime minister who will likely have majority support in parliament. The head of state appoints a minister who must gain a vote of confidence within a set time. The head of state appoints the leader of the party holding a plurality of seats in parliament as prime minister
12.
Constitutional monarchy
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A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution. A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the acts as a non-party political head of state under the constitution. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as a sovereign who reigns, in addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such as through certain reserve powers, the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and the Holy See – are elective monarchies, the oldest constitutional monarchy dating back to ancient times was that of the Hittites. These were scattered noble families that worked as representatives of their subjects in an adjutant or subaltern federal-type landscape, the most recent country to move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy was Bhutan, between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, in Scotland the Convention of Estates enacted the Claim of Right Act 1689, although Queen Anne was the last monarch to veto an Act of Parliament when in 1707 she blocked the Scottish Militia Bill, Hanoverian monarchs continued to selectively dictate government policies. For instance George III constantly blocked Catholic Emancipation, eventually precipitating the resignation of William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister in 1801, Queen Victoria was the last monarch to exercise real personal power but this diminished over the course of her reign. In 1839 she became the last sovereign to keep a Prime Minister in power against the will of Parliament when the Bedchamber crisis resulted in the retention of Lord Melbournes administration, today, the role of the British monarch is by convention effectively ceremonial. No person may accept significant public office without swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen, with few exceptions, the monarch is bound by constitutional convention to act on the advice of the Government. Constitutional monarchy also occurred briefly in the years of the French Revolution. As originally conceived, a monarch was head of the executive branch and quite a powerful figure even though his or her power was limited by the constitution. In many cases the monarchs, while still at the top of the political and social hierarchy, were given the status of servants of the people to reflect the new. In the course of Frances July Monarchy, Louis-Philippe I was styled King of the French rather than King of France, following the Unification of Germany, Otto von Bismarck rejected the British model. However this model of constitutional monarchy was discredited and abolished following Germanys defeat in the First World War. Later, Fascist Italy could also be considered as a constitutional monarchy and this eventually discredited the Italian monarchy and led to its abolition in 1946. After the Second World War, surviving European monarchies almost invariably adopted some variant of the constitutional monarchy model originally developed in Britain, nowadays a parliamentary democracy that is a constitutional monarchy is considered to differ from one that is a republic only in detail rather than in substance. However, three important factors distinguish monarchies such as the United Kingdom from systems where greater power might otherwise rest with Parliament, other privileges may be nominal or ceremonial
13.
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
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The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The monarchs title is King or Queen, the current monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, as the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is, by tradition, commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces, from 1603, when the Scottish monarch King James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married Catholics, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the British monarch became nominal head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the worlds surface at its greatest extent in 1921. After the Second World War, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth monarchies that share the person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the Monarch is the Head of State, oaths of allegiance are made to the Queen and her lawful successors. God Save the Queen is the British national anthem, and the monarch appears on postage stamps, coins, the Monarch takes little direct part in Government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majestys Government, which comprises Ministers, primarily the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and they have the direction of the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Civil Service and other Crown Servants such as the Diplomatic and Secret Services. Judicial power is vested in the Judiciary, who by constitution, the Church of England, of which the Monarch is the head, has its own legislative, judicial and executive structures. Powers independent of government are legally granted to public bodies by statute or Statutory Instrument such as an Order in Council. The Sovereigns role as a monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions. This role has been recognised since the 19th century, the constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the dignified part rather than the efficient part of government. Whenever necessary, the Monarch is responsible for appointing a new Prime Minister, the Prime Minister takes office by attending the Monarch in private audience, and after kissing hands that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument. Since 1945, there have only been two hung parliaments, the first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilsons Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party, the second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II
14.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
15.
Governor of Anguilla
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The Governor of Anguilla is the representative of the British Monarch in the United Kingdoms Overseas Territory of Anguilla. The Governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government, the Governor is the highest authority on Anguilla, but daily business is handled by local Anguillan elected officials. The main role of the Governor is to appoint the Chief Minister of Anguilla, the Governors official residence is Government House at Old Ta. The Office of the Governor has its own flag in Anguilla, the current Governor is Christina Scott, who was appointed on 23 July 2013. Charles Henry Godden Alastair Turner Baillie Geoffrey Owen Whittaker Brian G. J. Canty Alan W. E, the Governor Governor George has left the island, new Governor expected in April
16.
Victor Banks
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Victor Franklin Banks is an Anguillan politician. A member of the Anguilla United Front, he has served as Chief Minister since 23 April 2015, the oldest of six siblings, Banks grew up in The Valley. His father died when he was a teenager and his first job was as a teacher at Valley Secondary School, where he worked from 1964 until 1968. He then attended the University of the Virgin Islands, where he obtained a BA in social sciences in 1972 and he then attended the New School for Social Research in New York City, where he obtained a masters degree in political science. He started a PhD at the institution, but left in 1979 at the all. A member of the Anguilla National Alliance, he was elected to the House of Assembly in the Valley North constituency in the 1981 elections, then 33, he became the islands youngest government minister when he was appointed Minister of Social Services. He moved to the Anguilla Democratic Party prior to the 1984 elections, in which he lost his seat, in a by-election in 1985 he was elected in the Valley South Constituency for the ADP. He retained the Valley South seat until the 2010 elections, in 1994 he was appointed Minister of Finance and Economic Development, serving until 1999. In 2000 he became Minister of Finance, Economic Development, Investment and Commerce and he left the cabinet after losing his seat in 2010. Banks became Chief Minister after the AUF won six of the seven elected seats in the House of Assembly in the 2015 elections, in which he also regained the Valley South seat
17.
UK government
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Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
18.
Alan Duncan
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Sir Alan James Carter Duncan, KCMG is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, between 2010 and 2014 he was the Minister of State for International Development. Duncan began his career in the oil industry with Royal Dutch Shell, after several minor positions in the government of John Major, he played a key role in William Hagues successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 1997. He was removed from the Cabinet and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael, a return to front-line politics was signalled when his appointment as a minister of state at the Foreign Office was announced on 17 July 2016. He was the first openly gay Conservative Member of Parliament, having come out in 2002. Duncan was born in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, the son of J. G. Duncan OBE, an RAF wing commander, and his wife Anne Duncan, the family travelled much, following Alans father on NATO postings, including in Gibraltar, Italy, and Norway. Duncan was educated at two independent schools, Beechwood Park School in Markyate, and Merchant Taylors School in Northwood, whilst coming from a Liberal family, and running as a Liberal at a school mock election in 1970, Duncan joined the Young Conservatives in 1972. Duncan had two brothers, who also attended Beechwood Park School, Duncan then attended St Johns College at the University of Oxford, where he coxed the college first eight, and was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1979. Whilst there, he formed a friendship with Benazir Bhutto, and he gained a Kennedy Scholarship to study at Harvard University between 1981 and 1982. After graduating from Oxford, he worked as a trader of oil and refined products, first with Royal Dutch Shell, Duncan worked for Rich in London and Singapore. From 1988 to 1992, Duncan used the connections he had built up to be self-employed, acting as a consultant and adviser to governments on oil supplies. In 1989, Duncan set up the independent Harcourt Consultants, which advises on oil and he made over a £1 million after helping fill the need to supply oil to Pakistan after Kuwaits supplies had been disrupted in the Gulf War. Duncan was an member of the Battersea Conservative Association from 1979 until 1984. After Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990, he offered his home in Westminster as the headquarters of John Majors leadership campaign, Duncan first stood for Parliament as a Conservative candidate in the 1987 general election, unsuccessfully contesting the safe Labour seat of Barnsley West and Penistone. For the 1992 general election he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Rutland and Melton, a safe Conservative seat, which he retained with a 59% share of the votes cast. In the Labour landslide of 1997, his proportion of the vote was reduced to 46% but has increased to 48% in 2001, 51% in 2005. From 1993 to 1995, Duncan was a member of the Social Security Select Committee and his first governmental position was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Health, a position he obtained in December 1993. He resigned from the position within a month after it emerged that he had used the programme to make profits on property deals
19.
British overseas territory
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The 14 British Overseas Territories are territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. They are the parts of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or have voted to remain British territories. These territories do not form part of the United Kingdom and, with the exception of Gibraltar, are not part of the European Union, though the Cyprus SBAs are subject to EU law and use the Euro. Most of the territories are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defence. The rest are either uninhabited or have a population of military or scientific personnel. They share the British monarch as head of state, the term British Overseas Territory was introduced by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, replacing the term British Dependent Territory, introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981. Prior to 1 January 1983, the territories were referred to as British Crown Colonies. With the exceptions of the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Territories retain permanent civilian populations. Permanent residency for the 7,000 or so living in the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri. Collectively, the Territories encompass a population of about 250,000 people, the vast majority of this,660,000 square miles, constitutes the British Antarctic Territory. The current minister responsible for the Territories excluding the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the Sovereign Base Areas is Baroness Anelay, Minister of State for the Commonwealth, the other three territories are the responsibility of Sir Alan Duncan MP, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. The first, unofficial, colony was Newfoundland, where English fishermen routinely set up camps in the 16th century. It is now a province of Canada known as Newfoundland and Labrador and it retains strong cultural ties with Britain. English colonisation of North America began officially in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown, st. Georges town, founded in Bermuda in that year, remains the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in the New World. Bermuda and Bermudians have played important, sometimes pivotal, but generally underestimated or unacknowledged roles in the shaping of the English and British trans-Atlantic Empires. These include maritime commerce, settlement of the continent and of the West Indies, separate self-governing colonies federated to become Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Rhodesia. These and other large self-governing colonies had become known as Dominions by the 1920s, the Dominions achieved almost full independence with the Statute of Westminster. Through a process of following the Second World War, most of the British colonies in Africa, Asia
20.
Geography of Anguilla
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This article describes the geography of Anguilla. Anguilla is an island in the Leeward Islands, which lies between the Caribbean Sea in the west and the open Atlantic Ocean in the east. It is a long, flat, dry/wet, scrub-covered coral island, south and east of Puerto Rico, one of the Renaissance Islands, it is separated from the British Virgin Islands by the Anegada Passage. The island has no significant elevations with its terrain consisting entirely of beaches, dunes, Anguilla’s highest elevation, Crocus Hill, is 65 m. Crocus Hill is among the cliffs that line the northern shore, the numerous bays, including Barnes, Little, Rendezvous, Shoal, and Road Bays, lure many vacationers to this tropical island. The coast and the beautiful, pristine beaches are integral to the economy of Anguilla. Because of Anguilla’s warm climate, the beaches can be used year-round, the territory of Anguilla consists of the island of Anguilla itself, as well as numerous other islands and cays, most of which are very small and uninhabited. The city has a dry climate, moderated by northeast trade winds. Temperatures vary little throughout the year, average daily maxima range from about 27 °C in December to 30 °C in July. Rainfall is erratic, averaging about 900 mm per year, the wettest months being September and October, Anguilla is vulnerable to hurricanes from June to November, peak season August to mid-October. The island suffered damage in 1995 from Hurricane Luis, Anguilla’s coral and limestone terrain provide no subsistence possibilities for forests, woodland, pastures, crops, or arable lands. Its dry climate and thin soil hamper commercial agricultural development, wikimedia Atlas of Anguilla Caribbean-On-Line. com provides detailed maps of Anguilla. Districts of Anguilla, Statoids. com Anguilla 2001 Census, Government of Anguilla
21.
Demographics of Anguilla
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The estimated mid-year population of 2014 is 14,500. 72% of the population is Anguillian while 28% is non-Anguillian, of the non-Anguillian population, many are citizens of the United States, United Kingdom, St Kitts & Nevis, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Nigeria. English The 2001 census found 11,329 were capable of carrying a conversation in English,82 of those spoke Spanish as a first language,7 spoke Chinese. The major denomination of Christianity in Anguilla as of the 2011 Census Anglicans with 22. 7%
22.
Gross domestic product
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
23.
Purchasing power parity
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Observed deviations of the exchange rate from purchasing power parity are measured by deviations of the real exchange rate from its PPP value of 1. PPP exchange rates help to minimize misleading international comparisons that can arise with the use of exchange rates. For example, suppose that two countries produce the same amounts of goods as each other in each of two different years. But if one countrys GDP is converted into the countrys currency using PPP exchange rates instead of observed market exchange rates. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century, the best-known purchasing power adjustment is the Geary–Khamis dollar. The real exchange rate is equal to the nominal exchange rate. If purchasing power parity held exactly, then the exchange rate would always equal one. However, in practice the exchange rates exhibit both short run and long run deviations from this value, for example due to reasons illuminated in the Balassa–Samuelson theorem. There can be marked differences between purchasing power adjusted incomes and those converted via market exchange rates. This discrepancy has large implications, for instance, when converted via the exchange rates GDP per capita in India is about US$1,965 while on a PPP basis it is about US$7,197. At the other extreme, Denmarks nominal GDP per capita is around US$62,100, the purchasing power parity exchange rate serves two main functions. PPP exchange rates can be useful for making comparisons between countries because they stay fairly constant from day to day or week to week and only change modestly, if at all, from year to year. The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries, people in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and this is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries. Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods, furthermore, the basket of goods representative of one economy will vary from that of another, Americans eat more bread, Chinese more rice. Hence a PPP calculated using the US consumption as a base will differ from that calculated using China as a base, additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when more than two countries are to be compared. Various ways of averaging bilateral PPPs can provide a stable multilateral comparison. These are all issues of indexing, as with other price indices there is no way to reduce complexity to a single number that is equally satisfying for all purposes
24.
East Caribbean dollar
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The Eastern Caribbean dollar is the currency of all seven full members and one associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. The EC$ is subdivided into 100 cents and it has been pegged to the United States dollar since July 7,1976, and the exchange rate is US$1 = EC$2.70. Six of the using the EC$ are independent states, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent. The other two are British overseas territories, Anguilla and Montserrat and these states are all members of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. The only OECS associate member not using the Eastern Caribbean dollar as their currency is the British Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands were always problematic for currency purposes due to their proximity to the Danish West Indies which became the US Virgin Islands in 1917. Officially, the British Virgin Islands used to use sterling, but in practice the situation was a lot more complicated and involved the circulation of Francs, British Guiana and Barbados had previously been members of this currency union but withdrew in 1966 and 1972 respectively. Trinidad and Tobago had been a member of the earlier British West Indies currency union, the combined population of the EC$ area is about 613,000, which is comparable to Montenegro or the American capital city of Washington, D. C. The combined GDP is 5.46 billion US dollars, which is comparable to Bermuda, Queen Elizabeth II appears on the banknotes and also on the obverse of the coins. She is the head of state of all the states and territories using the EC$, Dominica is nevertheless a member of the Commonwealth of Nations which recognises Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth. Queen Annes proclamation of 1704 introduced the standard to the British West Indies. Nevertheless, silver pieces of eight continued to form an important portion of the circulating coinage right up until the late 1870s, in 1822, the British government coined 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 fractional Anchor dollars for use in Mauritius and the British West Indies. A few years later copper fractional dollars were coined for Mauritius, Sierra Leone, the first move to introduce British sterling silver coinage to the colonies came with an imperial order-in-council dated 1825. This move was inspired by a number of factors, the United Kingdom was now operating a very successful gold standard in relation to the gold sovereign that was introduced in 1816, and there was a desire to extend this system to the colonies. In addition to this, there was the fact that the supply of Spanish dollars had been cut off as a result of the revolutions in Latin America where most of the Spanish dollars were minted, the last Spanish Dollar was in fact minted at Potosi in 1825. There was now a growing desire to have a stable and steady supply of British shillings everywhere the British drum was beating. The 1825 order-in-council was largely a failure because it made sterling coinage legal tender at the unrealistic rating in relation to the Spanish dollar of $1 =4 shillings and 4 pence. The reality of the rating between the dollar and the pound was based on the content of the Spanish pieces of eight as compared to the gold content of the British gold sovereign
25.
ISO 4217
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The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
26.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
27.
Right- and left-hand traffic
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This is so fundamental to traffic flow that it is sometimes referred to as the rule of the road. About two-thirds of the population use RHT, with the remaining 76 countries and territories using LHT. Countries that use LHT account for about a sixth of the worlds area, in the early 1900s some countries including Canada, Spain, and Brazil had different rules in different parts of the country. During the 1900s many countries standardised within their jurisdictions, and changed from LHT to RHT, in 1919,104 of the worlds territories were LHT and an equal number were RHT. From 1919 to 1986,34 of the LHT territories switched to RHT, many of the countries with LHT are former British colonies in the Caribbean, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Mozambique, Suriname, East Timor, in Europe, only four countries still drive on the left, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus, all of which are islands. Nearly all countries use one side or the other throughout their entire territory, most exceptions are due to historical considerations and involve islands with no road connection to the main part of a country. China is RHT except the Special Administrative Regions of China of Hong Kong, the United States is RHT except the United States Virgin Islands. The United Kingdom is LHT, but its overseas territories of Gibraltar, according to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, water traffic is RHT. For aircraft the US Federal Aviation Regulations provide for passing on the right, light rail vehicles generally operate on the same side as other road traffic in the country. Many countries use RHT for automobiles but LHT for trains, often because of the influence of the British on early railway systems, in some countries rail traffic remained LHT after automobile traffic switched to RHT, for example in China, Brazil, and Argentina. However, France, Belgium, and Switzerland have used RHT for automobiles since their introduction, there is no technical reason to prefer one side over the other. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman troops kept to the left when marching, in 1998, archaeologists found a well-preserved double track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon. The first reference in English law to an order for LHT was in 1756, northcote Parkinson, believed that ancient travellers on horseback or on foot generally kept to the left, since most people were right handed. If two men riding on horseback were to start a fight, each would edge toward the left, in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII directed pilgrims to keep left. In the late 1700s, traffic in the United States was RHT based on use of large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. The wagons had no seat, so a postilion sat on the left rear horse. Seated on the left, the driver preferred that other wagons pass him on the left so that he could be sure to keep clear of the wheels of oncoming wagons, in France, traditionally foot traffic had kept right, while carriage traffic kept left
28.
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
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Postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the GPO, a full postcode is known as a postcode unit and designates an area with a number of addresses or a single major delivery point. For example, the postcode of the University of Roehampton in London is SW15 5PU, the postcode of GCHQ is GL51 0EX, where GL signifies the postal town of Gloucester. The postal town refers to an area and does not relate to a specific town. GL51 is one of the postcodes for the town of Cheltenham which is where GCHQ is located, the London post town covers 40% of Greater London. On inception it was divided into ten districts, EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. The S and NE sectors were later abolished and these divisions changed little, usually only changed for operational efficiency. Some older road signs in Hackney still indicate the North East sector/district, following the successful introduction of postal districts in London, the system was extended to other large towns and cities. Liverpool was divided into Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western districts in 1864/65, in 1917 Dublin – then still part of the United Kingdom – was divided into numbered postal districts. These continue in use in a form by An Post. In 1923 Glasgow was divided in a way to London. In January 1932 the Postmaster General approved the designation of some urban areas into numbered districts. In November 1934 the Post Office announced the introduction of numbered districts in every town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it. Pamphlets were issued to each householder and business in ten areas notifying them of the number of the district in which their premises lay, the pamphlets included a map of the districts, and copies were made available at local head post offices. The public were invited to include the district number in the address at the head of letters. A publicity campaign in the following year encouraged the use of the district numbers, the slogan for the campaign was For speed and certainty always use a postal district number on your letters and notepaper. A poster was fixed to every box in the affected areas bearing the number of the district. Every post office in the district was also to display this information
29.
Caribbean
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The Caribbean is a region that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and cays. These islands generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea, in a wider sense, the mainland countries of Belize, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are often included due to their political and cultural ties with the region. Geopolitically, the Caribbean islands are usually regarded as a subregion of North America and are organized into 30 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. From December 15,1954, to October 10,2010, there was a known as the Netherlands Antilles composed of five states. The West Indies cricket team continues to represent many of those nations, the region takes its name from that of the Caribs, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of the Spanish conquest. The two most prevalent pronunciations of Caribbean are KARR-ə-BEE-ən, with the accent on the third syllable. The former pronunciation is the older of the two, although the variant has been established for over 75 years. It has been suggested that speakers of British English prefer KARR-ə-BEE-ən while North American speakers more typically use kə-RIB-ee-ən, usage is split within Caribbean English itself. The word Caribbean has multiple uses and its principal ones are geographical and political. The Caribbean can also be expanded to include territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation, the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas accords the Caribbean as a distinct region within the Americas. Physiographically, the Caribbean region is mainly a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea, to the north, the region is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which lies to the east and northeast. To the south lies the coastline of the continent of South America, politically, the Caribbean may be centred on socio-economic groupings found in the region. For example, the known as the Caribbean Community contains the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in the Atlantic Ocean, are members of the Caribbean Community. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is also in the Atlantic and is a member of the Caribbean Community. According to the ACS, the population of its member states is 227 million people. The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies, Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin and these islands include Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Saint Croix, the Bahamas, and Antigua
30.
Leeward Islands
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The Leeward Islands /ˈliːwərd/ are a group of islands in the West Indies. In English, the term refers to the islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica and they are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. The more southerly part of the Lesser Antilles chain are called the Windward Islands, the name of this island group, Leeward Islands, dates from previous centuries, when sailing ships were the sole form of transportation across the Atlantic Ocean. In the West Indies, the winds, known as the trade winds. The early Spanish colonizers called Puerto Rico and the islands to the west Sotavento, the islands to the south and east of Puerto Rico were then called Islas de Barlovento, meaning windward islands. When the British gained control of many of the Lesser Antilles, they designated Antigua, Montserrat, guadeloupe and the islands to the south were designated Windward Islands. Later on, all north of Martinique became known as the Leeward Islands. Thus, Dominica is the first of the Leeward islands, the islands along the Venezuelan coast, known in English as the Leeward Antilles, in languages other than English are known as the Leeward Islands. The islands are affected by volcanism, and notable eruptions have occurred in Montserrat in the 1990s. The islands were among the first parts of the Americas to fall under the control of the Spanish Empire, mont serrat in Catalan means saw mountain, referring to the serrated appearance of the mountain range. The Leeward Islands became a British colony in 1671, in 1699, prior to the War of the Spanish Succession, Christopher Codrington became the governor of the Leeward Islands. The war lasted from 1701 to 1714, daniel Parke II was the British governor of the Leeward Islands from 1706 to 1710. He was assassinated during a mutiny triggered by his self-enriching enforcement of Stuart imperialism, although comparatively much smaller than the surrounding islands in the Caribbean, the Leeward Islands posed the most significant rebellion to the British Stamp Act. In 1816 the colony was dissolved, with its last governor being James Leith, in 1833, the colony was reformed. From 1833 until 1871, the Governor of Antigua performed the duties of the Governor of the Leeward Islands, today the Islands are governed by a number of national and colonial administrations. Digital Library of the Caribbean−dloc. org, Antigua, Montserrat and Virgin Islands Gazette — openly−freely available, with searchable text and full page images
31.
Lesser Antilles
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The Lesser Antilles are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most form a long, partly volcanic island arc between the Greater Antilles to the north-west and the continent of South America, the islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. Together, the Lesser Antilles and the Greater Antilles compose the Antilles, when combined with the Lucayan Archipelago, all three are known as the West Indies. The islands of the Lesser Antilles are divided into three groups, the Windward Islands in the south, the Leeward Islands in the north, and the Leeward Antilles in the west. The Windward Islands are so called because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, the trans-Atlantic currents and winds that provided the fastest route across the ocean brought these ships to the rough dividing line between the Windward and Leeward Islands. The Leeward Antilles consist of the Dutch ABC islands just off the coast of Venezuela, the Lesser Antilles more or less coincide with the outer edge of the Caribbean Plate. Many of the islands were formed as a result of the subduction of oceanic crust of the South American Plate under the Caribbean Plate in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. This process is ongoing and is not only for many of the islands. The Lesser Antilles are divided into eight independent nations and numerous dependent, over one third of the total area and population of the Lesser Antilles lies within Trinidad and Tobago, a sovereign nation comprising the two southernmost islands of the Windward Island chain. Several islands along the north coast of Venezuela and politically part of country are also occasionally considered part of the Lesser Antilles. These are listed in the section below, the main Lesser Antilles are, Virgin Islands St. Thomas St. John St. They are the most southern islands of the Caribbean region, a Brief History of the Caribbean. New York, Facts on File,1992, the dictionary definition of Lesser Antilles at Wiktionary
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Puerto Rico
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Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and briefly called Porto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea. It is an archipelago that includes the island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller ones such as Mona, Culebra. The capital and most populous city is San Juan and its official languages are Spanish and English, though Spanish predominates. The islands population is approximately 3.4 million, Puerto Ricos rich history, tropical climate, diverse natural scenery, renowned traditional cuisine, and attractive tax incentives make it a popular destination for travelers from around the world. Four centuries of Spanish colonial government transformed the ethnic, cultural and physical landscapes primarily with waves of African captives, and Canarian. In the Spanish imperial imagination, Puerto Rico played a secondary, in 1898, following the Spanish–American War, the United States appropriated Puerto Rico together with most former Spanish colonies under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Puerto Ricans are natural-born citizens of the United States, however, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. As a U. S. territory, American citizens residing on the island are disenfranchised at the level and may not vote for president. However, Congress approved a constitution, allowing U. S. citizens on the territory to elect a governor. A fifth referendum will be held in June 2017, with only Statehood, in early 2017, the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis posed serious problems for the government. The outstanding bond debt that had climbed to $70 billion or $12,000 per capita at a time with 12. 4% unemployment, the debt had been increasing during a decade long recession. Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquen – a derivation of Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name, the terms boricua and borincano derive from Borikén and Borinquen respectively, and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage. The island is also known in Spanish as la isla del encanto. Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, eventually traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital city. The islands name was changed to Porto Rico by the United States after the Treaty of Paris of 1898, the anglicized name was used by the US government and private enterprises. The name was changed back to Puerto Rico by a joint resolution in Congress introduced by Félix Córdova Dávila in 1931, the ancient history of the archipelago known today as Puerto Rico is not well known. The scarce archaeological findings and early Spanish scholarly accounts from the colonial era constitute the basis of knowledge about them. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, the first settlers were the Ortoiroid people, an Archaic Period culture of Amerindian hunters and fishermen who migrated from the South American mainland
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Virgin Islands
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The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, and form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Politically, the group is divided into the British, Puerto Rican, the archipelago is separated from the Renaissance Islands by the Anegada Passage and from the main island of Puerto Rico by the Virgin Passage. Christopher Columbus named the islands after Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, the official name of the British territory is the Virgin Islands, and the official name of the U. S. territory is the Virgin Islands of the United States. In practice, the two groups are almost universally referred to as the British Virgin Islands and the U. S. Virgin Islands. European colonists later settled here and established plantations, at least one tobacco plantation. The plantations are gone, but the descendants of the remain the bulk of the population. In 1916 and 1917, Denmark and the U. S. respectively, in the 1990s a Puerto Rican tourism campaign renamed the Passage Islands as the Spanish Virgin Islands, though they are seldom identified as such on maps and atlases. They are part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, located east of the island of Puerto Rico. They are closer to St. Thomas than St. Thomas is to St. Croix. Motor vehicles are driven on the side of the road in both the British and the U. S. Virgin Islands, although the steering wheels on most cars are located on the left side. In the Spanish Virgin Islands, vehicles are driven on the side of the road. Paradise Comes of age, The U. S. Virgin Islands
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Saint Martin
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Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 300 km east of Puerto Rico. It is the smallest inhabited island divided between two nations, the southern Dutch part comprises Sint Maarten and is one of four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The northern French part comprises the Collectivité de Saint-Martin and is an overseas collectivity of France. On 1 January 2009, the population of the island was 77,741 inhabitants, with 40,917 living on the Dutch side. Collectively, the two territories are known as St-Martin / St Maarten, sometimes SXM, the IATA identifier for Princess Juliana International Airport, is used to refer to the island. St. Martin received the ISO 3166-1 code MF in October 2007, the Dutch part changed in status to a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010 and was given the code SX. Saint Martin has an area of 87 km2,53 km2 of which is under the sovereignty of France. This is the land border shared by France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands anywhere on Earth. The main cities are Philipsburg and Marigot, the Dutch side is more heavily populated. The largest settlement on the island is Lower Princes Quarter. The highest hilltop is the Pic Paradis in the center of a chain on the French side. Both sides are hilly with large mountain peaks and this forms a valley where many houses are located. There are no rivers on the island, but many dry guts, hiking trails give access to the dry forest covering tops and slopes. The island is located south of Anguilla, separated from the British territory by the Anguilla Channel, Saint Martin is northwest of Saint Barthélemy, separated from the French territory by the Saint-Barthélemy Channel. It is one of the Renaissance Islands, under the Köppen climate classification, the island has a tropical monsoon climate with a dry season from January to April and a rainy season from August to December. The precipitation patterns are due to the movement of the Azores high during the year, with the wind direction predominantly from the east or the northeast, temperatures remain stable throughout the year and temperatures rarely exceed 34 °C or fall below 20 °C. Temperatures remain steady throughout the year with a mean temperature of 27.2 °C. The average sea temperature is 27.2 °C ranging from a low of 25.9 °C in February to a high of 28.4 °C in October, the total average yearly rainfall is 1,047 mm, with 142 days of measurable rainfall
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Tax haven
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A tax haven is a jurisdiction that offers favorable tax or other conditions to its taxpayers as relative to other jurisdictions. There is no accepted definition of what renders a country or jurisdiction a tax haven. The term most commonly refers to countries or jurisdictions that have a low-tax or no-tax regime or which offer generous tax incentives. Some refer to secrecy jurisdictions as an alternative to tax havens to emphasise the element. Earnings from income generated from real estate can also be eliminated in this way, if taxes are paid in the tax haven jurisdiction, companies can avoid taxes in their home jurisdiction because the tax had already been paid in the lower tax rate jurisdiction. The only thing that can be done is picking a country that has the smallest rates on these taxes before buying any real estate, individuals or corporate entities may establish shell subsidiaries or move themselves to areas with reduced or no taxation levels relative to typical international taxation. This creates a situation of tax competition among jurisdictions, different jurisdictions may be havens for different types of taxes, and for different categories of people or companies. Sovereign jurisdictions or self-governing territories under international law have the power to tax laws affecting their territories. A2012 report by the British Tax Justice Network estimated that between US$21 trillion and $32 trillion is sheltered from taxes in unreported tax havens worldwide. If such wealth earns 3% annually and such capital gains were taxed at 30%, if such hidden offshore assets are considered, many countries with governments nominally in debt are shown to be net creditor nations. Another recent study estimated the amount of global offshore wealth at the smaller—but still sizable—figure of US$7.6 trillion and this estimate included financial assets only, My method probably delivers a lower bound, in part because it only captures financial wealth and disregards real assets. After all, high-net-worth individuals can stash works of art, jewelry, and gold in freeports, warehouses that serve as repositories for valuables—Geneva, Luxembourg, high-net-worth individuals also own real estate in foreign countries. A study of 60 large US companies found that they deposited $166 billion in offshore accounts during 2012, there are several definitions of tax havens. In 2002 The Economist adopted the description by Geoffrey Colin Powell, the Economist points out that this definition would still exclude a number of jurisdictions traditionally thought of as tax havens. Similarly, an Australian journalist suggested that any country which modifies its tax laws to attract foreign capital could be considered a tax haven. According to other definitions, the feature of a haven is that its laws. This prevents the transmittance of information about taxpayers who are benefiting from the low tax jurisdiction, lack of transparency – A lack of transparency in the operation of the legislative, legal or administrative provisions is another factor used to identify tax havens. The OECD is concerned that laws should be applied openly and consistently, lack of transparency in one country can make it difficult, if not impossible, for other tax authorities to apply their laws effectively
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Baynes, T.S., ed. (1878), "Anguilla", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 46–47
Baynes, T.S., ed. (1878), "
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