Carmen: Duets & Arias is an album released in 2010 by Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli. The album is a collection of arias of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, including duets with Welsh bass-baritone, Bryn Terfel, Russian mezzo-soprano Marina Domashenko, Italian soprano Eva Mei, from the French opéra comique. In 2005, Bocelli recorded the opera Carmen. Myung-whun Chung conducted the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Chœur de Radio France for the recording. Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, mezzo-soprano Marina Domashenko, soprano Eva Mei, were part of the Ensemble. In 2008, Bocelli played the role of Don José on stage, opposite Hungarian mezzo-soprano Ildikó Komlósi, as Carmen, at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, in Rome, for four nights, from June 17 to June 28. Bocelli released the complete opera recording of Carmen, in the same year. In March 2010, the recording was released Internationally. Carmen: Duets & Arias contains highlights of arias and duets of that recording. Carmen – Marina Domashenko Don José – Andrea Bocelli Micaëla – Eva Mei Escamillo – Bryn Terfel Zuniga – Thierry Félix Moralès – Jean-Luc Ballestra Frasquita – Magali Léger Mercédès – Delphine Haidan Le Dancaïre – Olivier Lallouette Le Remendado – Alain Gabriel Conductor – Myung-whun Chung Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Choeur de Radio France – Chorus Master: Yves Parmentier Maîtrise de Radio France – Chorus Master: Toni Ramon "Prelude" "Habanera: L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" "Carmen!

Sur tes pas nous nous pressons tous!" "Parle-moi de ma mère!" "Que son fils l'aime et la vénère" "Seguidilla: Près des remparts de Séville" "Toreador Song: Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre" "Halte-là! Qui va là?" "Je vais danser en votre honneur" "Flower Song: La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" "Non! Tu ne m'aimes pas!" "Holà! Carmen!" "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" "Je suis Escamillo" "Holà! holà! José!" "Halte! quelqu'un est là" "C'est toi!" Andy Gill from the British newspaper, The Independent, gave the complete opera recording a 4 out of 5 stars rating, writing that, "the world's most popular tenor, in the world's most popular opera? Do you suppose this will sell? Decca aren't taking any chances anyway, making it available as a complete CD set with full libretto, as a single-disc collection of Duets & Arias; the peculiar tragic nobility of Bocelli's voice is suited to the role of Don José, but the clinching elements are the supporting performances Marina Domashenko in the title role, whose plummily graceful tones bring just the right note of quixotic disdain to the part.

His lack of vocal consistency is problematic, but at his best here, the fullness his tone, the discipline of his phrasing might well surprise his critics."On the other hand, Joe Banno of the Washington Post gave an unfavorable review of the recording, mentioning the oft-noted failings in Bocelli's vocal resources on full display in this performance: "Bocelli, to be fair, possesses an lovely tenor and knows his stuff when it comes to selling a pop ballad. And Decca's close miking of his puny voice inflates his sound to near-Franco Corelli-like dimensions, but his short-breathed, clumsily phrased, interpretively blank and pinched and strained singing makes his Don Jose a tough listen." Carmen: Duets & Arias on αCharts.us Carmen: Duets & Arias on Ultratop.com Carmen on Worldwide charts Carmen on Ultratop.com

In United States politics, the China lobby is a phrase to describe special interest groups acting on behalf of the governments of either the People's Republic of China. S. who lobby for what they deem as pro-Chinese American policies and closer Sino-American relations. During much of the twentieth century, the term "China lobby" was used most to refer to special interest groups acting on behalf of the Republic of China. Before increased Sino-American engagement following the 1972 Nixon visit to China, the American recognition of the People's Republic of China in 1979, the PRC lobby was overshadowed by representatives of Taiwan's interests; the small Chinese American community shared a pro Taiwan perspective. Since that time, the PRC lobby has strengthened, by the 1990s, "China lobby" began to refer to special interest groups who work to achieve the PRC's desired political, immigration policies in Sino-American relations by influencing American policy makers, economic interests and the public.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the China lobby helped convince Congress to donate hard cash and many tons of war material in support of Chiang Kai-shek's war against the Japanese in China and Indochina before formal American entrance into the Second World War following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Committee of One Million Against the Admission of Red China to the United Nations, which changed its name to The Committee of One Million Against the Admission of Communist China to the United Nations was the dominant lobby on Sino-Americans issues until the U. S. and PRC began an opening of relations and the PRC was admitted to the U. N. becoming a member of the U. N. Security Council; this organization was established by a political activist. During the 1970s, the China lobby itself campaigned furiously to prevent American recognition of the People's Republic of China, but its efforts proved to be unsuccessful and the PRC was recognized by the United States in 1979. Occurring from February 21 to 28, 1972, the visit allowed the American public to view images of China for the first time in over two decades.

Throughout the week the President and his most senior advisers engaged in substantive discussions with the PRC, including a meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong, while First Lady Pat Nixon toured schools and hospitals in the cities of Beijing and Hangzhou with the large American press corps in tow. Nixon dubbed the visit "the week that changed the world."In an effort to build toward formal diplomatic relations, the US and the PRC established a United States Liaison Office in Beijing and a counterpart PRC office in Washington. In 1973 to 1978, such distinguished Americans as David K. E. Bruce, George H. W. Bush, Thomas S. Gates, Jr. and Leonard Woodcock served as chiefs of the USLO with the personal rank of ambassador. China made clear that it considered the Soviet Union its chief adversary, urged the United States to be powerful, thereby distracting Moscow. Liaison officer George Bush concluded, "China keeps wanting us to be strong, wanting us to defend Europe, wanting us to increase our defense budgets, etc." Bush concluded that American engagement was essential to support markets and stability in Asia and around the world.

President Gerald Ford visited the PRC in 1975 and reaffirmed American interest in normalizing relations with Beijing. Shortly after taking office in 1977, President Jimmy Carter again reaffirmed the goals of the Shanghai Communiqué. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Carter's National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, senior staff member of the National Security Council Michel Oksenberg encouraged Carter to seek full diplomatic and trade relations with China. In 1979 the Taiwan Relations Act was signed by President Carter, which committed the United States to provide military and other support for Taiwan and provided guidelines for future trade and other relations. In 1980 Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping launched the so-called "Opening" policies. Deng Xiaoping embarked on a major process of economic changes, pressed the U. S. to open trade relations. One of the main aspects of this was opening the doors to international business. China lobbied to gain business from the United States, companies began to flock to China to take advantage of the new opportunities made possible by trade laws.

China was invited to join the World Bank. In 1982 after additional negotiations concerning coordinating positions regarding the Soviet Union and Taiwan, the United States and China released another joint communiqué, the Third Communiqué, by which the United States agreed to reduce its arms sales to Taiwan and China agreed to emphasize a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue; the next year, Deng Xiaoping proposed the "one country, two systems" approach for reunification with both Hong Kong and Taiwan. In 1986 China joined the Asian Development Bank and applied for membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization; the United States at the time did not support China's entry into the latter two organizations because of reservations about the degree of openness of China's economy. In 1989 in the aftermath of the Chinese military crackdown on demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in the spring, the United States and other nations imposed economic sanctions on China, many U.

S. citizens evacuated the country. President George H. W. Bush maintained communications with senior Chinese leaders, though tensions continued into the next year, with criticisms aired from both sides. Diplomatic ties were never

Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars, the abbot of Villars known as Henri de Montfaucon de Villars, was a French abbot and writer in the 17th century. The "Nicolas-Pierre" are not attested by any ancient source and come from unsubstantiated assumptions. Coming from a noble family, Montfaucon de Villars was born in the diocese of Alet-les-Bains, in the upper Aude valley. Nothing specific is known about his studies and his beginnings, except that he was Father of Christian doctrine and had to teach as such in the colleges of this congregation, to say in the province Toulouse, or in that of Paris. Condemned to the wheel by the Parliament of Toulouse in 1669 with three of his brothers in a family vendetta affair, he went up to Paris to escape this sentence, frequented various somewhat libertine scholars, but evolved in the circle of Jansenists and friends of Port-Royal, through his cousin Jean-François de Montfaucon de La Péjan, he begins a career as a worldly abbot and embarks on the literature, successively publishing a satire against the "secret sciences" and a Critique de Bérénice in which he attacks Racine and Corneille.

But his spikes against the Jansenists in Le Comte de Gabalis lead Antoine Arnauld to have the work banned as soon as March 1671, to ban Montfaucon de Villars from preaching and to ruin his reputation with the important families of the nobility he frequented. Montfaucon de Villars takes revenge on passing to the enemy: he defends a Jesuit, Father Bourhous, against the Jansenists in his treatise De la Délicatesse, attacking in particular the writers of Port-Royal and the Pensées by Pascal, it was Antoine Arnauld who published in Paris the judgment of the Parliament of Toulouse in 1669 condemning Montfaucon de Villars and his brothers to death "for crimes of murder and fire", thus making public an infamous condemnation which had not been known outside the purview of the Toulouse Parliament. His career was ruined: nothing left his pen until his death, he died assassinated on the road to Lyon in 1673 at the hands of one of his cousins, Pierre de Terroüil, caught up in the family vendetta whose gear had led him to leave Languedoc.

Montfaucon de Villars is famous for his work The Count of Gabalis, or Interviews on the Secret Sciences where he gives a tasty parody of magic, alchemy and what he calls "the Holy Cabal", none other than the doctrine of Paracelsus on elementary spirits, so called because they populate the four elements: "The air is full of an innumerable multitude of peoples of human figure, a little proud in appearance, but docile indeed: great lovers of science, unofficial to the wise, enemies of the fools and the ignorant their wives and their daughters are male beauties, such as one depicts the Amazons … Know that the seas and the rivers are inhabited as well as the air* the ancient Sages named this species of people waving or nymphs … The earth is filled to the center of gnomes, people of small stature, guardians of treasures and precious stones… As for Salamanders, flaming inhabitants of the region of fire, they serve philosophers...". The work and actor of the vogue of rationalism and libertinism, aims both to discredit the "secret sciences" and to ruin belief in the Devil, because all the actions attributed to the Devil are here related to the harmless action of sylphs, nymphs or salamanders, the book hammers down the idea that the Devil has no power in this world.

This book, written in a clear and removed style, full of irony and charm in its form of half-philosophical half-burlesque dialogues, met with real bookstore success. His call to a certain marvelous renewed this genre, its influence was lastingly exercised in literature, it is one of the springs of the discredit of magic and alchemy in France at the end of the 17th Century. The Count of Gabalis, or Interviews on the Secret Sciences, Claude Barbin, 1670. La Critique de Bérénice, Louis Billaine, Michel Le Petit and Étienne Michallet, 1671, 2 vol. De la Délicatesse, Claude Barbin, 1671. Max Milner, The Devil in French Literature: From Cazotte to Beaudelaire, 1772-1861, José Corti Bookstore, Paris, 1960. Roger Laufer, Introduction to the Count of Gabalis, or interviews on the secret sciences, Paris, 1963. Dominique Descotes, The first criticism of Pensées. Text and commentary of the fifth dialogue of the Treatise on the Delicacy of Father de Villars, CNRS, Paris, 1980. Antony McKenna, From Pascal to Voltaire.

The role of Pascal's "Thoughts" in the history of ideas between 1670 and 1734, The Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, 1990. Jean Lesaulnier, unusual Port-Royal. Critical edition of the "Collection of various things", Paris, 1992. Antony McKenna, "Ménage et Bouhours", in I. Leroy-Turcan and TR Wooldridge, Gilles Ménage and lexicographer: the influence of his linguistic work, SIEHLDA, Lyon, 1995, p.&nbsp*121-139 Household and Bouhours. Philippe Sellier, "The invention of a marvelous: The Count of Gabalis", in A. Becq, Ch. Porset and A. Mothu, Amicitia scriptor. Literature, history of ideas, philosophy. Mixtures offered to Robert Mauzi, Paris, 1998, p.&nbsp*53-62. Philippe Sellier, "A Paschal palim

David N. Levinson was a real estate businessman and a former politician from Delaware. Levinson attended St. Andrew's School in Delaware for high school He attended Harvard for both his undergraduate and law school educations. and received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University. Levinson was the Insurance Commissioner of Delaware, elected in 1984, re-elected in 1988, he was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to the federal supplemental health insurance panel. In 1992, he was appointed an official advisor to the Russian Duma. Levnson was an associate commissioner of the Anti Defamation League, was a member of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Forum, a think tank. Levinson was the developer of Anderson Creek Club, a 4,000 home planned community, the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Anderson Creek Academy, a charter elementary school; until his death, he was married to Marilyn W. Levinson, Esq. and has one son, Micah N. Levinson, Ph. D. In 1981, President Jimmy Carter appointed Levinson to his Council for Energy Efficiency.

In 1982, he lost. Levinson died on January 14, 2019 in his home in Anderson Creek, North Carolina

Sir John Milne Barbour, 1st Baronet JP, DL was a Northern Irish politician and baronet. As a member of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland he was styled The Right Honourable Sir Milne Barbour. Born in Lisburn, County Antrim, he was the son of John Doherty Barbour, he was educated at Elstree School, Harrow School, Brasenose College and Darmstadt, Germany. The members of his family were wealthy linen manufacturers, owners of William Barbour Linen Thread Company of Hilden – the largest linen thread manufacturers in the world, in business he was Chairman of the family company, which exists today in the same factory as Barbour Campbell Threads. In politics, he served as a member of parliament for County Antrim from 1921–1929 and for South Antrim from 1929 until his death in 1951. In 1921, he was appointed Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, entered Craigavon's Cabinet as Minister of Commerce in 1937 and was promoted, aged 72, to Minister of Finance, he acted as High Sheriff of Armagh in 1905 and as High Sheriff of Down in 1907.

He was created a baronet, of Hilden, in the County of Antrim, on 17 August 1943. He served as President of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce in 1911, as a member of Belfast Harbour Commissioners from 1914 to 1950, as President of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast and as President of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society from 1925 to 1930 and from 1931 until his death, he sat on the Senate of Queen's University, Belfast. Barbour married a distant relative; the couple had three daughters and one son, John Milne Jnr. whose aeroplane went missing whilst flying over the Irish sea in 1937. John was a civilian pilot who would fly home at the weekends from the Barbour factory in Glasgow, where he worked during the week. Barbour's sister, married Thomas Andrews, architect of the Titanic. Barbour was a Freemason, he was described by diarist Lillian Dean Lady Spender as "a curious man who looks like a stage Mephistopheles but is given to preaching in dissenting chapels." A religious man throughout his life he served on as a Member of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland.

Presented the East Window to Christ Church Cathedral, Lisburn, in memory of his wife and son. The baronetcy became extinct upon his death, Barbour was predeceased by his son. Barbour Memorial Playing Fields and the Sir Milne Barbour Memorial Garden, both in Lisburn, are named in his honour. A prize cup at the boat club of Queen's University, Belfast is named in his honour. Summary of a piece of film held in the Public Records Office NI Digital Film Archive which features Sir Milne A motor car made for Sir Milne