The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 is an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries. It specifies the privileges of a diplomatic mission that enable diplomats to perform their function without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country; this forms the legal basis for diplomatic immunity. Its articles are considered a cornerstone of modern international relations; as of October 2018, it has been ratified by 192 states. Throughout the history of sovereign states, diplomats have enjoyed a special status, their function to negotiate agreements between states demands certain special privileges. An envoy from another nation is traditionally treated as a guest, their communications with their home nation treated as confidential, their freedom from coercion and subjugation by the host nation treated as essential; the first attempt to codify diplomatic immunity into diplomatic law occurred with the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

This was followed much by the Convention regarding Diplomatic Officers. The present treaty on the treatment of diplomats was the outcome of a draft by the International Law Commission; the treaty was adopted on 18 April 1961, by the United Nations Conference on Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities held in Vienna and first implemented on 24 April 1964. The same Conference adopted the Optional Protocol concerning Acquisition of Nationality, the Optional Protocol concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes, the Final Act and four resolutions annexed to that Act. One notable aspect which came out of the 1961 treaty was the establishment of the Holy See's diplomatic immunity status with other nations. Two years the United Nations adopted a related treaty, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations; the treaty is an extensive document. The following is a basic overview of its key provisions. Article 9; the host nation at any time and for any reason can declare a particular member of the diplomatic staff to be persona non grata.

The sending state must recall this person within a reasonable period of time, or otherwise this person may lose their diplomatic immunity. Article 22; the premises of a diplomatic mission, such as an embassy, are inviolable and must not be entered by the host country except by permission of the head of the mission. Furthermore, the host country must protect the mission from damage; the host country must never seize its documents or property. Article 30 extends this provision to the private residence of the diplomats. Article 24 establishes that the documents of a diplomatic mission are inviolable; the receiving country shall not open such documents. Article 27; the host country must permit and protect free communication between the diplomats of the mission and their home country. A diplomatic bag must never be opened on suspicion of abuse. A diplomatic courier must never be detained. Article 29. Diplomats must not be liable to any form of detention, they are immune from civil or criminal prosecution, though the sending country may waive this right under Article 32.

Article 31.1c Actions not covered by diplomatic immunity: professional activity outside diplomat's official functions. Article 34 speaks about tax exemption of diplomatic agents while Article 36 establishes that diplomatic agents are exempted from custom duties. Article 37; the family members of diplomats that are living in the host country enjoy most of the same protections as the diplomats themselves. In the same year that the treaty was adopted, two amendment protocols were added. Countries may ratify the main treaty without ratifying these optional agreements. Concerning acquisition of nationality; the head of the mission, the staff of the mission, their families, shall not acquire the nationality of the receiving country. Concerning compulsory settlement of disputes. Disputes arising from the interpretation of this treaty may be brought before the International Court of Justice; as of October 2018, there are 192 state parties to the convention including all UN member states except Palau, the Solomon Islands, South Sudan.

Included as state parties are the Holy See and State of Palestine, the two UN observer states. The Republic of China signed and ratified the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations on 18 April 1961 and 19 December 1969 prior to the UN granting China's seat to The People's Republic of China. There are no states that have not ratified it. Vienna Convention on Consular Relations Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or Between International Organizations Vienna Conventions for a list of other conventions Diplomatic immunity Protection of Diplomats Convention Embassy Consulate 2. Acta Universitatis Danubius. Relationes Internationales, Vol 9, No 1 Original text related to this article Diplomatic Relations Protocols The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 50th Anniversary Website Created by the 2011 VCDR 50th Anniversary Project Introductory note by Eileen Denza, procedural history note and audiovisual material on the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law Lecture by Eileen Denza entitled Diplomatic and Consular Law – Topical Issues in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law Lecture by John Dugard entitled Diplomatic Protection in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

The River Marden is a small tributary of the Bristol Avon river in England. It flows from the hills surrounding Calne and meets the River Avon about a mile upstream of Chippenham; the river has a mean flow of 43 cubic feet per second. The Marden rises just north of the valley of Ranscombe Bottom near Calstone Wellington in Wiltshire, it flows in a north west direction through Blacklands Park and Quemerford, where it is joined on the right bank by the Rivers Brook. In Calne, the Abberd Brook joins it on the right and the river turns in a westerly direction and is joined by the overspill from Bowood Lake, part of the Bowood House estate on the left at Studleybrook Farm; the river is joined by the combined Fishers and Cowage brooks before turning to the north-west, past the village of Stanley. 1.5 miles it joins the Bristol Avon to the north east of Chippenham. The Domesday survey of England in 1086 records four watermills on the Marden at Calne. In the 18th century four fulling mills are recorded and one of these, Upper Mill, became a paper mill in 1768 and continued in operation until 1860.

Hassell's Mill at Studley remained in operation until 1960. The Wilts & Berks Canal, opened in 1810, paralleled the course of the Marden west of Calne; the canal was closed in 1914, following the collapse into the river of the Stanley aqueduct in 1901. Some traces of the canal survive; the Environment Agency gauging station at Stanley has measured the mean flow of the river as 43 cubic feet per second, with a maximum recorded flow of 1,529 cubic feet per second on 30 October 2000 and a minimum of 3.9 cubic feet per second on 21 August 1976

The Lower Depths is the best known of Maxim Gorky's plays. It was written during the winter of 1901 and the spring of 1902. Subtitled "Scenes from Russian Life," it depicted a group of impoverished Russians living in a shelter near the Volga. Produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902, Konstantin Stanislavski directed and starred, it became his first major success, a hallmark of Russian social realism. The characters of The Lower Depths are said to have been inspired by the denizens of the Bugrov Homeless Shelter in Nizhny Novgorod, built in 1880–83 by the Old Believer grain merchant and philanthropist Nikolai Alexandrovich Bugrov in memory of his father, A. P. Bugrov; when the actors of the Moscow Arts Theatre were preparing the play for its first run in 1902, Maxim Gorky supplied them with photographs of the Nizhny Novgorod underclass taken by the famous local photographer, Maxim Dmitriev, to help with the realism of the acting and costumes. When it first appeared, The Lower Depths was criticized for its pessimism and ambiguous ethical message.

The presentation of the lower classes was viewed as overly dark and unredemptive, Gorky was more interested in creating memorable characters than in advancing a formal plot. However, in this respect, the play is regarded as a masterwork; the theme of harsh truth versus the comforting lie pervades the play from start to finish, as most of the characters choose to deceive themselves over the bleak reality of their condition. The cellar resembles a cave, with only one small window. In a corner, thin boards partition off the room of the young thief. In the kitchen live Kvashnya, a vendor of meat pies, the decrepit Baron, the streetwalker Nastya. All around the room are bunks occupied by other lodgers. Nastya, her head bent down, is absorbed in reading a novel titled Fatal Love; the Baron, who lives on Nastya's earnings, seizes the book and reads its title aloud. He bangs Nastya over the head with it and calls her a lovesick fool. Satine raises himself painfully from his bunk at the noise, his memory is vague, but he knows he took a beating the night before, the others tell him he had been caught cheating at cards.

The Actor stirs in his bed on top of the stove. He predicts; the Actor reminds the Baron to sweep the floor. The landlady makes them clean every day; the Baron loudly announces. The Actor climbs down from his bunk and declares that the doctor has told him he has an organ poisoned by alcohol, sweeping the floor would be bad for his health. Anna coughs loudly in her bunk, she is dying of consumption—there is no hope for her. Her husband, Kleshtch, is busy at his bench, where he locks. Anna sits up and calls to Kleshtch, offering him the dumplings that Kvashnya has left for her in the pot. Kleshtch agrees that there is no use feeding a dying woman, so with a clear conscience he eats the dumplings; the Actor helps Anna down from her high bed and out into the drafty hall. The sick woman is wrapped in rags; as they go through the door, the landlord, enters, nearly knocking them down. Kostilyoff looks around the dirty cellar and glances several times at Kleshtch, working at his bench. Loudly, the landlord says that the locksmith occupies too much room for two rubles a month and that henceforth the rent will be two and one-half rubles.

Kostilyoff edges toward Vaska's room and inquires furtively if his wife has been in. Kostilyoff has good reason to suspect that Vassilisa, is sleeping with Vaska. At last, Kostilyoff gets up the courage to call out to Vaska; the thief comes out of his room and denounces the landlord for not paying his debts, saying that Kostilyoff still owes seven rubles for a watch he had bought. Ordering Kostilyoff to produce the money Vaska sends him out of the room; the others urge him to kill Kostilyoff and marry Vassilisa. Vaska decides that he is too softhearted to be a landlord. Besides, he is thinking of discarding Vassilisa for Natasha. Satine asks Vaska for twenty kopecks. Natasha comes in with the tramp Luka, she puts him in the kitchen to sleep with the three there. Luka, a merry fellow, begins to sing; the whole group sits silent when Vassilisa comes in, sees the dirty floor, gives orders for an immediate sweeping. She looks over the new arrival and asks to see his passport; because he has none, he is more accepted by the others.

Miedviedeff, a policeman and Vassilisa's uncle, enters the cellar to check up on the lodging. He begins to question Luka; that night, Anna lies in her bunk while a quarrelsome card game goes on. Luka talks to the consumptive woman, Kleshtch comes from time to time to look at her. Luka remarks that her death will be hard on her husband, but Anna accuses Kleshtch of causing her death, she says peace she has never known. Luka assures her she will be at peace after her death; the card players become louder and Satine is accused of cheating. Luka quiets the riotous players, he tells Vaska that he will be able to reform in Siberia, he assures the

Voir dire is a legal phrase for a variety of procedures connected with jury trials. It referred to an oath taken by jurors to tell the truth, i.e. to say what is true, what is objectively accurate or subjectively honest, or both. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it comes from the Anglo-Norman language; the word voir, in this combination, comes from Old French and derives from Latin verum, " true". It is related to the modern French word voire, "indeed", but not to the more common word voir, "to see", which derives from Latin vidēre. William Blackstone referred to it as veritatem dicere, translated by John Winter Jones as "To speak the truth". However, the expression is now interpreted by false etymology to mean "to see say"; the term is used in modern Canadian legal French. In earlier centuries, a challenge to a particular juror would be tried by other members of the jury panel, the challenged juror would take an oath of voir dire, meaning to tell the truth; this procedure fell into disuse when the function of trying challenges to jurors was transferred to the judge.

In the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Canada, it refers to a "trial within a trial". It is a hearing to determine the competency of a witness or juror; as the subject matter of the voir dire relates to evidence, competence or other matters that may lead to bias on behalf of the jury, the jury may be removed from the court for the voir dire. The term has thus been broadened in Australian jurisdictions to include any hearing during a trial where the jury is removed; the High Court of Australia has noted that the voir dire is an appropriate forum for the trial judge to reprimand counsel or for counsel to make submissions as to the running of the court to the trial judge. Under Scots law, jury selection is random, there are a few well-defined exclusions in criminal trials. In Canada, the case of Erven v; the Queen holds. This remains true if the judge ruled against the accused in the voir dire; the judge is assumed to ignore what she heard during voir dire. The jury is never present during a voir dire.

In Australia, the rule about voir dire is in section 189 of the Evidence Act 1995: "On a voir dire parties can call witnesses, cross-examine opponent's witnesses and make submissions- as they might in the trial proper." In the United States, voir dire is the process by which prospective jurors are questioned about their backgrounds and potential biases before being chosen to sit on a jury. "Voir Dire is the process by which attorneys select, or more appropriately reject, certain jurors to hear a case." It refers to the process by which expert witnesses are questioned about their backgrounds and qualifications before being allowed to present their opinion testimony in court. As noted above, in the United States, voir dire can refer to examination of the background of a witness to assess their qualification or fitness to give testimony on a given subject. Voir dire is taught to law students in trial advocacy courses; the play Inherit the Wind has an example of the legal process in terms of jury selection where the attorney for the defense, Henry Drummond, struggles to arrange a reasonably unbiased jury in a small town where the public sentiment is blatantly favoring the prosecution.

However, the play has Drummond forced to use his limited number of peremptory challenges to weed-out prospective jurors when they are so prejudiced in the prosecution's favor to the point of bellowing their opinions on the stand that most should be struck for cause. The Academy Award-winning film My Cousin Vinny has a scene depicting the voir diring of the defense attorney's fiancée, summoned to the stand as an expert in general knowledge of automobiles; the prosecution is skeptical of her qualifications since she states that she is an unemployed hairdresser, but has extensive work experience as a mechanic in her family's automotive business. With that doubt in mind, the prosecution asks a technical automotive question about a specific automobile make, year, engine size, carburetor type, she refuses to answer what she considers an invalid question. At the request of the court for a clarification, she explains in exacting detail why the question is deceptive, because the prosecution asked about a vehicle that never existed per the specifications.

She goes on to explain when the vehicle described was first manufactured and provided the answer to the prosecutor’s question for that model year, being the closest match. Surprised at such a detailed and authoritative answer, the prosecutor concludes the voir dire, saying she is acceptable as an expert witness. In the television series Bull, a Hollywood version of the process of voir dire plays a central role in nearly all episodes, with key elements of the psychological makeup of potential jurors meshed with the elements of the forthcoming trial being the factor for the decision whether to accept or "strike" a potential juror. Law French Strike for cause Sample Voir Dire to Jury—United States Department of Justice Getting Jurors to Talk

Montero Hoyos is a small town in the Santa Cruz Department in the South American Andean Republic of Bolivia. Montero Hoyos is the central town of Cantón Montero Hoyos and is located in Santa Cruz Municipality in Andrés Ibáñez Province, it is situated at an elevation of 303 m on the left banks of the Río Grande. Montero Hoyos is located 51 kilometers north-east of the departmental capital Santa Cruz. From Santa Cruz the tarmac road Ruta 4/Ruta 9 goes east through Cotoca and Puerto Pailas before it crosses the Río Grande and reaches Pailón on the river's eastern banks. From Pailón, Ruta 4 goes further east for another 587 km before it reaches Puerto Suárez on the Brazilian border, while Ruta 9 goes north to Guayaramerin after 1175 km. At Puerto Pailas, a dirt road leaves the Rutas 4/9 in north-westerly direction for another 4 km to Montero Hoyos; the population of the place has increased over the past two decades. The town had 985 inhabitants at the 1992 census 1,512 at the 2001 census, has now 2,064 inhabitants.

Due to the population movements over the past decades, the region has a certain amount of Quechua population, in the Santa Cruz Municipality 12.0 percent of the population speak the Quechua language. Map of Andrés Ibáñez Province

Mark Allan Marissen is a Canadian political strategist and principal of Burrard Strategy Inc. a strategic communications firm he founded in 1998. Marissen is a Senior Advisor to McMillan Vantage Policy Group, affiliated with McMillan LLP, a Canadian business law firm. Marissen is a director of Pacific Future Energy Corporation, along with former International Trade Minister Stockwell Day and former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Shawn Atleo. Former National Chief Ovide Mercredi and Dave Coles, former President of the Canadian Communications and Paperworkers union, are involved in the project. Marissen graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, attended Simon Fraser University. Marissen resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, has one child by his ex-wife, the 35th British Columbia Premier Christy Clark. Marissen's older brother is professor of music Michael Marissen, who has taught at Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College.

Marissen has a long record of involvement in the Liberal Party, joining the party in early high school. Upon graduating from Carleton University, Marissen served as the party's national youth director in the early 1990s, as an organizer for the Liberal national campaign during the 1993 federal election under then-leader Jean Chrétien. Subsequently, Marissen became a political advisor to cabinet minister David Anderson during his tenures as Minister of National Revenue, Minister of Transport, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Marissen was the British Columbia campaign chair for Paul Martin's successful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada and served as the federal Liberals' British Columbia campaign co-chair in the 2004 and 2006 general elections. In 2006 Marissen served as campaign manager for Stéphane Dion's successful campaign to become leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, it was a come-from-behind victory. The vote took place at the 2006 leadership convention in Montreal on December 2, 2006.

Dion appointed Marissen, Nancy Girard and Senator David Smith as national campaign co-chairs for the Liberal campaign in the federal election which took place October 14, 2008. While no one predicted victory for the Liberal Party, Prime Minister Harper was held to a second minority, Mr. Dion was criticized for his performance. Following Dion's resignation, Marissen supported Michael Ignatieff for Liberal Party leader. Ignatieff was confirmed as Leader at a national convention in Vancouver in late April 2009. In the most recent federal Liberal leadership contest, Marissen was campaign manager for George Takach for Liberal Party leader. After Takach withdrew from the contest, Marissen joined him in supporting Justin Trudeau. Marissen was involved in BC Premier Christy Clark's successful campaign in the 2013 BC provincial election. More Marissen served as strategist for Michael Lee's campaign for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party, where Mr. Lee was 30 points short from being on the final ballot.

In July 2018, Mark helped to create YES Vancouver, a new "YIMBY" municipal political party devoted to solving Vancouver's housing crisis by focusing on zoning reform. YES Vancouver ran candidates for school board and park board. Hector Bremner, a councillor for the Non Partisan Association of Vancouver, ran for Mayor under the YES banner, but only took 5.73% of the vote. "Politics'in the Blood' for Liberal insider", National Post, October 6, 2008 "Can party's shrewd B. C. strategist save Dion?" Vancouver Sun, October 4, 2007 BC Business: "On the Mark", June, 2007 "A West Coast Power Player", Vancouver Sun, January 6, 2007 "Drug Raids Highlight Political Links", Globe and Mail, December 31, 2003