Astrebla Downs is a national park in Shire of Diamantina, Australia. Astrebla Downs is located in the Channel Country of 1298 km west of Brisbane; the landscape is barren with few trees. The park received an award in March 2007 by the WWF for being among the top 10 reserves of the decade. Recognition was given for the successful efforts to protect the bilby, an endangered mammal native to Australia. By 2008 it was estimated the park contained a bilby population of around 300. In 2009, a plague of long-haired rats descended on the park; the large numbers of rats attract feral cats to the area. Astrebla Downs is home to the stripe-faced dunnart. With Diamantina National Park, Astrebla Downs National Park forms part of the 7,627 km2 Diamantina and Astrebla Grasslands Important Bird Area, identified by BirdLife International as such because it is one of few sites known for the critically endangered night parrot, it supports globally important populations of the plains-wanderer, Australian bustard, straw-necked ibis, white-necked heron, inland dotterel, Bourke's parrot and pied honeyeaters, Hall's babbler, chestnut-breasted quail-thrush, cinnamon quail-thrush and spinifexbird.

Davenport Downs Station Protected areas of Queensland

Neue Schütz-Ausgabe is a new critical edition of the complete works by composer Heinrich Schütz. It is published by Bärenreiter-Verlag on a commission by the international Heinrich-Schütz-Gesellschaft; when completed, the edition will comprise the following volumes: Historien und Passionen Musikalische Exequien Geistliche Chormusik Becker Psalter Zwölf Geistliche Gesänge 1657 Cantiones sacrae Kleine geistliche Konzerte Symphoniae sacrae [[I–III Italienische Madrigale Psalmen Davids Single psalms Hochzeitskonzerte, funeral music Choralkonzerte und Choralsätze Single works Größere Kirchenkonzerte Secular songs and madrigals Schwanengesang Supplement Heinrich Schütz New Edition of the Complete Works Bärenreiter Internationale Heinrich-Schütz-Gesellschaft

Selenium trioxide is the inorganic compound with the formula SeO3. It is hygroscopic solid, it is an oxidizing agent and a Lewis acid. It is of academic interest as a precursor to Se compounds. Selenium trioxide is difficult to prepare because it is unstable with respect to the dioxide: 2 SeO3 → 2 SeO2 + O2It has been generated in a number of ways despite the fact that the dioxide does not combust under normal conditions. One method entails dehydration of anhydrous selenic acid with phosphorus pentoxide at 150–160 °C. Another method is the reaction of liquid sulfur trioxide with potassium selenate. SO3 + K2SeO4 → K2SO4 + SeO3 In its chemistry SeO3 resembles sulfur trioxide, SO3, rather than tellurium trioxide, TeO3. At 120 °C SeO3 reacts with selenium dioxide to form the Se-Se compound diselenium pentoxide: SeO3 + SeO2 → Se2O5It reacts with selenium tetrafluoride to form selenoyl fluoride, the selenium analogue of sulfuryl fluoride 2SeO3 + SeF4 → 2SeO2F2 + SeO2As with SO3 adducts are formed with Lewis bases such as pyridine and ether.

With lithium oxide and sodium oxide it reacts to form salts of SeVIO54− and SeVIO66−: With Li2O, it gives Li4SeO5, containing the trigonal pyramidal anion SeVIO54− with equatorial bonds, 170.6–171.9 pm. With Na2O it gives Na4SeO5, containing the square pyramidal SeVIO54−, with Se−O bond lengths ranging from range 1.729 → 1.815 pm, Na123, containing octahedral SeVIO66−. SeVIO66− is the conjugate base of the unknown orthoselenic acid. In the solid phase SeO3 consists with an 8 membered 4 ring. Selenium atoms are 4-coordinate, bond lengths being Se−O bridging are 175 pm and 181 pm, non-bridging 156 and 154 pm. SeO3 in the gas phase consists of tetramers and monomeric SeO3, trigonal planar with an Se−O bond length of 168.78 pm. Greenwood, Norman N.. Chemistry of the Elements. Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8. Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Max. "The Chemistry of Selenium Trioxide". Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English. 2: 691–692. Doi:10.1002/anie.196306913

Presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan on 9 October 2013. The result was a victory for incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, who received 84.5% of the vote, whilst leading opposition candidate Jamil Hasanli finished second with 5.5% of the vote. The election was marred by claims of irregularities; the commission recalled the results, claiming that they were taken from the 2008 elections. This claim has been disputed, given that the results accidentally released included the candidates from the 2013 elections, that the percentages differed from the 2008 results. OSCE monitors reported candidate and voter intimidation and a restrictive media environment, including arrests and the use of force against journalists and activists. 92% of the coverage on the six main TV channels were dedicated to the incumbent president. All previous elections in Azerbaijan observed by OSCE fell short of meeting international standards. In 2009 an amendment was made to the Constitution of Azerbaijan, which abolished the limit of two consecutive presidential terms and allowed incumbent Aliyev, who had served for two terms, to run for president for unlimited number of times.

The constitutional amendment was condemned by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, which stated that "the abolition of existing limits preventing the unlimited re-election of a President is a step back, in terms of democratic achievements". The amendment was criticized by the Azerbaijani opposition. On the basis of the amendment in 2013 Ilham Aliyev ran for president for the third time. After his visit to Azerbaijan the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Jean-Claude Mignon called on the authorities to respect their obligations. However, overall, in 2013 elections the Central Election Commission demonstrated efficiency in administrative preparations for the elections and observed the legal deadlines. On 7 June 2013 the New Azerbaijan Party nominated incumbent President Ilham Aliyev as their official presidential candidate. MP Mubariz Gurbanli announced that according to the Election Code of Azerbaijan Republic, the party had not only filled its signature requirements but could get more than the minimum 40,000 required signatures.

He said: "The signature lists have been ready for 4-5 days, but they can be submitted to the Central Election Commission starting from 20 August, that is, 50 days before the elections under the legislation. So, our employees will submit the signature lists to CEC tomorrow. Under the law, the CEC will issue a document confirming the candidate’s participation in the elections after it reviews them."In the meantime, playwright Rustam Ibragimbekov was chosen as the leader of the newly created National Council of Democratic Forces. The NCDF brought together main opposition forces, including Musavat, the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, Open Society, Forum of Intellectuals; the alliance set as its main goal the "peaceful transition to democracy." Ibragimbekov was denied registration by the Central Election Commission because he "along with the citizenship of Azerbaijan of Russian citizenship and his commitment to the Russian Federation."In late August, the united opposition picked historian Jamil Hasanli as its candidate.

During the rally on September 28, Hasanli called on people to vote for him to "end the dictatorship of one family in Azerbaijan." A day before the election, main opposition candidate Jamil Hasanli stated that he is "running in this election with the paramount aim of ending 20 years of the Aliyev dynasty's misrule of my country, restoring Azerbaijani democracy." An official smartphone app run by the Central Election Commission inadvertently released final election results a day before polls had opened. The results showed Ilham Aliyev having won with 72.76% of the recorded votes, while the nearest opposing candidate, Jamil Hasanli, tallied just 7.4%. The data was recalled, with an official claim that the app's developer had mistakenly tested the app with the 2008 election results, but the data released did not match the voter totals nor percentages of the previous election. On 10 October Hasanli called for the results to be annulled due to vote-rigging, claiming the elections were not free and fair because of electoral fraud and government control of all television channels.

International organizations Council of Europe — The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe short-term delegation in the statement issued jointly with the European Parliament said that "overall around election day we have observed a free and transparent electoral process." It did note, there was " respect fundamental freedoms during the months before the election." And the election was "far from perfect." Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe /Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights— The OSCE/ODIHR observation mission, which consisted of 13 Baku-based international experts and 30 long-term observers, criticized the electoral process in their conclusions saying that it "was undermined by limitations on the freedoms of expression and association that did not guarantee a level playing field for candidates." The head of mission stated that their "observers received allegations of intimidation, witnessed physical attacks on journalists in the lead up to an election day, which we found flawed."

European Union The Statement made by the EU High Representative and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Štefan Füle on Presidential elections in Azerbaijan stressed the results of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission, "the OSCE/ODIHR's preliminary conclusio

The Josep Pla Foundation is a literary heritage center that focuses on promoting the reading and study of the literary and journalistic work of Josep Pla. The foundation is located in the writer's hometown, in Palafrugell, where you can see temporary exhibitions and the permanent exhibition "Josep Pla" that explains his professional career in the historical context of the 19th century; the Foundation was created in 1973, when the writer decided to give his private library and he created the Josep Pla Library Private Foundation, governed by a Board that deals with its conservation and to facilitate access to the interested public. The Josep Pla Foundation is part of the Espais Escritus, an association related with the Catalan literary heritage; the Josep Pla Foundation is located in the 51 of Carrer Nou. The first one, is the birthplace of the writer and the one that hosts the permanent exhibition Josep Pla. Josep Pla was born and lived there for seven years while his parents built another house in Torres and Jonama Street.

The two houses were built during the first half of the 1890s. Palafrugell Town Hall acquired and remodeled the no. 51 with the intention of establishing the Josep Pla Foundation and "la Caixa" bought and remodeled the house no. 49 to expand the headquarters of the entity. With the remodeling, the new headquarters of the Josep Pla Foundation include, on the ground floor, the reception, the exhibition hall, the public services and the auditorium, on the first floor we find the library and the area of offices, on the second floor there is the Documentation Center and the temporary exhibition halls. In 1973, Josep Pla donated his private library to the Private Foundation and on July 6 of the same year the Josep Pla Foundation was created. In April 1992, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Diputació de Girona, the Baix Empordà County Council and the Palafrugell Town Council committed to collaborate financially so that the foundational objectives could be carried out, focused on promoting and facilitating the reading and study of the literary and journalistic work of Josep Pla.

It is from here when the foundation started its activity with the organization of all kinds of activities around the work of the writer in order to expand his knowledge. In the summer of 1993, the Josep Pla Route was presented, designed to know the significant places of the municipality of Palafrugell. In 2010, the Cátedra Josep Pla was created thanks to the collaboration between the University of Girona and the Josep Pla Foundation to promote and disseminate the figure and work of Josep Pla; the Josep Pla Foundation allows the consulting of the library that the writer gave in 1973. It has a bibliographic background specialized in Josep Pla; the Josep Pla Foundation has a Documentation Center that contains the manuscripts and personal documentation of Josep Pla, an Image Fund, a Media Library and an Art Fund, all related to the life and work of the writer. In addition, from its Educational Service, the Fundació Josep Pla aims to support and facilitate the work of teachers in their task of raising the pleasure of reading and making known the classic authors of Catalan literature.

The Josep Pla Foundation carries out activities to make the literary heritage of the writer know, such as literary routes, exhibitions guides, educational workshops, literary tours or activities that relate landscape and literature. The Josep Pla Foundation Càtedra Josep Pla - University of Girona Baix Empordà Tourism - Museums

K-Dow Petrochemicals was a planned $17.4 billion joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Petrochemical Industries Company of the State of Kuwait, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. A joint venture between the two companies was signed in July 2008. However, critics to the deal from members of the Kuwaiti parliament lead to its collapse in December 2008. Dow sued PIC, was awarded over $2 bn damages by a non-governmental court in 2012. K-Dow Petrochemicals was to be a multinational corporation specializing in the manufacturing of plastics, it was an $11 billion joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Petrochemical Industries Company of the State of Kuwait, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. On July 15, 2008, the two companies announced the location of their headquarters was to be in Southeast Michigan. In the third quarter 2008 earnings conference call, Dow Chemical officials stated the K-Dow joint venture was on track to close by the end of the year.

On December 1, 2008, the two companies announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding outlining agreed-upon details about the joint venture. The transactions was expected to close on January 1, 2009. Operations were expected to begin on that same date. Citing the global recession that begin in the half of 2008, the Kuwaiti government scuttled the partnership prior to its launch on December 28, 2008. Dow has arbitration pending against KPC; the original MOU had a damages clause. Dow Chemical has stated; as a part of the Joint-Venture formation two of Dow Chemical's current joint-ventures with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation were to be transferred to K-Dow. Equipolymers MEGlobal