-"@l !CKIn conclusion, Dragonze Huang's victory over the defending champion is not just a triumph on the field but a lesson in perseverance, dedication, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. As he continues to navigate the challenges and opportunities that come his way, one thing is certain – Dragonze Huang is a force to be reckoned with, a champion in the making, and a shining example of what it means to never give up on your dreams.
Moving on to the Nordic Zone, participants will take on the endurance-focused sports of cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and biathlon. The iconic ski jumping events, where athletes soar through the air with grace and precision, are sure to captivate audiences and inspire awe. The Nordic Zone will also host the thrilling biathlon competitions, which combine the speed and precision of skiing with the marksmanship of shooting, adding an extra layer of suspense to the proceedings.On March 28, 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a new directive to banks on recapitalisation. Under the new directive commercial banks with international license are to raise their capital to N500 billion. Commercial banks with national license are to raise their capital to N200 billion. The new capital for commercial banks with regional license is N50 billion while merchant banks with national license will raise their capital to N50 billion. The new capital for national and regional non-interest banks is N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively. The apex bank has fixed March 31, 2026 as deadline for banks to attain the new capital base. CBN expects the banks to source funds for the new capital through rights issues, offers for subscription, mergers and acquisitions and change of license to meet the new requirement. The CBN’s new directive on banks’ capital is designed to reposition Nigerian banks for big ticket investments while at the same time positioning them to compete favourably with international and pan-African banks particularly in the area of trade financing. While the banks are still battling to meet the new directive on recapitalisation and the CBN warming up to whip the banks into line, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) is already reaping the proceeds of the recapitalisation directive from the CBN. From all indications the NGX may be the first beneficiary of the recapitalisation directive on banks from the apex bank. The first gain of the recapitalisation directive came by way of massive boost to the NGX capitalisation. Four banks with international licenses have raised a total of N1.2 trillion from the NGX in a desperate bid to meet the CBN new directive on recapitalisation. The banks are Fidelity Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), First City Monument Bank (FCMB), and Access Bank. The four banks have consequently raised the NGX capitalisation by a staggering N1.2 trillion. Many other banks are still sourcing for funds for the new capital base through offer for subscriptions and right issues in the NGX. Consequently, the CBN recapitalisation directive to banks could boost NGX capitalisation by N2 trillion. Another area through which the NGX is gaining from the recapitalisation directive of the CBN to banks is its strange penetration of the Nigerian youth segment. The Nigerian stock market had for decades been the exclusive preserve of retirees and other elderly people in the society. These were the only people who were buying shares. This group of shareholders developed the strange culture derisively tagged “buy and hold”. They hardly trade on their shares. In the days of hard copy share certificates, the elderly shareholders would laminate their share certificates and hang on the wall like an award. Ironically, the capital market presents a very fertile ground for business transactions. Those who understand the market buy shares when the prices are low and sell when they appreciate. The elderly shareholders are not aware of the huge gains that accrue from such timely buying and selling. The NGX attraction of young shareholders into the market through the banking recapitalisation exercise will change all that. The youth were lured into the market through a new device known as “NGX Invest”. The App is a digital platform designed to streamline public offerings and right issues in the market. NGX Invest targets the youth who are bored with the rigid paper work involved in traditional share purchasing. It allows them to buy their share on-line. That is how the NGX has been able to capture the youth who had for decades shunned the nation’s capital market. The new App which its innovation coincided with CBN recapitalisation directive to banks enhances transparency and accessibility in primary market transactions. That is what lured the youth to the banks shares. It has consequently boosted retail participation in the market. In an exciting response to the NGX new App, the director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) noted: “Young people are beginning to embrace the market, we are excited about that”. Everyone is excited about the emergence of youths in the capital market. Market watchers contend that the trend will stimulate the market and confine the “buy-and-hold” mentality of elderly shareholders to the dustbin of history. NGX’s gains from the banking recapitalisation directive of the CBN are numerous. There are strong indications that it will boost domestic participation in the nation’s capital market. There has been a long standing contest between domestic and foreign portfolio investors in the NGX with foreign portfolio investors gaining the upper hand. The recent disorderly depreciation of the naira gave foreign portfolio investors the upper hand in the NGX as it cheapened share prices for them. is excited that the banking recapitalisation exercise will attract more domestic investors and at least reduce the widening gap between domestic and foreign investors holdings in the NGX.
Another notable contender is "Nebula Vanguard," a sci-fi epic that has been praised for its gripping narrative and engaging multiplayer features. With its fast-paced action and stunning graphics, "Nebula Vanguard" has quickly become a fan favorite, drawing comparisons to classic space operas while pushing boundaries with its innovative gameplay mechanics.In addition to the introduction of 空空儿, Season 38 promises a wealth of new content and features for players to enjoy. From new skins and events to balance changes and optimizations, the developers have been hard at work to ensure that this season is one to remember. The release of fresh content keeps the gameplay experience exciting and engaging, giving players new goals to strive for and challenges to overcome.
The Palomar Hotel had just opened in 1929, ready to celebrate the 1930 new year. (Ross Eric Gibson collection) The Town Clock had to stop its tolling so visitors to the new Palomar Hotel could sleep through the night. (Ross Eric Gibson collection). New Year’s parties, dancing and toasting took on different features throughout Santa Cruz County. (Public domain) With the large Scottish population, Ben Lomond celebrated “Hogmanay” for New Year’s. (Ross Eric Gibson collection). Did an angel ring the dead bell in the clock tower on New Year’s, 1930? (Ross Eric Gibson collection) The Palomar Hotel had just opened in 1929, ready to celebrate the 1930 new year. (Ross Eric Gibson collection) New Year’s Eve traditions have been long popular in Santa Cruz, from dancing and feasting, toasting the new year with a drink, a kiss for good luck, and making a racket to ward off evil spirits and bad luck. The Town Clock now stands at Clock Tower Plaza, which has become a focus for our New Year’s traditions. But when the Town Clock was at a different location, it seemed to have had a life of its own on the eve of the Great Depression. Andy Balich wanted the most beautiful hotel in Santa Cruz, back when beauty was an important part of architecture. Groundbreaking for the Palomar Hotel was Dec. 6, 1928, then nine months later, on Sept. 7, 1929, the Palomar Hotel opened to the public. The elegant Spanish art deco masterpiece was designed by Watsonville architect William Weeks, a seven-story building that the Santa Cruz News called “Santa Cruz’s first skyscraper.” The hotel became a hive of events, with a new program every Saturday. Yet visitors who spent the night complained that the Town Clock on the neighboring Odd Fellows Building, tolled round the clock. The Odd Fellows club agreed to let the tolling mechanism run down so it would still tell the time but made it impossible to sound the hour. The Palomar hosted a New Year’s dinner-dance for 300 in its mezzanine ballroom, to a popular jazz band. When midnight came, 1930 was ushered-in with squeaky horns, the clack of spinning noise makers and shouts of “Happy New Year!” Then people heard an odd sound over the din. To the disbelief of many, the dead bell in the town clock tower began to toll, which was bizarre enough in itself, but it tolled 13 times. The question in the local papers was “Who Rang the Bell?” When a woman repeated this question to her friend, her 4-year-old daughter chimed in, “I know, mommy! An angel rang that bell!” “Why do you think that?,” the mother asked. And with a sense of the obvious, the little girl replied, “Well, only an angel could reach so high!” My aunt Gloria Kaas recalled this story. And in fact, an angel did make sense. For after the hotel opened in September, the stock market crashed the economy on Oct. 29, 1929, plunging America into the Great Depression. It would take an angel’s intervention to keep the hotel afloat. In 1933, the $360,000 hotel was sold at auction from the steps of the courthouse for $90,000 to its bondholders. Four months later the leaseholder closed the hotel to sell off its fixtures, but Balich stopped him and became the new 10-year lease holder, eventually becoming the sole owner of his hotel in 1941. Thanks to Balich, his dream survived a rocky start. Over the years, Santa Cruz held special New Year’s Eve parties in its finest buildings. In 1861-62, from the rooftop of the Otto-Trust Brick Building on Front Street, came music from a modern all-saxophone band. This included alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxophone, but also a deep contrabass, and the higher soprano and sopranino saxes without a bent bell. People were used to brass bands but not to reed instruments with a loud voice. The Germania was a German-language hotel, first on Front Street, then in a new building called the Santa Cruz Hotel. It featured brass oom-pah bands and beer served from barrels. The Arian Singing Society on the other hand, brought the German classics to life at Arian Hall on Front Street above Soquel Avenue. These became features of German New Year celebrations. The Vienna Beer Gardens was a family friendly venue at the corner of Ocean Street and Soquel Avenue. It had an open-air dancing pavilion, playground equipment in a park setting beside Branciforte Creek, and beer with picnic-style lunches. Our first true luxury hotel was the 1866 Pacific Ocean House at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Plaza Lane. It hosted a ball for 150 of the most respectable people in high fashion finery, dancing to a ballroom orchestra. Meanwhile the castle-like Armory building at Front and Soquel Avenue, was known for years for its New Year’s Masquerade Ball, where one didn’t unmask until midnight. In the 1890s, the Sea Beach Hotel on Beach Hill hosted grand balls to popular dance bands, and the new St. George Hotel hosted a dinner dance in its dining room. The Boardwalk Casino became the largest ballroom and banquet hall in town for New Year’s parties. Fraternal organizations held their own dinner dances for members in their club rooms. Watch Night parties were at homes or in social halls. Historian Ernest Otto recalled from his 1870s childhood, that the parties included popping corn, pulling taffy and playing card games or board games. The Christmas tree would be cut into small branches because for safety reasons, you wouldn’t want a piece sticking out of the fireplace. One by one, people were solicited to toss a branch into the fire to represent something they didn’t want to bring into the new year. They could announce what it was or say it was private. The purpose was to keep the fire burning from sunset to midnight. Some played a memorization game where people sat in a circle and said “I went to Grandmother’s house and gave her ...” and would mention a gift, either practical or fantastical. The next person repeated the line, a new gift and the previous one. Each person had to remember all the previous gifts and was eliminated for forgetting a gift or its order, until there was only one person left who remembered all the gifts. The song “The 12 Days of Christmas” is suspected to have started as a memorization song, once including random absurd gifts invented on the spot to defy memorization. At midnight, all the doors were opened to usher the old year out and the new year in. Everyone went on their porches and sounded horns and cow bells to drive away misfortune. In the distance one could hear the revelry from many different quarters. Factory whistles blared from the town’s three tanneries and mills near Cathcart, plus the depot and Beach Hill. A great clanging came from the 12 churches clustered around Churchside (the junction of Lincoln and Center streets). Some churches held special New Year’s services. Then they would toll their bells, which sometimes took 15 or 20 minutes, as the kids lined up to get their turn ringing the big bell. Up on Mission Hill were heard the bells of Temperance Hall, Holy Cross School, Mission Hill Public School, the Leslie Building firebell, the Catholic boy’s school and Holy Cross Church. Many had a church banquet or potluck after midnight. If you didn’t want to get dressed up to celebrate, you went to the local saloons. Downtown Santa Cruz had its “Famous 55” saloons in a three-block area. These were a sign of prosperity, not for their quality (some were dives, others were gentlemen’s clubs). But the success of the lumber, leather, lime and gunpowder industries meant more workingmen employed, coming to town on weekends to spend their paychecks on provisions, whiskey, gambling and women. Temperance Hall on Mission Hill Grade provided non-alcoholic, family friendly New Year’s entertainment. Soquel had the first Temperance Society in California, founded in 1848, and Santa Cruz developed nearly 10 clubs by the time Temperance Hall was constructed in 1861. Some of the San Lorenzo Valley’s large Scottish population celebrated “Hogmanay.” When the Scotch Presbyterians banned Christmas in Scotland in the 1600s, the Scotts simply moved their Christmas traditions to New Year’s Eve, some of which became American New Year’s traditions. Below Ben Lomond was a 300-acre resort called “Rowardennan” (“Enchanted Forest”). It was one of the last to keep the area’s “Hogmanay” celebration, reminiscent of the Christmas Bracebridge Dinner held at Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Lodge. Rowardennan’s rustic ballroom had the look of a Highland’s hunting lodge, with deer and elk heads watching from the walls, and evergreen bunting. A large riverstone fireplace dominated one wall. A boy on a Yule log was ceremoniously carried in to bagpipe music. While drinking a toast, a cup of spirits was poured on the log, which was lit with a piece of the previous year’s log. This fire was not allowed to go out before the new year. The evening began with a banquet. Desert was “New Year’s cakes”: scones (oat cakes), nut and caraway shortbread and black buns. After dinner was a concert of Highland songs and dances, followed by a square dance. The first guest of the new year was a bachelor called the “First Footer,” who arrived at midnight. He brought “wisemen gifts” of a coin, bread and a log, symbolizing prosperity, food and warmth. Some combined these gifts into a log shaped cake with a coin hidden in it. Toasting was usually reserved for Champagne, wine, or brandy. The term “toasting” came from Wassail, an ale-and-sherry punch with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, plus pieces of toast floating in the bowl to keep the spice sediments down. It was a popular drink for Christmas, New Year’s and Epiphany (12th Night). Stephen and Luigi Martinelli started a Watsonville soda water business in 1861 and in 1865 created non-alcoholic Orange Champagne. Their Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider has become the universal non-alcoholic holiday drink. The longtime mystery of the angel who rang the clock tower bell in 1930 wasn’t solved until about 1970. Whitney Hardware store was in the Odd Fellows Building in 1929, and Rolla, the owner’s son, persuaded the elderly night watchman Thompson to leave the trap door to the tower unlocked on New Year’s Eve. Rolla and Barbara Clay made their way into the belfry and triggered the hammer mechanism by hand which rang the bell, although they lost count and the bell struck 13. So the angels were a couple of kids driving off misfortune with their own clocktower noisemaker, as an excuse to steal a New Year’s kiss.As the world continues to grapple with the aftermath of Assad’s resignation, it is essential for all parties involved to prioritize the well-being and rights of the Syrian people above all else. Only through a collective and inclusive effort can we hope to bring about a lasting and just peace in Syria and ensure a better future for all its citizens.In light of this controversy, it is essential for authorities to implement stringent checks and balances to prevent the misuse of agricultural subsidies and to uphold the integrity of government support programs. Transparency, accountability, and integrity should be the guiding principles in the administration of public funds to ensure that they are used for their intended purpose of promoting sustainable agricultural development and improving the livelihoods of farmers.
Furthermore, the rising trend of foldable and rollable OLED displays in smartphones and other devices is expected to drive significant growth in the small and medium-sized OLED market. These flexible OLED panels offer innovative design possibilities and enhanced user experiences, attracting both consumers and manufacturers alike.Cameron Haffner helps Evansville end five-game skid with 57-40 victory over Missouri State
Trump's Tariff Tactics: U.S.-Canada Relations Under Spotlight
Despite facing stiff competition from countries like Japan, Germany, and South Korea, the Chinese National Table Tennis Team remains unrivaled in terms of talent, depth, and experience. Their ability to produce top-tier players year after year is a testament to the strength of their training system, coaching philosophy, and commitment to excellence. The team's relentless pursuit of perfection has set a benchmark that other nations aspire to emulate.Cameron Haffner helps Evansville end five-game skid with 57-40 victory over Missouri StateAs the investigation into the former defense minister's alleged crimes continues, many are hoping that the justice system will be able to uncover the truth and hold those responsible to account. The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications for South Korea's defense establishment and its efforts to combat corruption.
Secret Stock Strategies. What the Experts Won’t Tell You
Additionally, when membership fees become the primary source of revenue for a professional organization, it may shift the focus away from the core mission and objectives of the group. The organization may prioritize attracting new paying members over upholding its standards of excellence and promoting the professional development of its existing members. This could result in a decline in the quality of services and resources offered by the organization, ultimately diminishing the value that membership provides to its members.NoneThe situation on the ground remains fluid, with reports of sporadic clashes between Israeli and Syrian forces in the occupied towns. The civilian population in the affected areas has been caught in the crossfire, with many residents fleeing their homes in search of safety.
