A customs union is defined as a type of trade bloc, composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff. Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up common external trade policy. Common competition policy is helpful to avoid competition deficiency. Purposes for establishing a customs union include increasing economic efficiency and establishing closer political and cultural ties between the member countries, it is the third stage of economic integration. Every economic union and monetary union and economic and monetary union includes a customs union; the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, part of the World Trade Organization framework defines a customs union in the following way: A customs union shall be understood to mean the substitution of a single customs territory for two or more customs territories, so that duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce are eliminated with respect to all the trade between the constituent territories of the union or at least with respect to all the trade in products originating in such territories, subject to the provisions of paragraph 9 the same duties and other regulations of commerce are applied by each of the members of the union to the trade of territories not included in the union.

2010 Southern African Development Community 2011 Economic Community of Central African States 2015 Arab Customs Union 2021 African Economic Community Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa – superseded by CEMAC 1925 French Customs Union over occupied Territory of the Saar Basin The former Zollverein of the Holy Roman Empire and the succeeding German confederations Steuerverein or Tax Union in north-west Germany Custom Union Between Lebanon and Syria The McGill University Faculty of Law runs a Regional Trade Agreements Database that contains the text of all preferential and regional trade agreements in the world. Ptas.mcgill.ca Michael T. Florinsky. 1934. The Saar Struggle. New York: The Macmillan Company. European Customs Information Portal List of international trade topics Trade creation Trade diversion Agreements Notified to the GATT/WTO and in Force

Andrew "Andy" C. Stone is an American computer programmer best known for his iOS app Twittelator, which to date has sold over a million units for the iPhone and the iPad; the founder and principal programmer for Stone Design Corporation, New Mexico. In his 25 plus year career as a programmer, he has published over 35 software titles for Hypercard, the NeXT workstation, Mac OS X, for iOS iPhones and iPads. Andrew Stone was a contributing author to the Waite Group’s Tricks of the HyperTalk Masters Stone developed software for Sandia National Laboratories called ProtoTymer which allowed physical interfaces to be trial tested in a software version. Fascinated by Steve Jobs’ vision for the personal computer, Stone was the first independent developer for the NeXT Computer to ship a shrink-wrap product, TextArt in October 1989. TextArt allowed designers to manipulate PostScript text with virtual knobs and sliders. By 1990, TextArt had evolved into Create, a drawing program which shipped in 1991. At the same time, Stone Design developed.

Stone Design was a leader in electronic software distribution on NeXT and was a constant advertising presence on the first app store, invented using NeXT tools, The Electronic AppWrapper. According to an employee at the Paget Press it was AppWrapper #3, first demonstrated to Steve Jobs and showcased Stone Design Apps. where applications like Create and DataPhile were selling along with 3D Reality and other Stone Design Apps. Stone Design Apps can still be found on the iOS App Store today, making Stone Design the longest running developer using electronic distribution via any app store service. Besides Stone's notoriety in the NeXT World as the first independent software developer to ship shrinkwrap product for the NeXT Computer, were the legendary raves he and John Perry Barlow threw over 3 years, the first being held at the Exploratorium in October 1992; these parties are still being discussed today because of the mixing of LSD and the NSA together in the same space. Stone's participation with the first government sanctioned Dimethyltryptamine research with Dr. Rick Strassman in Albuquerque in the early 1990s led to a collaboration in the underwriting of DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, documenting the research.

Andrew Stone was a featured DMT volunteer in the documentary film DMT - The Spirit Molecule. Andrew Stone serves on the board of the Cottonwood Research Foundation with Dr. Strassman, which provides scientific research into the nature of consciousness. Between that time and Apple’s purchase of the NeXT Corporation in December 1996, Stone Design developed a number of other products for the NeXT, including 3DReality, a 3D modeling and rendering package and CheckSum, a personal finance application; when NeXT became part of Apple on December 20, 1996, Andrew Stone was asked to help introduce NeXTStep to Mac users and developers. He demoed Create in the keynote presentations at both MacWorld Boston and WWDC in 1997, he was a contributing editor for Mactech for several years Stone Design began to develop for the pre-OS X Macintosh, turning out a healthy number of products for a small independent company, including PhotoToWeb, a slideshow & photo application for the Web. PDF files. All of these applications were bundled together as Stone Studio, but the company continued to develop software, 16 applications in all, which found their way into a single package called Stone Works, which included all the titles above plus eight additional applications including: FontSight, GlobalWarmth, iMaginator, Stone Studio widget, PreferenceCommander, VideationNation, StarMores, Xaos – Videator Enabled.

In 2008, Stone began to release apps for the iPhone. His first product, became one of the best selling apps for the micro-blogging service Twitter. Other products included iGraffiti, TalkingPics, MobileMix, Pulsar, iCreated, TweetTV and Intentionizer, he has contributed to other apps such as 140Characters, The Daily, Wine.com for iPad, WeGetIn, Trekaroo and Bandojo. When he’s not programming, Stone spends his time working on his organic farm, doing yoga and hiking. He's married to KUNM public radio producer Katie Stone, has four children and one grandchild. He’s written an extensive number of articles on programming with the Cocoa code base, he spearheads a group called “the Cocoa Conspiracy,” a loose knit ad hoc professional organization for iOS app developers based in New Mexico. Erik Davis Interviews Andrew Stone on Expanding Mind Mac Observer Interviews Andrew Stone Wired UK Interviews Andrew Stone Business Week article features Andrew Stone Software Design Magazine Interviews Andrew Stone arsTechnica Video + Transcript Interview with Andrew Stone MacVoices audio Interview with Andrew Stone TUAW Video Interview with Andrew Stone AppCraver Interviews Andrew Stone macNN reviews Videator ZDNet acclaims Twittelator Neue ABQ Journal'Twitter Guru' Andrew Stone Albuquerque Apps Developer Brings Programmers Together Wired Magazine Could Mac OS X be'Holy Grail'?

Complete 1991-1994 NeXTWORLD Magazines Archive Official website Cottonwood Research Foundation DMT - The Spirit Molecule Movie

Mustafa Castle is a building of profound historical relevance located in Meerut, India. It was commemoratively built by Nawab Mohammad Ishak Khan to serve as a memorial to Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta, his father, one of the most eminent and accomplished poets and critics of his era; the construction commenced in 1896/1897 and the building was completed in 1900. The first structure, the grandiose gate, was completed in 1899; the Castle was completed by 1900 after a span of 4–5 years of construction. The structure was built by Nawab Mohammad Ishak Khan in honour of his father, the Persian and Urdu poet Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta. Nawab M. Ishak Khan designed the building himself, the imposing project, upon 30 acres of land, it was designed with the help of assistants who possessed considerable experience in building barracks for the British Army. The Nawab amalgamated many styles of architecture in building Mustafa Castle, it offers facilities akin to British bungalows and shares prominent features with the buildings of the realm of Rajasthan and Oudh—mainly Lucknow.

However, the amalgam meant that the edifice of Mustafa Castle was to be peerless amongst others seen in the cities of Delhi and Lahore. A hoard of antiques within can be attributed to Nawab M. Ishak Khan's epic tours around the world and his penchant for collecting artifacts. Historical accounts make mention of clay from Mecca being used in the construction procedure and the replacement of an inward gallows with an Islamic mosque. Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta was a close friend, admirer and, in times of need, a patron of Mirza Ghalib –, a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule. A man of letters, he found himself in trouble after the British succeeded in regaining control of Delhi in 1857. Nawab Mustafa Khan's mother was the daughter of the Commander in Chief of the Mughal army, Ismail Baig Hamadani. After the surrender of the Mughal army, Ismail Baig continued his fight for liberation against the British and, as a result, retreated to Nepal. Nawab Mustafa Khan was tried for supporting the uprising which had emanated from Meerut.

He was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and confined in a cell, improvised – and abandoned – for the convicts of the 1857 uprising. This small jail happened to be the centre of the area, now enclosed by Mustafa Castle. Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta died in 1869; the spot of the poet's imprisonment was purchased by Nawab M. Ishak Khan along with the adjoining area, which comprised nearly 30 acres of land, he had Mustafa Castle built as his homage to the memory and honour of his father. The cell, in which the poet was imprisoned, has been retained in its original form so as to keep the memory of the hardship faced by Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta during his imprisonment; that particular chamber, had been left unaltered by Nawab M. Ishak Khan; the family, based in Delhi and Jehangirabad, had established Mustafa Castle as its main home after the building's completion in the year 1900. A similar building to Mustafa Castle belonging to the same family, exists in the erstwhile family capital of Jehangirabad.

Nawab Mohammad Ishak Khan died on 28 October 1918, leaving his eldest son, Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan, at the helm. It was during Nawab M. Ismail Khan's career in the national struggle that Mustafa Castle was markedly transformed into a hub of political activity. Mustafa Castle bore some of the greatest events in Meerut which were significant post-World War I/post-World War II political activities with regard to the prospective nations in question at the time—which were to be India and Pakistan. Nawab M. Ismail Khan was a accomplished politician and an independent activist of the Indian Subcontinent who presided as Chairman over the All-India Muslim League in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In general, it was Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan who transformed his home, Mustafa Castle, into a haven for political proceedings during his reign. Apart from being Chairman of the League, this'transformation' ensued due to the numerous other roles that he upheld in politics; the stratum of obligations involved rendering his services as the Chairman of the All-India Muslim Civil Defense Association, Chairman of the All-India Muslim League Committee of Action, Chairman of the Parliamentary Board, President of the All-India Khilafat Committee, President of the All-Parties Muslim Conference, President of the Unity Board, other political and academic affiliations.

Albeit Nawab M. Ismail Khan is one of the founding fathers of Pakistan, he never migrated towards the'promising land' due to his steadfast commitment towards the thousands of Muslims left behind in India itself. He, in all consciousness, decided to share the same fate despite being persistently enticed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan; some of the politicians who have visited and/or stayed in Mustafa Castle are as follows: Mahatma Gandhi Jawaher Lal Nehru Mohammad Ali Jinnah Sarojini Naidu Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Maulana Mohammad Ali Maulana Hasrat Mohani Vijaya Lakshmi Pundit Bahadur Yar Jang of Hyderabad Vithalbhai Patel Bhulabhai Desai Govind Vallabh Pant Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Several chambers within the Castle are named after colours such as'Basanti','Gulabi' and so forth. They are used distinctly in winter months with the relevant color schemes; some of the originality that remains in the Castle includes furniture, imported by Nawab Mohammad Ishak Khan from London, to va