#the night court is SO MUCH bigger than all other court territories and the regions it contains r so different from each other

[illyrianbuck]

im doing a “two night courts drawing” based on my belief that the night court should separate between rhys and feyre as rulers

[hireath24]

Everything wrong with ACOFAS: A Rant

Part Two

Disclaimer: This is part two and will continue from pages 45 to 97. Part one can be found here. Part three can be found here. Part four can be found here. These page numbers come from the UK paperback edition of A Court of Frost and Starlight. This is my own opinion of the book - the writing, the grammar, the characters, etc. I won’t be commenting on anything that may have been plagiarized or that has been ripped off from the history of other cultures as SJM has a tendency to do. If you disagree with my opinions, I’m sorry and hope you see the error in your ways.

Page 45: Did Rhysand seriously see Feyre in bed and say that she was right where he left her and Feyre’s reply was... ‘Isn’t that all I’m good for?’ Sure, you can say this is a joke but when it isn’t pointed out that it is (e.g. ‘Isn’t that all I’m good for?’ She joked) then some of the younger audience is going to believe that that is all women are good for. And why is she reading in bed when she has a lot of paperwork to do for her court?

Page 46: ‘...Delay the meeting at the Court of Nightmares.” I frowned.’ I’m sorry but shouldn’t that be a comma?

Page 46: ‘If Eris will indeed be there.’ WHY ALWAYS WITH THIS WORD

Page 47: ‘Then I’ll eat you after.’

Page 48: ‘There had indeed been days when I couldn’t get out of bed.’ *Sigh*

Page 48: So we have a page and a half of Feyre bitching about how periods are different for Fae than normal women. How they only come twice a year but are the worst things imaginable... Is it-Is it ever explained why? Why is Fae menstruation so much different than humans? Why does it hurt so much more? They have the same anatomy as humans in that region so what changed? Also, if ‘conceiving amongst the Fae was rare and difficult’ then how comes we see Feyre and Rhys with a lot of kids in that brief scene in Kingdom of Ash when Aelin falls into their world? Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe they had five of them.

Page 51: ‘Prick,’ I hissed.’ How do you hiss a word that doesn’t have an s?

Page 53: ‘as my core heated.’ Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. I can’t believe I had to read that with my own two asexual eyes.

Page 55: ‘that velvet hardness of him.’ This is not a kid’s book! Are you kidding me? This is borderline pornography! And I’ve said this before but it really frustrates me with how SJM writes sexual assault. Rhys was sexually assaulted by Amarantha for years. We know that. And here he is, not two years after that ordeal, having sex with Feyre without having any feelings over it?? And sure, it’s been two years but- Even in ACOMAF, only a few months after, they were having sex? And they never once asked each other for consent? And Rhysand doesn’t seem to face anything for what happened. It was a cheap plot device and a slap in the face to people who have dealt with sexual assault.

Page 55: ‘Indeed.’

Page 62: ‘Indeed.’

Page 63: ‘The most powerful High Lord in history.’ Okay, the magic system in this series is terrible but this is something that just doesn’t make any sense at all: If Rhys inherited the magic from his father, then why is he the most powerful High Lord? Shouldn’t his father also be the most powerful? And why is he the most powerful? Where are they getting their powers from and how are they getting them? Why are some courts more powerful than others? Also, who gets to decide who the High Lord is? It always had to be a High Lord, of course, so no daughters. But what if you had more than one son? Seeing as the Fae are immortal, do you have to wait for your father to die to take the throne? What if the eldest son isn’t the most powerful but the youngest son is? Does the youngest take the throne? I’M SO CONFUSED

Page 63: ‘Why.’ Feyre’s question was sharp as a blade.’ SJM does this enough times that I can’t help picking up on it. Why the lack of question marks? A question is a question no matter what tone you use to say it and should always finish in a question mark. This book needs serious editing.

Page 66: ‘...Did not have an explanation for where the shadowsinger gifts came from.’ This is just lazy writing; the only reason this line is here is because SJM doesn’t understand her own magic system. I, for one, would love to know where Azirel’s magic comes from. And why is it only him who has it?

Page 66: ‘The territory map of Illyria.’ I’m sorry but what is Illyria? It isn’t on any of the maps for the book.

Page 70: ‘Where did Lucien go.’ AGAIN WITH THE PUNCTUATION

Page 70: Sorry if this ruffles any feathers but Azirel. I don’t like him. He’s creepy.

Page 73: We know that Feyre has a lot of paperwork to do as High Lady and yet she is ‘still asleep’ while Rhys is off with Azriel talking about territory and other... boring stuff? And yet the people of the Night Court think she’s an amazing ruler? So far, I haven’t seen one thing to make me believe that. She’s lazy.

Page 76: ‘Her eyes did not lower, not in the way Illyrian females had been trained and ordered to do.’ WHAT?! If Rhysand is 500+ and has been the High Lord for quite some time now then why is this still a thing? If he’s such a feminist why do people even think about women needing to lower their eyes for men?

Page 87: ‘The sun was mild, the day clear, distant dogwoods and lilacs still in eternal bloom. Distant - because on the estate, nothing bloomed at all.’ Okay so the dogwoods and lilacs are in eternal bloom but Rhys claims that nothing blooms at all? On the estate in the Spring Court? This isn’t making sense.

Page 88: ‘We had peace within our sights. I could rip him apart after we attained it.’ That’s... That’s just a bit of an oxymoron, isn’t it?

Page 88: ‘What do you want.’ Just why? Wait, I’m sorry *Just why.

Page 90: ‘There were no servants here.’ Does Rhysand have servants? And he calls them servants? Even though he’s supposed to want freedom and happiness for his people? And wants everyone to be viewed as an equal?

Page 90: ‘...Is the day the burning fires of hell go cold.’ So this really is just Hell would have to grow cold reworded, is it? There’s no need. Also, is the religion ever explained here? Ianthe was a priestess but of what and for what? Does every court follow a religion - the same religion? How comes we see people swearing to the mother, the gods, and the cauldron? Do they even believe in hell?

Page 91: ‘Low. It was a low blow.’

Page 91: ‘Indeed, shadows curled at my fingertips.’

Page 93: Rhysand seriously took the time out of his day to go to the Spring Court just to yell at Tamlin? Even after Tamlin helped save him and save Feyre? Even when Tamlin helped them in the war? TAMLIN SAVED THE LIFE OF THE MAN WHO TOOK THE WOMAN HE LOVED FROM HIM - WHY IS HE STILL BEING PUNISHED?!

Page 95: ‘Bigger male indeed.’

Page 97: ‘Indeed, they all sang Amren’s name.’

Part three is up! If there’s anything else that I’ve forgotten or that you feel is worth mentioning, mention it below and I’ll add it to the list.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Dromaius

By Fir0002, GFDL 1.2

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Name: Dromaius

Status: Extant

First Described: 1790

Described By: Latham

Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Palaeognathae, Notopalaeognathae, Novaeratitae, Casuariiformes, Dromaiidae 

Referred Species: D. novaehollandiae (Emu, extant), D. ocypus (extinct) 

Now we’re on to our final ratite - remember, Cassowary was done earlier (but I’ll reblog the post soon) - the Emu! The Emu is an Australian ratite that is not endangered - and, indeed, is found all over Australia today and oftentimes in many zoos. It’s also often tamed and reared for food, feathers, leather, and oil, and even can be reared as pets (though, don’t do that lightly, talk about a high-maintenance dinosaur). 

Current range for Emus, by Sémhur, CC BY-SA 4.0 

The first fossil record of emu relatives appear in the Miocene, though these early fossils known are not able to be given their own name. These remains come from the Waite Formation and the Camfield Beds Formation of Australia, dating to as old as 16 million years ago, in the Burdigalian of the Miocene. Of definable species, one extinct species is known, D. ocypus, from the Pliocene. Many extinct subspecies are also known - such as the Kangaroo Island emu, which was significantly smaller than current emus and went extinct due to human activity. The King Island Emu was also smaller than the mainland Emu and also went extinct due to human activity, as did the Tasmanian Emu subspecies. 

Size Comparison of the Mainland Emu (center) and the King Island Emu (right), with a person (left), by Tim. H. Heupink, Leon Huynen, and David M. Lambert. CC BY 2.5 

Today, the Emu is the second tallest bird in the world, right after the Ostrich. they can be between 1.5 and 1.9 meters in height, and between 1.4 to 1.64 meters in length. Females are usually bigger and wider in the butt region than the males. They still have wings, though vestigial and rarely seen, and the wings have small claws at the tip. They have long necks that honestly are longer than you probably have given them credit for, and long legs, and they’re able to run at 48 kilometers per hour, facilitated by their three very well defined toes on their feet. They have extremely strong pelvic muscles as well which gives them strong walking and running abilities. 

By FunkMonk, CC BY 3.0 

Emus have pale blue necks and heads with dark, shaggy, and thin plumage on their neck and head. They have long, shaggy brown feathers throughout the rest of the body, with unique double-rachis feathers. Each sex looks similar to each other. They can vary the exact brown spotting and patterning in their plumage to resemble their environment, giving them good camouflage, and they change their plumage color depending on environment. Since they live in a variety of regions including arid habitat, savannah, woodlands, and even near human areas, as well as the east coast (though they are more rare there), this is a useful ability to allow them to blend in no matter where they end up. 

By Joseph C Boone, CC BY-SA 4.0 

The emu form breeding pairs during December and January and stay together for up to 5 months at a time, staying within a small breeding territory which they defend from other Emu. They put on weight during this season and then mate between April and June, depending on the climate. The males then construct nests out of hollows on the ground, where the emu has a clear view of the surroundings and can look for predators. The females court th emales initially, changing their plumage to be slightly darker, and the male will stretch his neck and erect his feathers before dancing together and mating begins. The female will store sperm from the male and mate every day for a few days, until eggs are laid. They lay large, dark green eggs, of varying clutch sizes (though one deposition of sperm can fertilize up to 6 eggs). 

By Ikai, CC BY-SA 2.5 

The male incubates the eggs, and he doesn’t leave the eggs at all - he doesn’t eat or drink or defecate and he only stands to turn the eggs, about ten times a day. He looses a third of his weight during this time and survives on stored body fat and morning dew during the eight week incubation periods. The female, however, leaves, and the male takes care of the eggs on his own. The female may return to defend the nest, but most just leave completely. They actually then mate with other males and can nest as much as three times. The male stops incubating the eggs right before hatching, and the newly hatched chicks are very active and can leave the nest within a few days. 

In the Public Domain

These babies have distinctive brown and white stripes on their body that helps them to camouflage better, keeping them safe for their first three months of life (when they develop adult-style brown plumage). The male then guards the growing chicks and helps to teach them to find food for up to seven months, at which point they are fully grown. They stay together for another six months or so, at which point the young split up for their second breeding season to make chicks of their own. The father defends the baby emus as they grow as well, and he will be aggressive to any emu that approaches (and any animal that approaches), including the mother, and he’ll envelope the young with his feathers at night to help keep them warm. 

By djpmapleferryman, CC BY 2.0 

Emus mostly forage during the day and eat a lot of different types of plants such as grasses, Acacia trees, and Casuarina Trees. They’ll also eat insects and some other arthropods for protein in addition to plant material. They also will occasionally feed on fruit and human crops, however they’re very important for biodiversity in spreading seeds from plants around via their poop. They will swallow gizzard stones to help grind up food in their stomachs. They don’t have to drink very much, only about once a day, though they often drink a lot when they can and can be forced to go without water for many days given the arid nature of their Australian habitats. 

By Benjamint444, GFDL 1.2 

They spend the rest of their day when they’re not eating preening, dust bathing, and resting. They live in groups when it’s not the breeding season and some will serve as watchers for danger while others forage and then they switch. They can swim, but they tend to avoid it unless they need to. They sleep at night, though they wake up periodically throughout. They first squat on the ground and are drowsy but alert enough to sense danger, before fully falling asleep and drooping their necks close to their bodies. Their feathers help to direct rain towards the ground as they sleep, keeping them warm, and they also make them look like dirt mounds, keeping them safe. They sleep about 7 hours a day. They make a variety of sounds including booms, grunts, and hisses, depending on mood and situation. 

By William Warby, CC BY 2.0

They pant to help to maintain their body temperatures on hot days and they use their lungs to cool their bodies. They have very few natural predators today, though in the past the Thylacine, giant lizards, and other large marsupials probably hunted them. Today, they mainly have to worry about the Dingo, which try to kill the young by attacking the head. The emu will then jump into the air and kick and stamp at the Dingo when it lands. However, Dingos don’t heavily influence Emu populations. Wedge-tailed Eagles also can hunt the Emu by swooping rapidly down and aiming for the head and neck, and the only way Emu can escape is by running in rapid and random directions. 

Sources:

http://fossilworks.org/?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=13314 

http://fossilworks.org/?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=13315 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromaius 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu 

[newyorkprelawland-blog]

Soccer, Intellectual Property, And Geopolitics

By Dylan Ollivier, Columbia University Class of 2022

July 23, 2020

Another day in the northeastern English town of Newcastle is another anxious day for fervent supporters of local club Newcastle United.Soccer is the hope of the city, but in this rainy town, despair has been the name of the game for15 years. The historic club and ex-European soccer powerhouse has been mediocre at best, pathetically sinking to the depths of the English Premier League (the English national soccer league).

This could all change. A consortium led by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the national Saudi wealth fund, submitted a $300 million offer to the Premier League to acquire the club, promising to bring back glory to the Northeast of England. [10]

Set to bring more money, more competition, more fans, the Saudi foreign investment is delighting news to the Premier League which must first approve the buyout, a process that usually takes less than a month.[10]

But the approval process,which has put into question British and international law, is soon to begin its fourth month.

The main roadblock:The World Trade Organization. For the past year and a half, this respected international governing body has been investigating a case of intellectual property theft against Saudi Arabia, the prospective owners of the club; the WTO has been looking into the Saudi government’s role in a pirating scheme that saw the illegal redistribution of dozens of sports leagues,including the Premier League, by pirating company beoutQ to millions of households in the Middle East and in North Africa.[1]

The Premier League is not the only loser in this scheme; beoutQ specifically targeted Qatari media company beIN Media. BeIN Media group owns the TV rights of many European soccer leagues in dozens of countries across the globe. In fact, the Qatar-based corporation is the Premier League’s largest overseas broadcast partner with a deal worth $617 million, twice as much as PIF’s offer for Newcastle. [2]

When beoutQ pirated and rediffused beIN content to millions of people who did not pay a dime for the service, beIN and the Premier League lost millions of dollars of rightful profits. Naturally, the two sought to press charges. Cases of intellectual property theft are normally adjudicated in the domestic country where the unlawful action is occurring. But when they sought to press charges in Saudi courts, Saudi Arabia denied the proceedings… nine different times.[1]

Since legal action in the host country proved to be unfeasible, the case had to be brought to the World Trade Organization. But as an intergovernmental organization, the WTO can only settle disputes between governments, not corporations. [1] Enters Saudi Arabia’s tiny neighbor: Qatar.BeIN Media Group has intimate ties with the Qatari government; its chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi is a close friend of the royal al-Thani family. Moreover, beIN Media Group is a subsidiary of Al Jazeera Network, a Qatari state-owned media group.[12]

BeIN Media Group, though only 6 years old, has already spread its operations to 43 countries.[12] Two years before launching BeIN Media Group, the Qatari ownership bought out relatively anonymous Paris-based club Paris Saint-Germain, splashed unprecedented amounts of money and turned the club into the most controversial powerhouse of European soccer. These days, omnipresent names in soccer like Neymar, Ibrahimović, and Mbappe are tightly linked with Qatar. The country’s rising influence in the soccer world granted it a successful bid to organize the largest and most high-profile sports competition in the world, the 2022 World Cup.With its brand new mediatic and sports influence,Qatar has never been so important in the world.

But that is all new. A neighbor of Saudi Arabia, since its 1971 independence Qatar has existed in the shadow of its bigger brother.Saudi Arabia, thanks to its prominent rivalry with Iran and its partnership with the United States,wrote the greater part of late 20th century Middle East history. Meanwhile, Qatar, a Saudi vassal state, sat on the sidelines and provided moral supportto its bigger brother. [13]

But when Hamad bin Khalifa rose to the Qatari thrown in 1995, he adjudged that Qatar had become wealthy enough from oil money to move away from Saudi heterogeneity.[11] While Qatar had previously unconditionally supported Saudi military intervention,backing Saudi troops in the 1991 Gulf War, the small country began looking to other bigger international partners; to the dismay of Saudi Arabia,Qatar cooperated militarily with the United States in the Iraq war in 2003, and has since let its Al-Udeid base be a centerfor US military operations.[5] [7] Qatar also improved its relations with Saudi’s bitter rival Iran.[13]

Qatari scheming was all a headache for Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries. Through attempted coups and other illegal schemes, Saudi Arabia vainly tried to overturn Qatari belligerence for the first decade of the 21st century. [8]

But the headache turned into a migraine when the Arab Spring began sweeping through the Middle East and Northern Africa region in late 2010.From Libya to Bahrain, oppressive authoritarian regimes that had been in power for decades were overthrown. A demand for freedom was ragefully pressing.With its neighboring repressive friends violently overthrown, the Saudi monarchic regime,one of the most repressive regimes in the world,was under imminent threat.

Meanwhile,Qatar was militarily and financially supporting insurgency throughout the region, facilitating respite in Libya and Syria among many other countries. Qatari media company Al Jazeera provided crucial reporting that gave unprecedented information flow in the region and facilitated protests in a way never seen before. [9]Qatar increased its influence in the region, continuing its plan to expand its role in global affairs, and simultaneously threatening Saudi security.

The Saudi regime survived. But the previously close Saudi-Qatari relationship turned into a bitter rivalry.Both countries vied for their own power and influence in the world and in the region.In 2017, Saudi Arabia led a coalition of gulf and African states to break diplomatic contact with and begin an economic blockade of Qatar, in an attempt to suffocate the tiny country.[6] Saudi Arabia and Qatar may not be at war, but only the weapons are missing.

As Qatar continues to try to forge its own path, to rise out of the Saudi shadow, sports have become central to its growing political and economic power. Its access to European soccer and influential celebrities thanks to PSG, its thrusting into the spotlight thanks to its organization of the World Cup and its mediatic influence in dozens of countries thanks to be IN has created crucial economicand culturalties with the rest of the world.Qatar’s strategy to gain global influence and to become a region a land even global power has worked.

Responding to Qatar’s rise in global influence, Saudi Arabia has begun mounting a new strategy to vie for influence. Its Vision 2030 is an extravagantly ambitious project to shift the Saudi economy away from oil into sports and tourism (which is currently in existent in the country), and to drive foreign investment into a country that has seen little due to its authoritarian nature. [3] The Newcastle buyout is at the heart of it; the oil giant would get access to the Premier League audience of 4.7 billion people: the largest sports audience in the world.[4]

But back at the headquarters of the WTO, after a year and a half of investigation, the intergovernmental organization finally gave its verdict on June 16, 2020. The ruling favored Qatar and berated Saudi Arabia.The WTO found unfaltering evidence that the Saudi government belligerently masterminded beoutQ piracy. Moreover, the ruling also established that Saudi Arabia was in violation of international law by violating the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement for refusing to take criminal action against beoutQ on Saudi territory.[1]

Saudi theft of intellectual property is a pernicious attempt to fight Qatar’s rising influence.Now that the oil giant has been reprimanded by international law,Saudi Arabia’s image worldwide is set to take a hit. With Saudi and Qatari interests more than ever at odds, the Premier League may have to pick between two oil giants. At the same time, it may be unable to; a denial of the Saudi buyout may be considered discriminatory under British law. [10]

But whether the Newcastle deal falls through, tensions will rise.A buyout of Newcastle United is Saudi Arabia trying to beat Qatar at its own game, to fight a war with its neighbor on a rainy Thursday night in Newcastle rather than on its desert Middle East border.English soccer is set to change. Middle East politics will too. The WTO ruling is at the heart of it.

________________________________________________________________

[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/wto-verdict-summary-saudi-piracy-operation-beoutq-200616102827192.html

[2] https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200608-saudi-takeover-of-newcastle-united-hinges-on-lifting-blockade-on-qatar/

[3] https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/saudi-aramco-vision-2030/

[4] https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/saudi-arabia-newcastle-united-oil-future/

[5] https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-qatar/

[6] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/06/qatar-gulf-crisis-questions-answered-170606103033599.html

[7] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/27/iraq.julianborger

[8] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/al-jazeera-reveals-details-1996-coup-attempt-qatar-180304200532130.html

[9] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-jazeera-media/defiant-al-jazeera-faces-conservative-backlash-after-arab-spring-idUSKBN0F70F120140702

[10] https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-marcottis-musings/story/4125992/newcastle-united-sale-to-saudi-arabia-led-consortium-why-the-stakes-are-so-high

[11] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/emir-of-qatar-profile-who-is-sheikh-hamad-bin-khalifa-al-thani-how-did-he-turn-qatar-into-the-world-8672997.html

[12] https://www.beinmediagroup.com/the-group/

[13] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/world/middleeast/how-the-saudi-qatar-rivalry-now-combusting-reshaped-the-middle-east.html

[biofunmy]

With No End to Unrest in Sight, Hong Kong’s Economic Pain Deepens

HONG KONG — It was the second day of Golden Week, usually one of Hong Kong’s busiest shopping periods, and Matthew Tam and his co-workers at a jewelry store were looking as lonely as a band of Maytag repairmen, surrounded by display cases of luxury watches with nary a customer in sight.

Sales at the store, in the once-teeming shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui, have plummeted 90 percent in recent months, thanks in large part to the evaporation of tourists from mainland China who have been staying away since antigovernment protests began in June.

“It’s quite worrying,” said Mr. Tam, 56, who relies almost entirely on commissions for his income. “I don’t know how much longer I can endure.”

Hoteliers, salesclerks, restaurateurs and tour guides across Hong Kong have been racked by similar fears as footage of tear gas-shrouded clashes between riot police officers and furious protesters are broadcast around the world, scaring off potential visitors.

With the city’s Beijing-backed leadership refusing to concede to the protesters’ demands for free elections and an independent investigation into allegations of police misconduct, an unmistakable sense of alarm is spreading among both small-business owners and corporate executives who see no way out of the impasse.

“People are hunkering down but it’s really starting to hurt, and the longer this goes on, the gloomier the picture starts to feel,” said Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, who has lived in the city for nearly two decades.

The pall thickened after the Hong Kong leadership invoked emergency powers to ban the wearing of face masks during street rallies, a move that prompted fresh unrest and fury among those already angered by a slow erosion of civil liberties. The government has avoided harsher measures for now, but the prospect of restrictions like a curfew remains widely discussed.

“Emergency ordinances, face-mask bans and curfews are not the best way to restore business confidence,” Ms. Joseph said.

The tourism industry is a major driver of Hong Kong’s economy that alone keeps several hundred thousand people employed. But the overall number of tourists arriving in this semiautonomous territory has plummeted. Arrivals at Hong Kong’s international airport in August fell nearly 40 percent from a year earlier, even before the violence at protests escalated.

The falloff has been especially steep among mainlanders, who made up more than three-quarters of the 65 million people arriving here last year. The flow of visitors from mainland China nose-dived 55 percent during Golden Week.

The numbers are stark. Hotel occupancy rates are roughly 60 percent, down from 91 percent earlier this year. Retail sales dipped by 23 percent in August, the steepest decline on record. Many economists believe the city’s economy is slipping into recession.

The deepening crisis is reflected in a cascade of cancellations of major events like the Hong Kong Tennis Open, the Hong Kong Cyclothon, and the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival, all of which had been scheduled for this month.

For now, international finance and real estate, other pillars of the Hong Kong economy, have been largely unscathed. Corporate leaders worry, however, about the long-term impact to Hong Kong’s reputation as a stable hub for multinationals in greater China, especially if a crackdown leads to serious bloodshed or Beijing tries to interfere with the city’s hallowed independent court system.

Anxiety over shifting sentiments was heightened by a Goldman Sachs report estimating that at least $3 billion in investment had in recent months shifted from Hong Kong to Singapore, another former British colony and a regional rival for international finance. Law firms, global banks and trading companies have been drawing up contingency plans for the worst-case scenario.

There have been some reports of layoffs, and a few of the city’s ritziest hotels have been forcing employees to take unpaid leaves or have their wages temporarily trimmed.

“We really want the violence to stop as soon as possible so Hong Kong can be promoted around the world as a safe place,” said Ronald Wu, executive director of Gray Line Tours of Hong Kong, which has seen its business drop by more than half.

Alice Chan, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said only 16 tour groups arrived during the first few days of the Golden Week holiday, compared with the 110 that arrived daily last year.

Ms. Chan said antipathy toward Hong Kong spiked in August after protesters shut down the airport and attacked two men from mainland China. The spectacle of protesters burning the national flag on other occasions, she said, also has not helped. “These incidents have hurt the feelings of mainlanders,” she said.

On the mainland, China’s state-run propaganda machine has cast the protests as a riotous anti-China separatist movement orchestrated by the United States and other countries eager to tear the motherland apart. Chinese censors have blocked news reports and images that present the protesters’ yearning for democracy and their fear of being subsumed into the mainland’s authoritarian maw.

Hong Kong Disneyland would normally have been crammed with mainlanders during the holiday, but this year, the protests clearly dented the mood at the Happiest Place on Earth. The vast parking lots were mostly empty, just three of 16 ticket windows were open, and lines for many attractions were short or nonexistent.

Zhou Wenhua, 38, a real estate sales executive from Shanghai, was thrilled. “If we went to Shanghai Disneyland this week, we wouldn’t be able to move,” she said after taking her family on a spin through the It’s a Small World ride on an otherwise empty boat.

Unlike many mainlanders roaming the park in mouse ears and gnawing on roast turkey legs, grilled fish balls and pressed squid, Ms. Zhou was willing to talk about the protests, which she described as an “insurrection.”

In an echo of Beijing’s narrative, she cast the participants as spoiled children unappreciative of the Chinese government and its achievements. “Without the Communist Party, China would still be impoverished and weak,” she said. “They really should stop their rioting.”

Not that she had witnessed the protests firsthand. Ms. Zhou and her family had spent the previous two nights cloistered at their downtown hotel room, dining on room service.

Locals, fearful of impromptu subway shutdowns that can leave them stranded, are also less likely to meet friends or dine out. The West Kowloon Cultural District, a $3 billion, decade-long project that opened to sold-out performances this year, has seen ticket sales plunge. For the first time this month, district officials canceled several events in anticipation of protests and transportation shutdowns.

For many, the looming question is whether a prolonged or precipitous economic decline will chip away at popular support for the movement. A few business owners shook their heads in dismay over the vandalism and disruptions to public transport, though they asked to remain anonymous given the growing vigilante-style attacks on those the protesters deem hostile to their cause.

Surrounded by display cases stacked full with $70,000 Rolexes and $20,000 Tudor watches, Cherry Chang, 30, the owner of a small store in Tsim Sha Tsui, the shopping district, said sales have halved over the last few months. Still, she said she was willing to endure short-term financial pain for the loftier goals of genuine democracy and the preservation of the city’s generous civil liberties.

“I don’t mind losing money to support certain ideals,” she said.

Cheuk-Yan Lee, general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, which supports the protest movement, said he thought most Hong Kongers would blame the government for any hardship, not the protesters. The bigger threat, he said, is losing the freedoms and reliably independent courts that coaxed so many international companies to set up shop here in the first place.

“What will really hurt Hong Kong is not a brief drop in consumption but a loss of faith from global investors,” he said. “Instead of suppressing the protests, the government needs to revive confidence in the rule of law. Otherwise, we will just end up being another Chinese city.”

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Luxury Wedding Planners Dubai

Dubai has fabricated a name for itself in lavishness living; from automobiles, to manors, strip malls, motels, diners, awesome adventures, and brilliant towers and structures, the standards regardless of what you look like at it in Dubai are to an incredible degree high. This is in like manner contemplated weddings in Dubai. The resident families spare no effort in guaranteeing they get an indulgence over the best wedding down to the most minor detail. Organizing an indulgence wedding in Dubai is no bit of cake. It requires long masterminding, remarkable layout aptitudes, joint endeavors with aces in various fields, advancement of extraordinarily outlined foundations and models, interestingly made furniture and embellishments, encouraged particular creation, cautious site organization and parts more. Excess weddings held in Dubai are not specific to Arab weddings and diverse nationalities from different corners of the globe are having glamorous weddings in Dubai.Couples hunting down a nostalgic abroad objective for wedding or pre-wedding photos directly have another choice – a lavishness Arabian-style wedding with fantastic view in Dubai with new packages offered by the Jovial events, top luxury wedding planners Dubai.

Our lavish air and wedding group pull in couples from wherever all through the world and give the perfect scene to have wedding shoots and wedding administrations. We welcome clients to experience the charms of the culture and the excellent settings so they can get their most principal minutes with us. Experiencing this excess has been made less difficult, as visas are at present permitted on arriving in air terminals in the United Arab Emirates. Couples in like manner have a choice of various rich motels to get the most exquisite depictions of their lives: The world surely understood super luxury hotel Burj Al Arab Jumeirah; the Madinat Jumeirah with the arrangement pushed by out of date Arabia; and the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray which imitate the magnificent time of Ottoman Empire in the fourteenth and fifteenth several years. Each one of these motels are arranged in staggering territories in Dubai, featuring Arabian Gulf sees, unquestionable Arabian frameworks, and a grouping of devouring and event settings. Considered the world’s most extravagant hotel, the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is well known for its eminent appearance.

The hotel stays among the waves with its flooding Arabian dhow journey plot. It offers indulgence from the Rolls-Royce get to the expansive as of late finished Terrace and the wistful Nathan Outlaw at Al Mahara diner. Other than pre-wedding photos, couples can similarly hold a nostalgic wedding at the motel. The Madinat Jumeirah is discovered touching the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, featuring standard Arabian style with the uncommon building segments of the UAE. The motel contains channels, seascapes, souk and bazaars. Couples staying at the hotel can value complimentary rides on the abras (regular Arabian water taxis) to navigate the channel, another perfect setting for wedding photos. The cabin has more than 40 diners and bars and can offer changed wedding feast menus .Arranged in the western bit of Dubai’s outstanding palm island, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray’s auxiliary framework imitates the extraordinary time of the Ottoman Empire. The motel’s bequests are made of Turkish marble, diminish wood and out of date tiles from Anatolia. The cabin offers splendid sea sees for wedding photos, with its outside endlessness pool extending into the blue waters of the Arabian Gulf.

Luxury Weddings setting in Dubai

One of the key issue your pre-wedding arrangements to do is to pick the ideal wedding goal and consummating putting each exertion in culminating it’s tones like on a canvas. A sweet, shoreline, a high rise contacting the stars and among mists or even the protection of your own home might be your ideal wedding goal. In any case, isn’t it the best decision to abandon it to us the as the ones to add the flavor to that fantasy. Truly good humored occasions do think that its conspicuous to discover nirvana among our karma of joining their fantasy wedding when god-like himself demonstrates his exceptionally nearness. We Jovial occasions top wedding organizer in Dubai, UAE can make your wedding scene only closer to paradise. Here are a portion of the wedding settings in Dubai we could energize you with:

• Madinat Jumeirah Resort

With differing and special areas inside the resort do make it ideal for customary weddings of any sort with amazing dance hall and roomy field impeccable to oblige huge visitor quality. Post island and madinat field in the midst of a humungous tidal pond substantially closer to nature’s actual unique sound associated with terrain with a considerably bigger strolling span. Johrah and Mujarah assembly hall advanced with rich Arabian adventures and vibes with crystal fixtures is adaptable for any visitor quality and event. A porch plant named Magnolia fit for indoor and outside capacities like a lovely wedding. Jumeirah Mina A’slam could be arranged for unparalleled occasions, are two remarkable spaces, Majlis Al Mina and Majlis Al Salam ideal for customary themed weddings and functions. As the best wedding organizer in the entire of Dubai Jovial occasions do guarantee to take after its reputation of most extreme consumer loyalty.

• Royal illusion

Rich green finished patio nurseries with breathtaking private beachfront only neighboring Palm Island which gives a gathering of the most exceptional and beautiful inside, outside areas. Additionally incorporates dance halls and Arabian courts which could contain up to huge visitor quality. Hypnotizing Bedouin engineering and stylistic layout of Royal Mirage do makes it perfect for any social and current weddings. Pools, handmade mosaics and arch, passageways, flame lights and bakhoor do sets a sentimental vibe and ensures that your wedding occasion will be a significant important affair.

• Atlantis, The palm

The promising background goal resort of Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai set skillfully on a falsely organized island which gives an ordeal much encouraging. From its design and eminent eateries it’s much encouraging than anything. A sentimental inclination set for a shoreline wedding or a healthy assembly hall one Atlantis would be much flawless and adaptable to your thoughts as it’s reinforced with six individual character settings. Both primary dance floor and Asateer marquee can incorporate most extreme visitor limit and is an ideal degree for a fantasy scene for weddings with floor materials of marble and extraordinary perspectives of the horizon. The widely acclaimed gourmet experts will give you their best providing food alternatives making recollections to endure forever.

• Four seasons

A play ground of dreams on a beachside of Jumeirah, beaconed with the waters of the Arabian and Dubai’s high rises with great perspectives of the Burj Khalifa. On the off chance that you need to join on a fantasy of a lifetime in the desert or just spending the entrancing poolside see, at that point why you don’t pick Four seasons? An oceanfront desert spring along the beachside and a “Middle Eastern Romantic vibe” with caviar and canapés. The Resort’s eating goals incorporate housetop Mercury Lounge and sea see ocean fu. As guaranteed Jovial weddings the best wedding occasion administration organization, Dubai could change your fantasy wedding in to an unheard of level. We could betake the job of an Arabic wedding organizer, Indian wedding organizer according to your desires.

• Al maha dessert resort

A desert spring settled in the midst of the rich palm forests, emerald coverings, and awesome sand hills of the Arabian Desert Conservation Reserve. The resort isolated from fields and Hajar Mountain landscapes gives horse riding and camel trekking for couple and visitors. Legendary surroundings along private pools with hills and mountain sees in the midst of tranquil suites furnish refreshment with territorial collectibles and ancient rarities, and astute subtleties including binoculars, an easel, and the sky is the limit from there. Couples with their friends and family could savor Indian, Arabian and European cooking styles under the star filled skies. Ridge eating lit with the warm lights from blazes supports the sentimental vibe. Open air and indoor deck offices at the resort are very much organized to coordinate as indicated by any couple’s wants of champagne and newly made gourmet suppers. Appreciate every night a glass of bubbly on the outside deck of the suite in the grand delights of immense regions around you. Joyful wedding do discover it blessedness both of you spirits together in flawlessness.

• J W Marriot Marquis

Arranging your fantasy wedding with in the core of Dubai? For what reason don’t you pick of exquisite J W Marriot? Welcome to 1,000 visitors for a stupendous function in the Dubai Ballroom, exploiting extensive outside pool deck and along these lines have a modern wedding gathering. Lift your occasion with a delightful, tweaked menu, arranged by our wonderful culinary experts. We Jovial occasions, toppers of rundown wedding organizers do guarantee that your fantasy day is a win.

Consequently dream weddings requests to be arranged. Marriott Certified Wedding Planner Jovial prepared to help finishing requesting each Marriott ensured wedding organizer is met all requirements to arrange weddings of all situation’s including ethnic and present day. Contingent upon an ordeal, preparing, custom and antiquated instinct, we Jovial wedding organizers can enable you to decide a general vision for your wedding and help you unction each detail. That incorporates an occasion spending plan, settling on a menu, masterminding table settings and discovering flower speci Wedding is an occasion much anticipated in one’s life independent of their sexual orientation however when its date is shutting down shudders do go through your spine. UAE, being the business and social focus of the Middle East as well as the entire world do have respected a considerable measure of culture via deliberately shielding its actual center. As altered by the innovation the tints of dreams in every individual have changed significantly which requests proficient assistance from prepared authorities and therefore putting off the pressures and focus just to be on being completely amped up for the wedding. When imagining about the wedding your journey would be dependably to discover top wedding organizers in Dubai, UAE with the goal that you would never trade off on your flawlessness in your fantasies. Being a standout amongst other Indian wedding organizers in Dubai as well as in the entire UAE Jovial occasions do share the certainty to never let down any of the tints of your fantasy.

Happy occasions being the main wedding coordinators in Dubai their famous client notoriety could simply control you to pick them as they could furnish you with quality administrations and wedding goals in entire over UAE – Dubai, Ras Al khaimah and Abhu dhabi.

Sorted out and calm task

Wedding organizers do keep their psyche and soul in their works while forming your big day to a superb dream accordingly diminishing your worries to make the most of your big day entire heartedly. Consequently you could act naturally among your friends and family as opposed to went nuts with pressure.

Fantastic time administration activity

Arranging is an element appeared by experts as we are knowledgeable about what we do and hence have the capacity to erase odds of wastage of time by plunging each work well ordered by complex time investigation.

Proficient spending administration

Like happy wedding organizers each wedding organizer should culminate his work inside the engrossed spending plan. This aides everybody as they are experienced to work in restricted spending plan as they can design considerably prior and much talented to deal and spare all of you the stresses.

Best connection with merchants and providers

They help you in getting products with extraordinary quality from food providers, decorators, sellers and providers that make your big day to be a magnificent occasion.

Hence getting assistance from wedding organizers do help you in idealizing your odds in making a decent wedding day.alists, picture takers, a band and other amusement for the huge day.

Visit our website for more information http://www.jovialevents.com

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Jaipur Golden Triangle Tour

Trip of Rajasthan's lovely Pink City Jaipur was the fortress of a group of rulers whose three slope fortifications and arrangement of royal residences in the city are important attractions. Known as the Pink City in light of the shade of the stone utilized solely in the walled city, bazaars in Jaipur holiday trip packages offer weaved calfskin shoes, blue earthenware, tie and colour scarves and other fascinating products. Western Rajasthan itself frames a helpful circuit, in the core of the Thar desert which has formed its history, ways of life and engineering. 

Established in AD 1727 by Sawai Jaisingh II, Jaipur the capital of Rajasthan is prominently known as the Pink City with wide roads and roomy patio nurseries. The capital of Rajasthan, Jaipur is saturated with history and culture. Here the past wakes up in radiant fortresses and royal residences, become flushed pink, was once experienced by the maharajas. The clamouring bazaars of Jaipur, acclaimed for Rajasthani adornments, texture and shoes, have an immortal quality and are unquestionably a fortune trove for the customers. This intriguing city with its sentimental appeal takes you to an age of eminence and custom. 4 nights golden triangle tour with Jaipu off great value for money. 

Jaipur has been laid by the regular nine-framework design that celestial prophets accept to be fortunate, and which has been prescribed in the old Indian treatise on engineering. Every lattice comprises a square, and these have been arranged so that, at the core of the city is the City Palace. Spread around it, in columns, are open structures, the living arrangements of aristocrats, the living and exchanging quarters of dealers and craftsmen. Straight, wide streets gone through the city, while a high, crenellated divider that structures its safeguard is penetrated with seven passages that fill in as section focuses. Today, these dividers might be harder to spot since the city has become a long ways past its unique arrangement, however, they are still there, verification that however Jaipur saw no extraordinary attack, it was more than sufficiently arranged for it.

  Jaipur engineering arranging may have been antiquated, yet its execution was certainly present day. Best spoke to by the City Palace complex, it united every one of that was great in Rajput and Mughal engineering, making another convention that discovered wide money over quite a bit of north India. As in the Mughal custom, the durbar or court territories turned out to be considerably more open, portrayed by a progression of curved structures hung on gently made columns. Ornamentation had dependably been a piece of the state design legacy, now it turned out to be substantially more extravagant. The private wings of the family additionally broadened their excitement regions. Since resistance was not any more an essential concern, bigger, more fancy windows were worked to overlook the boulevards or yards outside these wings. Greenhouses were never again arranged inside the interior yards just, however, were added to the outside vistas, and water, a fundamental component of Mughal castles and gardens, was used in a comparable mould, in channels and wellsprings. Jaipur has much to offer guests everything from shows and celebrations to phenomenally clad individuals, an abundance of crafted works, an imperial heritage of castles, and touring that will involve their chance. In any case, should the guests basically stroll around the avenues of the old city rather, they won't think twice about it. All of Jaipur is an engineering diamond, and no planned touring of golden triangle tour package 3 days  can even want to do equity to this uncommon city