Mastercard Incorporated is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in the Mastercard International Global Headquarters in Purchase, New York, United States. The Global Operations Headquarters is located in O'Fallon, United States, a municipality of St. Charles County, Missouri. Throughout the world, its principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the card issuing banks or credit unions of the purchasers who use the "Mastercard" brand debit and prepaid to make purchases. Mastercard Worldwide has been a publicly traded company since 2006. Prior to its initial public offering, Mastercard Worldwide was a cooperative owned by the more than 25,000 financial institutions that issue its branded cards. Mastercard known as "Interbank" from 1966 to 1969 and "Master Charge" from 1969 to 1979, was created by an alliance of several regional bankcard associations in response to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America, which became the Visa credit card issued by Visa Inc.

Although BankAmericard's debut in 1958 had been a notorious disaster, it began to turn a profit by May 1961. Bank of America deliberately kept this information secret and allowed then-widespread negative impressions to linger in order to ward off competition; this strategy was successful until 1966, when BankAmericard's profitability had become far too big to hide. From 1960 to 1966, there were only 10 new credit cards introduced in the United States, but from 1966 to 1968 440 credit cards were introduced by banks large and small throughout the country; these newcomers promptly banded together into regional bankcard associations. In 1966, several bankcard associations joined together to form the Interbank Card Association; the Interbank branding in 1966 consisted only of a small unobtrusive lowercase i inside a circle in the lower right hand corner of the front of each Interbank card. This tiny logo proved to be unsatisfactory for creating nationwide brand awareness in order to compete against the established leader, BankAmericard.

In 1969, Interbank developed a new national brand, "Master Charge: The Interbank Card" by combining the two overlapping yellow and orange circles of the Western States Bankcard Association with the "Master Charge" name coined by the First National Bank of Louisville, Kentucky. That same year, First National City Bank joined Interbank and merged its proprietary Everything Card with Master Charge. In 1968, the ICA and Eurocard started a strategic alliance, which allowed the ICA access to the European market, for Eurocard to be accepted on the ICA network; the Access card system from the United Kingdom joined the ICA/Eurocard alliance in 1972. In 1979, "Master Charge: The Interbank Card" was renamed "MasterCard". In 1997, Mastercard took over the Access card. In 2002, MasterCard International merged with Europay International, another large credit-card issuer association, of which Eurocard had become a part in 1992. In mid-2006, MasterCard International changed its name to MasterCard Worldwide; this was to suggest a more global scale.

In addition, the company introduced a new corporate logo adding a third circle to the two, used in the past. A new corporate tagline was introduced at the same time: "The Heart of Commerce". In August 2010, MasterCard expanded its e-commerce offering with the acquisition of DataCash, a UK-based payment processing and fraud/risk management provider. In March 2012, MasterCard announced the expansion of its mobile contactless payments program, including markets across the Middle East. In spring 2014, MasterCard acquired Australia's leading rewards program manager company Pinpoint for an undisclosed amount. Mastercard teamed with Apple in September 2014, to incorporate a new mobile wallet feature into Apple's new iPhone models, enabling users to more use their Mastercard, other credit cards. In July 2016, Mastercard introduced their new rebranding, along with a new corporate logo. In addition, they changed their service name from "MasterCard" to "mastercard". In August 2017, Mastercard acquired Brighterion, a Delaware Corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California that provides a portfolio of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

Brighterion holds several patents. The company, organized as a cooperative of banks, had an initial public offering on May 25, 2006, selling 95.5 million shares at $39 each. The stock is traded on the NYSE under the symbol MA, with a market capitalization of $236.15 billion as of August 2016. Mastercard, along with Visa, has been sued in a class action by ATM operators that claims the credit card networks' rules fix ATM access fees; the suit claims. The lawsuit was filed by the National ATM Council and independent operators of automated teller machines. More it is alleged that Mastercard's and Visa's network rules prohibit ATM operators from offering lower prices for transactions over PIN-debit networks that are not affiliated with Visa or Mastercard; the suit says that this price fixing artificially raises the price that consumers pay using ATMs, limits the revenue that ATM operators earn, violates the Sherman Act's prohibition against unreasonable restraints of trade. Johnathan Rubin, an attorney for the plaintiffs said, "Visa and Mastercard are the ringleaders and enforcers of a conspiracy among U.

S. banks to fix the price of ATM access fees in order to keep the competition at bay." Both M

The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary or United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles off the coast of San Francisco, United States, which operated from August 11, 1934, until March 21, 1963. Alcatraz had been the site of a fort since the 1850s; the United States Department of Justice acquired the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Pacific Branch, on Alcatraz on October 12, 1933, the island became a prison of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in August 1934 after the buildings were modernized and security increased. Given this high security and the island's location in the cold waters and strong currents of San Francisco Bay, prison operators believed Alcatraz to be escape-proof and America's strongest prison. Alcatraz was used to hold prisoners. One of the world's most notorious and best known prisons over the years, it housed some 1,576 federal inmates, including some of America's most ruthless, such as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Bumpy Johnson, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Mickey Cohen, Arthur R. "Doc" Barker, Whitey Bulger, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis.

The Bureau of Prisons' staff and their families lived on the island as well. 36 prisoners made 14 escape attempts during the prison's 29-year history. Faced with high maintenance costs and a poor reputation, Alcatraz closed on March 21, 1963; the three-story cellhouse included the four main cell blocks, A-block through D-block, the warden's office, visitation room, the library, the barber shop. The prison cells measured 9 feet by 5 feet and 7 feet high; the cells were primitive and lacked privacy, with a bed and washbasin, a toilet on the back wall, with few furnishings except a blanket. African-Americans were segregated from other inmates in cell designation due to racial abuse. D-Block housed the worst inmates, five cells at its end were designated "The Hole," where badly behaving prisoners would be sent for periods of brutal punishment; the dining hall and kitchen extended from the main building. Prisoners and staff ate three meals a day together; the Alcatraz Hospital was above the dining hall.

Prison corridors were named after major U. S. streets such as Broadway and Michigan Avenue. Working at the prison was considered a privilege for inmates and many of the better inmates were employed in the Model Industries Building and New Industries Building during the day involved in providing for the military in jobs such as sewing and woodwork, performing various maintenance and laundry chores. Today, Alcatraz is a public museum and one of San Francisco's major tourist attractions, attracting some 1.5 million visitors annually. Now operated by the National Park Service's Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the timeworn former prison is being restored and maintained; the main cellhouse was built incorporating some parts of Fort Alcatraz's citadel, a fortified barracks from 1859 that had come to be used as a jail. A new cellhouse was built from 1910–1912 on a budget of $250,000, upon completion, the 500 feet long concrete building was reputedly the longest concrete building in the world at the time.

This building was modernized in 1933 and 1934 and became the main cellhouse of the federal penitentiary until its closure in 1963. When the new concrete prison was built, many materials were reused in its construction. Iron staircases in the interior and the cellhouse door near the barber's shop at the end of A-block were retained from the old citadel and massive granite blocks used as gun mounts were reused as the wharf's bulkheads and retaining walls. Many of the old cell bars were used to reinforce the walls, causing structural problems due to the fact that many placed near the edge were subject to erosion from the salt air and wind over the years. After the United States Army's use of the island for over 80 years, it was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which hoped an escape-proof jail would help break the crime wave of the 1920s and 1930s; the Department of Justice acquired the Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz on October 12, 1933, it became a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in August 1934.

$260,000 was spent to modernize and improve it from January 1934. George Hess of the United States Public Health Service was appointed chief medical officer and Edward W. Twitchell became a consultant in psychiatry for Alcatraz in January 1934; the hospital was checked by three officials from the Marine Hospital of San Francisco. The Bureau of Prisons personnel arrived on Alcatraz in early February. In April 1934, the old material was removed from the prison. Two of four new stairways were built, as were 12 doors to the utility corridors and gratings at the top of the cells. On April 26, an accidental small fire broke out on the roof and an electrician injured his foot by dropping a manhole cover on it; the Anchor Post Fence Company added fencing around Alcatraz and the Enterprise Electric Works added emergency lighting in the morgue and switchboard operations. In June 1934, the Teletouch Corporation of New York began the i

This article lists some of the events that took place in the Netherlands in 1987. Monarch: Beatrix Prime Minister: Ruud Lubbers January 1: Reflectors on each side of your tires become mandatory when your cycling. January 31: During the 59th Academy Awards, The Assault wins the award for best none-English film; this was the first time. Director/producer Fons Rademakers receives the Oscar from actor Anthony Quinn. February 8: The Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem opens for free in an attempt to prevent closure. February 14/15: A speed-skating world championship is held for the first time in a covered ice hall, it's held in Heerenveen in the brand new Thialf-stadium. Leo Visser sets a new world record on the 5 kilometer. February 22: Valérie Albada Jelgersma is freed after she was kidnapped, her father is Eric Albada Jelgersma owner of Unigro. March 2: The province of Drenthe is struck by an extreme amount of glazed frost. Objects were covered are covered by a 1 centimeter thick layer of ice. Trees and high voltage pylons snap.

This event is known as the IJzelramp of 1987. March 21: Soccer player Ruud Gullit is transferred by PSV to AC Milan for a record fee of 17 million Dutch Guilder. April 5: The Netherlands end 7th at the world championship ice hockey for B-countries in Italy and relegate to the C-Division. May 13: Ajax wins the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in Athens by beating Lokomotiv Leipzig in the final with 1-0. Marco van Basten scores the only goal of the match after 21 minutes. June 8: In a short amount of time several child abuse scandals are uncovered; the worst case is in Oude Pekela were 70 children are abused by several adults. The perpetrators were never found. June 27: Egbert Streuer and Bernard Schnieders are victorious in the sidecar class of the Dutch TT. August 30: The Netherlands men's national field hockey team prolong the European title in Moscow by beating England after penalty shots in the final. September 5: The homo-monument in Amsterdam is revealed, in memory of prosecuted gay men during the Nazi era.

September 7: Klaas de Jonge gets to leave South Africa after being in hiding for two years at the Dutch embassy in Pretoria. De Jonge is suspected of supporting forbidden black resistance movement ANC. September 9: Ferdi E. abducts Ahold top executive Gerrit Jan Heijn on his own and murders him the same day. The abduction keeps the country in suspense for many months until Ferdi E. is arrested in April 1988. September 13: The Netherlands women's national field hockey team clinch the European title by beating host nation England in London after penalty shots. September 22: Shipyard P. Smit Jr. in Rotterdam is declared bankrupt. October: Pediatrician Guus de Jonge publishes groundbreaking article about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, he advises to put infants in the supine position. October 28: A bomb incident occurs during the EC qualification match between the Netherlands and Cyprus. Despite heavy protest of the Greek FA the score isn't converted to regulatory 0-3 defeat for the Dutch. According to the UEFA the match will be redone.

The Dutch qualify because of this for the UEFA Euro 1988 in West Germany. 1987 Amstel Gold Race 1987 Dutch Open 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam 1987 Korfball World Championship 1987 Ronde van Nederland 1987 Individual Speedway World Championship 1987 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy 1987 ABN World Tennis Tournament 1986–87 Eredivisie 1986–87 Eerste Divisie 1986–87 KNVB Cup 11 February Ellen van Dijk, cyclist Jan Smeekens, speed skater 9 November – Nouchka Fontijn, boxer List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1987 Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987

Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond, comte de Saint-Hilaire was a French general during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Born in Ribemont, Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire seemed destined for a military career, as he was the son of a cavalry captain and showed inclination for such a profession quite early on. In 1777 he entered the Conti-Cavalerie cavalry regiment as a cadet and 15 years he was named captain, taking part in the Siege of Toulon was with the Army of Italy, where he knew rapid promotion, despite his aristocratic ascendance. A general of brigade in 1795, he was wounded at the battle of Loano, he served as commander of Toulon and Marseille and was promoted to general of division at the end of 1799. From 1805 onwards, he would continually serve in the Grande Armée, holding various divisional commands. In 1805, he commanded a division in Jean-de-Dieu Soult's IV Corps during the War of the Third Coalition and at the battle of Austerlitz he conducted a noted and decisive assault on the Pratzen plateau, receiving a serious wound at the beginning of the assault but nonetheless retaining his command for the rest of the battle.

Between 1806-1807, he fought with distinction at Jena and Heilsberg. He was created count of the Empire in 1808 and received a divisional command in the newly created Grand Army of Germany, with which he would campaign in southern Germany and Austria. On 22 April 1809, at the climax of the Landshut Campaign, Saint-Hilaire distinguished himself under Napoléon's eyes at the Battle of Eckmühl; as the Austrian army retired from the field, the French Emperor had the division paraded, told its commander in front of his men, "Well, you have earned your marshal's baton and you shall have it."On 22 May 1809 Saint-Hilaire had his left leg torn off by a cannonball at the battle of Aspern-Essling and died of gangrene 15 days as a result of this wound, before he could be inducted to the Marshalate. In 1810, Napoleon I ordered; the name Saint-Hilaire is inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Chevalier de Courcelles - "Dictionnaire historique et biographique des généraux français", 2nd volume, Beaul-Bouq, 1821.

Consult online Fierro, Alfredo.

Turn Island is a 34-acre island in the San Juan Islands in the Salish Sea in the U. S. state of Washington. The island sits in the San Juan Channel about 900 feet off the eastern edge of San Juan Island, it is preserved as Turn Island Marine State Park and is part of the San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The island is only accessible by water. Charles Wilkes, during the Wilkes Expedition of 1838-1842, thought it was part of San Juan Island and named it Point Salisbury after one of his officers. In 1858, the British found that it was an island with dangerous rocks in the channel between it and San Juan Island; the name Turn Island and Turn Rocks were given to mark the proper sailing channel. Turn Island Marine State Park Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission

Alex Kurtagić is an artist, cultural commentator, musician and publisher, based in the UK. He is the founder of various publishing houses, his writing has dealt with topics relating to culture, politics and community relations in the contemporary West. He is known as a critic of conservatism, he is known to have ties to racist and Neo-Nazi organisations. Kurtagić was born in 1970. Due to his parents' jobs he spent part of his youth in South America. In 1995, he founded the project Benighted Leams. In 1996 he founded Supernal Music. During the mid-to-late 1990s, he was active as an album cover illustrator. Most of his artwork appeared on albums by black metal artists, such as Dimmu Borgir and others, his artwork is featured in the book Heavy Metal Thunder: Album Covers. Kurtagić's dystopian novel, was published in 2009. For the next few years, Kurtagić was active as a social and political commentator. In 2011 a collection of articles and essays was published in book form by Unitall Verlag in German translation, with the title Ja, Afrika muss zur Hölle gehen.

A second collection in German, was published by Antaios in 2013 as Warum Konservative immer verlieren. More a book collecting his artwork was published, containing anecdotal, semi-fictional, satirical texts. Supernal Music was known throughout the late 1990s for its mail order catalogue of underground music extreme metal in all categories, but black metal. On it became known in the underground black metal scene through a roster that included bands such as Astrofaes and Drudkh from Ukraine and Mayhem from Norway, The Meads of Asphodel from the United Kingdom. In 2008 the British anti-fascist magazine Searchlight published a critical article on fascist lyrics and imagery in some styles of black metal that included criticism of the label's newsletter for having featured Savitri Devi, Ernst Junger, Miguel Serrano, Julius Langbehn on its covers and for the content of some of the CDs on offer. Caliginous Romantic Myth Astral Tenebrion Ferly Centesms Obombrid Welkins Mister. Iron Sky Publishing, 2009.

Unitall Verlag, 2011. P; the Conservative, Arktos. Proofs of a Conspiracy, The Palingenesis Project, 2014. Spradabach Publishing, 2019. ISBN 978-1-9993573-0-6 The Golden Tread by Miguel Serrano; the Palingenesis Project, 2017. Official website 2005 Interview with Benighted Leams