The economy of Botswana is one of the world's fastest growing economies, averaging about 5% per annum over the past decade. Growth in private sector employment averaged about 10% per annum during the first 30 years of the country's independence. After a period of stagnation at the turn of the 21st century, Botswana's economy registered strong levels of growth, with GDP growth exceeding 6-7% targets. Botswana has been praised by the African Development Bank for sustaining one of the world's longest economic booms. Economic growth since the late 1960s has been on par with some of Asia's largest economies; the government has maintained budget surpluses and has extensive foreign-exchange reserves. Botswana's impressive economic record has been built on a foundation of diamond mining, prudent fiscal policies, international financial and technical assistance, a cautious foreign policy, it is rated as the least corrupt country in Africa in the Corruption Perceptions Index by international corruption watchdog Transparency International.

It has the fourth highest gross national income per capita in purchasing power in Africa and above the world average. Although Botswana's economy is considered a model for countries in the region, its heavy dependence on mining and its high rate of HIV/AIDS infection and unemployment could threaten its success in the future. Trade unions represent a minority of workers in the Botswana economy. In general they are loosely organised "in-house" unions, although the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions is consolidating its role as the sole national trade union centre in the country. Agriculture still provides a livelihood for 70% of the rural population but supplies only about 50% of food needs and accounted for only 1.8% of GDP as of 2016. Subsistence farming and cattle raising predominate; the sector is plagued by poor soils. Tourism is important to the economy. Substantial mineral deposits were found in the 1970s and the mining sector grew from 25% of GDP in 1980 to 38% in 1998. Unemployment stands 21% but unofficial estimates place it closer to 40%.

The Orapa 2000 project doubled the capacity of the country's main diamond mine from early 2000. This will be the main force behind continued economic expansion. Economic growth slowed in 2005-2008 and turned negative in 2009 as a result of the Great Recession, contracting by 5.2%. This was exacerbated by a major global downturn in the industrial sector, which shrank by 30%, Botswana's steep economic downturn contrasted with most other African nations which experienced continued growth through this period; some of Botswana's budget deficits can be traced to high military expenditures. Some critics have criticized this level of military spending, given the low likelihood of international conflict, but these troops are used for multilateral operations and assistance efforts. One of Botswana's biggest challenges is its low level of economic diversification; as of 2008, it depended on services and agriculture linked to the trade with South Africa. Botswana is part of the Southern African Customs Union with South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia.

The World Bank reports that in 2001, the SACU had a weighted average common external tariff rate of 3.6 percent. According to the U. S. Department of Commerce, "there are few tariff or non-tariff barriers to trade with Botswana, apart from restrictions on licensing for some business operations, which are reserved for companies." Based on the revised trade factor methodology, Botswana's trade policy score is unchanged. The main export of Botswana is diamonds; as of 2017 it is the world's second largest producer of diamonds after Russia. Due to Botswana's heavy reliance on diamonds, strong global demand is vital to the health of the economy. Diamond exports provide Botswana's economy with strong supplies of foreign exchange and have offered a basis for industrial development and stimulated improvements in Botswana's infrastructure. However, despite their preeminent role in Botswana's economy, there are concerns that diamond mines are not labour-intensive enough to provide sufficient employment for Botswana's workforce, this mismatch has been cited as a factor in the country's structurally high unemployment rate.

Two large mining companies and Bamangwato Concessions, Ltd. operate in the country. BCL was placed in provisional liquidation in late 2016, following years of loss-making operations, was placed into final liquidation by the High Court in June 2017. Since the early 1980s, the country has been one of the world's largest producers of gem diamonds. Four large diamond mines have opened since independence. De Beers prospectors discovered diamonds in northern Botswana in the early 1970s; the first mine began production at Orapa followed by a smaller mine at Letlhakane. What has become the single richest diamond mine in the world opened in Jwaneng in 1982; the mine was discovered. Botswana produced a total over 30 million carats of diamonds from the three Debswana mines in 1999, is the highest producer of diamonds by value in the world. According to Debswana, the Orapa 2000 Expansion project increased the Orapa's mine annual output from 6 million carats to 12 million carats and raised total production to 26 million carats.

In 2003, Debswana opened the Damtshaa diamond mine abou

Graphalloy is the trademark for a group of metal-impregnated graphite materials. The materials are used for self-lubricating plain bearings or electrical contacts, they are proprietary materials owned by the Graphite Metallizing Corp. based in Yonkers, New York, USA. When the metal is impregnated in the graphite it forms long continuous filaments; these are what gives the material its ductility and heat dissipation properties. There are many types of Graphalloy because the graphite can be impregnated with many different metals. Graphalloy is used in applications where high and low temperatures are encountered, grease or oil is not feasible, expulsion of wear particles is prohibited, or in dusty, submerged, or corrosive environments, it is non-corrosive in gasoline, jet fuel, bleaches, dyes, liquefied gases and many more chemicals. It is not used in abrasive applications. Common applications include pumps and washing tanks, industrial dryers, steam turbines, cryogenics, it is used as bearing in applications where electrical conduction is necessary.

It is used in when high frequency current degrades needle bearings. Examples of applications include packaging machines, radar joints, welding equipment. Official website

The Battle of Changhsing, popularly known in Taiwan as the Battle of the Burning Village was the last set-piece battle during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. It was fought by Hakka militia and armed civilians against the invading Imperial Japanese Army in Changhsing village; the battle earned its name from the fact that the entire village was burnt to the ground by the Japanese during their attempts to capture it from the Formosans. After the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the establishment of the Republic of Formosa, Chiu Feng-yang, a Hakka leader from Pingtung, called upon his supporters to form the so-called Liutui Hakka militias; the militias were organized into six units, according to the villages where they were recruited, hence the name Liutui. The militias first engaged the Japanese at Chiatung, were defeated due to their poor training and weaponry. By the time the militia regrouped further to the south, the Republic of Formosa had collapsed in the wake of President Liu Yongfu's flight to mainland China on 20 October 1895 and the capitulation of Tainan to the Japanese on 21 October.

Seeing no hope of matching the Japanese in a fight in the open around Tainan, Chiu ordered a retreat to Changhsing village, where he planned to make a last stand. Chiu's forces fought alone against the Japanese; the Hakkas of the southern plains had long been at feud with the Pepohoans, the Pepohoans stood aloof from the struggle. Indeed, they favoured the Japanese. Soon after their arrival, the militias brought in supplies; when the Japanese arrived, they found that a stone wall and other strong defensive positions had been built around Changhsing, that the entire population of the village were armed, most of them with primitive weapons. The Japanese were pushed back several times by the Formosans. Hakka villages in Taiwan at that time were provided with elaborate fortifications due to the perennial threat of raids by head-hunting aborigines. A village might be surrounded by ditches and a wooden palisade, also a wooden wall with towers and loopholes, which would be difficult to storm without artillery.

After hours of fierce fighting but little gain, the Japanese commander resorted to a massive bombardment to set fire to the village, was successful in his attempt. The defenses were broken up and vicious hand-to-hand fighting ensued. In the end, more than half of the defenders, including their leader, were either killed or incapacitated, the village was burnt to the ground by the fire; the Japanese suffered 57 wounded. The battle ended all formal resistance to the Japanese invasion, but sporadic insurgency continued on for several more years, ending only when the Japanese governor-general adopted a more flexible policy towards the local population. On the other hand, out of respect toward the defenders, the Japanese commander paid homage to the Formosan dead. In 1901, Governor-General Kodama Gentaro paid homage at the Chung-Yi house, or the "House of the Loyal and Just Ones", ordered an annual commemoration to be held. Several decades after the battle, Yu Youren, the chairman of Control Yuan of Republic of China, visited the site of the battle and wrote a poem praising the Formosan resistance: A monument was dedicated in 1995 to the Formosans who fell in the battle.

History of Taiwan Davidson, J. W; the Island of Formosa and Present McAleavy, H. Black Flags in Vietnam: The Story of a Chinese Intervention Yosaburo Takekoshi, Japanese Rule in Formosa

Kenneth "Kenny" Murphy is a retired American soccer player who played professionally in the North American Soccer League and is the head coach of the Connecticut College men's soccer team. In 1976, Murphy graduated from Staples High School where was a two-time All State soccer player and a member of a State Championship soccer team, he played hockey and was two-time All FCIAC player. He attended the University of Connecticut, playing on the men's soccer team from 1976 to 1979, he completed his undergraduate degree in 1982. In 1986, he earned a master's degree in accounting from Sacred Heart University. In 1980, both the Hartford Hellions of the Major Indoor Soccer League and the Detroit Express of the North American Soccer League drafted Murphy, he signed with the Express for the 1980 season. In 1981, he moved to the Washington Diplomats before suffering a career ending knee injury in June. After his retirement from playing, Murphy worked in both the American Broadcasting Company and CBS Records accounting sections.

He worked as a commodities broker. In 2003, he became an assistant coach with Brown University's men's soccer team. In June 2009, Connecticut College hired Murphy to coach the men's soccer team. NASL stats Ken Murphy ’76 Named Connecticut College Coach

EcoMB named the Environmental Coalition of Miami and the Beaches, is a registered 5013 not for profit organization headquartered in Miami Beach Florida. EcoMB was established in 1994. EcoMB's mission is to educate and promote environmental sustainability and ecological preservation in Florida and Miami-Dade County in particular; the organization lists four primary objectives - reduce litter on beaches, mangroves and surrounding islands. Luiz Rodrigues is the current Executive Director, since 2001 Jeffrey Forster, President of The Board of Trustees Gabriole Van Bryce, Treasurer Since the mid-1990s EcoMB organized clean up efforts for waste and refuse from Biscayne Bay accumulating on the Flagler Monument Island. In 2007 EcoMB "adopted" the island to keep it clean permanently, since organizes monthly all volunteer community clean ups. EcoMB has instituted a number of campaigns to help prevent litter and refuse from accumulating on the beach, hosting monthly beach sweeps, introducing artist designed litter bins on Miami-Dade County beaches and encouraging a county-wide adopt-a-beach program for businesses.

Raise The Bar is a recycling program aimed at raising awareness and promoting recycling at restaurants, bars and lounges in the greater Miami and beaches neighborhoods. The program hosts recycling campaigns and drives at entertainment venues throughout the city to encourage the industry to recycle. In August 2010 it was announced that EcoMB had reached an agreement to partner with The City of Miami Beach to establish The Miami Beach Center For The Environment which will serve as the organizations headquarters, a public learning and environmental outreach center; the MBCE plans to install educational displays on the local environment, LEED building technology and landscaping showcases, demonstration areas, a community recycling drop off. The MBCE hopes to begin renovation and restoration of the property throughout 2011 and is aiming to become the first LEED accredited building in the City of Miami Beach; the MBCE has gained widespread local praise in the community with local politicians, current City Commissioner Michael Gongora, architect Chad Oppenheim and entrepreneur Ken Fields and many more pledging their support

The Etruscan terracotta warriors are three statues that resemble the work of the ancient Etruscans, but are in fact art forgeries. The statues, created by Italian brothers Pio and Alfonso Riccardi and three of their six sons, were bought by The Metropolitan Museum of Art between 1915 and 1921; the Riccardis began their career as art forgers when Roman art dealer Domenico Fuschini hired them to forge shards of ancient ceramics and whole jars. Their first sizeable work was a large bronze chariot. In 1908, Fuschini informed the British Museum that the chariot had been found in the old Etruscan fort near Orvieto, that the Riccardis had been commissioned to clean it; the British Museum bought the chariot and published the find in 1912. Pio Riccardi died soon after the purchase; the Riccardis enlisted the aid of sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti and created a statue known as the Old Warrior. It was naked from the waist down, it was missing its left thumb and right arm. In 1915, they sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art that bought their next work, the Colossal Head, in 1916.

Experts decided. The next work was designed by Pio's eldest son Ricardo, who died in a riding accident before it was completed; when finished, the statue stood a little over two meters tall. In 1918, the Metropolitan Museum of Art bought it for $40,000 and published the find as the Big Warrior in 1921; the forgers subsequently dispersed. The three warrior statues were first exhibited together in 1933. In the following years, various art historians in Italy, presented their suspicions that on stylistic and artistic grounds alone, the statues might be forgeries, but there was no forensic proof to support the allegations. A expert found that these exceptionally large pieces showed extraordinarily firing characteristics, but he expressed this as cause for admiration, not suspicion. In 1960, chemical tests of the statue glazes showed the presence of manganese, an ingredient that Etruscans had never used; the museum was not convinced. The statues had been sculpted, painted with glaze toppled while in an unfired, green state to produce fragments.

Metropolitan director James Rorimer stated that studies by the Museum's Operating Administrator Joseph V. Noble "provided the first technical evidence of their having been made in modern times." This was confirmed by Alfredo Fioravanti, who on January 5, 1961, entered the US consulate in Rome and signed a confession. The forgers had lacked the skills – and the large kiln – required to make such large pieces; the fragments had been fired, "discovered" and sold, or re-assembled sold. As proof, Fioravanti presented the Old Warrior's missing thumb. On February 15, the Metropolitan Museum announced. Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gisela M. A. Richter, with a report on structure and technique by Charles F. Binns. Papers, no. 6, 1937. "The history of fraud – art". The Guardian. Craddock, Paul. Scientific Investigation of Copies and Forgeries. Butterworth-Heinemann. Pp. 197–199