It's a Wonderful Christmas is an album by Christian recording artist Michael W. Smith. Released in October 2007, this epic album is Smith's third album of Christmas music and features four choirs and a 65-piece orchestra. About half the album is instrumental pieces, including "What Child is This", "Audrey's Gift", "It's a Wonderful Christmas". Vocal numbers such as "The Promise" and "Christmas Angels" reflect Smith's trademark personal touch and evoke his previous Christmas albums and Christmastime. Smith utilizes the full sound of the orchestra and choirs to produce an album that exudes a "mastery of the adult contemporary sound" and adds "so richly to the Christmas songbook." All tracks are written except where noted. It's a Wonderful Christmas sold 12,759 copies in 6,000 of them digital; the album has since sold 39,000 copies. The album was a critical success. However, Billboard gave the album mixed reviews. In 2008, the album won a Dove Award for Christmas Album of the Year at the 39th GMA Dove Awards

Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to the famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make the public laugh, while raising money to help people in need in Africa, at home in the United Kingdom, it is led by Liz Warner, founder of a production company. Key people include: Ruth Davison, Helen Wright, Charlotte Hillenbrand and Suzi Aplin; the highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with its sister project Sport Relief. The first live fundraising show, held on 4 April 1986, featured comedians and pop stars, including Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connolly, Stephen Fry, Kate Bush and co-founder Lenny Henry. A prominent biennial event on British television, Comic Relief is one of the two high-profile telethon events held in the UK, the other being Children in Need, held annually in November. At the end of the 2015 Red Nose Day telethon on 14 March it was announced that in the 30-year history of Comic Relief the Red Nose Day and Sport Relief appeals had raised in excess of £1 billion.

Comic Relief was launched live on Noel Edmonds' Late, Late Breakfast Show on BBC1, on Christmas Day 1985 from a refugee camp in Sudan. The idea for Comic Relief came from the charity worker Jane Tewson, who established it as the operating name of Charity Projects, a registered charity in England and Scotland. On 4 April 1986 the inaugural live fund-raising show, "Comic Relief Utterly Utterly Live", was staged at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London featuring popular alternative comedians and pop stars. An audio recording was released on WEA which included a live performance of the charity single "Living Doll" by Cliff Richard and the Young Ones; the highlight of Comic Relief is Red Nose Day. On 8 February 1988, Lenny Henry went to Ethiopia and celebrated the first Red Nose Day Telethon. Over 150 celebrities and comedians participated; the event raised 15 million British pounds sterling and attracted 30 million television viewers on BBC1. To date, Richard Curtis and Lenny Henry are still active participants of the Red Nose Day Telethon which continues to raise funds for numerous charities that help children in need and tackle worldwide poverty.

The charity states that its aim is to "bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people, which we believe requires investing in work that addresses people's immediate needs as well as tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice". One of the fundamental principles behind working at Comic Relief is the "Golden Pound Principle" where every single donated pound is spent on charitable projects. All operating costs, such as staff salaries, are covered by corporate sponsors, or interest earned on money waiting to be distributed, its main supporters are the BBC, BT, Sainsbury's supermarket chain and British Airways. The BBC is responsible for the live television extravaganza on Red Nose Day; the July 2010 accounts for charity registration 326568 show grant payments of £59 million, net assets of £135 million, with an investment portfolio held in a range of managed pooled funds and fixed term deposits. The average full-time staff was 214, with 14 staff paid over £60,000 with remuneration for the year, excluding pensions, for Kevin Cahill, chief executive of £120,410.

In 2002, Comic Relief and BBC Sport teamed up to create Sport Relief, a new initiative, aiming to unite the sporting community and culminate in a night of sport and fund-raising on BBC One. Sport Relief is a biennial charity event, the campaign deliberately alternates years with Red Nose Day, Comic Relief's flagship event. Red Nose Day occurs in odd-numbered years, Sport Relief in even-numbered years. In 2009, Comic Relief launched a website calling for a financial transaction tax, the "Robin Hood" tax. At the end of the 2015 Red Nose Day telethon on 14 March it was announced that in the 30-year history of Comic Relief the Red Nose Day and Sport Relief appeals had raised in excess of £1bn; the television programming begins in the afternoon, with CBBC having various related reports, money raising events and celebrity gunging. This is all in-between the regular programmes, but after the six o'clock news, the normal BBC One schedule is suspended at 7 pm in favour of a live show, with a break at 10 pm for the regular news programme.

Whilst the BBC News at Ten is aired on BBC One, Comic Relief continues on BBC Two, resumes on BBC One at 10:35 pm, with each hour overseen by a different celebrity team. These celebrities do the work for free, as do the crew, with studio space and production facilities donated by the BBC. Regular themes throughout the shows include parodies of recent popular shows and clips, specially filmed versions of comedy shows. Smith and Jones, a parody sketch starring Rowan Atkinson are both featured. Since 2015, Red Nose Day USA's annual Red Nose Day Special airs each May on the Thursday before Memorial Day; the First Red Nose Day was held on Friday 5 February 1988 with the slogan: "The Plain Red Nose", raised £15 million. The Second Red Nose Day was held on Friday 10 March 1989 with the slogan: "Red Nose Day 2", raised £27 million; the Third Red Nose Day was held on Friday 15 March 1991, with the slogan "The Stonker", Raised £20 million. The charity song was a double A-sided single featuring "The Stonk" performed by H

Bancorex was the largest bank in Romania during the 1990s, accounting for more than a fourth of the banking market share when it was closed down in 1999. The bank failed due to non-performing loans that were related to political corruption behind-the-scenes political dealings; the bank was bailed out by the Romanian state, its good assets being merged with the more solvent Banca Comercială Română. It was founded as the Banca Română de Comerț Exterior in 1968 and for decades it was the bank through which much of Romania's foreign trade was conducted. Toward the end of 1997, Bancorex received a sum of $600 million from the government, representing 2% of Romania's GDP; the recapitalization was followed by a management change in April 1998, but not by a restructuring, the situation of the bank further deteriorated. It was only in late 1998, when a crisis hit Bancorex again, that the government considered restructuring the bank, eyeing a privatization procedure. By 1999, it became clear that a recapitalization of the bank would require $2 billion, which couldn't have been afforded by the government.

A February 1999 estimate said much of it in foreign currency, was non-performing. This sum represented 5% of Romania's GDP at the time. In April 1999, Bancorex collapsed. In order to prevent further bank runs, the Romanian authorities decided upon a fast liquidation, transferring bad assets to a newly created Asset Recovery Agency, while deposits and most of the structure of Bancorex were absorbed by another state-owned bank, Banca Comercială Română; the banking license was withdrawn on July 31, 1999, effective August 2, 1999. The Romanian government compensated Banca Comercială Română for the liabilities transferred from Bancorex and it gave the right to refuse any assets of Bancorex. In 1999, the government took into public debt from Bancorex a sum of $1.5 billion, or 4.5% of GDP, in addition to the 1997 recapitalization of $600 million and the assumption of some off-balance-sheet items and legal liabilities that have not been disclosed. Khaled Sherif, Michael S. Borish, Alexandra Gross, State-owned Banks in the Transition: Origins and Policy Responses, World Bank Publications, 2003, ISBN 9780821354995

Carole Marsh is a children's author and the founder of Gallopade International, a children's book publishing company headquartered in Peachtree City, GA. Marsh writes mystery fiction in addition to works of non-fiction for children, she self-published under the imprint Gallopade Publishing Group, which she founded in 1979. In 2007 Marsh received the Georgia Author of the Year award for her contributions to children's literature and to the state of Georgia over her career. Gallopade International specializes in social studies, with an emphasis on history and biographies correlated to educational standards, including the Common Core. Mimi and Papa's Everyday Amazing Almanac received the 2012 Seal of Excellence from Creative Child Magazine. WHEN KIDS TAKE OVER NASA by Carole Marsh was selected as a finalist in the 2011 Book of the Year Awards from ForeWord Magazine. Mary America, First Girl President of the United States received the 2012 Teacher's Choice Award for the Family from Learning Magazine, as well as the Book of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine.

The Daily Dozen, a digital whiteboard program, won the 2012 Teacher's Choice Award for the Classroom from Learning Magazine. Marsh's Budget Buddies, a six-book classroom management series, won the 2011 Teacher's Choice Award for the Classroom from Learning Magazine. Marsh received the Georgia Author of the Year Award from the Georgia Writers Association in 2007. Marsh was a 2001 recipient of the Excellence in Education Award from the National School Supply and Equipment Association Marsh has more than 25 pages of title listings in “Children’s Books in Print” and is creator and author of “Real Kids/Real Places” Mysteries, called “a true gem of original and entertaining storytelling” by Midwest Book Review. Elections! Elections; the first six titles in the series, aimed at high school students, have a release date set in September 2012. Bio Article blog

The Government of Haryana has appointed Ashwin Johar, as Chairman of Foreign Investment and NRI Cell, which would provide an Institutional mechanism for: Provision of guidance and advisory services for attracting foreign investment in the state and redressal of other problems faced by the NRI’s of Haryana domicile e.g. property, marital discord, law and order issues etc. The Foreign Investment and NRI Cell will be located in the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Panchkula. While the HSIIDC is designated as the nodal agency for Investment related matters, the Home department will act the nodal agency for addressing grievances related to property, marital dispute and order, other related social issues; the Cell would create its Web Portal "Connect Haryana" to act as the single point contact for NRIs & PIOs and for building up the necessary database. The HSIIDC will undertake all necessary steps for updation of the website; the Home department shall nominate a single point of contact to whom all relevant correspondence /grievances received in the Cell, in electronic or paper form, will be forwarded and monitored along with a status tracking facility to the person making such correspondence.

An Advisory Committee is constituted at the Apex level to consider related matter and review the action taken by the Cell from time to time. The Advisory Committee shall consist of the following: Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister of Haryana Industries Minister, Haryana – Member Principal Secretary to Chief Minister – Member Principal Secretary, Home – Member Principal Secretary and Commerce – Member Principal Secretary, Town &Country Planning – Member Principal Secretary, Public Relations – Member Chief Administrator, Huda – Member Director, Industries & Commerce – Member Managing Director, HSIIDC – Member Secretary Balinder Singh Kundu – United States R. K. Malhotra – Japan K. V. Rathee – Canada O. H. Narain – Netherlands Budh Parkash Jasuja – United States K. L. Sardana – United States Rajiv Chhabra UK HarSamadhan Haryana Govt's online Complaints portal