The Bosphorus Bridge, known as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and unofficially as the First Bridge, is one of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, thus connecting Europe and Asia. The bridge extends between Beylerbeyi, it is a gravity-anchored suspension bridge with inclined hangers. The aerodynamic deck hangs on steel cables, it is 1,560 m long with a deck width of 33.40 m. The distance between the towers is 1,074 m and the total height of the towers is 165 m; the clearance of the bridge from sea level is 64 m. Upon its completion in 1973, the Bosphorus Bridge had the fourth-longest suspension bridge span in the world, the longest outside the United States; the Bosphorus Bridge remained the longest suspension bridge in Europe until the completion of the Humber Bridge in 1981, the longest suspension bridge in Asia until the completion of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in 1988. The Bosphorus Bridge has the 33rd-longest suspension bridge span in the world. After a group of soldiers took control and closed off the bridge during the military coup d'état attempt on 15 July 2016, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announced on 25 July 2016 the decision of the Cabinet of Turkey that the bridge will be formally renamed as the 15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü in memory of those killed while resisting the attempted coup.

The idea of a bridge crossing the Bosphorus dates back to antiquity. For Emperor Darius the Great of the Achaemenid Empire, as recorded by the Greek writer Herodotus in his Histories, Mandrocles of Samos once engineered a pontoon bridge across the Bosphorus, linking Asia to Europe, enabling Darius to pursue the fleeing Scythians as well as position his army in the Balkans to overwhelm Macedon. Leonardo da Vinci proposed a parabolic arch bridge to Sultan Bayezid II in 1502 or 1503; the first modern project for a permanent bridge across the Bosphorus was proposed to Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire by the Bosphorus Railroad Company in 1900, which included a rail link between the continents. The decision to build a bridge across the Bosphorus was taken in 1957 by Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. For the structural engineering work, a contract was signed with the British firm Freeman Fox & Partners in 1968; the bridge was designed by the British civil engineers Gilbert Roberts, William Brown and Michael Parsons, who designed the Humber Bridge, Severn Bridge, Forth Road Bridge.

Construction started in February 1970 and ceremonies were attended by President Cevdet Sunay and Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel. The bridge was built by the Turkish firm Enka Construction & Industry Co. along with the co-contractors Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company and Hochtief AG. Thirty-five engineers and 400 men worked on the project; the bridge was completed on 30 October 1973, one day after the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey, opened by President Fahri Korutürk and Prime Minister Naim Talu. The cost of the bridge was US$200 million. Upon the bridge's opening, much was made of its being the first bridge between Europe and Asia since the pontoon bridge of Xerxes in 480 BCE; that bridge, spanned the Hellespont, some distance away from the Bosphorus, was the second bridge after the above-mentioned bridge built by Emperor Darius I The Great across the Bosphorus in 513 BCE. The bridge highway is eight lanes wide. Three standard lanes, one emergency lane and one pedestrian lane serve each direction.

On weekday mornings, most commuter traffic flows westbound to Europe, so four of the six lanes run westbound and only two eastbound. Conversely, on weekday evenings, four lanes are dedicated to eastbound traffic and two lanes, to westbound traffic. For the first three years, pedestrians could walk over the bridge, reaching it with elevators inside the towers on both sides. No pedestrians or commercial vehicles, such as trucks, are allowed to use the bridge today. Today, around 180,000 vehicles pass daily in both directions, with 85% being cars. On 29 December 1997, the one-billionth vehicle passed the bridge. Loaded, the bridge sags about 90 cm in the middle of the span, it is a toll bridge, a toll plaza with 13 toll booths is situated near the bridge on the Asian side. A toll is charged for passing from Europe to Asia, but not for passing in the reverse direction. Since 1999, some of the toll booths, located to the far left as motorists approach them, are unmanned and equipped only with a remote payment system in order to not delay traffic.

In addition to OGS, another toll pay system with special contactless smart cards was installed at specific toll booths in 2005. Since 3 April 2006, toll booths accept no cash but only OGS or KGS. An OGS device or KGS card can be obtained at various stations before reaching the toll plazas of highways and bridges. In 2006 the toll was 3.00 TL or about $2.00. Since April 2007, a computerised LED lighting system of changing colours and patterns, developed by Philips, illuminates the bridge at night. In 2012, KGS was replaced with the new HGS system, which uses radio-frequency identification technology; every October, the annual Intercontinental Istanbul Eurasia Marathon crosses the bridge on its way

Hovedøya is one of several small islands off the coast of Oslo, Norway in the Oslofjord. The island is quite small, no more than 800 metres across in any direction, the total area is 0,4 square kilometre, it is well known for its lush and green nature, with a wide variety of trees and flowers. For many, many years there was a military base on the island; the name is from Norse times. The first element is hǫfud'head', the last element is the finite form of øy'island'; the name is a reference to the top of the hill on the island - at 47 metres it is the tallest point of the inner Oslofjord islands by a good margin. The Cistercian monastery, Hovedøya Abbey, was built on the island, opened on 18 May 1147. During the Medieval period, the monastery was a leading economical force in the Oslo region, it was, closed down before the Reformation after the abbot came into conflict with King Christian II. The military official at Akershus Fortress had the abbot imprisoned and the monastery looted and burned down in 1532.

Parts of the ruins of the monastery remain on the island, but much of the stonework was used in the expansion of Akershus Fortress in the 17th century. The island has been used for military installations, former military buildings and artillery remain on the island; when Denmark-Norway became involved in the Napoleonic war, two cannon batteries were built to defend Oslo and Akershus Fortress in 1808. Four depots for gunpowder were built in 1826 on the high points of the island to ward off intruders, a fifth was built in 1867. On the eastern half of the island is a Victorian house, popularly known as the "Laboratory", it was used by Director of Armory Ole Herman Johannes Krag, co-inventor of the Krag–Jørgensen rifle in the late 19th century. There was once a large German camp on the island, with several barracks, which would be turned into National Internment Camp for Women in Hovedøya. Today, only a single barracks from the camp remains. Today the island is a destination for tourists and bathers, who can enjoy the island's natural environment, historic buildings as well as benign bathing temperatures.

The island has an interesting geology, being composed of Ordovician and some Silurian mudstone and limestone. The transition between the two periods is exposed on the south-eastern tip of the island, illustrating the sudden marine transgression that marks the shift between two important parts of Earths history. Criss-crossing the island is ores of diabas from a major rift event in the Oslo area in the Permian; the diabas has been quarried for building material, the island can boast about 20 quarries from Medieval to 19th century age. The island has rock dating back to late Cambrian and the eastern parts is littered with erratic boulders deposited during the last Ice Age, thus the island illustrate well the local geological events spanning half a billion years; the sedimentary geology has given the island a fertile soil, giving it Norways highest biodiversity found in such a small place. A few plant species found on the island do not occur anywhere else in Norway. Due to the geology and natural diversity, the island has been declared a natural preserve.

While no part of the island is off limit to the public, collecting plants and taking rock-samples is banned. The island is connected to Oslo by means of two boat routes which dock on the north side of the island. Service is year-round although it's only running during daylight and therefore is limited during the winter season. In summer time a small cafeteria right by the monastery ruins is open to the general public. There is a fox living on the island, photographed by internet users and is known to steal things. Katolsk.no Catholic webpage about the monastery OsloSurf.no entry on Hovedøya Hovedøya www.visitoslo.com

The Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014. A Bill to consolidate certain enactments relating to co-operative societies, community benefit societies and other societies registered or treated as registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965, with amendments to give effect to recommendations of the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission; the Act renamed industrial and provident societies as co-operative or community benefit societies. The Act implemented the renaming provisions first enacted in the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies and Credit Unions Act 2010 and coincided with a number of other changes foreshadowed by the 2010 Act, such as the application of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 to society directors by the commencement of section 3 of the 2010 Act from 1 April 2014. Since 1 August 2014, a new society must register as either a co-operative or a community benefit society rather than, as had been the case, an industrial and provident society that met either requirement.

Societies registered before that date remain registered under the 2014 Act. Sections 1 and 2 provide that all three types of society are referred to together as "registered societies". However, for administrative purposes, the three types of society are categorised separately; the Act applies to Great Britain but not Northern Ireland. The 2014 Act modernised its language, its enactment coincided with a number of reforms to the law applying to societies which were implemented by secondary legislation. They included the application of insolvency rescue procedures such as administration and creditors' voluntary arrangements, to societies by The Industrial and Provident Societies and Credit Unions Order 2014 SI 2014/229. Societies are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, which registers them and applies the statutory tests about whether a society meets on registration and continues to meet the requirements of s. 1 and 2 of the Act. Co-operative or community benefit societies may in general conduct any legal business.

However, co-operative societies are restricted by section 2 of Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, which lays down that, for the purposes of the legislation, a "co-operative society" does not include "a society that carries on, or intends to carry on, business with the object of making profits for the payment of interest, dividends or bonuses on money invested or deposited with, or lent to, the society or any other person". Consumer, worker and housing co-operatives, working men's clubs, Women's Institute markets, allotment societies, mutual investment companies, friendly societies and housing associations incorporate as societies, as do some social enterprises; this process is facilitated by the existence of "model rules" developed by various federal bodies, which reduce the legal costs. The Financial Conduct Authority maintains a list of these bodies which can be downloaded from their web site. Credit unions and building societies, which sprang from the same roots, are now governed by specific legislation although credit unions are, through their legislation, registered under the 2014 Act - see the Credit Unions Act 1979 and the Building Societies Act 1986 and legislation.

Credit Unions and Building Societies are both regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority as deposit takers. Industrial and provident societies fell into two broad categories from 1939 to 2014; that is now reflected in the new registration system under Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 Co-operatives – these trade for the mutual benefit of their members, the Financial Conduct Authority as registrar will judge the legality of their initial or continued registration by reference to co-operative principles. In 2015, the FCA was still consulting on draft guidelines about how it will apply the statutory requirements to societies. At present those community benefit societies that meet the requirements for charitable status are accepted as such by the taxation authority, HM Revenue and Customs, rather than by the Charity Commission; this exempt charity status is being removed for entities with no'lead regulator'. However, the process was still not complete at 2015 according to the Charity Commission publication on Exempt Charities.

Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies and Credit Unions Act 2010 Industrial and provident society