Datasets:

charris

/

wikipedia_police_mention1

like 0

69650091

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st%20Regiment%2C%20Royal%20Military%20Police

1st Regiment, Royal Military Police

The 1st Regiment, Royal Military Police (1 RMP) is a military policing unit of the British Army which was formed during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, but disbanded in 1985 following cuts to the RMP in the region. The regiment was then reformed in 1996 following the Options for Change, and since 2014 has been an integral part of the 1st Military Police Brigade and just one of the two remaining RMP regiments since 2019. History First Regiment The first time of the 1st Regiment, RMP was formed was on 5 November 1971, when 173 Provost Company based at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn in Northern Ireland was expanded into a full regiment. Prior to 1971, all provost companies were independent and if grouped were commanded by a 'Deputy Provost Marshal', however the deteriorating situation in Northern Ireland caused this tradition to be dropped. As a result, the first battalion sized unit of the Royal Military Police was created as 173 Provost Company was quickly reinforced within months to become a regiment of seven companies. The regiment was the first of its type, soon after being joined by the 2nd Regiment during the looming Troubles which would occupy the British Army until 2007. The regiment's initial organisation on formation was as follows: Regimental Headquarters, at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn 174 Provost Company, at Ardmillan House, Belfast – supporting 39th Infantry Brigade 175 Provost Company, at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn 176 Provost Company, at Ebrington Barracks, Derry – supporting 8th Infantry Brigade 177 Provost Company, at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn – providing close protection escorts 178 Provost Company, at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn – investigations unit 179 Provost Company, at HMS Hartland Point – formed on 16 January 1972 180 Provost Company – formed for Operation Motorman, in June 1972 but disbanded in November of the same year After a short time in Lisburn, the regimental headquarters moved to Alexander Barracks in Aldergrove on 5 December 1972. In June 1973, 180 Provost Company was reformed bringing the regiment's strength to about 700 personnel. On 1 July 1973, the duties of the regiment was split with the formation of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Military Police with 175, 179, and 180 Provost Companies joining shortly thereafter. However, on 1 April 1978, 2nd Regiment RMP was disbanded and its companies disbanded except for 175 Provost Company which re-joined the 1st Regiment. In 1978, the regiment was now organised as follows: Regimental Headquarters, at Alexander Barracks, Aldergrove (until September), then at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn 174 Provost Company, at Drumadd Barracks, Armagh – supporting 3rd Infantry Brigade since 18 February 1972 175 Provost Company, at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn 176 Provost Company, at Ebrington Barracks, Derry – supporting 8th Infantry Brigade 177 Provost Company, at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn – providing close protection escorts 178 Provost Company, at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn – investigations unit From 1981 till the regiment's disbandment in March 1985, the strength of the unit gradually decreased. On 31 December 1981, 174 Provost Company was disbanded alongside 3rd Infantry Brigade; on 30 September 1983 177 Provost Company was reduced to 177 (Support) Platoon and became independent under Headquarters Northern Ireland; on 12 February 1985 175 and 176 Provost Companies became independent while 178 Provost Company was re-designated as 173 Provost Company; finally in March 1985, 173 Provost Company became independent and the regiment was disbanded. On 12 February 1985, the regiment was officially removed from the Army's order of battle due to financial reasons following the 1981 Defence White Paper. Second Regiment As a result of the Options for Change reforms announced in 1991 following the End of the Cold War, the old 1st Armoured Division was redesignated as the 1st (United Kingdom) Armoured Division and its provost companies reorganised. As a result of the reorganisation, the 1st Regiment, Royal Military Police was stood up at Wentworth Barracks in Herford to oversee these companies with each supporting one of the combat brigades. The regiment's structure after formation on 1 April 1995 was as follows: Regimental Headquarters, at Wentworth Barracks, Herford 110 Provost Company, at Normandy Barracks, Sennelager – supporting 20th Armoured Brigade and Paderborn Garrison 111 Provost Company, at Haig Barracks, Bergen-Hohne – supporting 7th Armoured Brigade and Hohne Garrison 115 Provost Company, at Roberts Barracks, Osnabrück – supporting 4th Armoured Brigade In later 1996, elements of the regiment deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR). On the regiment's return from Bosnia, during a parade in Herford, the regiment was granted the Wilkinson Sword of Peace. According to the 1999 Staff Officers' Handbook, the establishment for 1st Regiment RMP was 18 officers and 343 other ranks. The regiment was also equipped with 4 x Leyland 4-tonne trucks, 109 x B-class vehicles including Land Rover Defenders, and 34 x Armstrong-CCM Motorcycles. Following the reformation of the regiment, the commanding officer of the regiment held the position of 'Provost Marshal, 1st (UK) Armoured Division', and was assisted by three other officers at the armoured division headquarters: Staff Officer (SO)2 (Operations/Plans) – rank of Major, SO3 (Investigations) – rank of Captain, and SO3 (Ops/Plans) – rank of Captain. If mobilised, the Special Investigation Branch detachments in Germany would form the nucleus of the Investigations Section of the regiment. When the 1st (UK) Armoured Division was deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2003 for the impending 2003 Invasion of Iraq (codenamed Operation Telic), the regiment was deployed and involved in provost duties throughout the campaign. In 2003, as a result of the Future Army Structure programme announced following the Invasion of Iraq, the regiment was effectively reduced to an administrative command and its provost companies moved under the operational control of the 1st (UK) Armoured Division's armoured brigades. The regiment's structure in 2006 was as follows: Regimental Headquarters, at Wentworth Barracks, Herford 110 Provost Company, in Paderborn – supporting 20th Armoured Brigade Non-established Police Post, in Hameln 111 Provost Company, in Bergen-Hohne – supporting 7th Armoured Brigade Non-established Police Post, in Fallingbostel 114 Provost Company, at Princess Royal Barracks, Gütersloh – supporting 102nd Logistic Brigade and Gütersloh Garrison 115 Provost Company, at Roberts Barracks, Osnabrück (disbanded in June 2008) – supporting 4th Armoured Brigade Non-established Police Post, in Münster Army 2020 In 2012, following the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010, the radical Army 2020 programme was announced which (among many things), would see the reorganisation of the provost forces and return of all troops based in Germany. As part of the A2020 programme, the three provost regiments alongside the three specialist police groups would be consolidated into the 1st Military Police Brigade. In addition, the Royal Military Police would be consolidated into three regiments, the 1st Regiment: providing support for the 1st (UK) Division based in York; 3rd Regiment: providing support for the 3rd (UK) Division based in Bulford; and the 4th Regiment: providing support for UK operations and Force Troops Command. The structure of all three regiments was also altered, so that there were no longer entirely regular regiments, with each regiment having at least one integrated Territorial (Army Reserve from 2015) company attached, thus making each unit a 'Hybrid' regiment. The 1st Regiment RMP became an 'Integrated RMP Regiment' as a result of the changes, and transferred from 1st (UK) Division to the 1st Military Police upon that brigade's formation on 1 December 2014. After 2015, the regiment returned from Germany and has been based at Gaza Barracks, Catterick Garrison in the North Riding of Yorkshire ever since. 111 Provost Company was disbanded in June 2014 following their return from Afghanistan. Later 114 Provost Company was also disbanded before the regiment left Germany. By January 2015, the regiment now oversaw 243 Provost Company, which was formed in January 2015 by merging the former 243 (Scottish) Provost Company based in Livingston with 252 (Northern) Provost Company based in Stockton-on-Tees. The new 243 Provost Coy was now based in Livingston and maintained 252 Platoon in Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham. In 2015, the regiment was now organised as follows: Regimental Headquarters, at Gaza Barracks, Catterick Garrison 110 Provost Company, at Leuchars Station (detachment was based in Bergen-Hohne until mid 2015) 150 Provost Company 243 Provost Company (Army Reserve), in Livingston 252 Platoon, in Stockton-on-Tees Today and Future In 2017, a supplement to the Army 2020 programme was announced entitled the Army 2020 Refine which reversed many of the unit-level changes of the former. Under the 'Refine', the 4th Regiment RMP was disbanded in late 2019 and its companies dispersed to the other two remaining regiments, including 1st Regiment RMP. The regiment gained the Army Reserve's 116 Provost Company based in Cannock and Gorton, in addition to the regular 174 Provost Company based in Donnington. The regiment is currently organised as follows: Regimental Headquarters, at Gaza Barracks, Catterick Garrison 110 Provost Company, at Leuchars Station 150 Provost Company 174 Provost Company, at Parsons Barracks, Donnington 116 Provost Company (Army Reserve), in Cannock Platoon, in Gorton, Manchester 243 Provost Company (Army Reserve), in Livingston 252 Platoon, in Stockton-on-Tees In addition to the internal reorganisations, the regiment was transferred to 101st Logistic Brigade, but this decision was reversed during the 2019 Field Army reorganisation. Under the Future Soldier changes, the 1st Military Police Brigade will be reduced to a Colonel's command as 1st Royal Military Police Group, though its structure will remain the same. The regiment in turn will restructure by March 2025, though its future sub-units are unknown at this time. Footnotes Notes Citations References External links Royal Military Police Association website Military units and formations established in 1971 Military units and formations established in 1996 Military units and formations disestablished in 1985 Royal Military Police Battalions of the British Army Army 2020 Future Soldier The Troubles (Northern Ireland) The Troubles in County Londonderry The Troubles in Belfast The Troubles in County Armagh Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Military units and formations of the Iraq War Organisations based in North Yorkshire Organisations based in Scotland Organisations based in Fife Organisations based in Northern Ireland Organisations based in Shropshire Organisations based in Lancashire Organisations based in Manchester Organisations based in Northumberland Organisations based in Tyne and Wear Adjutant General's Corps Military police of the United Kingdom

69650227

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teofil%20Herineanu

Teofil Herineanu

Teofil Herineanu (November 11, 1909–November 3, 1992) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric. Biography Origins and Greek-Catholic priesthood Born into a family of Greek-Catholic peasants in Arcalia village, Beszterce-Naszód County, Austria-Hungary, he attended primary school in Lemniu. From 1920 to 1921, after the union of Transylvania with Romania, he studied at Andrei Mureșanu High School in Dej, and from 1921 to 1928 at George Barițiu High School in Cluj. From 1928 to 1931, Herineanu attended the Greek-Catholic Theological Academy in Cluj. After graduating, he went to the Catholic Theology Faculty at the University of Paris (1931-1932), leaving due to lack of funds. Subsequently, Herineanu served as a lay priest for seventeen years, in the poor, isolated village parishes of Ceaba, Băbuțiu and Panticeu, part of the Cluj-Gherla Diocese. He published articles, sermons and meditations. His first contacts with Romanian Orthodox priests date to this time, when he supported the Army of the Lord movement. Turn to Orthodoxy In late 1948, the new communist regime outlawed the Greek-Catholic Church. One day shortly thereafter, two limousines stopped in front of Herineanu's house. One belonged to the Orthodox bishop, the other to the Securitate secret police. The local police chief ironically told him: “Well, Father, you have to choose in which car you’ll return to Cluj”. He converted to Orthodoxy, agreeing to collaborate with the regime. As a result, he was elected Bishop of Roman and Huși during a June 1949 clerical assembly attended by prominent Communist politicians. Herineanu drew 58 votes, while the remaining thirteen ballots went to other candidates or were invalid. During his acceptance speech, the new bishop thanked the Orthodox hierarchy and struck a pro-communist note: “A political regime that takes care of its people and helps their material progress is worth collaborating with and not opposing.” In part, the political leadership wished to show former Greek-Catholics that they would have equal rights within the Orthodox Church; it also mistakenly calculated that Herineanu would be a pliant hierarch who would sabotage the institution from within. In August, he was consecrated bishop in a discreet ceremony closely watched by Securitate informants. The atmosphere was one of doubt that the recent convert would ever make a genuine Orthodox bishop. Patriarch Justinian Marina reinforced Herineanu's position by attending his enthronement a week later and congratulating him in the name of the Holy Synod. Privately, Justinian was irate at the zeal with which the authorities insisted that the ex-Catholic must be made a bishop. Herineanu was in fact a compromise candidate; the communists initially preferred Valerian Zaharia for the post. As bishop Roman Herineanu remained at Roman for eight and a half years. During this time, which he called his “apprenticeship in Orthodoxy”, Herineanu was viewed with suspicion by the authorities and kept under close surveillance. He viewed their recommendations as unacceptable infringements on church autonomy and kept as close advisers only his mother and several trusted priests. His missionary activity, which included the printing of prayer books in large numbers, caused somewhat of a liturgical and spiritual revival, again provoking official hostility. While the laity became attached to him, the state believed he had been contaminated by a “sickly mysticism”. Herineanu asked that persecution of the nuns at Vladimirești Monastery be halted, and placed over forty priests freed from prison in good positions, meanwhile granting assistance to the families of imprisoned priests. His attitude led the government to attempt to compromise him, including by concocting charges of fiscal evasion. Cluj When Nicolae Colan became Metropolitan of Transylvania, the see of Vad, Feleac and Cluj became vacant. Herineanu was elected and enthroned in December 1957. He arrived at Cluj surrounded by suspicion, finding tension between factions of “old” Orthodox priests and former Greek-Catholics, and roused dissent by imposing the stricter liturgical discipline he had learned at Roman. At the same time, the Securitate noted he did not maintain relations with representatives of the Religious Affairs Department. Another accusation was that he hired unconverted Greek-Catholic priests in the diocesan administration, periodically sending them special bread and wine so they could secretly hold liturgies at home. He sheltered clerics freed from prison, including Arsenie Papacioc and Nicolae Steinhardt. Herineanu believed in the need to catechize children. As such, he asked two priests to compose a religion textbook in 1958. The authors were arrested, one of them dying in prison, and the bishop was further isolated. Pressure continued in the 1960s, with the authorities especially concerned by the rising popularity of the annual pilgrimage to Nicula Monastery. He was raised to the rank of archbishop in 1973. Herineanu lived nearly three years after the Romanian Revolution, using his declining powers to try and mediate conflicts within the archdiocese and with the newly legalized Greek-Catholic Church, as well as to press for the reopening of a university-level theological seminary in Cluj-Napoca. Upon his death in 1992, he was buried in the crypt of the Dormition Cathedral. Notes References Ciprian Ghișa and Lucian N. Leuștean, “The Romanian Greek Catholic Church”, in Lucian N. Leuștean (ed.), Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. London: Routledge, 2014, ISBN 978-131-7818-65-6 Gelu Hossu (ed.), Credință sub teroare. Memorialistica greco-catolică de detenție și domiciliu obligatoriu. Bucharest: Editura Humanitas, 2021, ISBN 978-973-5070-88-5 Bogdan Ivanov, “Arhiepiscopul Teofil Herineanu, un om deasupra timpului său”, in Tabor, nr. 9/2011, pp. 27-34 Lucian N. Leuștean, “Constructing Communism in the Romanian People's Republic. Orthodoxy and State, 1948-49”, in Europe-Asia Studies, March 2007, Vol. 59, No. 2, pp. 303-29 Alexandru Moraru, “Arhiepiscopul Teofil Herineanu (1909-1992)”, in Ioan Chirilă (ed.), Arhiepiscopul Teofil Herineanu: 100 de ani de la naștere. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Renașterea, 2009, ISBN 978-973-1714-76-9 Adrian Nicolae Petcu, Partidul, Securitatea și cultele 1945-1989. Bucharest: Editura Nemira, 2005, ISBN 978-973-5697-47-1 1909 births 1992 deaths People from Bistrița-Năsăud County Romanian Austro-Hungarians Romanian Greek-Catholic priests Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Catholicism Bishops of the Romanian Orthodox Church

69650272

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip%20Coleman%20%28spree%20killer%29

Phillip Coleman (spree killer)

Phillip J. Coleman, Jr. (1919 – September 10, 1943) was an American spree killer and self-confessed serial killer who was convicted of a double murder in Lothrop, Montana committed on July 24, 1943, together with accomplice Louis Brown. On the day of his execution, he published a written confession admitting to 23 total murders across the United States and Canada, providing details for eight of them, including one for which he had been suspected previously but never charged. Coleman remains the last African-American and final convict to be hanged in Montana, as well as the final execution in the state prior to Furman v. Georgia. Early life Little is known about Coleman's personal life, with the only verifiable information coming from an interview with sheriffs after his arrest. According to Coleman, he was born in 1919 in East St. Louis, Illinois as Phillip J. Coleman, Jr., and reportedly had many half-siblings scattered across Illinois and Arkansas. His mother remarried when he was still young, and due to the frequent arguments between her and his stepfather, he fled for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at age nine, where he was later picked up by juvenile authorities for stealing bread. Coleman's mother later picked him up and returned him to East St. Louis, but he continued to habitually run away until his mother was supposedly murdered and her body burned to ashes. When pressed for information about her supposed death, Coleman claimed that she had been killed by a white man whom had been visiting her, but was never prosecuted for her death because, at least in Coleman's view, "[she] was a Negro and he was a white man." He also claimed to have finished only a single year of high school. Sometime during his teenage years or early adulthood, he moved to Franklin, Washington and married a Native American woman from Arlee, Montana, with whom he had two children, but broke off contact with them for unclear reasons. He would later be arrested for burglaries and break-ins in the state, for which he served 14 months in the Monroe Correctional Complex and later six months at the Washington State Penitentiary, respectively. After his release, Coleman would accept various odd jobs as an itinerant laborer, travelling from state to state until he eventually ended up in Montana. Lothrop murders On July 24, 1943, Coleman accepted to do some work for 48-year-old Carl W. Pearson, a section foreman for the Northern Pacific Railway who lived in Lothrop. There, he worked alongside 39-year-old Louis Brown, a mixed-race ex-con from Herington, Kansas, who had convictions for vandalism and grand larceny in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Fort Madison, Iowa. After finishing their work for the day, the two men went to a bar in Alberton where they drank beer and played dice together. Upon exiting the premises in the evening, Coleman told Brown that he planned to rob Pearson, as he had seen that he had at least $200 in his house while working there. Much to his dismay, Brown showed no interest, causing Coleman to draw a knife and cut his hand, threatening to kill him if he was uncooperative. Feeling threatened by his younger companion, Brown agreed to accompany him to the Pearson home. When they returned to the house, Coleman told Pearson that Brown was sick and asked for some aspirin. Once Pearson got some and was returning to them, Coleman drew an axe and bludgeoned him to death using the blunt end of the instrument. The two men then entered the residence and went to the bedroom, where Pearson's wife, 30-year-old Roslyn, was lying in bed. After threatening her to reveal where the money was hidden, Coleman took out a knife and stabbed her to death. After killing the woman, he ordered Brown to grab the bags and meet him at the front door. Instead, Brown hid behind some rocks, as he was afraid that his companion was planning to kill him. After looking and whistling for him for several minutes, Coleman got into the Pearsons' car and left. After making sure that he was gone, Brown got out of his hiding place and headed towards Missoula. Manhunt, arrest and investigation The grizzly crime scene was discovered by one of the Pearsons' children, 7-year-old Richard, who then ran towards the house of a neighbor, Vera Winsper. After he told Winsper that his father was "lying out in the yard", she went to the house to check on them, only to find that both had been murdered. She then called the police, who immediately issued an arrest warrant for Coleman and Brown, who were last seen at the household. On the following day, the Pearsons' car was found by highway patrolmen in Drummond, but there was no sign of Coleman. Conversely, Brown was arrested at the Western Hotel in Missoula, after he was identified through his social security card. He was lodged for questioning, but steadfastily denied that he had anything to do with the murders. Over the next three days, police across Montana, as well as in Fargo, North Dakota and Idaho Falls, Idaho, arrested multiple men who they thought might be Coleman, but released all of them when they provided solid alibis. On July 28, the real Coleman was found to be hiding at a freight train car in Drummond, was immediately arrested and brought back to Missoula to face charges. By that time, Brown broke down and admitted responsibility for the crime, explaining in detail how the crime had occurred, but placed the blame for the murders entirely on Coleman. The latter, whose attitude was described as carefree and jovial, readily admitted that he had killed Mrs. Pearson and announced his intention to plead guilty to her murder as fast as possible. However, he claimed that he was not responsible for Mr. Pearson's murder, which was interpreted by authorities as a likely ploy to plead guilty at a later date and possibly receive a lesser sentence. Contemporary media noted that Coleman appeared to be charming and well-spoken, and to even have a rudimentary understanding of court procedure worked based on his actions at preliminary hearings, but was also described as cocky and boastful. Trial, sentence and imprisonment The first to be charged with the murders was Coleman, due to his willingness to accept a guilty plea. At the same time, authorities announced that they were investigating the pair for additional crimes, including thefts and possibly an additional murder. While examining one of the bags, determined to be Coleman's, police found numerous advertisements for dice rolling and letters he had written to women from across the country. On July 31, Brown suddenly amended his statement, claiming that he had not seen Coleman murder Mrs. Pearson, but was sure that he had killed both after he had left the house and his clothes had been bloodied. When he was informed that charges would still be brought against him, in addition to being asked why he changed his statement, Brown stated that he was afraid he would be lynched in jail if he had been truthful. While awaiting formal charges, the difference in the two defendants' widely different demeanors were noted in the press: Coleman was described as cheerful and even smiled when his press photo was taken, while Brown was noted for his silence and apparent signs of psychological distress. On August 2, Coleman pleaded guilty to killing Roslyn Pearson before Justice Albert Besançon. He continued to deny responsibility for Carl Pearson's murder, which he placed entirely on Brown. His counsel filed a charge that aimed to absolve him of this killing, which was criticized by attorney Fremont W. Wilson. During the proceedings, the prosecutors presented witness testimony from several witnesses and a medical examiner, all of which substantiated the supposed robbery motive. In the end, Coleman was found guilty, convicted on all counts and sentenced to death. When asked if he had anything to comment, Coleman exclaimed 'To Hell with it', laughed out loud and sat down, apparently unconcerned with the sentence. Despite these actions, he wrote a letter to Governor Sam C. Ford to ask whether there was a possibility of his sentence being commuted, to which Ford later wrote back and said that he would review the case at a later date. Brown's trial Before Coleman's trial would begin, Justice C. E. Comer granted a motion by the prosecution to name him as a co-defendant in the murder of Carl Pearson. This move was criticized by Coleman's attorneys, Howard Toole and Randolph Jacobs, who claimed that it was harmful to their client's constitutional rights. In the meantime, Coleman, who was reported to play solitaire in his spare time and occasionally tap dance, promised that he would give reporters "the real story" shortly before his scheduled execution date. In that same time interview, he alluded that he could have easily escaped if he had accepted a ride from some white friends in Glendive, and could have fled to Mississippi, where he believed it was too dangerous for authorities to capture black fugitives. For Brown's trial, fifty jurors from the surrounding area were selected to preside over the trial. In the beginning of the trial, Brown's attorneys filed a motion to amend his not guilty plea, but this was denied by the judge two days later. After a week-long trial, Brown was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, whereupon he was taken to the Montana State Prison. Change of plea A little more than a week after his trial ended, Coleman's attorney announced that he would file a motion to withdraw his client's guilty plea, claiming that Coleman would not have pleaded guilty if he had known the death penalty was on the table. This motion was denied by Justice Comer, who ruled that the initial approach was proper and did not valuate any of the convict's rights. A short time later, it was announced that two writers for True Detective had taken interest in the case, and intended to document the entire case. And in response to the recent ruling, Coleman told in an interview with a reporter from Missoulian that he held no hard feelings towards anybody associated with his case, and that he was fully aware and deserving of the sentence he had been handed down. Execution, confessions and aftermath In order to carry out Coleman's hanging, special makeshift gallows were erected at the Missoula County Jail, where only a few would be allowed to attend to the hanging itself. In response to a reporter describing him as flippant and unremorseful the day prior to his hanging, Coleman wrote a letter to the Missoulian, saying that this was an untrue characteristic, and that he felt remorse for what he had done, publicly asking for forgiveness from both God and the citizens of Montana. On that same day, Ford's administration announced that they would not grant clemency to Coleman. Coleman, who had previously refused religious counsel, had been baptized a Catholic in prison, and when brought before the gallows, he again expressed that he was sorry for what he had done and that he was ready to face judgment from God. He was hanged at the Missoula County Jail on September 10, 1943, at exactly 7:07 AM, making this one of the fastest capital punishment cases in the state's history, lasting 47 days from the murder itself to the date of his execution. Coleman's last meal was a plate of fried oysters. Following his execution, the Missoula Police Department revealed that Coleman had made a written confession claiming that he had killed 23 people over his life time, and that he was responsible for an assault in Walla Walla, Washington for which another man, Jack L. Williams, was currently serving a life sentence. However, he gave details for only eight of these murders: Before his execution, Coleman wrote a letter addressed to his son Lee in a dictionary, stating that he was going to be hanged for murder and that he was sorry. This dictionary is currently on exhibit at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula in Missoula, along with an assortment of other random artifacts reflecting on the city's history. See also Capital punishment in Montana List of people executed in Montana List of serial killers in the United States Bibliography References 1919 births 1943 deaths 20th-century American criminals American male criminals Suspected serial killers American spree killers American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Montana Axe murder American people convicted of robbery 20th-century executions of American people 20th-century executions by Montana Executed spree killers People executed by Montana by hanging People executed for murder Executed people from Illinois Criminals from Illinois People from East St. Louis, Illinois

69650572

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready%20or%20Not%20%28video%20game%29

Ready or Not (video game)

Ready or Not is a tactical first-person shooter by VOID Interactive. It was released through Steam early access on 17 December 2021. Gameplay The game is centered on a team of SWAT operatives in the fictional American city of Los Suenos. Realism is a central pillar of the experience, with both players and suspects being killed in only a few shots. A variety of less-lethal weapons such as stun grenades, tasers and pepper spray are available in addition to firearms and players are awarded more points for arresting suspects than killing them. Modes Five modes are playable: confronting barricaded suspects, conducting a raid, stopping an active shooter, defusing bombs after a bomb threat and rescuing hostages. Each mode has different rules of engagement with penalties awarded for violating them. Missions are playable single-player with AI teammates or co-cooperatively with up to four other players through online multiplayer. A competitive player versus player mode is planned for the full release. Development Development began in June 2016 and a reveal trailer was released on May 3 2017 on YouTube. An alpha version of the game was made available on August 19 2019 for owners of the more expensive Supporter Edition under a non-disclosure agreement. Select YouTubers were invited to a PVP test in April 2020 and were allowed to publish footage. A partnership with Team17 to publish the game under their label was announced on March 22 2021. The game released to Steam Early Access on December 17 2021. Loss of publisher On December 20 2021 VOID announced that their partnership with Team17 had ended and that they would no longer be publishing the game. Speculation suggested that this was due to the developers promising the inclusion of a school shooting level on Reddit, although this was denied by VOID. Reception Ready or Not was the best selling game on Steam in the week after its release and has been celebrated as a spiritual successor to the Police Quest: SWAT series and early Rainbow Six games. The game had Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam. In an early review for Kotaku, Ethan Gach called Ready or Not a “tactical horror game” and “an unsettling SWAT fantasy”, praising its atmosphere but also criticizing it as tasteless due to insensitivity towards American police brutality and jarring tonal shifts between crude humor and dark drama. Gach also unfavorably highlighted apparent references to alt-right memes such as Redpill, the use of “Jogger” as a racist euphemism (in reference to Ahmaud Arbery), and Pepe the Frog. The developers, in response to the critique, later denied any connection to extremism and stated they were removing the imagery in question. References External links Early access video games Windows games Cooperative video games 2021 video games Windows-only games Tactical shooter video games First-person shooters Upcoming video games Unreal Engine games Video games about police officers Video games developed in New Zealand Video games set in the United States

69650721

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

Onverdacht

Onverdacht () is a village in the resort of Zuid in the Para District of Suriname. Between 1941 and 2009, it was a bauxite mining town. History Onverdacht started as a wood plantation in 1737. In 1863, the slaves were emancipated, and the plantation closed. In 1874, the land reverted back to the Surinamese government. In 1939, bauxite was discovered at Onverdacht by the Dutch Billiton company (nowadays part of BHP). In 1941, a concession was granted to start mining at Onverdacht. A prefab housing estate was built near the village to accommodate the workers, however Onverdacht remained relatively small due to its proximity to Paramaribo. In 1947, a recreation centre opened. In 1949, a school opened. A library, and a fire department opened as well. In 1993, Billiton signed a joint venture with Suralco (Alcoa), and in 2009 closed their operations in Suriname. In 2018, the police station closed down. References Bauxite mining in Suriname Populated places in Para District

69651258

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All%20the%20Things%20We%20Do%20in%20the%20Dark

All the Things We Do in the Dark

All the Things We Do in the Dark is a young adult psychological thriller novel by Saundra Mitchell, published October 29, 2019 by HarperTeen. The book was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. The novel follow 17-year-old Ava, who experienced a sexual assault in her childhood, after she finds a woman's corpse in the woods. Instead of reporting to the police, Ava "protect[s] and care[s] for her," enlisting the help of the victim's friend to solve the case. Reception All the Things We Do in the Dark received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, as well as positive reviews from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Kirkus, Booklist and School Library Journal. All the Things We Do in the Dark was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. References Harper & Row books American LGBT novels 2010s LGBT novels Psychological thriller novels

69651787

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCormick%20Park

McCormick Park

McCormick Park is a municipal park and recreational area at 66 Sheridan Avenue in the Brockton Village neighbourhood enclave of Little Portugal in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1911 as the McCormick Playground on the property of the former Grand National Rink and changed later to its current name in 1963, McCormick Park is located in the vicinity of Dufferin Street and Dundas Street. It is bounded by Brock Avenue on the west, by Sheridan Avenue on the east, by Frankish Avenue on the north and by Middleton Street on the south. The park covers an area of that features a baseball diamond, basketball courts, a wading pool and a children's playground. It is named after Mary Virginia McCormick, a Toronto resident who was the eldest daughter of American inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick. The Mary McCormick Recreation Centre at 66 Sheridan Avenue and the McCormick Playground Arena at 179 Brock Avenue are located at the north end of the park. History Rinks and Baseball Field, 1896 to 1910 McCormick Park is located on the grounds of the Grand National Rink, an open-air rink at 153 Brock Avenue that was owned by business merchant Andrew Wheeler Green from 1896 to 1902. Six years after the rink had closed, the north end of the site reopened in January 1908 as the Royal Alexandra Rink, an open-air hockey rink at 189 Brock Avenue. By the following April, the rink and its adjoining property, which spanned a total of , became the grounds for a baseball field. The Brock Avenue Rink opened on the site of the former Royal Alexandra Rink in December 1909 at 189 Brock Avenue. Construction of a permanent indoor hockey arena for the Toronto Professional Hockey Club, a predecessor of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was scheduled for the following year on the grounds of the baseball field but when the Canadian Hockey Association was dissolved on January 15, 1910, the plan to build the arena came to an end. The last known skating event at the Brock Avenue Rink was held in March 1910. Toronto Playgrounds Association On September 7, 1910, Mary Virginia McCormick donated ($ in dollars) to the Toronto Playgrounds Association, an advocacy group formed in 1908 whose members worked together with the Toronto Parks Department to build children's playgrounds across the city. Cottingham Square, a municipal park with an area of that was situated near McCormick's home, was the original location for the playground but it was abandoned by the association because the site was too close in proximity to the Canadian Pacific Railway line. The grounds of the former rink and baseball field on Brock Avenue were sold in November 1910 and subdivided into housing lots. Toronto City Council purchased of that land in the following month for $34,000 ($ in dollars) for the purpose of establishing a playground in the western end of the city. On March 3, 1911, the association accepted the new location and McCormick offered to provide an additional $5,000 ($ in dollars) to equip the playground. She provided further donations to the association that, by September 1912, the total amount of her contributions was $25,000 ($ in dollars). Parkland McCormick Playground, 1911 to 1963 McCormick Playground at 163 Brock Avenue was opened with a public celebration on July 1, 1911. It featured climbing ladders, glider chairs, merry-go-rounds, sandboxes, seesaws, slides, swings and a large wading pool for children's amusement. There were ice rinks for hockey and skating for the winter season. It was the third supervised children's playground on municipal property that was managed by the Toronto Playgrounds Association, after St. Andrew's Playground on Adelaide Street in 1909 and Osler Playground on Argyle Street in 1910. Emulating the playgrounds of the Chicago South Park Commission, it was the association's first playground to have an indoor recreation centre that operated all-year. It was the largest permanent playground in Toronto and its area grew in 1957 when Toronto City Council acquired an additional of adjacent land for $125,000 ($ in dollars). After the Toronto Housing Authority opened the nearby McCormick Park Apartments at 1525 Dundas Street West in 1960, construction of a second recreation centre and an artificial ice rink on the enlarged playground began in 1963 and the McCormick Playground on Brock Avenue became McCormick Park at 66 Sheridan Avenue. First McCormick Recreation Centre, 1912 to 1964 The McCormick Recreation Centre at 163 Brock Avenue was opened with a public festival on September 21, 1912. Mayor George Reginald Geary and McCormick's mother, Nancy Fowler McCormick, attended the inauguration. It featured a main hall that accommodated 300 people along with committee rooms and shower baths. The Georgian Revival building was the first year-round recreation centre in Canada and the largest permanent one in Toronto. The Toronto Playgrounds Association managed the building and the adjoining playground until the responsibility was transferred over to the Toronto Parks Department in June 1913. The Toronto Public Health Department opened an infant clinic at the recreation centre in July 1914, one of 10 health clinics across the city where mothers brought their babies to the care of the attending doctors and nurses. Its main hall was the setting for two wintertime minstrel shows. On December 28, 1916, the McCormick Playground Minstrels performed at a Christmas pageant in which 23 entertainers appeared in blackface theatrical makeup. The amateur minstrels staged another performance in blackface makeup on January 29, 1920. During the First World War, Mary McCormick and her Canadian-born nursing companion, Grace Thorne Walker, held Christmas pageants for 400 children and their parents at the main hall in 1917 and 1918. In 1919, the recreation centre had an honour roll that listed the names of 162 of its men who had died in the war. In 1921, the McCormick Recreation Centre attracted a total of 118,229 children to its facility, the largest number among the 1,059,213 children who had visited all 33 municipal recreation centres throughout the year. There were a total of 183,444 adults and children who registered with the recreation centre in 1933, the greatest share of the 2,018,509 visitors who had attended all 59 municipal playgrounds in Toronto. In 1941, the recreation centre staged its annual children's gymnastics exhibition in the auditorium of Parkdale Collegiate Institute. Its exhibitions continued to be held at the public secondary school every year until 1962. The McCormick Recreation Centre on Brock Avenue was closed permanently in 1964. Second McCormick Recreation Centre McCormick Recreation Centre, 1964 to 2003 The McCormick Recreation Centre at 66 Sheridan Avenue was opened on October 29, 1964. Located next to the original building, the second facility featured a gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool with a seating gallery for 500 people, a children's nursery and handicraft studios. Mayor Philip Givens and 700 people attended the inauguration. The modernist-style building was the sixth municipal recreation centre that was built in the city since 1962 for $750,000 ($ in dollars). Crafts and fashion exhibitions by the Toronto Parks and Recreation Department were held at the facility from 1965 to 1966 and amateur boxing championships for boys were staged at its gym from 1965 to 1972. On May 6, 1991, chlorine gas escaped from a ruptured cylinder pipe at the McCormick Recreation Centre and forced the building to close for 90 minutes. Before firefighters had capped the leaking cylinder, the surrounding area was sealed off by the police and 400 students from the nearby St. Veronica Catholic School and residents of 12 houses on Frankish Avenue were evacuated temporarily. Five police officers, two employees of the recreation centre and one teacher were treated for sore throats at Toronto Western Hospital and released on the same day. Mary McCormick Recreation Centre In 2001, the building underwent a major renovation estimated at $2,808,468 ($ in dollars) and Toronto City Council began referring to the facility as the Mary McCormick Recreation Centre. It was reopened officially as the Mary McCormick Recreation Centre on January 25, 2003. McCormick Playground Arena The McCormick Playground Arena at 179 Brock Avenue was opened on the sites of the original recreation centre and the Grand National Rink on March 14, 1972. It has been called the McCormick Arena but its official name is the McCormick Playground Arena in recognition of the McCormick Playground. Built at an estimated cost of $542,980 ($ in dollars), the indoor municipal skating arena features two ice rinks and a community meeting room with a concession stand that is named the Nixon Room as a tribute to George Adam Nixon, a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected to represent the Toronto riding of Dovercourt in 1971 and one of the first members who served on the arena's board of management. It is one of eight municipal skating arenas that is governed by an executive committee whose members are appointed by Toronto City Council. In 1973, high concentrations of carbon monoxide were measured at the arena by the Ontario Ministry of Health after the gasoline-powered ice resurfacer had cleaned the ice rinks and the indoor air quality exceeded the minimum provincial health standard of 50 parts-per-million for an industrial building. The discovery had spurred the Toronto Parks and Recreation Department to replace all ice-resurfacing vehicles with other models that were not gasoline-powered and allow provincial health inspectors to monitor the air quality at all municipal skating arenas. Friends of McCormick Park In 2012, neighbourhood residents formed the Friends of McCormick Park, an advocacy group whose members have worked together with the Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division to improve the amenities of the park. On September 27, 2014, McCormick Park was reopened with an updated children's playground that featured climbing boulders, a large jungle gym, a new merry-go-round and swings. The McCormick Park Café and Market, a café that offered food and beverages from a shipping container, was inaugurated on the same day, becoming the first cargo container eatery to open on the grounds of a municipal park in Toronto. One month later, a public bookcase registered with the Little Free Library was installed at the park. List of Notable Sports Figures Louise Agoues, bronze medal fencer in the women's team foil at the 1967 Pan American Games who placed third in the women's foil at the Canadian Fencing Association Eastern Canada Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on April 30, 1972. Muhammad Ali, world heavyweight boxing champion who was a guest referee for the Metro Toronto Junior Boxing Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on March 21, 1966, eight days before his own boxing title match at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Akim Aliu, athlete of the Parkdale Flames Hockey Association at the McCormick Playground Arena who became a hockey player with the Calgary Flames in 2012. Kay Aoyama, Canadian women's fencing champion in 1971 who won the women's foil title at the Canadian Fencing Association Central Ontario Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on March 19, 1972. Vince Barton, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became a baseball player with the Chicago Cubs in 1931. Yank Boyd, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became a hockey player with the Detroit Red Wings in 1934. Gord Brydson, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became a golfer and won the Canadian Professional Golfers' Association Championship in 1944 and 1948. Bill Buchanan, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became a catcher with the Toronto Osler Baseball Club in 1918, a team that won the Toronto Playground League Championships for the following two years. William Gladstone "Glad" Calhoun, coach of the Toronto Osler Baseball Club who became the general manager of the McCormick Recreation Centre from 1921 to 1948. Patrick Chan, athlete of the West Toronto Skating Club at the McCormick Playground Arena who became a gold medal figure skater at the 2018 Winter Olympics. George Chuvalo, Canadian heavyweight boxing champion who was a guest referee for the Toronto Junior Boxing Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on March 8 and 10, 1969. Bert Donohue, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became captain of the Toronto Wellington Baseball Club in 1921, a team that won the Maple Leaf Dominion Championship for the next two years. Lori Dupuis, hockey player with the Brampton Thunder who won a gold medal in women's hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics and played in a charity match for the Daily Bread Food Bank at the McCormick Playground Arena on April 8, 2006. William Alexander "Irish" Eagleson, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre and First World War veteran who became a short stop with Toronto Wellington Baseball Club in 1923 and an infielder with the Toronto Osler Baseball Club in 1927. Gillian Ferrari, hockey player with the Brampton Thunder who won a gold medal in women's hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics and played in a charity match at the McCormick Playground Arena on April 8, 2006. Ron Finn, hockey linesman who encountered a playground trainer at the McCormick Recreation Centre and then married her before starting his career with the National Hockey League in 1969. Horace Gwynne, boxer who won a gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics and became the general manager of the McCormick Recreation Centre in 1964. Jayna Hefford, hockey player with the Brampton Thunder who won three Olympic gold medals in women's hockey and played in a charity match at the McCormick Playground Arena on April 8, 2006. Murray Henderson, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became a defenceman with the Boston Bruins in 1945. Donna Hennyey, bronze medal fencer in the women's team foil at the 1967 Pan American Games who won the women's foil title at the Canadian Fencing Association Eastern Canada Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on April 30, 1972. Alec Hill, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became an outfielder with the Toronto Wellingtons in 1922. Jordan Kyrou, athlete of the McCormick Playground Arena who became a hockey player with the St. Louis Blues in 2018. Don "Shanty" McKenzie, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became a football player with the Toronto Argonauts in 1940. Dylan Moscovitch, athlete with the Parkdale Flames Hockey Association and the West Toronto Skating Club at the McCormick Playground Arena who won a silver medal in figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Herbert Obst, Canadian men's foil champion in 1966 who placed second in the men's foil at the Canadian Fencing Association Eastern Canada Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on April 30, 1972. Doyle Orange, Canadian Football League Eastern All-Star running back for the Toronto Argonauts in 1975 who became a playground instructor at the McCormick Recreation Centre from 1978 to 1980. Peter Samek, bronze medal fencer in the men's team sabre at the 1967 Pan American Games who won the men's sabre title at the Canadian Fencing Association Eastern Canada Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on April 30, 1972. Eli Sukunda, fencer who won the men's sabre title at the Canadian Fencing Association Central Ontario Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on March 19, 1972 and became the men's sabre champion at the 1975 Canada Winter Games. Vicky Sunohara, hockey player with the Brampton Thunder who won a gold medal in women's hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics and played in a charity match at the McCormick Playground Arena on April 8, 2006. Tessa Virtue, figure skating champion at the 2018 Winter Olympics who launched her new Barbie doll at the McCormick Playground Arena on March 9, 2020. Konrad Widmaier, Canadian men's épée champion in 1966 who won the men's foil title at the Canadian Fencing Association Eastern Canada Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on April 30, 1972. Gerry Wiedel, Canadian national fencing champion in 1965 who won the men's foil title at the Canadian Fencing Association Central Ontario Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on March 19, 1972. Ross Wilson, athlete of the McCormick Recreation Centre who became a goaltender with the Detroit Red Wings in 1951. Lester Wong, silver medal épée fencer at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games who won the men's épée title at the Canadian Fencing Association Eastern Canada Championships at the McCormick Recreation Centre on April 30, 1972. References Parks in Toronto 1911 establishments in Canada

69651800

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing%20of%20Ashley%20Zhao

Killing of Ashley Zhao

Ashley Zhao was a 5-year-old girl who was discovered dead in her family's restaurant in Jackson Township, Stark County, on 10 January 2017. Her death sparked an investigation lead by the local police department in cooperation with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ming Ming Chen, Ashley's mother, was charged with her death and convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Ashley's father, Liang Zhao, was also tried and found guilty of obstructing justice and corpse abuse for assisting Chen to hide the body. Chen and Zhao were sentenced to 22 and 12 years in prison respectively. Missing persons report & discovery of body On 9 January 2017, Ashley Zhao disappeared from Ang's Asian Cuisine, a restaurant owned by her parents. She was reported missing on the same day at around 9:00 PM. Her parents told the police that she may have “wandered out a back door”. On the morning of 10 January, authorities issued a Statewide Endangered Child Alert for her. While searching the restaurant, police found her body “concealed” in the kitchen, close to the freezer. Investigation & legal proceedings Chen and Zhao were arrested for their daughter's death on 11 January; at the Massillon Municipal Court, their bonds were set at $5 million each because the judge believed that they posed a flight risk. Although her parents had reported her missing, the police believed that Chen had repeatedly punched Ashley in the face until she died. Ming Ming Chen Charged with murder and felonious assault, Ming Ming Chen taped a video with the police in which she confessed to beating Ashley to death. She talked about how she was exhausted by working at the restaurant and that Ashley had become disobedient. After informing her husband that Ashley was dead, she tasked him with hiding the body. During a hearing on 12 October 2017, Chen pleaded not guilty to the murder charge by reason of insanity. On 29 December 2017, after she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, she was sentenced to 22 years in prison. As she had come to the United States illegally when she was a teenager, she will be deported back to China after being released from prison. Liang Zhao As part of a plea deal, Zhao agreed to testify against Ming Ming Chen in exchange for a sentence of 12 years in prison. According to Zhao, when he found Ashley, she was lying on the floor with head injuries (that Chen presumably inflicted) and “green fluid” coming out of her mouth. He took her to the bathroom to clean the fluid off her face; by that point she had stopped breathing. He tried to perform CPR, but did not successfully revive her. He also confessed to helping Chen hide Ashley's body in the restaurant following her death. On 11 September 2017, he pleaded guilty to two counts of child endangerment, corpse abuse, obstruction of justice, and evidence tampering. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison on 10 January 2018. References 2010s crimes in Ohio January 2017 crimes in North America

69653772

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalaluddin%20Abdul%20Rahman

Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman

CP Dato' Sri Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman (born 28 December 1956) is a retired Malaysian police officer. Police career Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman started his career in the Police Force as Probationary Inspector on 1 October 1977. During his career, he previously served as Commander of the Marine Police Force, Bukit Aman on 21 June 2006, Kelantan Police Chief in 2011, and Sabah Police Commissioner in 2014. Lastly, he was appointed as Director of Bukit Aman Integrity and Standards Compliance Department on 21 June 2016. He was retired on 27 December 2016. Honours : Officer of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (KMN) (2004) Companion of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (JSM) (2013) Companion of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (JMN) (2015) Royal Malaysia Police : Courageous Commander of The Most Gallant Police Order (PGPP) (2016) Knight Commander of the Order of the Loyalty to the Crown of Kelantan (DPSK) - Dato’ (2012) Knight Commander of the Order of the Services to the Crown of Kelantan (DPJK) - Dato’ (2016) : Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2016) References 1956 births Living people Malaysian police officers Officers of the Order of the Defender of the Realm Companions of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia Companions of the Order of the Defender of the Realm

69654395

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-COVID

Zero-COVID

Zero-COVID, also known as COVID-Zero and "Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support" (FTTIS), is a public health policy that has been implemented by some countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast to the living with COVID-19 strategy, the zero-COVID strategy is a "control and maximum suppression" strategy. It involves using public health measures such as contact tracing, mass testing, border quarantine, lockdowns and mitigation software in order to stop community transmission of COVID-19 as soon as it is detected. The goal of the strategy is to get the area back to zero new infections and resume normal economic and social activities. A zero-COVID strategy consists of two phases: an initial suppression phase in which the virus is eliminated locally using aggressive public health measures, and a sustained containment phase, in which normal economic and social activities resume and public health measures are used to contain new outbreaks before they spread widely. This strategy has been utilized to varying degrees by Australia, Canada, mainland China, Hong Kong,,Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, Scotland, South Korea, Taiwan, Tonga, and Vietnam. As of late 2021, due to challenges with the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant and Omicron variant, and also the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, some countries are no longer pursuing zero-COVID. Currently, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tonga are still pursuing a zero-COVID strategy. Experts differentiate between zero-COVID, which is an elimination strategy, and mitigation strategies that attempt to lessen the effects of the virus on society, but which still tolerate some level of transmission within the community. These initial strategies can be pursued sequentially or simultaneously during the acquired immunity phase through natural and vaccine-induced immunity. Advocates of zero-COVID have pointed to the far lower death rates and higher economic growth in countries that have pursued elimination, compared with countries that have pursued mitigation, and argue that swift, strict measures to eliminate the virus allow a faster return to normal life. Opponents of zero-COVID argue that "it's not realistic to eliminate a respiratory virus such as SARS-CoV-2, any more than it is to eliminate the flu or the common cold". To achieve zero-COVID in an area with high infection rates, one review estimated that it would take three months of strict lockdown. Elimination vs. mitigation Epidemiologists differentiate between two broad strategies for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: mitigation and elimination. Mitigation strategies (also commonly known as "flattening the curve") aim to reduce the growth of an epidemic and to prevent the healthcare system from becoming overburdened, yet still accept a level of ongoing viral transmission within the community. By contrast, elimination strategies (commonly known as "zero-COVID") aim to completely stop the spread of the virus within the community in order to allow the resumption of normal social and economic activity. In comparison with mitigation strategies, elimination involves stricter short-term measures to completely eliminate the virus, followed by milder long-term measures to prevent a return of the virus. After elimination of COVID-19 from a region, zero-COVID strategies require stricter border controls in order to prevent reintroduction of the virus, more rapid identification of new outbreaks and better contact tracing to end new outbreaks. Advocates of zero-COVID argue that the costs of these measures are lower than the economic and social costs of long-term social distancing measures and increased mortality incurred by mitigation strategies. The long-term "exit path" for both elimination and mitigation strategies depends on the development of effective vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. Containment measures The zero-COVID approach aims to prevent viral transmission, using a number of different measures, including vaccination and non-pharmaceutical interventions such as contact-tracing and quarantine. Successful containment or suppression reduces the basic reproduction number of the virus below the critical threshold. Different combinations of measures are used during the initial containment phase, when the virus is first eliminated from a region, and the sustained containment phase, when the goal is to prevent reestablishment of viral transmission within the community. Lockdowns Lockdowns encompass measures such as closure of non-essential businesses, stay-at-home orders and movement restrictions. During lockdowns, governments must often supply basic necessities to households. Lockdown measures are commonly used to achieve initial containment of the virus. In China, lockdowns of specific high-risk communities are also sometimes used to suppress new outbreaks. Quarantine for travelers In order to prevent reintroduction of the virus into zero-COVID regions after initial containment has been achieved, quarantine for incoming travelers is commonly used. As each infected traveler could seed a new outbreak, the goal of travel quarantine is to intercept as large a percentage of infected travelers as possible. International flights to China are heavily restricted, and incoming travelers are required to undergo PCR testing and quarantine in designated hotels and facilities. In order to facilitate quarantine for travelers, China has constructed specialized facilities at its busiest ports of entry, including Guangzhou and Xiamen. New Zealand and Australia have also established managed isolation and quarantine facilities for incoming travelers. Through November 2020, border quarantine measures prevented nearly 4,000 infected international travelers from entering the wider community within China. Each month, hundreds of travelers who test negative before flying to China subsequently test positive while undergoing quarantine after arrival. Contact tracing, quarantine and isolation Contact-tracing involves identifying people who have been exposed to an infected person. When an infected person is identified, public health workers attempt to locate the people with whom they have come into close contact, and to quarantine and test them. Various studies have argued that early detection and isolation of infected people is the single most effective measure for preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2. In China, when an infected person is identified, all close contacts are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine, with multiple rounds of PCR testing. In order to minimize the risk that infected people will transmit the virus to family members, China has implemented quarantine in centralized facilities for those close contacts deemed to be at the highest-risk of infection. Secondary close contacts (contacts of close contacts) are sometimes required to quarantine at home. The widespread use of smartphones has enabled more rapid "digital" contact tracing. In China, "health code" applications are used to facilitate the identification of close contacts. Taiwan has made use of digital contact tracing, notably to locate close contacts of passengers who disembarked from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the site of an early outbreak in February 2020. Routine testing of key populations In China, routine PCR testing is carried out on all patients who present with fever or respiratory symptoms. In addition, various categories of workers, such as medical staff and workers who handle imported goods, are regularly tested. In China, routine testing of key populations has identified index patients in a number of outbreaks, including outbreaks in Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Qingdao, and Manchuria. In some cases, index patients have been discovered while asymptomatic, limiting the amount of onward transmission into the community. Community-wide screening An additional tool for identifying cases outside of known transmission chains is community-wide screening, in which populations of specific neighborhoods or cities are PCR tested. In China, community-wide PCR testing is carried out during outbreaks in order to identify infected people, including those without symptoms or known contact with infected people. Community-wide screening is intended to rapidly isolate infected people from the general population, and to allow a quicker return to normal economic activity. China first carried out community-wide screening from 14 May to 1 June 2020 in Wuhan, and has used this technique in subsequent outbreaks. In outbreaks in June 2020 in Beijing and July 2020 in Dalian, community screening identified 26% and 22% of infections, respectively. In order to test large populations quickly, China commonly uses pooled testing, combining 5 to 10 samples before testing, and retesting all individuals in each batch that tests positive. Zero-COVID implementation by region Australia The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January 2020, in Victoria, when a man who had returned from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, tested positive for the virus. A human biosecurity emergency was declared on 18 March 2020. Australian borders were closed to all non-residents on 20 March, and returning residents were required to spend two weeks in supervised quarantine hotels from 27 March. Many individual states and territories also closed their borders to varying degrees, with some remaining closed until late 2020, and continuing to periodically close during localised outbreaks. Social distancing rules were introduced on 21 March, and state governments started to close "non-essential" services. "Non-essential services" included social gathering venues such as pubs and clubs but unlike many other countries did not include most business operations such as construction, manufacturing and many retail categories. During the second wave of May and June 2020, Victoria underwent a second strict lockdown with the use of helicopters and the Army to help the police enforce the "zero Covid" lockdown in Sydney. The wave ended with zero new cases being recorded on 26 October 2020. Distinctive aspects of that response included early interventions to reduce reflected transmission from countries other than China during late January and February 2020; early recruitment of a large contact tracing workforce; comparatively high public trust in government responses to the pandemic, at least compared to the US; and later on, the use of short, intense lockdowns to facilitate exhaustive contact tracing of new outbreaks. Australia's international borders also remained largely closed, with limited numbers of strictly controlled arrivals, for the duration of the pandemic. Australia sought to develop a Bluetooth-based contact tracing app that does not use the privacy-preserving Exposure Notification framework supported natively by Android and Apple smartphones, and while these efforts were not particularly effective, QR code-based contact tracing apps became ubiquitous in Australia's businesses. Due to the transmissibility of the Delta variant, which led to a major outbreak in New South Wales, the federal government and certain states of Australia outlined plans to phase out the zero-COVID strategy in August 2021, once the country reached a threshold of vaccination in the population. However, the state of Western Australia continued to pursue a zero-COVID strategy. Canada The virus was confirmed to have reached Canada on January 27, 2020, after an individual who had returned to Toronto from Wuhan, Hubei, China, tested positive. The first case of community transmission in Canada was confirmed in British Columbia on March 5. In March 2020, as cases of community transmission were confirmed, all of Canada's provinces and territories declared states of emergency. Provinces and territories have, to varying degrees, implemented school and daycare closures, prohibitions on gatherings, closures of non-essential businesses and restrictions on entry. Canada severely restricted its border access, barring travellers from all countries with some exceptions. The federal Minister of Health invoked the Quarantine Act, introduced following the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak. The act was used to legally require all travellers (excluding essential workers) returning to the country to self-isolate for 14 days, until rules were changed to accommodate the fully vaccinated. York University health law professor Steven Hoffman described the use of the act as the broadest in Canadian history. On September 23, 2020, Prime Minister Trudeau declared that Canada was experiencing a "second wave" of the virus. New restrictions from provincial governments were put in place once again as cases increased, including variations of regional lockdowns. In late November, there was the disbandment of the Atlantic Bubble, a travel-restricted area of the country (formed of the four Atlantic provinces: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador) which had been established in July 2020. Nation-wide cases, hospitalizations and deaths spiked again preceding the Christmas and holiday season in December 2020 and January 2021. Alarmed by hospital capacity issues, fatalities and new cases, heavy restrictions (such as lockdowns and curfews) were put in place again in affected areas (primarily Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta) and across the country. These lockdowns resulted in active cases to steadily decline, reaching a plateau in active cases in mid-February 2021. After the Christmas and holiday season in December 2021 and January 2022, cases began to surge again across Canada, notably in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario. During this fourth wave of the virus, return to pandemic restrictions such as business closures and capacity limits were reinstated in provinces like Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. Vaccine passports were adopted in all provinces and two of the territories. China China was the first country to experience the COVID-19 pandemic. The first cluster of pneumonia patients was discovered in late December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, and a public notice on the outbreak was distributed on 31 December 2019. On 23 January 2020, the Chinese government banned travel to and from Wuhan, and began implementing strict lockdowns in Wuhan and other cities throughout China. These measures suppressed onward suppressed transmission of the virus below the critical threshold, bringing the basic reproduction number of the virus to near zero. On 4 February 2020, around two weeks after the beginning of the lockdowns in Hubei province, case counts peaked in the province and began to decline thereafter. The outbreak remained largely concentrated within Hubei province, with over 80% of cases nationwide through 22 March 2020 occurring there. The death toll in China during the initial outbreak was approximately 4,600 according to official figures (equivalent to 3.2 deaths per million population), and has been estimated at under 5,000 by a scientific study of excess pneumonia mortality published in The BMJ. As the epidemic receded, the focus shifted towards restarting economic activity and preventing a resurgence of the virus. Low- and medium-risk areas of the country began to ease social distancing measures on 17 February 2020. Reopening was accompanied by an increase in testing and the development of electronic "health codes" (using smartphone applications) to facilitate contact tracing. Health code applications contain personalized risk information, based on recent contacts and test results. Wuhan, the last major city to reopen, ended its lockdown on 8 April 2020. China reported its first imported COVID-19 case from an incoming traveler on 30 January 2020. As the number of imported cases rose and the number of domestic cases fell, China began imposing restrictions on entry into the country. Inbound flights were restricted, and all incoming passengers were required to undergo quarantine. After the containment of the initial outbreak in Wuhan, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) argued, "The successful containment effort builds confidence in China, based on experience and knowledge gained, that future waves of COVID-19 can be stopped, if not prevented. Case identification and management, coupled with identification and quarantine of close contacts, is a strategy that works." The China CDC rejected a mitigation strategy, and instead explained that "[t]he current strategic goal is to maintain no or minimal indigenous transmission of SARS-CoV-2 until the population is protected through immunisation with safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, at which time the risk of COVID-19 from any source should be at a minimum. This strategy buys time for urgent development of vaccines and treatments in an environment with little ongoing morbidity and mortality." Since the end of the initial outbreak in Wuhan, there have been additional, smaller outbreaks caused by imported cases, which have been controlled through short-term, localized intense public health measures. From July through August 2021, China experienced and contained 11 outbreaks of the Delta variant, with a total of 1,390 detected cases (out of a population of 1.4 billion in mainland China). The largest of these outbreaks, in both geographic extent and in the number of people infected, began in Nanjing. The index case of the outbreak, an airport worker, tested positive on 20 July 2021, and the outbreak was traced back to an infected passenger on a flight from Moscow that had arrived on 10 July. The outbreak spread to multiple provinces before it was contained, with a total of 1,162 detected infections. China has made use of mass testing to control several outbreaks. For example, nearly the entire population of the city of Guangzhou - approximately 18 million residents - were tested over the course of three days in June 2021, during a Delta variant outbreak. Hong Kong The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Hong Kong on 23 January 2020. On 5 February, after a five-day strike by front-line medical workers, the Hong Kong government closed all but three border control points – Hong Kong International Airport, Shenzhen Bay Control Point, and Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge Control Point remaining open. Hong Kong was relatively unscathed by the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. Some experts believe the habit of wearing masks in public since the SARS epidemic of 2003 may have helped keep its confirmed infections rates low. In a study published in April 2020 in the Lancet, the authors expressed their belief that border restrictions, quarantine and isolation, social distancing, and behavioural changes likely all played a part in the containment of the disease up to the end of March. After a much smaller second wave in late March and April 2020, Hong Kong saw a substantial uptick in COVID cases in July. Experts attributed this third wave to imported cases – sea crew, aircrew members, and domestic helpers made up the majority of 3rd wave infections.; Measures taken in response included a suspension of school classroom teaching until the end of the year, and an order for restaurants to seat only two persons per table and close at 10:00 p.m. taking effect on 2 December; a further tightening of restrictions saw, among other measures, a 6pm closing time of restaurants starting from 10 December, and a mandate for authorities to order partial lockdowns in locations with multiple cases of COVID-19 until all residents were tested. From late January 2021, the government repeatedly locked down residential buildings to conduct mass testings. A free mass vaccination program with the Sinovac vaccine and Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine was launched on 26 February. The government sought to counter the vaccine hesitancy by material incentives, which led to an acceleration of vaccinations in June. From early 2022, to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant, Hong Kong had been placed under tightened alert until the day it became 70% fully inoculated. New Zealand New Zealand reported its first case of COVID-19 on 28 February 2020. From 19 March, entry into New Zealand was limited to citizens and residents, and the country began quarantining new arrivals in converted hotels on 10 April. On 21 March, a four-tier alert level system was introduced, and most of the country was placed under lockdown from 25 March. Due to the success of the elimination strategy, restrictions were progressively lifted between 28 April and 8 June, when the country moved to the lowest alert level, and the last restrictions (other than quarantine for travelers) were removed. After the lifting of restrictions, New Zealand went for 102 days without any community transmission. On 11 August 2020, four members of a single family in Auckland tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, prompting a city-wide lockdown, and lesser restrictions throughout New Zealand. Additional cases related to this cluster of infections were identified over the following weeks. On 21 September, after a week without any new cases of community transmission, restrictions were dropped to the lowest level outside of Auckland. Restrictions in Auckland were eased somewhat two days later, and moved to the lowest level on 7 October. Additional small outbreaks led to temporary restrictions in parts of New Zealand in February, March, and June 2021. The country moved to a nationwide lockdown on 17 August 2021, after the detection of one new local case outside of quarantine in Auckland. Over the following weeks, Auckland remained under lockdown as cases rose, while the most of the rest of the country progressively eased restrictions. On 4 October 2021, the government of New Zealand announced that it was transitioning away from its zero-COVID strategy, arguing that the Delta variant made elimination infeasible. North Korea North Korea also reportedly follows an 'elimination strategy'. Scotland and Northern Ireland Scotland, led by its devolved government, pursued an "elimination" COVID-19 strategy starting from April 2020. The Scottish government's approach diverged with that of the central British government in April 2020, after a UK-wide lockdown began being lifted. Scotland pursued a slower approach to lifting the lockdown than other nations of the UK, and expanded a "test and trace" system. Although Northern Ireland also pursued the strategy and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon advocated for the approach to be adopted by the whole of the UK, the central British government pursued a different mitigation strategy that applied to England, with commentators noting that this combined with an open Anglo-Scottish border could undermine Scotland's attempts at elimination. Singapore Singapore recorded its first COVID-19 case on 23 January 2020. With that, many Singaporeans had purchased and worn masks when not at home; practiced social distancing and on 7 February 2020, Singapore raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level from Yellow to Orange in response to additional local cases of uncertain origin. On 3 April 2020 a stringent set of preventive measures collectively called the "circuit breaker lockdown" was announced. Stay-at-home order and cordon sanitaire were implemented as a preventive measure by the Government of Singapore in response on 7 April 2020. The measures were brought into legal effect by the Minister for Health with the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations 2020, published on 7 April 2020. The country introduced what was considered one of the world's largest and best-organised epidemic control programmes. The "Control Order" implemented various measures such as; mass testing the population for the virus, isolating any infected people as well as introducing contact tracing apps and strictly quarantining those they had close contact with those infected All non-essential workplaces closed, with essential workplaces remaining open. All schools transitioned to home-based learning. All food establishments were only allowed to offer take-away, drive-thru and delivery of food. Non-essential advertising at shopping centres are not allowed to be shown or advertised and only advertising from essential service offers and safe management measures such as mask wearing and social distancing are allowed. Such measures have helped avoid further lockdowns after the end of the circuit breaker lockdown measures in June 2020. With its relative success in curbing the early spread of the virus in Singapore, the term "circuit breaker" and its measures was subsequently adopted by other countries, particularly in Canada and the United Kingdom. In October 2021, Singapore began phasing out its zero-COVID strategy after vaccinating the majority of its population. South Korea The first case in South Korea was announced on 20 January 2020. On 4 February 2020, in order to help prevent spread of the disease, South Korea began denying entry to foreigners traveling from China. Various other measures have been taken: mass testing the population, isolating infected people, and trace and quarantine of those they had contact with. The rapid and extensive testing undertaken by South Korea has been judged successful in limiting the spread of the outbreak, without using drastic measures. There was no general lockdown of businesses in South Korea, with supermarkets and other retailers remaining open. However, schools, universities, cinemas, and gyms were closed soon after the outbreaks, with schools and universities having online classes. The government is providing citizens with information in Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese on how to not become infected and how to prevent spreading the disease as part of its "K-Quarantine" measures. This includes information on cough etiquette, when and how to wear a face mask, and the importance of physical distancing and staying at home. The South Korean government has also been sending daily emergency notifications, detailing information on locations with reported infections and other status updates related to the pandemic. Infected South Koreans are required to go into isolation in government shelters. Their phones and credit card data are used to trace their prior movements and find their contacts. People who are determined to have been near the infected individual receive phone alerts with information about their prior movements. Taiwan Due to its extensive cultural and economic exchanges with mainland China, Taiwan was initially expected to be at high risk of developing a large-scale outbreak of COVID-19. Immediately after China notified the WHO of a pneumonia cluster in Wuhan on 31 December 2019, Taiwanese officials began screening passengers arriving from Wuhan for fever and pneumonia. This screening was subsequently broadened to all passengers with respiratory symptoms who had recently visited Wuhan. Beginning in early February 2020, all passengers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau were required to quarantine at home for 14 days after arrival in Taiwan. Mobile phone data was used to monitor compliance with quarantine requirements. Public places such as schools, restaurants and offices in Taiwan were required to monitor body temperature of visitors and provide hand sanitizer. Mask-wearing was encouraged, and on 24 January, an export ban and price controls were placed on surgical masks and other types of personal protective equipment. On 20 March 2020, Taiwan initiated 14-day quarantine for all international arrivals, and began converting commercial hotels into quarantine facilities. In early April, Taiwanese public health officials announced social distancing measures, and mandated mask use in public transport. The first known case of COVID-19 in Taiwan was identified on 21 January 2020. On 31 January, approximately 3,000 passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship went ashore in Taiwan. Five days later, it was recognized that there was an outbreak on the ship. Taiwanese public health authorities used mobile phone data and other contact tracing measures to identify these passengers and their close contacts for testing and quarantine. No cases related to these passengers were identified in Taiwan. Taiwan maintained near-zero viral prevalence throughout 2020, totaling just 56 known locally transmitted cases (out of a population of 23.6 million) through 31 December 2020. Taiwan experienced its largest outbreak from April to August 2021, initially caused by violations of COVID-19 quarantine rules by international flight crews. On 15 May 2021, Taiwan identified more than 100 daily cases for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The outbreak was brought to an end on 25 August 2021, when Taiwan recorded no new locally transmitted cases for the first time since May 2021. Tonga Tonga has followed a "COVID-free" policy, and there has been only one confirmed case in the country (a traveller in quarantine in October 2021). The country's zero-COVID policy has caused complications with international aid following the Hunga Tonga volcano eruption in 2022. To keep the country virus-free, an Australian aid flight had to return to base after detecting a case midflight, while HMAS Adelaide (L01) made plans to stay at sea after 23 members of her crew tested positive for COVID-19. Vietnam The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Vietnam on 23 January 2020, when two Chinese people in Ho Chi Minh City tested positive for the virus. In response the government issued a diagnostic and management guidelines for COVID-19, providing instructions on contact tracing and 14-day isolation. Health authorities began monitoring body temperatures at border gates and started detection and contact tracing, with orders for the mandatory isolation of infected people and anyone they had come into contact with. In 2020, Vietnam was cited by global media as having one of the best-organized epidemic control programs in the world, along the lines of other highlights such as Taiwan and South Korea. This success has been attributed to several factors, including a well-developed public health system, a decisive central government, and a proactive containment strategy based on comprehensive testing, tracing, and quarantining. Howerver, instead of relying on medicine and technology, the Vietnamese state security apparatus has adopted an widespread of public surveillance system along with a public well-respected military force. Starting in April 2021, Vietnam experienced its largest outbreak to date, with over 1.2 million infections recorded by November. This led to two of its largest cities (Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi) and around a third of the country's population coming under some form of lockdown by late July. A degree of complacency after successes in previous outbreaks, and infections originating from foreign workers were all considered to have contributed to the outbreak. In response, government-mandated quarantine for foreign arrivals and close contacts to confirmed cases was extended to 21 days, and accompanying safety measures also tightened up. In September 2021, Vietnam abandoned its zero-COVID strategy, after a three-month lockdown of Ho Chi Minh city caused major economic disruption in the city and failed to contain the outbreak. The country shifted to a phased reopening and more flexible approach while expanding its vaccination programme. Views on the zero-COVID strategy Proponents of the zero-COVID strategy argue that successful execution reduces the number of nationwide lockdowns needed, that healthcare and economic costs are lower, that it is less costly to society, that it reduces dependence on pharmaceutical interventions such as vaccines, and that it increases quality of life and life expectancy due to fewer citizens contracting COVID-19. Opponents of the zero-COVID strategy argue that a vaccine would be required to end the pandemic, that zero-COVID causes the economy to suffer, that before vaccinations were common, elimination strategies lowered herd immunity, that zero-COVID is not sustainable, and that newer variants such as the omicron variant are so transmissible that the zero-COVID strategy is no longer feasible. Some countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, and Australia pursued zero-COVID but later decided to discontinue it. See also Baltic Bubble List of COVID-19 pandemic legislation Living with COVID-19 Use and development of software for COVID-19 pandemic mitigation Eradication of infectious diseases Protective sequestration References Further reading Cécile Philippe; Nicolas Marques (2021). The Zero Covid strategy protects people, economies and freedoms more effectively - (PDF), Institut économique Molinari. ISBN 978-2-931091-08-1 Lee A, Thornley S, Morris A J, Sundborn G. (September 2020). Should countries aim for elimination in the covid-19 pandemic? BMJ 2020; 370 :m3410 doi:10.1136/bmj.m3410 Moon, Joshua and Chekar, Choon Key and Barberá, David and Davey, Gail and Gaisser, Sibylle and Gaisser, Tobias and Iwuji, Collins and Meseguer, Enrique and Ryan, James G and Hopkins, Michael M.,(September 17, 2020). Optimising 'Test and Trace' Systems: Early Lessons From a Comparative Analysis of Six Countries 22 Pages, Social Science Research Network Cam Bowie, Lowani, Lyme Road, (June 10, 2021.). Modelling the effect of an improved trace and isolate system in the wake of a highly transmissible Covid-19 variant with potential vaccine escape. medRxiv, BMJ Yale External links EndCoronavirus.org - List of "zero-COVID" advocacy groups National responses to the COVID-19 pandemic Medical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic Political responses to the COVID-19 pandemic Containment efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic Infection-control measures COVID-19 pandemic in Australia COVID-19 pandemic in China COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam New Zealand government response to the COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland

69654441

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%20%282022%20film%29

Hero (2022 film)

Hero is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language action comedy thriller film written and directed by Sriram Adittya. Produced by Amara Raja Media and Entertainment, the film stars debutant Ashok Galla and Niddhi Agerwal while Jagapathi Babu, Naresh, Vennela Kishore, Brahmaji, and Satya play supporting roles with the music composed by Ghibran. The film began its production in November 2019. Following the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hero was theatrically released on 15 January 2022. The film received mixed reviews from the critics and audiences as well. Plot Arjun is a struggling actor who is in love with Subbu. Saleem Bhai Savyasachi is a crime boss in Mumbai, where he kills the Police Commissioner with an antique gun and sends the gun to Hyderabad to assassinate one of his enemies. Arjun orders a hair oil to treat his hair fall, but receives the gun in courier due to a mistaken identity. He discusses the problem with his friend at night on his terrace. A CI harasses a lone woman at night in their colony. Arjun's friend is drunk and couldn't understand the problem. Arjun accidentally shoots the CI while snatching the gun from his friend. He tries to report the incident to the police, but withdraws after realizing that he shot the CI. He tries to toss away the gun, but fails to do so. Meanwhile, Arjun (hitman) receives the hair oil instead of gun and investigates the matter. Arjun receives another parcel with the photo of Sripati, who is Subbu's father and is ordered to kill him. The (hitman) Arjun finds Arjun's home and points a gun to his head. Arjun's parents return from a movie and find gangsters in their house. Arjun convinces them that they are the shooting crew. The gangsters leave with the courier, but Arjun changes the photo of their target. Sripati acts like he suffers from heart-attack in a bid to leave for US with reluctant Subbu. The gangsters realize their mistake but decide to help Arjun. They inform him that Saleem Bhai hired another assassin to kill Sripati. Arjun finds the assassin to be CI and saves Sripati from him. Subbu's mother then reveals that Sripati dreamt of becoming an actor and finally landed in a lead role in Saleem Bhai's biopic. His car breaks down on first day of filming and he travels with the Police Commissioner who attacks Saleem Bhai in self-defense upon reaching the shooting spot. Saleem Bhai then wants to avenge Sripati. Sripati then boards a train to Mumbai and Arjun tries to convince him to return. They later realize that it's a shooting spot and the train isn't going anywhere. Saleem Bhai attacks them in railway station but they defeat him. Impressed with their performance, the producer of the film offers them roles in his film. Arjun and Subbu reunite and he and Sripati finally become actors. Cast Ashok Galla as Arjun Niddhi Agerwal as Subhadra "Subbu" Jagapathi Babu as Sripati, Subbu's father Naresh as Arjun's father Archana Ananth as Sarada, Arjun's mother Vennela Kishore as Telemarketing guy Brahmaji as a film actor Satya as Arjun's friend Ravi Kishan as Saleem Bhai Mime Gopi as Arjuna, a goon Kota Srinivasa Rao as Arjuna's father Raghu Karumanchi as Arjuna's henchmen Srikanth Iyengar as Mumbai Police Kausalya as Subbu's mother Ajay as Police CI Prabhakar as Police Officer Satyam Rajesh as Subbu's fiance Viva Harsha as a forest thief Chammak Chandra as a clinic worker K. Sivasankar as a dance master (posthumous) Anil Ravipudi in a cameo appearance as a film director Production and release Hero marks the debut of Mahesh Babu's nephew Ashok Galla, the son of businessman and politician Galla Jayadev. Sriram Aditya (who earlier directed Bhale Manchi Roju, Samanthakamani and Devadas) was signed to helm the film while actress Nidhhi Agerwal was cast opposite Galla. It is produced by Padmavathi Galla under Amar Raja Media and Entertainment as their maiden venture. The film began its production in November 2019 in Hyderabad with an estimated budget of 3.5 crore. Galla's grandfather and veteran actor Krishna visited the film's sets and directed a scene on Aditya's request. Aditya described the film as "a romantic potboiler with a hidden twist towards the end." The film began its post-production in June 2021, and the title was unveiled as Hero. The film was initially scheduled to release on 26 January 2022, however, owing to the postponement of other major Telugu productions like RRR, Hero release date was advanced to 15 January 2022, coinciding with the festival of Sankranti. Reception The film received mixed reviews from critics praising the performances, visuals but criticized the story and screenplay. Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India, rated the film 3/5 and wrote, "Hero had the potential to be a film that keeps you on the edge of your seat while ensuring you leave the cinema hall having laughed your heart out." A Sakshi critic appreciated the direction, screenplay and performances, with a particular praise to the film's humour. A reviewer from Eenadu also echoed the same but felt that the latter half was too silly for a serious subject. Pinkvilla concluded its review by writing, "If you watch 'Hero' with the expectation that it's a facetious crime comedy and an unabashed mindless entertainer, you won't be disappointed." References External links Indian action drama films 2022 action drama films Films set in Hyderabad, India Films shot in Hyderabad, India Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020s Telugu-language films Films directed by Sriram Adittya Films set in Rajahmundry Films set in Mumbai

69654909

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred%20Beal

Fred Beal

Fred Erwin Beal (1896-1954) was an American labor-union organizer whose critical reflections on his work and travel in the Soviet Union divided left-wing and liberal opinion. In 1929 he had been a cause célèbre when, in Gastonia, North Carolina, he was convicted in an irregular trial of conspiracy in the strike-related killing of a local police chief. But having escaped to the Soviet Union, his decision in 1933 to return and bear witness to the costs of Stalin's collectivist policies, including famine in Ukraine, was disparaged and resisted by many of his erstwhile supporters. The New York Times remained committed to what it has since acknowledged was the "tendentious" reporting of Soviet achievements by its Pulitzer Prize-winning Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty. It was left first to Forverts, the Yiddish-language version of a New York socialist daily, and then, nationwide, to the right-wing Hearst Press to publish Beal's accounts. In his later memoirs, Beal's disillusion with communism extended to his experience as a labor organizer with the Communist Party in the United States and with what he concluded had been the party's calculated sacrifice of his, and his co-defendants', interests in their Gastonia trial. To the Soviet Union and back When Beal decided to skip the appeal of his Gastonia trial conviction, and travel to Russia he was following his co-defendant and Communist Party (CPUSA) comrade, Clarence Miller. Both men had been facing seventeen to twenty years hard labor in the Raleigh penitentiary. In Moscow, their paths parted. Beal was sent away on a propaganda tour of Central Asia (where he was alarmed to see children mobilized for work in the cotton fields). Then in 1931, after being persuaded by the American party leaders to end an undercover return to the United States, to a new tractor factory in Kharkov/Kharkiv (a project hailed by Stalin as "a steel bastion of the collectivisation of agriculture in the Ukraine"). Meanwhile, Beal describes Miller, "who was never a worker", as "blossoming out" in Moscow as a "Red professor" with a comfortable apartment. From his vantage in Kharkov, Beal wrote, "I could not, like Clarence Miller and so many other complaisant dream-walkers, convince myself that the suffering and futility which I saw everywhere in Stalin-land were but figments of the Capitalist imagination." At the Kharkov Tractor Plant, Beal directed "Propaganda and Cultural Affairs" for a colony of several hundred foreign workers and specialists. Under his name, Moscow published a Pictorial Survey of their contribution to "socialist construction". In this, Beal admitted only to the voluntary renunciation of "luxuries". Later, he was to give a very different account. The colony suffered acute shortages of food and fuel, but was "divided by a chasm from the ten thousand Russian workers employed". To protest their conditions, these workers resorted to the only weapon open to them, "silent sabotage". Meanwhile, at the factory gates there was starvation. In the surrounding countryside Beal, in the spring of 1933, reported finding bodies unburied on abandoned fields and in deserted villages.I have seen dead people who had died naturally, before. But this was from a cause and a definite one. A cause which I was somehow associated with, which I had been supporting. [...] Some bodies were decomposed. Others were fresher. When we opened the doors, huge rats would scamper to their holes and then come out and stare at us. [Behind the houses] signs were stuck up on graves [...] I LOVE STALIN. BURY HIM HERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! THE COLLECTIVE DIED ON US! WE TRIED A COLLECTIVE. THIS IS THE RESULT! [...] On our way back people told us that that village was to be burned.In July 1932, Beal learned that a third Gastonia convict and fellow exile K. Y. "Red" Hendricks had returned to New York and was facing extradition to North Carolina. In response to his calls for an international campaign on his behalf, Beal was told that nothing was to be done, that Hendricks had "put the Soviet Union in an embarrassing position": American workers would be asking "Is American jail better than living in the Soviet Union?" Recognizing that no open letter from him would get past the Soviet censors, and himself thoroughly disillusioned, Beal determined upon his own return. Early in August 1933, he managed to persuade Kharkov authorities that he had Moscow's permission to secure an exit visa in order to renew his American passport abroad (the USA had no consular offices in the Soviet Union until 1934). He had thought of visiting Leon Trotsky in his Turkish exile, but did not have the funds to secure a visa from the Turkish consul in Odessa. In September he crossed over the border into Latvia. Testifying to the famine Beal's account of his Ukrainian experience was first published in June 1935 in Forverts, the Yiddish-language edition of the New York City Jewish socialist daily The Forward. His story corroborated that of the paper's labor editor, Harry Lang, who had himself been to the region. Both proposed a death toll in the millions. According to Beal, when he asked Grigory Petrovsky, Chairman of the Ukrainian SSR, what he was to tell workers at his plants who were saying that "millions of peasants are dyng all over Russia", Petrovsky replied: "Tell them nothing!" and that "the glorious future of the Soviet Union will justify" the loss. Lang cited a high Ukrainian Soviet official confidentially conceding that famine took the lives of six million. National coverage was secured when William Randolph Hearst ordered the editors of his numerous titles to cover the story, drawing not only on the testimony of Beal and of Lang, but also on that of the Welsh freelance journalist Gareth Jones Jones's eyewitness reports from Ukraine had been published in Britain by the Manchester Guardian, but like Beal in the United States he found they were rejected by much of the established and left-wing press. In The New York Times, Walter Duranty dismissed the Hearst-circulated reports of made-made starvation as a politically motivated "scare story". To better serve Hearst's new policy of opposition to diplomatic recognition of Moscow, in articles written by Thomas Walker the eyewitness accounts were made to appear more current than they were. This allowed Louis Fischer in The Nation to accuse the Heart press of pure invention. Fischer, although according to Myra Page himself a witness to the famine in 1933, had returned to Ukraine in 1934 and could report that he had seen no evidence of starvation. Like Duranty, he proposed that the whole affair was merely an attempt by Hearst to "spoil Soviet-American relations" as part of "an anti-red campaign". Beal's former party comrades claimed that, facing prison on his return to the United States, he had prostituted himself to this campaign. It is a charge Douglas Tottle repeated decades later in a book that purports to expose the "Ukrainian genocide myth": Beal had sold out for money and hope of a reduced sentence. Beal acknowledged that, in the eyes of Communists and those he described as "their liberal lackeys", having his story placed (he claimed by an agent) in the Hearst newspapers "completely blotted out" his record as a strike leader and as a victim of the "Gastonia frame up". But the Hearst papers, he argued, had published a "host of Communist and near-Communist writers" and were "essentially" no more suspect than "other capitalist journals and magazines to which the Stalinists contribute their propaganda". His own ideals, he insisted, had not changed. Beal's memoir of mill work and labor struggles in the United States, and of life as a foreign worker under Stalin, was published as Proletarian Journey: New England, Gastonia, Moscow by Hillman-Curl, New York, in 1937. In Britain it was published as Word From Nowhere: The Story of a Fugitive from Two Worlds by the Right Book Club in 1938. This coincided with an offering from the Left Book Club: a panorama of the Soviet Union (Comrades and Citizens, by Seema Rynin Allan) in which Kharkov's new tractors were celebrated for assisting with "the biggest harvest Russia every had". Beal and Trotskyism Beal's memoir concludes with the declaration: Soviet Russia is the grandest fraud in history. ... But I am as convinced as ever that there is another road to a free and classless humanity, a road which is worth the quest, and which can be found only by minds liberated from the worship of false gods and by spirits strong enough to face the truth in the quest for truth.For Beal this other road to socialism was not Trotskyism. Referring to Beal as "one of the leaders of the workers in America", in an article completed shortly before his assassination in August 1940, Leon Trotsky cited Proletarian Journey. In Beal's description of their solicitous treatment in Moscow ("good room, good food, and good pay for speeches and writing"), Trotsky found evidence of the grooming of foreign leftists by Stalin's secret operatives. In 1938, the American Trotskyist weekly, Socialist Appeal had given front-page coverage to a campaign to prevent Beal's recommittal in North Carolina ("Boss Court Holds Beal on Old Score"). But Beal's condemnation of "Stalin land" was too sweeping to accommodate Trotsky's insistence that the Soviet Union remained, albeit "degenerated", a workers state. Rather, for the editor of the Socialist Appeal, Max Shachtman, Beal's description of the Soviet party-state bureaucracy as a "new exploiting class" was to be a point of departure in a break with Trotsky. As he moved with his supporters to an avowedly Marxist version of democratic socialism, Shachtman denied that the "bureaucratic collectivism" of the Soviet Union was "in any sense" socialist. Reflections of Communist labor organizer Lawrence and the Wobblies In January 1912, Beal, a fifteen-year-old imill hand, stopped machinery and with his co-workers walked out on his employers in his hometown, Lawrence Massachusetts. The Industrial Workers of the World, the “Wobblies”, had shown that a largely female and immigrant workforce could organize. Beal recalled that, against all expectations, it was the most recent immigrant groups that sustained the strike over the next two bitterly cold winter months: "the Italians, Poles, Syrians [Lebanese] and Franco-Belgians". The Wobblies did not shy from confrontation, but they also courted public opinion. In a signature move “Big" Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn arranged the public transport of hundreds of the strikers' hungry children to sympathetic families in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont. When the state's heavy-handed efforts to stop the embarrassing exodus led to Congressional hearings on the working conditions, the mill owners settled. Workers in Lawrence and throughout New England secured raises of up to 20 percent. Beal signed both with the Wobblies and with Socialist Party of U.S. presidential candidate Eugene Debs, who despite his differences with the syndicalism of the Wobblies' One Big Union, had rallied support. In the midst of the post-World War recession and the Red Scare of 1919–20, Beal tried to revive the local IWW organization by forming a Rank and File Committee of Textile Workers. While this effort at bottom-up organising was ruthlessly commandeered by the new-formed Communist Party (CPUSA), Beal was drawn to its disciplined militants because they were themselves "workers in the mills". His fellow Socialists he had come to view chiefly as “middle-class intellectuals who loved to theorise about Utopia” and felt they were bringing it about when at every election they voted against the major parties. Drawn to the Communists On the road that would eventually take him to Moscow, Beal identified the 1924 presidential campaign of Robert La Follette as a turning point. La Follette (who had changed his previous pro-Moscow stance after visiting the Soviet Union in late 1923) was supported as a "progressive" by the Socialists and by the American Federation of Labour. The failure of his campaign to check Calvin Coolidge's clean sweep of the northern industrial states, persuaded Beal that "the American workers would never be won over to the political side." He dropped out of the Socialist Party and for the next three years devoted himself to local organising within the One Big Union. When the setbacks he encountered caused him again to despair, he was drawn to the Communists through their "united fronts": in 1927 to their defense campaign for Saco and Venzetti (in the course of which he reported being badly beaten by American Legionaires) and then, via a United Front Committee of Textile Workers in Lawrence to the party-controlled National Textile Workers Union (NTWU). He viewed the Communist Party as "the most effective radical organization in the field, almost the only one that was really active in behalf of the workers". Many Wobbly leaders (including Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn) and thousands of Wobbly rank-and-filers had, or were making, the same political journey. In 1928, a mill strike in New Bedford placed Beal "in the forefront of Communist labor organizers", although the struggle itself ended in a defeat for the workers. After 23 weeks the 25 to 30,000 strikers no longer responded to prodding from the organizers that party headquarters had sent in "droves" from "Boston, New York and points west". Beal's Textile Mill Committees had demanded a 20% wage increase (together with reduced hours and equal pay for women); in a deal negotiated by the established craft unions, the exhausted workers settled for a 5 per cent pay cut. When reassigned to North Carolina (where his only contact was a blind Party member in Charlotte) Beal was entertaining growing doubts. There had been too great a willingness to override rank-and-file deliberation, to block local initiative and, ultimately, to "make a political game" of what for the workers was "a struggle for existence". Beal had begun to make a distinction between "the Party and the cause". Even the language of the party was suspect. When, to a worker who objected to being "called such names", Beal sought to defend the term "proletariat" he was confronted with a dictionary:"Proletariat: the lowest class of ancient Rome, contributing nothing to the state but offspring. Applied to the lowest class of society". Gastonia reconsidered In the Loray Mill strike in Gastonia, the politically isolated NTWU again led workers (many, like Beal's parents in Lawrence, failed farmers) to defeat. Demanding a forty-hour week at twenty dollars and again (a demand Beal omits to mention in his memoir) equal pay for women, they were discharged, beaten and evicted from their company-owned homes. The Party's determination to bring out "the political nature of the conflict" played to the employers's anti-communist rhetoric (George Pershing, who shadowed Beal throughout, announced to his first Gastonia audience that he was a "Bolshevist" sent by the Party to spearhead "a gigantic movement in the entire South" to overturn the rule of capital). While the constant portrayal of Beal and his associates at a menace to "American tradition and American government" may have had little impact on the strikers, it helped sanction the authorities's resort to violence, and made it more difficult for the central issues of the strike to be considered by the wider community on their merits. In the final act, Beal believed that he and his six co-defendants had been deliberately sacrificed. Acting on party instructions, witnesses went beyond testimony about the circumstances of the shooting of the Police Chief Orville F. Anderholt: a sequence of events in which strikers were attacked and Beal's fellow NTWU organizer and the balladeer of the struggle, Ella Mae Wiggins, was killed. They made speeches. Edith Miller of the Young Communist League volunteered she was teaching the children of the strikers communist doctrine. The uproar "shattered" any prospect of an acquittal. The prosecution made "the overthrow by force of the constitution of the United States of America", advocated by a party that was "a branch of the Soviet Union of Russia", the effective charge. Much was also made of Beal's "notorious advocacy of social equality among the races" (to the Beal's dismay, supporters sought to seat an alternative black-and-white "jury" in the public gallery), The only reason he and his co-defendants were able to leave town was because the judge, to the surprise of many, allowed bail and set the bond (provided by the American Civil Liberties Union) comparatively low. The party was thus deprived of the opportunity to mount another Sacco-and-Venzetti-scale united-front campaign. This had already been in the making, with party-controlled International Labour Defense (ILD) raising funds on the cry "SHALL SACCO and VANZETTI HAVE DIED IN VAIN?, Help Smash the Gastonia Murder Frameup". After sentencing in Gastonia, Clarence Miller wrote to Max Bedacht, acting CPUSA leader, warning him that Beal had "lost faith in the Party". Beal later told the journalist and civil-rights advocate Harry Golden, that Bedacht's predecessor, William Z. Foster, "had directed the whole Gastonia show and that the people in the Kremlin insisted on getting weekly reports". Last years Beal turned himself into the North Carolina authorities in February 1938, so that later he wrote: "in my escape from the Soviet state, I simply transferred myself from one prison to another". The ILD was notably silent, but a non-partisan committee for his defense was joined, shortly before Communists helped secure his ouster as president of the United Auto Workers, by Homer Martin; by Congressmen Thomas Ryun Amlie of the Wisconsin Progressive Party and Democrat Jerry Voorhis (who in California was to be the first political opponent of a red-baiting Richard M Nixon); by the sociologist and pacifist Emily Greene Balch, the New York attorney and feminist Dorothy Kenyon and the free-love advocate and poet Sara Bard Field. The Committee reported hostile pressure from members of the ILD and anonymous threats. In October 1939, Beal was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in Washington. Beal repeated his claim that the CPUSA leaders deliberately made the Gastonia trial a vehicle for Communist propaganda, inflaming the southern jurors and dooming the defendants. Afterward, said he, Communists in Manhattan shipped him and his fellows off "to show the Russians by our coming that there was a bad situation in America," and that when he returned briefly and secretly to the U. S. in 1931 and betrayed his disillusion, one of them told him that the Russians "should have shot him while they had him". In 1940, Beal's seventeen to twenty-year sentence was reduced seven years by Governor Clyde R. Hoey, who had been his prosecutor in Gastonia. His parole was authorised by governor J. Melville Broughton in 1942. In 1947, Beal appeared again before HUAC, then investigating the activities of Leon Josephson, who had been one of the ILD attorneys at Gastonia. Beal testified that he had met Josephson several times while in Moscow and that he knew him to be a Soviet secret agent. It was a charge for which the committee had substantial corroborating testimony and evidence. With Norman Thomas, Socialist presidential candidate, and David Dubinsky of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union standing as references, in 1948 Beal had his U.S. citizenship restored. He worked for a while in a New York City textile company, quietly pursued union activities and lectured on Communism's threat to labor. He died, age 57, of a heart attack in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The mills he had first entered at age 14 had since migrated to the non-union south. Beal was survived by two brothers. Works 1933 Foreign Workers in a Soviet Tractor Plant: A Pictorial Survey of the Life of Foreign Workers and Specialists During the Period of Socialist Construction 1931-1933. Co-operative Pub. Society of Foreign Workers in the U.S.S.R. Moscow 1937 Proletarian Journey: New England, Gastonia, Moscow, Hillman-Curl, New York 1938 Word From Nowhere: The Story of a Fugitive from Two Worlds, The Right Book Club, London, (British edition of Proletarian Journey) 1949 The Red Fraud: An Expose of Stalinism, Tempo Publishers, New York In Fiction Strike! by Mary Heaton Vorse (1930) was the first of several "Gastonia novels" inspired by the Loray Mill strike of 1929. Vorse, who in the Lawrence strike of 1912 established herself as a labor journalist, produced the most historically accurate of these. When she first met Beal in Gastonia her impression was of a "nice" but "weak boy, oppressed with the tremendous weight of the strike." In the novel, his counterpart, Fer Deane, under constant threat of assassination leaves much of the work to Irma Rankin and the chief protagonist Mamie Lewes, characters recognizable as Beal's assistants Vera Buch Weisbord and Ella May Wiggins. The murder of Lewes/Wiggins inspires Deane to join the picketing workers in final demonstration of resistance. The novel (which was completed before Beal and his five co-defendants jumped bail) ends with his martyrdom: Deane and five male workers are killed. In Call Home the Hearth (1932), Olive Tilford Dargan (writing as Fielding Burke) has the Wiggins character, Ashma Waycaster, saving Beal/Amos Freer from a murder plot, while she contends on every side, including the Communist Party, with male presumption. Beal appears as a character in John Sweeney's thriller The Useful Idiot (2020). The "useful idiot" of the story is Walter Duranty with Gareth Jones as his journalistic nemesis. Sweeney employs creative license to bring Fred Beal, Bill Haywood and Jones together in Moscow in 1933, a point at which Haywood had been dead five years. References 1896 births 1954 deaths American anti-communists American communists American socialists American trade unionists Activists from Massachusetts

69654991

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan%20Rachinsky

Yan Rachinsky

Yan Zbignevich Rachinsky (), also spelt Jan Raczynski. Born 6 December 1958 in Moscow, USSR) Raczynski is a Russian human rights activist, programmer and mathematician. He has been a human rights activist since the late 1980s when he first became involved in the work and activities of the Memorial (society). When long-serving chairman of International Memorial Arseny Roginsky died in 2018 the board elected Rachinsky as his successor. Family Rachinsky's grandfather Sigismund Raczynski was Polish; his grandmother Rebecca (Rivka) Fyalka (1888-1975) was a prominent member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. She was sentenced to 13 years "hard labour" (katorga) by a field tribunal after the 1905 Revolution. She began her sentence in 1907 in Buryatia (east Siberia) and was sent into permanent exile in 1910. She escaped and after the February 1917 Revolution was elected to the Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies in Svobodny (Amur Region). Work with Memorial HRC In 1990-1995, Raczynski worked extensively with the Memorial Human Rights Centre (HRC), travelling to many hotspots in and around Russia: Karabakh in Azerbaijan; Transnistria in Moldova; and the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia. He was a member of the organisation's team of observers during the first Chechen conflict (1994-1996). International recognition In April 2011, Raczynski was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his research on the 1940 massacres in the Smolensk, Tver and Kharkov Regions of the USSR of POWs and others from the occupied territories of eastern Poland. "Victims of Political Terror" Over the past 15 years, Raczynski has served as director of the project to assemble in one resource the information scattered between the numerous Books of Remembrance compiled and published in Russia since the early 1990s. By 2016 the fifth edition, an online database entitled "Victims of Political Terror in the USSR", contained the names of about three million victims of the Soviet regime: those who were deported, imprisoned or executed from 1918 onwards. This impressive figure, it was estimated, represented only a quarter of those who would qualify for rehabilitation under the terms of the October 1991 Law. A controversy arose in August 2021 when Israeli historian Aron Schneer publicly announced that Nazi collaborators guilty of war crimes had been included in the database as "victims of political terror". In December 2021, Raczynski responded on behalf of Memorial to Vladimir Putin: on 10 December the Russian president publicly named three Latvian polizei, who had already been excluded from the database in September 2021. Raczynski and Memorial suggested that the Russian authorities might express some appreciation for Memorial's work in compiling such an extensive database. In 2015, formulating the State programme for the Commemoration of the Victims of Political Repression, President Putin had talked of creating a unified database of victims and in January 2021 he instructed the FSB, Ministry of Internal Affairs and other relevant bodies to report back on this proposal in early October 2021. By the end of that year, however, nothing more was known of their activities. Memorial, meanwhile, was hampered as before by a lack of access to the archival materials at the disposal of the police and security services. The threat of closure See main article Memorial (society) In mid-November 2021 lawsuits were brought, respectively, against International Memorial and Memorial HRC in the RF Supreme Court and the Moscow City Court. After a number of hearings, the Moscow courts ruled on two consecutive days, 28-29 December 2021, that both organisations should dissolve. "We never counted on love from the State," commented Raczynski. There were international protests and a petition in many languages attracted tens thousands of signatures worldwide. As board chairman of International Memorial, Raczynski said that the organisation would appeal against the decision. See also Chechnya Katyn massacre (1940) in the USSR. Memorial (society) Arseny Roginsky Bibliography Alexander Cherkasov and Oleg Orlov, Russia and Chechnya: a trail of crimes and errors, 1998 Zvenya publishers: Moscow, 9785787000214, 398 pp (in Russian). References and notes 1958 births Russian mathematicians Russian activists Russian computer programmers Living people Memorial (society)

69655099

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis%20Rabbitt

Dennis Rabbitt

Dennis Nathaniel Rabbitt (born June 28, 1956), known as The South Side Rapist, is an American serial rapist who raped between 16 and 29 girls in St. Louis, Missouri and the surrounding areas between 1988 and 1998. He pleaded guilty to 20 rapes and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes. Biography Dennis Nathaniel Rabbitt was born on June 28, 1956, in St. Louis, Missouri, the only child of a middle-class couple, with some rumors claiming that he was the godson of baseball player Stan Musial. His father was an entrepreneur who owned a popular bar in the city and had relatives who were members of major political and social organizations, thanks to which Rabbitt had a relatively lavish upbringing. During his school years, he attended the Bishop DuBourg High School, where he was noted for his tall build and affinity for softball, but did not achieve outstanding results in any other fields. Because of his introverted personality, Rabbitt had few friends and rarely interacted with girls, but was never bullied or considered a social outcast by his peers. By his own admission, he began to exhibit an unnaturally high interest in women at an early age, leading to his interest in browsing through his father's collection of pornographic magazines. During this time period, he would go around peeping through a female neighbor's window to watch her engage in intimate activities, but was eventually caught. Even after his family changed residences, Rabbitt would continue to spend all his free time away from school peeping on women in various areas of St. Louis. According to his testimony, after his parents learned of his sexual deviations in his high school years, his mother drilled a hole in the bathroom door in order to observe and prevent him from engaging in masturbation, only for him to begin watching her doing intimate activities. In 1970, Rabbitt was arrested for voyeurism and lodged in the county jail, where he was subjected to a psychiatric examination, which found him to be sane and lacking in any sexual deviations. Three years later, Rabbitt broke into the home of a girl and, under the threat of a knife, attempted to assault her, but his victim resisted so fiercely that he dropped it and was forced to flee. In Rabbitt's own claims, he had become a suspect in the crime due to the fingerprints found on the knife, which belonged to his father, but he was not arrested due to his father's family connections. After high school, he changed several jobs, and in the late 1970s, he met a girl who would soon be impregnated by him. The pair married in 1980 and had two children together. In the early 1980s, Rabbitt, with support from his father, also went into business and opened a bar. In 1982, the family was struck by a tragedy when Rabbitt's mother was shot and killed by her second husband in front of Dennis' daughter, causing the elder Rabbitt to drink heavily and quarrel with his wife. In the mid-1980s, Rabbitt's business began to decline, and he experienced difficulties, and in 1989, his wife filed for divorce after accusing him of being unfaithful. Exposure Rabbitt first came to the police's attention in mid-1998, after his van was stopped near the I-44 in Daviess County during a routine check-up. During the check, it was discovered that his van's license plate was registered to another vehicle, after which Rabbitt was charged with theft and issued a ticket. On that evening, Rabbitt spying on a woman in Fenton when he was seen by a neighbor, who scared him away and attempted to chase him down. While Rabbitt managed to flee in his van, his pursuer reported the incident to police and provided them with an accurate description of the voyeur and his van's license plate. A few days later, Rabbitt was spotted by traffic officers near Pacific, where he had raped a pregnant girl that evening. On October 29, 1998, Rabbitt was apprehended by police officers on suspicion of committing multiple burglaries and rapes attributed to the "Southside Rapist". The investigators had been investigating the supposed criminal since 1992, attributing at least 22 rapes of girls and women between the ages of 14 to 82 since 1988 to him. In at least 16 cases, the rapist's biological traces were found on the victims' bodies, from which DNA is isolated - no such traces were found in the remaining other six cases. After he was apprehended, Rabbitt was ordered to provide a saliva sample, but because the test results would not be available until four weeks later, authorities had to temporarily release him, as, up until that point, no physical evidence tied him to the crimes. Once he was released, Rabbitt left St. Louis and went into hiding. Once the DNA results were returned in late November, it was discovered that Rabbitt's genotypic profile matched that of the Southside Rapist, and he an arrest warrant was issued for him. On November 3, he was spotted at the American Motor Inn in Springfield, where he remained for approximately four days before being seen watching a football game at the Faurot Field in Columbia. After the game, he left the city and went to Osage Beach, where he was recorded on a surveillance camera entering a convenience store. He was last seen checking into a motel in Joplin on November 8, after which he crossed the border into Oklahoma and his tracks were lost. A search operation involving the FBI was organized to catch Rabbitt, with the authorities offering a $25,000 reward for any information on his whereabouts. During the operation, the homes of his family and friends were wiretapped. In mid-January 1999, the investigation team detected a call from to the house of one of Rabbitt's friends, which determined originated from a gas station in Pevely. However, they failed to locate him after a subsequent search of the area. Arrest Dennis Rabbitt was arrested at a motel in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 28, 1999, while local police were searching for a 15-year-old runaway girl. Based on a witness' testimony, the girl was found in the room where Rabbitt was staying under an assumed name, and after law enforcement attempted to question him, he tried to flee and was immediately arrested. During questioning, Rabbitt admitted to raping numerous women since 1973, giving dates for crimes he had never even been suspected in. Although he was found in the company of a 15-year-old girl, Albuquerque police did not charge him with any crime, leading to his immediate extradition to Missouri to face charges there. He pleaded not guilty on 10 counts of sexual assault. During interrogations, Rabbitt testified that his first attempted rape took place in 1973. He claimed that the victims' age, appearance and personality traits were irrelevant to him, and that during the assaults, he would use a bright flashlight and imitated the behaviors and speech patterns of police officers. Because of this tactic, several officers were listed as potential suspects during the investigation and were ordered to provide DNA samples. Rabbitt admitted to being extremely disorganized, and in various instances, he either fled due to violent resistance from his victims, restricted himself to simply peeping on them or stealing valuables from the houses. He also insisted that his main motive for the rapes was burgling into the houses, which several of his victims indirectly corroborated, stating that he lost sexual interest or had erectile problems quite quickly. Trial Rabbitt was charged with 49 counts of sodomy, rape and robbery, and in January 2000, he pleaded guilty on all counts, admitting responsibility in 14 rapes committed between September 1988 and May 1997 in St. Louis, Jefferson and St. Charles counties. He was also suspected of two rapes in Collinsville, Illinois, but was never charged in them. For his confirmed crimes, Rabbitt was given six life terms without the chance of parole. See also List of serial rapists References 1956 births Living people 20th-century American criminals American male criminals American rapists American people convicted of rape American people convicted of robbery American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri American prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Missouri Violence against women in the United States Criminals from Missouri People from St. Louis

69655255

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal%C3%A1cio%20das%20Cinzas

Palácio das Cinzas

The () is the former official workplace of the President of East Timor. It served in that role from 2002 to 2009. , it was the headquarters of the East Timorese Ministry of Health. History During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, the building was a police station and vehicle registration facility. In 1999, in the wave of violence caused by pro-Indonesia militia groups and Indonesian troops, it was burned down. Only the walls remained. When East Timor resumed independence in May 2002, the new Constitutional Government under Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri took over the refurbished Government Palace on the Dili waterfront. Initially, the new President, Xanana Gusmão, to whom only a pittance was available to fund his presidential office, had to make do with some spare offices in the same building. He considered that he did not have enough space to operate effectively, and that he needed to be separate from the government. Gusmão therefore set up a discrete presidential office in the still burned-out former police station and vehicle registration facility. He had the building fitted out with plywood screens, and called it the Palácio das Cinzas. However, he continued to live in his own home, as his young nation could not afford to provide him with an official residence. On 28 October 2002, Gusmão unveiled the Palácio das Cinzas as his new official workplace. The unveiling ceremony began with a parade of cutlass-bearing tribesmen and a flag-raising carried out by three goosestepping youths. The President then cut a ribbon, and Dili's Vicar-General, Father Jose Antonio da Cunha, sprinkled holy water. During the unveiling ceremony, Gusmão told his audience of diplomatic corps and UN officials that he had chosen the building because independence had emerged from the ashes of destruction and he wished to set an example, "to curb public expenditure... otherwise we won't achieve much in this independence process". In naming the building, the President had also been influenced by the Portuguese propensity for describing presidential offices as "palaces", and a Time magazine cover article that had heralded East Timor's rise from the ashes. As a gesture of solidarity with East Timor's impoverished people, Gusmão intentionally left the building in disrepair. It had no proper roof and only makeshift windows. However, the President did not also intend that his unconventional office arrangements would be permanent. By 2003, plans had already been drawn up for a more comfortable palace, and the Chinese government had offered to help fund its construction. Meanwhile, the Palácio das Cinzas served its purpose, including by hosting important meetings. For example in November 2003 Gusmão held talks in the building with senior Portuguese minister , who was visiting Dili to reaffirm Lisbon's commitment to continue aiding East Timor after the then scheduled end of the United Nations Mission of Support to East Timor in May 2004. Similarly, in the early stages of the 2006 East Timorese crisis Gusmão and Alkatiri met with journalists at the building, and made a number of important announcements. Two months later, however, The New York Times described the Palácio das Cinzas as "a glorified bungalow really". In 2008, even more critical observations were made by a Portuguese journalist reporting on an interview at the building with José Ramos-Horta, Gusmão's successor as President. He asserted that the palace "... took on the haunting and sinister air of the rest of the neighbourhood." The building looked empty, it appeared that no one worked there, and the President, the palace, and East Timor as a whole seemed terribly weak. In April 2009, construction of the replacement Nicolau Lobato Presidential Palace was completed. The new palace was inaugurated on 27 August 2009. Since then, Palácio das Cinzas has been renovated, and the Ministry of Health has set up its headquarters there. In 2015, the street in which the palace is located was renamed Rua Palácio das Cinzas. References Footnote Notes External links Buildings and structures in Dili Government buildings in East Timor

69655373

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jashar%20Salihu

Jashar Salihu

Jashar Salihu was a Kosovo Albanian general, diplomat and activist in Kosovo, particularly for the Kosovo Liberation Army during the Kosovo War. He is remembered in particular for his political efforts towards the independence of Kosovo, his diplomatic role with the People's Movement of Kosovo (LPK) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and for having been the chairman of the Homeland Calls fund for the KLA and their efforts. Early life and education Salihu was born into a Gash family in Botushë, a village in the Highlands of Gjakova, SFR Yugoslavia in present-day Kosovo on the 10th of February, 1953. He completed his primary education in the nearby Molliq and attended high school in Gjakova. He would then attend university in Pristina, where he graduated from the English Language branch of the Faculty of Philosophy. Throughout the 70's, during his time as a student in Pristina, Salihu was part of the National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo. Political activities Salihu joined the Movement for the National Liberation of Kosovo (MNLK) in 1979, and was Salihu was an active member of the illegalised Committee for Deçan, both of which were headed by prominent activist and ideologue Jusuf Gërvalla. In 1981, Salihu was imprisoned for distributing political pamphlets and jailed in Sarajevo and Foĉa. Jashar and his brother, Hajdar, were both distinguished for their political courage by openly opposing the attitudes and actions imposed by Serbia during its occupation of Kosovo. Both brothers would later work in the “Vëllezërit Frashëri” high school in Deçan. He lead a gathering at Verrat e Llukës on May 1, 1990, with 500,000 thousand people present, where 106 reconciliations would be reached - 62 blood feuds would be ended, and 25 blights and 19 entanglements would be resolved. At the end of the year, he was arrested again by Yugoslav police and severely tortured by them. Nonetheless, he continued his political activities until he was forced into exile. Salihu would be part of the People's Movement of Kosovo (LPK), the political precursor to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). He was the chairman of the “Vendlindja Thërret” (Homeland Calls) fund which was based in Switzerland – he collected money from branches set up across Europe and North America, which would then be funnelled to the KLA. He would have a talk in Red Lion Square in London on 5 July 1998, clarifying details and questions about the KLA and appealing for funds to help purchase arms and equipment. Salihu was also present at the mass demonstration in Rambouillet during the international conference regarding the issues in Kosovo, where he made a speech. By late 1998, Salihu was back in Kosovo, fighting as a soldier in the KLA. Salihu played an important role in spreading awareness about the KLA and it's war against Yugoslav authorities. He was a member of the Foreign Relations Group of Kosovo and would later become the first diplomatic representative of the Provisional Government of Kosovo to Switzerland. He worked to defend Albanian efforts in Kosovo on the worldly stage and helped to combat anti-Albanian propaganda. Legacy Jashar Salihu died on December 16, 2000, in the Cantonal Hospital of Aarau, in Aarau, Switzerland, after a bout with sickness. He left behind 3 sons. He was buried in the graveyard for the martyrs in Pristina, Kosovo, with full military honours. Salihu is remembered for being a dedicated patriot and idealist for Albanian national causes, having dedicated his whole life to the independence of Kosovo with a desire to see the creation of Greater Albania. He is respected for participating in both the front lines of the Kosovo War as well as the political and diplomatic side. He was posthumously awarded both the rank of General by the KPC, and the Hero of Kosovo by former president of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga. His work as the head of the Homeland Calls fun and his role in spreading awareness about Kosovo and the KLA are well-documented and honoured by Albanians. Quotes "For us, religion means nothing. We are Europeans and we have nothing to do with the Mujahideen or other extremists." "Kosovo starts in Tivar and ends in Manastir. We don't care what England and America think about it, we should unite with actions, not with words... We are going to tell the truth!" "Our aim was, and is, for Kosova to be apart from Yugoslavia." See also Kosovo War Kosovo Liberation Army Notes References Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers Albanian nationalists 1953 births 2000 deaths

69655479

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen%20Giac%20Ngo

Nguyen Giac Ngo

Nguyen Giac Ngo (; ), real name Nguyen Van Nguot (; 1897–1967), was a Vietnamese military leader, serving as the major general of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, and a senior officer of the armed forces of the Hòa Hảo, and one of their religious leaders. Receiving French military training, he stood in he ranks of the Hòa Hảo forces for over a decade. In 1950, he turned to cooperate with the Vietnamese National Army. Life Early years He was born on 18 May 1897 as Nguyễn Văn Ngượt in the Chợ Mới district of Long Xuyên, in a family of a middle-sized landowners. He worked as a warrant officer in the Long Xuyên municipal police. After meeting Huỳnh Phú Sổ, the founder of the Hòa Hảo sect, in 1940, he changed his name to Nguyễn Giác Ngộ. He became an ardent preacher for the sect, particularly among the law enforcement, where he remained until 1945. Some Hòa Hảo adepts left their fields in early 1943 and rushed to Thạnh Mỹ Tây to "seek sanctuary." The adepts restored the temple of Linh Lang under the direction of Giác Ngộ, which had been ordered demolished in 1913. However, the presence of tens of thousands of sectarians in Thạnh Mỹ Tây sparked further turmoil. The French ordered the temple's restoration to be halted, and Nguyen Giác Ngộ and other prominent sectaries were taken to Bà Rá camp or Côn Sơn Island. Giác Ngộ returned to the Mekong Delta after being released in 1945 and immediately began forming new armed units. First Indochina War While war was raging in the north, the sect renewed its anti-French and anti-Việt Minh operations in December 1946. They renamed themselves The Thirtieth Nguyen Trung True Division during the reorganization of the Hòa Hảo military forces, and Giác Ngộ was appointed the general-in-chief. After the death of Sổ in April 1947, the sect began to lose momentum, leading to factionalism, parochialism, and outside organization influence, which caused an increase in violence as the various internal factions engaged in conflicts among themselves. By 1948, Giác Ngộ had left the military to devote his entire life to religious self-improvement, though he returned to military leadership after being appealed by the Vietnamese Democratic Socialist Party, as the other Hòa Hảo generals Trần Văn Soái (1889–1961), Lâm Thành Nguyên (1904–1977), and Ba Cụt were fighting with each other. This frustrated Thành Nguyên and provoked his reconciliation with Soái. Meanwhile, Giác Ngộ was attempting to oust Ba Cụt from the Chợ Mới district. He surrendered immediately to the French colonial authorities after he had accomplished this. Soái was drawn into Chợ Mới by this slight. It took the French until 1950 to persuade him to leave the district under Giác Ngộ's control. Sect crisis During the sect crisis of 1955, 200 people led by Giác Ngộ, and other leaders from Cao Đại, gathered in the Saigon Town Hall to declare the General Assembly of the Democratic and Revolutionary Forces of the Nation. Its members tore down a large photograph of the Emperor Bảo Đại, hurled it out the window, and stomped on it in the street before the meeting started, and proceeded to condemn the French and their allies. The assembly then drafted a list of demands that included Bảo Đại's abdication, the removal of all French forces, and the formation of a new government headed by President Ngô Đình Diệm (1901–1963). They formed a committee to deliver the demands to the government, but when they arrived at the palace, they discovered General Nguyễn Văn Vy (1916–1981) sitting in Diệm's office, declaring that he was taking over the army as Bảo Đại had instructed. Vy was taken hostage and compelled to cancel his plans by several members of the committee. After a paratroop colonel threatened Diệm, he let Vy go, and Vy left the next day for Paris. References Sources 1897 births 1967 deaths Hòa Hảo People of the First Indochina War Generals of South Vietnam Vietnamese generals Vietnamese anti-communists

69655916

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul%20Meijer%20%28politician%29

Paul Meijer (politician)

Paul Meijer (25 October 1967) is a Dutch politician who was the leader and chairman of the regional Forza! Nederland party. Political career List Pim Fortuyn Meijer began his political in the Pim Fortuyn List. He was elected as a councilor in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer for the LPF and represented the local government sector on LPF's national council. Forza! Nederland Meijer left the party in 2003 due to its deteriorating conditions and founded Forza! Nederland with fellow former LPF politician Fleur Agema, who was elected to the North Holland council. Forza! claims to be based on the core principles of the LPF. Agema subsequently joined the newly formed Party for Freedom in 2006. Meijer remained party chairman and a councilor for Forza! Nederland in Haarlemmermeer. He spoke at the official commemoration for Theo Van Gogh in 2004. In 2017, Meijer filed a police report over homophobic expressions. In 2018, he filed a police report after the wheels of his car had been loosened. In 2021, Meijer was expelled from the Forza! Nederland Haarlemmermeer faction over disputes with its new chairman Erik Vermeulen. Partij voor Nederland In 2006, Meijer was on the Tweede Kamer elections list of Party for the Netherlands, led by Hilbrand Nawijn. The party, another spinoff of the LPF, was not elected into the national parliament. Belang van Nederland In 2021, Meijer joined the Belang van Nederland party founded by Wybren van Haga. References 1967 births Living people Pim Fortuyn List politicians Dutch political party founders Leaders of political parties in the Netherlands Dutch critics of Islam Belang van Nederland politicians

69659382

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Heffernan%20%28American%20actor%29

John Heffernan (American actor)

John Heffernan (May 30, 1934 – December 3, 2018) was an American film, stage and television actor. He was perhaps best known for playing "Eddie Niles" in the 1973 film The Sting. Life and career Heffernan was born in Manhattan, New York. He began his career in the 1950s, where he performed on stage. While appearing on stage, he won an Obie Award, with also starring in the 1964 stage production, titled, Luther. Heffernan appeared on numerous stage productions, in which his last stage credit was the 1982 stage production Alice in Wonderland. Heffernan began his film and television career in 1960, where he appeared in the anthology television series The Play of the Week. In 1973, he played the role of "Eddie Niles" in the film The Sting. Heffernan also played the role of "Professor Everett Chambers" in the soap opera television series The Doctors, with also playing the role of "Chester Markham" in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He appeared in films, such as, Bringing Out the Dead, 92 in the Shade, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Gloria, Extreme Measures, and The Fisher King. Heffernan retired his career 2001, where his last credit was from the police procedural television series Law & Order. Death Heffernan died in December 2018, at the age of 84. Filmography References External links Rotten Tomatoes profile 1934 births 2018 deaths People from Manhattan Male actors from New York (state) American male film actors American male television actors Place of death missing American male stage actors 20th-century American male actors Obie Award recipients

69661995

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio%20Mirabito

Antonio Mirabito

Antonio Mirabito (alias Frederico Baryndo; July 1, 1886 - August 18, 1977) was a notorious Italian immigrant who was believed to be the boss of a network of Black Hand gangs located in the Northeastern Region of the United States in the early 20th century. He was the first person in New England to be arrested for crimes associated with Black Hand. His arrest was widely publicized and he was punished heavily in hopes of demoralizing others who were participating in the growing practice, which was a predecessor to the Mafia. He left his career in crime after he married and had 9 children. Early life Mirabito was born on July 1, 1886, in Malfa, Province of Messina in the region of Sicily, in Southern Italy. He spent his childhood there, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 16. He arrived in New York, and swiftly moved into the Greater Boston area. He likely lived between Watertown, Massachusetts and Boston, Massachusetts. His life would not be well documented until his early twenties, when his Black Hand activity was discovered. However, earlier accounts of his interactions with the law can help provide some information. Early crime As a teenager, Antonio Mirabito was known for committing various forms of petty theft. He was “well known” for this in his communities within both Boston and Watertown, and received his first criminal sentencing on May 10, 1905, for the larceny of a bicycle. This early crime was not believed to be associated with any criminal organization. He may have begun to get involved with criminal establishments around late 1905 with his commission of a sham marriage between himself and a woman named Elsie Nicklon. The falsely married couple lived in Boston's neighborhood of Allston, and only remained together briefly. They separated about a year before Mirabito's Black Hand imprisonment due to the actions of his brother, Pasquale Mirabito, who received an adultery charge for seducing Nicklon to leave him. Following this, Antonio Mirabito rapidly developed a Black Hand crime network that he would later become known for on a national level. Black hand conviction In 1908, at age 22, Mirabito's leading role in the Northeast's Black Hand operations became exposed through police intervention into one of his attempted extortions. Tracked mail The first letter in the series of correspondence that resulted in Antonio Mirabito's arrest was sent around December 1907 to Benjamin Piscopo, a hotel owner in the Italian neighborhood of Boston's North End. It was part of a group of three letters, sent and received over the course of three months, demanding that $1000 (nearly $30,000 in today's money) be forfeited in the form of a certified check. This method of payment was chosen to allow Mirabito to cash the check anywhere, with little ties to the banking process. He also ordered Piscopo not to reveal the demand to anyone, and threatened that he would murder both him and his family if the request was not fulfilled. After receiving the initial letter, Piscopo consulted the Boston Police department on how to manage the blackmail. Initially, an attempt at capturing Mirabito failed. Then the police department's chief, Chief Watts, along with the acting inspector from the U.S. Bureau of Criminal Investigations (the FBI of the time) took the case. He worked alongside the United States Postal Service to create and track a decoy letter that was returned to the writer, who used the alias Frederico Baryndo and at the time was unknown. Police believed Mirabito's fruit store on Bowdoin Street in Dorchester to be the source of the crime after the decoy letter was accepted there. An investigation was made into Mirabito's business and home, during which police found the stamp press and the same style of paper used in the Black Hand letters. The police interpreter also stated to police that he lived in the area and noticed Mirabito acting suspiciously for the past few weeks. While they could not find the decoy letter itself, the delivery boy identified the letter recipient, Concetto Rizzo. Both he and Mirabito were taken into custody on February 23, 1908. Concetto Rizzo Rizzo was a 27 year old Italian immigrant who lived at the fruit store Antonio owned. It is likely that Rizzo also worked in the fruit store, and was aware of Mirabito's Black Hand operations. However, after their arrests, Rizzo denied any connection to the crime. He reported Mirabito as the sole actor, and stated that his only involvement was in providing Mirabito his mail. He also retained a personal lawyer, who promoted his character and degraded Mirabito's. Mirabito remained as the primary suspect moving into court, with a bail twice as high as Rizzo's. Court proceedings Both men were arraigned on February 24, 1908, and held in jail until their court date. Their case began in Boston's superior criminal court on March 25, for which the courtroom was completely filled with people interested in witnessing the moment. Working against Mirabito were both the Massachusetts assistant district attorney and police chief Watts. Rizzo and his attorney were also testifying against Mirabito in court. After a little over a week of proceedings, Mirabito was indicted by a jury on April 3 for the charge of attempted extortion as a result of the letters sent to Piscopo. The court refused a retrial of the case, stating they had seen enough evidence to know Mirabito had committed the crime. Mirabito was assigned a sentence of 6 to 10 years in prison, and was recommended to receive a harsher sentence due to severity of his Black Hand organization's impact on the region. Connection to Boston As a result of his crime, Antonio Mirabito became well known in the Northeastern Region of the United States. Elite individuals throughout the area had consistently been terrorized by his demands. His arrest landed him on the front page of the Boston's leading newspapers, and was reported across all of the Northeast. Mirabito's case was the first Black Hand conviction in Massachusetts, and all of New England. With his removal from the Black Hand crime scene, officials were hopeful that his branch of the organization would dissolve and the extortion tactic would end. However, it survived Mirabito and eventually became the Mafia. Family life, death After he got out of prison, Antonio Mirabito never got reinvolved with crime. He met and established a legitimate marriage with Concettina Natoli, who would be his wife until her passing 63 years later. Together, they had nine children. They lived out their lives in Boston's neighborhood of Dorchester. Mirabito's children also stayed in Boston, although some moved into its surrounding cities. Concettina passed away at the age of 83, and Antonio Mirabito passed five years later at the age of 91. Both of them were buried within Boston at Gethsemane Cemetery. After his passing, crime struck Mirabito's family in the form of his son, Felisco, and his wife, Marie's, deaths. They were killed in what was determined by police to be a murder-suicide, with Felisco being the aggressor. However, police could not at all determine why it was committed, so other forms of crime could not be ruled out. Both Felisco and Marie were buried in Gethsemane Cemetery in Boston, alongside Antonio Mirabito. References Citations Charts American gangsters of Italian descent American Mafia American crime bosses Italian-American history Gangs in Massachusetts Italian-American culture in Boston American gangsters of Sicilian descent Italian emigrants to the United States Criminals from Massachusetts American prisoners and detainees Gangsters from Boston People from Dorchester, Massachusetts 1886 births 1977 deaths

69662124

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usual%20Cruelty

Usual Cruelty

Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System (2019) is a nonfiction law book by civil rights lawyer Alec Karakatsanis. The book argues that the American legal system is unjust and unequal. Summary After a brief introduction, the book is broken into 3 essays with citations and footnotes, written over the course of Karakatsanis' career. The Punishment Bureaucracy The first essay is The Punishment Bureaucracy: How to Think About "Criminal Justice Reform". It was published in the Yale Law Journal in 2019. In it, Karakatsanis describes perceived injustices of the American criminal system. These include cash bail, unequal treatment under the law, and a lack of rigorous evidence. He calls the criminal system "the punishment bureaucracy". Although the system individually requires "beyond a reasonable doubt" before someone may be convicted, in aggregate, the system does not require this for its punishments. Karakatsanis argues there is no evidence that criminalizing drug use "address[es] any social ill whatsoever". Karakatsanis argues that the outcomes the criminal system creates are the result of choices made by politicians, prosecutors, police, and "elites". He cites several examples that were or were not prosecuted, including waterboarding, the NSA's wiretapping program, Tim DeChristopher's non-serious bid on a federal land auction, the Killing of Eric Garner, and the prosecution of Ramsey Orta following the killing. Karakatsanis cautions against reforms which do not substantially shrink the criminal system's budget and influence. He recommends working with "deeper politics" rather than the "silo" of reforming prosecutors or prisons. Among others, he approves of programs that build power and employment for formerly incarcerated people, reparations for those harmed by punishment, and reducing the number of operational jails (thus reducing the number of people in prison). The Human Lawyer The second essay describes a fictional "human lawyer" who remembers the human beings affected by her career choices. Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers The third essay argues that lawyers should dedicate their time to causes that match the values of the profession. Reception The book was favorably reviewed by Bernice B. Donald in Law360. A former prosecutor in Slate agreed with the book. Karakatsanis was interviewed by National Public Radio. An excerpt of the introduction, focusing on cash bail, was published in Time. Further reading Publisher site with summary of press coverage References 2019 non-fiction books

69663735

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia%20Hutchinson

Marcia Hutchinson

Marcia Ann Hutchinson MBE (born 11 December 1962) is a British writer, publisher and politician of African Caribbean descent. Early life Marcia's father Irael Hutchinson, a foundry worker, came to the UK from Jamaica in 1958, her mother Olivia Hutchinson (née Roberson), a cook followed in 1959. They were both part of the Windrush Generation of post-war migrants to the UK. She is the seventh of nine children, seven girls and two boys. Her younger sister Yvonne Hutchinson, who died in 2015, was a noted housing campaigner in Bradford. Her four older siblings remained in Jamaica and her parents had five more children in Bradford in the 1960s. She grew up in Manningham Bradford, a deprived area of the city. The family later moved to Newby Square, a notorious council estate which was demolished in 1987. Marcia's father died aged 56 when she was 14 and her mother struggled to bring up five children as a single parent. Marcia attended Belle Vue Girl's Comprehensive School in Bradford. She was the first pupil from the school to be admitted to Oxford University attending Brasenose College from 1982 - 1985 reading jurisprudence. After attending the College of Law in Lancaster Gate, Marcia qualified as a solicitor in 1986 and worked for a number of firms specialising in Town and Country Planning, first In the City in London and then in Leeds. Publisher After her two daughters were born Marcia changed careers and founded Primary Colours, a multicultural educational publishing and training company based in Huddersfield. The company operated between 1997 - 2014 publishing a range of books and teaching packs as well as delivering Theatre in Education, INSET training on diversity and cultural diversity projects in schools and other educational settings around the country. These included The Journey, a teaching pack based on the stories of Windrush Migrants to Yorkshire published to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving in the UK., with a forward written by Paul Boateng MP. Going and Coming - a digital project and teaching pack which enabled children to record their family's migration stories, with a forward written by Hilary Benn MP. The Adventures of Ottobah Cugoano - which told the story of an enslaved boy brought to the UK who campaigned against slavery. The Forward for the pack was written by then Minister for Culture David Lammy MP. Did you Know? - A teaching pack documenting the contribution of Black and Asian aisan people to the UK. The series was the brainchild of Headteacher Shazia Azhar MBE who became a director of Primary Colours and wrote a number of resources for the company. Marcia was awarded an MBE in the Queens Birthday Honours list in 2010 for services to cultural diversity. Political activity Her political activity began when aged seventeen during her year off between school and university when she was elected as the first woman committee member of the Bradford West Indian Community Centre Association. She moved to Manchester in 2012 and joined the Labour Party in 2016. In response to the underrepresentation of Black Councillors in the city (who in 2017 made up 12% of the population of the city but just 3% of councillors) she set up the Pipeline Project. Funded by a grant from the Labour Party National Executive Committee's Development Fund; the project aimed to support, mentor and train African Heritage People to become local councillors. Three of the first cohort of six Pipeline Project graduates were elected as local councillors in May 2021. Ekua Bayunu in Hulme, Nathaniel Tetteh in Eccles and Marcia herself in Ancoats and Beswick. In 2021 a record five Pipeline Project Alumni were accepted onto the Manchester Panel of Prospective Labour Candidates and Marcia was listed as a Black History Month Changemaker for her work. She campaigned for more green spaces in her ward and specifically five new parks along the lower River Medlock valley, which runs through the ward. She opposed the idea of police officers in schools as saying they " bring institutionalised biases with them which mean that black pupils will be disproportionately sanctioned". In September 2021 she criticized the Labour group whips, saying that there were no clear rules and that they had a ‘ludicrously wide remit’ to decide what the rules were, when they are broken and subsequent punishments. Manchester Labour group secretary Pat Karney said he was personally disappointed that she ‘has not had the good manners to talk to me about her concerns’. She said she resigned because of the "toxic culture" of the ruling Labour group on the council and that she had endured more racism and bullying in the past five years than the rest of her life. She was signed off sick with depression but said she was continued to be targeted by the Labour group whips and that complaints about her were circulated to the whole Labour Group. Pat Karney said all of the allegations made by Marcia were found to be true – and he was 'sad to see her go'. References Councillors in Manchester Labour Party (UK) councillors 21st-century British politicians 21st-century British women politicians Black British women politicians Members of the Order of the British Empire 1962 births Living people

69663972

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita%20Haynes

Anita Haynes

Anita Haynes is a Trinidad and Tobago politician representing the United National Congress. She has served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for Tabaquite since the 2020 general election. She was previously an Opposition Senator from 2017 to 2020. She is the first female MP for Tabaquite. Early life Haynes grew up in Piparo, Trinidad. Her father is a police officer and her mother is a real estate agent, and she is the eldest of three daughters. She graduated from St Joseph's Convent, San Fernando in 2006, where she was the president of the debating team. She attended St John's University in New York on a full scholarship where she initially studied finance before switching her major to government and politics. She moved back to Trinidad and Tobago in 2011 when Kamla Persad-Bissessar was elected as the first female Prime Minister. She also received a Law degree from the University of London. Political career Haynes began her political career by getting a job at the Office of the Prime Minister, working in multilateral relations. She joined the United National Congress and became their Public Relations Officer in July 2017. She was appointed as an Opposition Senator for the United National Congress on 29 September 2017, where she served as the lead for Foreign Affairs, Energy Affairs, Communications, Education, and Youth Affairs. She was elected to the Trinidad and Tobago House of Representatives on 10 August 2020 after the 2020 general election. She is a member for the electoral district of Tabaquite, a traditionally safe seat for the United National Congress. She is also the Shadow Minister of Education. References Living people Year of birth missing (living people) United National Congress politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Trinidad and Tobago) 21st-century women politicians Trinidad and Tobago women in politics St. John's University (New York City) alumni Alumni of the University of London

69664090

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William%20Scott%20Day

William Scott Day

William Scott Day (October 21, 1951 – February 4, 2006) was an American prison escapee and later spree killer who killed at least six people in five states during his 39 days on the run between December 1986 and January 1987. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on one count in Tennessee, and the other charges were dropped altogether. Early life and crimes William Scott Day was born on an American military installation in Japan on October 21, 1951, while his family was residing there. From an early age, he showed signs of remarkable intelligence and an affinity for reading authors such as Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman and Barbara W. Tuchman. After the death of his father during his teens, Day moved to Michigan, where he enlisted in the Marine Corps and was stationed at a boot camp near Flat Rock. While there, he deserted his position and went to the city, where he was later arrested for attempting to rape and kidnap a woman. Day was convicted of this crime and given a 7-year term, served initially at the Richard_A._Handlon_Correctional_Facility and later transferred to the Ionia Correctional Facility, successfully escaping once before being paroled in 1974. Between 1976 and 1982, Day was repeatedly arrested and incarcerated for various offenses including heroin possession, theft, kidnapping and writing bad checks, successfully escaping on one occasion. In late 1982, Day escaped from yet another prison camp in Caro, and thereafter kidnapped an 80-year-old woman, whom he robbed and then tied to a tree. He was arrested and given an additional 7-year sentence, which he was to serve at the Michigan State Prison in Jackson. However, as he suffered from depression, Day was transferred for temporary treatment at the Center For Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti. During his stay, he was described as a model patient who frequently played chess with employees and even helped break up assaults by other patients. Through these activities, he became friendly with 36-year-old security worker Thomas Frederick Fortunato, a veteran employee of 14 years who was assigned to the center's C-43 ward, which was notorious for housing violent inmates. Escape from prison Approximately two weeks before Day was scheduled to be returned to Jackson, he started to question Fortunato on whether he could help him escape from prison. While he initially treated this as a joke, Day continued to insist, eventually succeeding in manipulating Fortunato to aid him in his escape plan. While his reason for doing so has not been conclusively established, it was suspected that Fortunato was either drawn in by Day's charming personality or the promise of a more exciting life as a fugitive. Another theory suggests that it was done out of frustration for the center's handling of patients in the C-43 ward, amidst a supposed AIDS outbreak. As per Day's instructions, Fortunato drove to Toledo, Ohio and rented a car there, which he left in front of a General Motors factory's parking lot. He then attempted to gather a large sum of money to be used on their future trip, but Fortunato was only able to withdraw $5,000 from his bank account. On December 4, 1986, a day before Day was scheduled to be returned to Jackson, Fortunato was assigned to the prison laundry. In the early morning, he let Day hide in a laundry cart and then escorted him out of the facility, before he left it as well under the guise of supposedly showing a new employee a tour of the facility. Once outside, the two men entered Fortunato's truck and drove to Toledo, where they got into the rental car and drove to Louisville, Kentucky, where they rented a motel room and spent the night partying. On the following morning, while Fortunato was taking a shower, Day stole most of their money and the car and fled, leaving his accomplice behind. Fortunato, who was left with only $50 and the clothes on his back, got on a bus bound for Mobile, Alabama in an attempt to catch up with Day, but after he failed, he hitchhiked his way to Tampa, Florida and spent several days in homeless shelters before turning himself in to FBI agents on December 11. Up until that point, it was suspected that he had been kidnapped by Day, but Fortunato admitted to aiding his prison escape. He would later plead no contest to the charges of helping Day's escape, and was sentenced to a 2-years-and-a-half sentence for his complicity. Murders After abandoning the rental car in Louisville, Day bought a bus ticket for Nashville, Tennessee. On December 9, he came across 74-year-old Mary Catherine Strobel, a prominent local volunteer worker who was on her way to deliver a sack of potatoes to a rescue mission. After offering to drive her home in her car, a 1981 AMC Concord, which she gladly accepted. After driving her around for some time and narrowly avoiding arrest by a traffic police officer, Day stopped the car and informed Strobel that he intended to tie her up. Frightened she began to scream, causing a panicked Day to take out a knife and stab her, before strangling her to make sure she was dead. He then put the woman's body in the trunk of the car, parked it in front of the rescue mission and then bought a ticket at the nearby Greyhound bus station. Day then travelled cross-country until he eventually reached San Antonio, Texas, where he met 76-year-old Roberto Arzapalo-Alcoser, a retired Mexican mechanic en route to celebrate Christmas with his daughters, who lived in California. The two men befriended each other and drank beer together at a bar in El Paso. While their bus was en route to Tucson, Arizona, Day noticed that his companion had a sewn pouch on his jacket, which Arzapalo-Alcoser claimed contained $2,000. After they reached Tucson, Day lured Arzapalo-Alcoser to the back of the bus station, where he beat up the elderly man, slamming his body into a nearby metal transformer, before he stole the pouch, leaving him with only $40 in cash and his passport. Arzapalo-Alcoser was still alive when located, but later succumbed to his injuries in hospital. After spending Christmas entertaining a group of Taiwanese college students in San Diego, treating them with visits to the zoo and a holiday dinner, Day returned to the East Coast, finding himself in Marianna, Florida in early January. On January 2, he entered a pawn shop on Market Street and killed the clerk, 55-year-old Evan Johnson, then robbed the store of all valuables he could carry. On his way out, while he was turning the sign around to say 'CLOSED', Day was confronted by a police sergeant who inquired about what he was doing. Day claimed that he was Johnson's cousin and that he was temporarily closing the store, as the former was out having lunch with a friend. While the sergeant suspected that something was not quite right, he had no reason to arrest Day and allowed him to leave. Day then got on a bus headed for New Orleans, Louisiana, getting off at a temporary stop in Pensacola to watch a football match at the Fiesta Bowl. On January 6, he passed through Fort Stockton, Texas, where he beat and stabbed to death a woman named Billie Taylor, whose body he left beside the road. On the following day, Day arrived in New Orleans and went to relax at a lounge in the French Quarter, where he met 27-year-old Andrew McClelland. Originally from Morgan City, McClelland was in New Orleans for a job interview when he came across Day, who offered to share his room at the Sheranton Inn in Gretna. The day after, McClelland's body was found in the room by a housekeeper, having been stabbed numerous times. Day had stolen his car and driven to Mobile, Alabama, where he left it parked next to a bus station. Arrest, trial and imprisonment On January 12, Day went to the trailer home of 53-year-old Stanley Robertson, whom he bludgeoned and stabbed to death before slashing his throat. He then stole his 1985 Ford Merkur and sped off, only for the vehicle's tire to blow off on the highway near Van Horn. The incident was noticed by highway patrolman Jimmy Nail, who stopped to question the driver. Day, presenting himself as one "Tom Wilkins", claimed that he was driving his uncle Stanley's truck to El Paso to look for work, after having dropped the uncle at a local bar. Nail had heard on the police dispatch that a liquor store had been robbed recently and the 67-year-old clerk, Dorothy Alexander, had been pistol-whipped by the assailant. Unmoved by Day's explanations, he arrested him, and upon a closer inspection, he noticed that the driver's clothes were splattered with blood. Day was interned at the county jail to be questioned by the sheriff, Clifford Bare, about the recent holdup. However, before Bare could begin to ask questions, Day waived his rights to an attorney and confessed not only to the hold-up, but claimed that he had escaped a mental health facility in Michigan and had killed 8 people during his 39 days on the run. After getting into contact with authorities from various neighboring states, Day was conclusively linked to six of the claimed homicides, which in themselves were matched by his travel route and weapons used. While awaiting murder charges at the jail in Fort Stockton, Texas, Day was indicted by the authorities in Nashville for Strobel's murder. In an exclusive interview with The Nashville Banner, Day admitted to all of the murders, but claimed that he was high on drugs and drunk at the time, rendering him unable to control his actions. Fearing that his client would face the death penalty if he remained in Texas, Day's attorney, John Smith, announced that he would not appeal Tennessee's extradition request, as they had indicated they would pursue a life term instead. Upon his arrival there, Day's attorneys requested a change of venue to a neighboring county, claiming that the extensive coverage of the Strobel murder in Nashville would prejudice the jurors. In response to this, Justice Walter Kurtz expressed skepticism, saying that the attorney's claims of it reaching publicity heights like those of Sam Sheppard or Billie Sol Estes were simply ridiculous. During questionings conducted by the court, several jurors did indeed admit to knowing about Day's other murders, for which they had to be excused from jury duty. After a two-week long trial, Day was convicted on all counts, but as the jury were unable to come to a unanimous decision on his sentence, he was automatically given three life terms without the chance of parole. The sentence came as a relief to Strobel's family members, who opposed capital punishment due to their religious beliefs. The Strobel family have since dedicated themselves for advocating against the death penalty being used against mentally-ill inmates. Death Day died in prison from natural causes at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary on February 4, 2006, at the age of 54. See also List of prison escapes External links State v. Day References 1951 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American criminals American male criminals American spree killers American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Tennessee American people convicted of kidnapping American people convicted of rape Prison escapes American prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Tennessee American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Tennessee

69664263

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm%20Windhoek

Farm Windhoek

Farm Windhoek is a piece of land adjacent to the capital of Namibia, Windhoek, with mixed recreational and agricultural use. It belongs to the City of Windhoek and is leased to different private operators. As a public recreational area its main attraction is a network of hiking and mountain biking trails, spanning over 70 kilometers. History The Municipality of Windhoek owns five farms that are adjacent to or near the boundaries of the current urban suburbs. Among these farmlands is Farm Windhoek, which is registered under the name Windhoek Townlands Commonage 2. The land measures 6,000 hectares. Recreational activities Recreational sports are a main land use of Farm Windhoek. The Namibian financial company IJG operates a network of trails for hiking and mountain biking that span over 70 kilometers in combined trail length and are marketed under the name IJG Trails. For the operation of the recreational trails, the private sector company Farmwindhoek Adventure Tourism was registered in 2014. The trails are open to the public, but an entrance fee applies. Farm Windhoek is regularly used as venue for sporting events, such as mountain biking races and running competitions. Other activities Farm Windhoek is leased by the City of Windhoek for agricultural land use, mainly livestock herding. Farm Windhoek is partitioned for different land uses. Around 321 hectares are occupied by military installations and barracks and around 42 hectares by housing of the Namibia Defense Force. On around 27 hectares a police village is established. See also Sport in Namibia References External links IJG Trails Website Map of hiking and mountain biking trails on Trailforks Namibia Sport in Namibia Recreation Outdoor recreation Windhoek

69664524

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohd%20Zakaria%20Ahmad

Mohd Zakaria Ahmad

CP Dato' Sri Mohd Zakaria bin Ahmad (born 28 June 1960) is a retired Malaysian police officer who served as Director of Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department. Early life Mohd Zakaria Ahmad was born on 28 June 1960 in , Perak. Police career Mohd Zakaria started his career in the Police Force as a Probationary Inspector after completing the Basic Police Training Program at the Police Training Center, Kuala Lumpur. Among the positions he held while in the Police Force were Head of Kedah, Pahang and Penang Contingent Criminal Investigation Department and was entrusted as Johor Deputy Police Chiefbefore being promoted to Deputy Director of Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (Investigation and Legal). He also hold Master of Business Administration graduate from Universiti Utara Malaysia and Bachelor of Laws from Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia have also been entrusted to be the Pahang Police Chief from 2018 to 2019. He was appointed Director of Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department on 17 June 2019. He was retired on 26 June 2020. Honours Companion of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (J.S.M.) (2016) Knight Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (D.I.M.P.) — Dato' (2013) Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (S.S.A.P.) – Dato' Sri (2018) References 1960 births Living people Malaysian police officers Companions of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia

69666400

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon%20Davis%20Jr.

Leon Davis Jr.

Leon Davis Jr. (born December 14, 1977) is an American spree killer who murdered five people in Polk County, Florida over the span of seven days in December 2007. He was sentenced to death in two separate trials, and is currently awaiting execution at Union Correctional Institution. Murders December 7, 2007 On December 7, 2007, Davis entered a gas station alongside Interstate 4 in Polk County, where at the time 33-year-old Pravinkumar Patel and 55-year-old Dashrath Patel were working. Once inside, Davis brandished his gun and shot both men in close range execution-style shootings, ultimately killing both. Afterwards he did not steal any money, but fled the scene. The murders were caught on camera, as well as Davis himself, however Davis was not questioned in the days afterwards. December 13, 2007 On December 13, 2007, Davis entered the Headley Nationwide Insurance office in Lake Wales, which was run by 26-year-old Yvonne Bustamante, whom Davis knew, and 23-year-old Juanita “Jane” Luciana, who was 5½ months pregnant. Once inside, Davis forced both into the backroom where he forced them to unlock the safe, which contained around $900. Next, he bound both to chairs with duct tape, doused both with gasoline, and lit them ablaze. Reportedly, the fire burned through the tape which temporarily set the women free, but by the time police arrived both were in critical condition. Both Bustamante and Luciana had to be hospitalized, but Bustamante died from her injuries on December 18. Luciana too succumbed from her injuries on January 8, along with her unborn child. Before she died she positively identified Davis as the assailant. Afterwards, Davis became one of Florida's most wanted suspects, but it was short lived as on December 14, Davis' 30th birthday, he turned himself in. Besides the identification, Davis was also tied to the crime scene based on bullets and ballistics left at both murder scenes. Trials and imprisonment The first trial began in early 2010. During the trial, the prosecution brought forward a witness, who at the time was an emergency technician. The EMT testified that one of the victims, Bustamente, told him shortly before she died, that Leon Davis was her attacker. However, because this story could not be confirmed because the victim was dead, it became impossible for the defense to cross-examine, and due to this the judge announced a mistrial. After the mistrial was announced, Richard Bustamante, the father of victim Yvonne Bustamante, attempted to attack Davis, but was ultimately apprehended. At the same time, Bustamante's mother Ebelia Rodriguez threw her purse at Davis, hitting his lawyer Andrea Norgard. Richard was not charged with the attack, but he was prohibited to be present at any future court proceedings. A new trial was brought forward in 2011. At the end of the trial, Davis was found guilty, and an 8–4 jury voted for him to be sentenced to death on April 29, 2011. He was also given an additional life sentence for killing Luciana's unborn child. Davis was due to stand the first day of his second trial on April 16, 2012. However, due to issues with Davis's lawyers and the prosecutors, the second trial would be postponed until September 10. The second trial began in September, and at the end, the court sentenced Davis to death a second time. In 2016, Davis attempted to appeal, but his sentences were upheld by the Florida Supreme Court. See also List of death row inmates in the United States References 1977 births Living people 2007 murders in the United States American spree killers Prisoners sentenced to death by Florida Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Florida People convicted of murder by Florida People from Polk County, Florida African-American people 21st-century African-American people Criminals from Florida

69666629

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%20Greek%E2%80%93Turkish%20border%20crisis

2020 Greek–Turkish border crisis

The events at the Greek-Turkish border along the Evros river in 2020 began on 28 February 2020 when the Turkish government announced that in response to the death of 33 Turkish soldiers in Idlib, it was unilaterally opening its borders to Greece to allow refugees and migrants seeking refuge to reach the European Union. At the same time, tens of thousands of migrants arrived at the Greek-Turkish border along the Evros River. The migrants reached the border through white buses and taxis. They were supplied with Turkish ammunition. A Turkish armored car attempted to break the border fence with no success. The Greek police forces, with the help of the citizens, managed with fire extinguishers, lighting, loudspeakers as well as by repairing the fence to prevent the erratic invasion. The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis finally closed the border due to COVID-19. The follow-up was done with the research operation of Oruç Reis. Timeline of events February In response to the dozens of Turkish soldiers killed in the attack by Syrian and Russian forces in the Idlib region, Turkey announced that it was unilaterally opening its borders to Europe to refugees and migrants, ordering the security forces located on the border with Greece to do not obstruct their passage. Within hours, large groups of migrants began arriving at the Greek-Turkish land border, with Turkey officially announcing the fantastic crossing of 80,000 migrants to Greece and the announcement of the two hundred thousand that follow. The Greek Government immediately stopped the operation of the border customs of Kastanies, in order to ensure the prevention of uncontrolled entry of people into Greek territory. On the morning of Saturday, February 29, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey's borders with Europe are open, noting: "We will not close the gates to refugees. About 18,000 refugees have already passed and today the number will be 25,000 to 30,000 and we will not close our doors, because the EU must abide by its commitments.". Thousands of people were crowded in the area of Kastanies, seeking to cross to the Greek side, while MAT units are arriving from various areas of Greece to strengthen the Greek deterrent force. The Minister of Civil Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, during his visit to Evros stated: "Thousands of unhappy people are stacked at our borders. They have not come here on their own. They are expelled, repelled and used by the neighboring country, Turkey. We want to send a message in every direction that we will not let anyone pass without legal travel documents. Greece has borders. "Europe has borders.". March The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, gave an interview to the American network CNN and to the journalist Richard Quest. Referring to the Greek-Turkish crisis, he said: "What we are facing at the moment is not essentially the immigration or refugee problem. It is a conscious attempt by Turkey to use migrants and refugees as geopolitical pawns to advance its own interests. The people trying to cross into Greece do not come from Syria, they do not come from Idlib. They lived in Turkey for a long time, most of them speak Turkish fluently. They receive the full support of the Turkish government, as it provides them with the means to transport them to the border, and of course Greece does what every sovereign state has the right to do: to protect its borders from any illegal entry. That is what we are doing and that is what we will continue to do." On the same day, in the sea area of Lesvos, there was an incident between a boat of the Greek and Turkish coast guards, when the latter tried to inject the Greek with an obvious risk of collision. In his statements on the incident, the Minister of Shipping of Greece, Giannis Plakiotakis, stated that the men and women of the Coast Guard act in accordance with International Law, while underlining Greece's determination to protect and guard its maritime borders. The Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, in statements, urged refugees and migrants to go to Greece via the Evros River, saying: "This is just the beginning. In some places (of Evros) the level from the rain dropped to 40 to 45 cm. What does this mean? That on foot you can easily cross. Mitsotakis does not have the ability to keep them at the border. See what happens next. It's not just what has happened so far, but also what will happen next."https://www.enikos.gr/international/706358/nees-apeiles-tou-tourkou-ypourgou-esoterikon-afto-einai-akoma-i-a In the morning, but also on Saturday afternoon, in the area were fired fireballs and chemicals from both sides. According to information and videos broadcast by Greek media, a Turkish armored vehicle attempted to tear down part of the fence in Kastanies without success. International Reactions The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, arrived in the Evros region on March 3, fully supporting Greece and its efforts to stop attempts to enter illegally from Turkish territory. Ursula von der Leyen, in a statement, stated that "Greek concerns are our concerns, the Greek borders are European borders. We declare our European solidarity with Greece. We trust your government and for the additional reason that although you have a very important project, we welcome the fact that you are operating in accordance with European law". A US State Department official said: "The United States recognizes the right of Greece to enforce its own laws on its borders. We call on both sides to show restraint, as this situation is evolving on the Greek-Turkish border.". The German government has refrained from condemning the opening of the Turkish border, while focusing on supporting the European Union-Turkey Immigration Agreement. Speaking to reporters, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she understood that Ankara expected more support from Europe to deal with the refugee crisis, but noted that the Turkish president "should not use refugees to express his displeasure". References Migrant crises Illegal immigration to Europe Immigration to the European Union Greece–Turkey relations

69667995

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flawless%20Shade

Flawless Shade

Flawless Shade is the stage name of Tajh Jordan, an American drag queen and make-up artist based in Portland, Oregon. A former Miss Gay Oregon, Flawless Shade has been featured in campaigns by Adidas, GLAAD, and Top Level Design. Jordan competed on WOW Presents Plus's competition series Painted with Raven. Career Jordan is a make-up artist based in Portland, Oregon, who performs in drag as Flawless Shade. In 2016, Flawless Shade was the first drag competitor in the Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic, an annual bartending contest featuring 15 LGBT bartenders from North America. She placed third. As of 2017–2018, Flawless Shade hosted the biweekly bingo event 'Flawless Bingo' at Century Bar, which also served as a fundraiser for various organizations, including Cascade AIDS Project. She hosted drag shows at CC Slaughters, karaoke at Capitol Bar, and trivia at Victoria Bar, as of 2019. Flawless Shade also hosted bingo at 'Thursgays', a monthly LGBT meetup at the arcade game and pinball venue Quarterworld. She was one of six young queer "influencers" featured in Adidas's gay pride advertising campaign in 2019, and was named Miss Gay Oregon 2020. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Flawless Shade curated 'Support Your Queer Black Entertainers', a series of video testimonials spotlighting local Black queer performers. The Portland Pride event raised $2,000 for the featured entertainers. She also participated in Portland Pride's 'Introvert: Digital Drag Show', described as a "night of socially distant drag". Flawless Shade was featured in The Library, a web series spearheaded by Logan Lynn and Top Level Design for the top-level domain name .gay, featuring queer Portlanders. She represented Oregon in GLAAD's video seeking to mobilize voters for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which featured drag queens from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Flawless Shade hosted and performed at Botanist House's drag show, as of 2021. She also co-hosted a tea dance for Portland Pride and performed at Seattle's PrideFest in 2021. Jordan competed on Painted with Raven, WOW Presents Plus's cosmetics competition series featuring Raven, which debuted in December 2021. Personal life Jordan is Black and queer. He lives in Portland and has described himself as a "Black gay genderfluid person who is a drag queen". In 2017, Jordan filmed and called police about a man who was harassing patrons at Scandals, a gay bar in Portland. Flawless Shade is a member of the House of Shade, as of 2021. See also List of drag queens List of LGBT African Americans List of LGBT people from Portland, Oregon References Living people African-American drag queens American make-up artists Gay entertainers Genderqueer people LGBT African Americans LGBT people from Oregon People from Portland, Oregon Queer people Year of birth missing (living people) African-American history of Oregon

69668456

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%20in%20Israel

2022 in Israel

Events in the year 2022 in Israel. Incumbents President of Israel – Isaac Herzog Prime Minister of Israel – Naftali Bennett President of the Supreme Court – Esther Hayut Chief of General Staff – Aviv Kochavi Government of Israel – Thirty-sixth government of Israel Events January 1 January – Two rockets fired from Gaza explode off the coast, one close to Tel Aviv and the second near Palmachim; the Israeli Air Force responds with strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza and tanks fire at Hamas military posts near Gaza’s border with Israel. 2 January – The first stage in a reform of Israel’s kosher certification system comes into effect, allowing food retailers and manufacturers to select any religious council in the country to provide them with kashrut supervision, rather than only their local council. 3 January – Two Israel Air Force pilots are killed when a Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopter crashes during a training exercise off the coast near Haifa, while a third crew member survives with moderate injuries. 5 January – President Isaac Herzog and First Lady, Michal Herzog, receive their fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as a second booster dose vaccination campaign begins in Israel. 9 January – Israel mostly reopens its borders, closed to tourists since November, and abolishes its “red list” of restricted travel countries, as coronavirus rates rise to record-high levels due to the Omicron variant, making the impact of travel bans negligible. 13 January – Several days of clashes in the Negev Desert between Bedouin protesters and the police triggered by a forestation project leads to a coalition crisis and the government advancing a comprehensive plan to formalize the status of some unrecognized Bedouin settlements as permanent villages. 20 January – The United Nations General Assembly approves by consensus a resolution co-sponsored by Israel and other countries to combat Holocaust denial, on the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference at which Nazi leaders decided on the “final solution to the Jewish question” for the systematic annihilation of European Jewry. 20 January – the Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, opens an investigation into claims that the Israel Police used NSO spyware on Israeli’s cellphones. 23 January – Israel and the United Arab Emirates establish a multimillion-dollar joint research and development fund to support private sector collaboration and investment in the next ten years. 23 January – the government decides to establish a state commission of inquiry into submarine and naval vessel purchases from German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp for $2 billion that occurred under the government of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for possible corruption and bribery. 24 January – An earthquake registering slightly more than 4.1 on the Richter scale centered northeast of Beit She'an, south of the Sea of Galilee, is felt throughout the country; no injuries or damage are reported. 30 January – President Herzog makes the first official visit of an Israeli president to the United Arab Emirates, meets with Emirati government and business leaders, and members of the Jewish community, and opens an Israel national day at Expo 2020 in Dubai. February 1 February – Former minister and leader of the Shas Party, Aryeh Deri, is sentenced to a 12-month suspended prison term along with NIS 180,000 fine in a plea deal for tax offences. 2 February – Defense Minister Benny Gantz visits Bahrain in his first official visit to sign security agreements as the two nations further bolster their ties, and meets top Bahraini officials, including King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. 4 to 20 February – Six athletes represent Israel at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, in Figure Skating, Short Track Speed Skating and Alpine Skiing. 15 February – Prime Minister Bennett meets with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, senior government officials, businesspeople, and representatives of local Bahraini Jewish community, during the first visit to Bahrain by an Israeli premier, to discuss the development of trade, technology and innovation, and defense ties. 16 February – The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, leads a congressional delegation on a visit to Israel and reaffirms the United States' "ironclad" guarantee of Israel’s security in the face of threats from Iran posed by its nuclear program and support for terrorist organizations. 16 February – The Israel Innovation Authority and the Defense Ministry allocate some $62 million to develop the infrastructure for quantum computational ability and ultimately, a quantum computer. 25 February – 40,000 runners participate in the Tel Aviv Marathon; Vincent Kipsang Rono of Kenya and Bikaya Mantamar of Israel are the men’s and women’s winners, respectively. 26 February – Thousands of Israelis rally in Tel Aviv to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to demand that the Israeli government take stronger measures in support of Ukraine. Predicted and scheduled events 25 March – The Jerusalem Marathon will take place. May – Michael Ben David will represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy. 5 May – The International Bible Contest will take place in Jerusalem on Independence Day. 29 June – Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, will receive the Genesis Prize from President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem. 12 to 26 July – The 21st Maccabiah Games will be held with over 10,000 athletes from Israel and Jewish communities throughout the world competing in 47 sports. 14 to 17 July – The 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships will take place in Jerusalem at the Hebrew University Stadium. 9 December – The Tiberias Marathon will take place. Deaths 1 January – (b. 1928), clinical psychologist, professor of Psychology, director of the Henrietta Szold Institute, social issues advisor to Prime Ministers Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin. 2 January – Yitzhak Kaul (b. 1945), Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Communications (1976–1986), businessman, CEO of Israel Postal Authority (1986–1990), Bezeq (1990–1997), and Clal investment company (1997–2000). 2 January – Suzanne Singer (b. 1935), contributor and editor of Moment magazine and the Biblical Archaeology Review, director of the Alex Singer Project. 3 January – Mordechai Ben-Porat (b. 1923), organizer of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah rescue of Iraqi Jews, Member of Knesset 1965–1977 and 1981–1984, Minister without Portfolio 1982–1984, and recipient of the Israel Prize in 2001. 6 January – Yoram Taharlev (b. 1938), prolific songwriter, poet and author. 10 January – Aura Herzog (b. 1924), First Lady of Israel (1983–1993) during the presidency of her husband Chaim Herzog, mother of the current president, Isaac Herzog, social and environmental activist, and founder of the Council for a Beautiful Israel. 12 January – Meier Schwarz (b. 1926), plant physiologist, lecturer and academic, head of the Hydroponics department at the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research in Beer Sheva. 16 January – Tova Berlinski (b. 1915), artist, notably of the Holocaust and her hometown Oświęcim, Poland, recipient of the Jerusalem Prize (1963) and the Mordechai Ish-Shalom Award (2000). 18 January – Eliezer Schweid (b. 1929), philosopher, scholar, writer and professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Israel Prize recipient (1994). 19 January – Yevgeny Aryeh (b. 1947), playwright, theater director, and founder of the Gesher Theater in Jaffa. 21 January – Haim Shahal (b. 1922), naval engineer, member of the Palmach and the Israel Defense Forces, recipient of the Israel Prize (1973). 24 January – Miriam Naor (b. 1947), District and Supreme Court judge, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (2015 – 2017). 25 January – Mark Tseitlin (b. 1943), chess International Master (1978) and Grandmaster (1997). 26 January – David Bannett (b. 1921), electronics engineer, radar technologies pioneer, inventor of the Shabbat elevator, lecturer in electronics at Bar Ilan University and the Jerusalem College of Technology. 31 January – Esther Pollard (b. 1953), wife of former spy Jonathan Pollard. 10 February – (b. 1994), power forward player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League 2018–2021. 13 February – Emanuel Marx (b. 1927), social anthropologist, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University and recipient of the Israel Prize (1998). 13 February – (b. 1935), writer, poet and translator into Russian. See also COVID-19 pandemic in Israel Israel at the 2022 Winter Olympics References 2020s in Israel Years of the 21st century in Israel Israel Israel

69671185

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%20Kazakh%20unrest

2022 Kazakh unrest

{{Infobox civil conflict | title = 2022 Kazakh unrest | subtitle = | partof = | image = | caption = Clockwise from top: Cordoned Republic Square • Protest in Aktobe on 4 January 2022 • Burned police paddy wagon in Almaty • Tajik Armed Forces of the CTSO peacekeeping forces in Almaty Power Station-1 • Overturned police vehicle in Almaty | date = – () | place = Kazakhstan | coordinates = | causes = | goals = | methods = | result = | side1 = Protesters | side2 = Government of Kazakhstan| units1 = | units2 = | leadfigures1 = | leadfigures2 = | leadfigures4 = | howmany1 = Unknown | howmany2 = 3,800 | howmany4 = | casualties1 = 208 people killedMore than 9,900 people arrested | casualties2 = 19 members of the security forces killed | casualties3 = | fatalities = | injuries = | arrests = | damage = | buildings = | detentions = | charged = | fined = | effect = | effect_label = | casualties_label = | notes = | sidebox = }} The 2022 Kazakh unrest, also known as Bloody January () or January tragedy (), was a series of massive protests that began in Kazakhstan on 2 January 2022 after a sudden sharp increase in liquefied gas prices following the lifting of a government-enforced price cap on 1 January. The protests began peacefully in the oil-producing city of Zhanaozen and quickly spread to other cities in the country, especially the nation's largest city Almaty, which saw its demonstrations turn into violent riots, fueled by rising dissatisfaction with the government and economic inequality. During the week-long violent unrest and crackdowns, 227 people were killed and over 9,900 were arrested. The growing discontent with the government and the former President Nursultan Nazarbayev also influenced larger demonstrations. As there are no popular opposition groups against the Kazakh government, the unrest appeared to be assembled directly by citizens. In response, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency in Mangystau Region and Almaty, effective from 5 January 2022. The Mamin Cabinet resigned the same day. The state of emergency was shortly extended to the whole country. In response to Tokayev's request, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – a military alliance of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan itself – agreed to deploy troops in Kazakhstan. The aim was declared to be peacekeeping while others viewed it as a foreign interference in violently assisting the Kazakh government to crack down the protests. Nazarbayev himself was removed as the chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan. As a concession, President Tokayev said that the vehicle gas prices caps of 50 tenge per litre had been restored for 6 months. On 7 January, he said in a statement, "Constitutional order has largely been restored in all regions of the country." He also announced that he had ordered troops to use deadly force against protesters, authorizing instructions to "shoot to kill" without warning at anyone demonstrating, calling protesters "bandits and terrorists" and saying that the use of force would continue to "destroy the protests". On 10 January, the government declared a day of mourning for victims of the protests. On 11 January, Tokayev said that order had been restored in Kazakhstan and the protests were over. He announced that the CSTO troops would begin withdrawing from the country on 13 January, and they were fully withdrawn by 19 January. In a speech to Parliament on 11 January regarding the past days, Tokayev promised reform and acknowledged public discontent over income inequality and criticized Nazarbayev and his associates due to their wealth. He also nominated a new prime minister, Älihan Smaiylov, on 11 January and fired Defence Minister Murat Bektanov on 18 January. On 11 January, international flights were resumed to and from the country's capital, Nur-Sultan. Background Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, wealthy individuals who had links to the former government of the Soviet Union received preferential treatment, gaining wealth from privatization and their land ownership of areas with valuable resources. Nursultan Nazarbayev became Kazakhstan's first president after the dissolution, ruling the country from 1990 to 2019. During this time, international observers did not recognize any of the elections in Kazakhstan to be fair, with Nazarbayev ruling the nation through authoritarianism, nepotism and detaining opponents, according to The Daily Telegraph. Through this period, Kazakhstan experienced one of the strongest performing economies in Central Asia, with oil production representing a large percentage of its economic growth until oil prices decreased in the mid-2010s. The country also held about 40% of the world's uranium resources within its territory. Despite such growth, none of the economic benefits were shared throughout the population, with the minimum wage in Kazakhstan for the common individual being less than US$100 per month and economic inequality being pervasive. In 2012, the World Economic Forum listed corruption as the biggest problem in doing business in the country, while the World Bank listed Kazakhstan as a corruption hotspot, on a par with Angola, Bolivia, Kenya, and Libya. In 2013, Aftenposten quoted the human-rights activist and lawyer Denis Jivaga as saying that there is an "oil fund in Kazakhstan, but nobody knows how the income is spent". Following various international banking scandals, wealthy Kazakhs emigrated to foreign countries, especially the United Kingdom. In 2018, Crédit Suisse ranked Kazakhstan 169th out of 174 countries in wealth distribution. By 2022, 162 rich Kazakhs held 55% of the nation's wealth. Zhanaozen strike Zhanaozen, an oil-producing city in Mangystau Region, has had a history of labour strikes and demonstrations. In 2011, a riot broke out in the city amidst the 20th anniversary of Independence Day that led to 16 deaths and 100 injuries according to official numbers. Kazakh security forces opened fire on protestors who demanded better working conditions. During that time, the price for a litre of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a mix of butane and propane that is a common vehicle fuel in Zhanaozen, was around 30–35 tenge and has repeatedly risen since then. Following further protests in 2018 and Nazarbayev's crackdown on the demonstrations, he was made the Chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan for life. Since January 2019, the Kazakh government phased transition policy to electronic market trading of LPG to gradually end state gas subsidies and allow for the market instead to determine prices, resulting with increased LPG prices according to Eurasianet. In January 2020, a protest was held in Zhanaozen where city residents demanded a reduction in the price of gas that had risen from 55 to 65 tenge. As the COVID-19 pandemic affected the economy, austerity measures and an inadequate amount of economic stimulus from the government resulted with inflation and stagnant wages. Since 1 January 2022, according to Zhanaozen protesters, the price of LPG almost doubled, to 120 tenge per litre (€0.24 per litre; US$1.06 per gallon), causing outrage amongst citizens. Further discontent with the former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, the nation's oligarchy, corruption and economic inequality would then spark more widespread protests. Aims Aims of the protests reported after the protests had started included calls for major political changes. According to Darkhan Sharipov of the Oyan, Qazaqstan activist group, protestors wanted "real political reforms" and "fair elections", and were angry about "corruption and nepotism". According to The New York Times, protestors wanted leaders of the regions of Kazakhstan to be directly elected rather than appointed by the president. Protests 2 January On the morning of 2 January, residents in the city of Zhanaozen in Mangystau Region blocked roads in protest against an increase in gas prices. The demonstrators called on the akim of the region, Nurlan Nogaev, and Zhanaozen akim Maksat Ibagarov to take measures in stabilising prices and preventing fuel shortages. The residents were met with acting Zhanaozen akim Galym Baijanov who advised the crowd to write a complaint letter to the city administration in which the protestors recalled that their complaints were supposedly ignored by the city officials. 3 January Hundreds of Zhanaozen residents gathered and camped in the city square overnight. As other residents joined the crowd by the afternoon, an estimated 1,000 people were at the square, chanting and demanding direct elections of local leaders. The police officers, while standing at the perimeter of the square during the demonstration, did not intervene. Mangystau akim Nurlan Nogaev and Zhanaozen akim Maksat Ibagarov as well as Kazakh Gas Processing Plant director Nakbergen Tulepov arrived at the square and pledged for the gas prices to be reduced down to 85–90 tenge, which failed to please the demonstrators. Nogaev and his subordinates were forced to flee the square by the angry crowd. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had instructed the government to consider the situation in Mangystau Region by "taking into account economic feasibility in the legal field". He also called on demonstrators to not disturb public order, reminding that Kazakh citizens have the right to publicly express their voice to local and central government in "accordance with the law". A government commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister Eraly Togjanov was formed to consider the socio-economic situation in Mangystau. Reports of arrests were received from the cities of Nur-Sultan, Aktobe and Almaty where the Republic Square and Astana Square were closed off and security officers deployed. Other cities witnessed an increased police presence in public areas. In Aktau, a group of protestors showed up at the Yntymaq Square in front of the city administration building, setting up tents and yurts for the encampment. By evening, an estimated 6,000 demonstrators were at the square, demanding reductions in the cost of gas as well as the resignation of the government. They were joined by other groups of supporters reportedly from neighbouring regions and cities across Kazakhstan. Mangystau akim Nurlan Nogaev visited the rally, reminding the crowd that the Kazakh government had reduced the price of gas and that the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition had launched an antitrust probe into gas suppliers for a suspected price collusion; he urged the protestors to maintain public order and suggested that they hold a constructive dialogue with the authorities. 4 January On the night of 4 January, around 1,000 marched to the Republic Square in Almaty which was cordoned off by the police. From there, clashes broke out between both parties with the security forces using stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the protesters who in-turn vandalized police cars and setting some of them ablaze. Armoured military vehicles were spotted throughout the streets of Almaty during the night of unrest which videos on social media later showed them fleeing by chasing protesters. President Tokayev signed decrees to introduce a state of emergency in Mangystau District and Almaty from 5 January 01:30 local time to 19 January 00:00 local time. According to Tokayev, all legitimate demands of protesters will be considered. A special commission, after meeting with protesters, agreed to lower the LPG price to 50 tenges ($0.11) per litre. Internet watchdog organization NetBlocks documented significant internet disruptions with "high impact to mobile services" that were likely to limit the public's ability to express political discontent. People also started protesting in Taldıqorğan. 5 January At 04:00, Almaty akim Bakhytzhan Sagintayev made a video address to the residents, asserting that the situation in the city had been brought under control. From there, he accused of "provocateurs from within and outside" being behind in destabilization and extremist actions and urged people not to succumb to "provocations and lawlessness". In spite of Sagintayev's remarks, explosions of stun grenades were continued to be heard throughout Almaty in early morning with protesters setting up barricades and clashing with the National Guard in central streets. President Tokayev accepted the government's resignation. On the same day, a Reuters correspondent reported thousands of protesters pressing ahead towards Almaty city centre after security forces failed to disperse them with tear gas and stun grenades. Later on the same day, Tokayev announced that former president Nursultan Nazarbayev has resigned as the Chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan, and Tokayev has assumed this position himself. Digital rights monitor NetBlocks reported that internet disruptions had intensified by 5:00 p.m. local time, leaving Kazakhstan in the "midst of a nation-scale internet blackout" after a day of mobile internet disruptions and partial restrictions. In Almaty, as the protesters had reached the Republic Square again, the offices of the city mayor were stormed and set aflame. Locations that stored firearms were captured by protesters including the National Security Committee building and were shown to be distributed to others throughout the city. Protests at the Almaty International Airport resulted in cancelled and rerouted flights. The government reported protesters seizing five planes. Two Kazakh army soldiers were reported killed attempting to retake the Almaty airport. Russian state-run media reported that protesters also attacked President Tokayev's home with rifles and grenades, leaving it partially destroyed. In addition, the offices of the ruling Nur Otan party were also set on fire. Atameken, Kazakhstan's business lobby group, reported attacks on banks, stores and restaurants. The interior ministry reported government buildings were also attacked in the southern cities of Shymkent and Taraz. In Aktobe, In Taldıqorğan, a statue of former leader Nazarbayev was pulled down and destroyed by demonstrators chanting "Old man, leave!". In the late afternoon, President Tokayev announced a nationwide state of emergency until 19 January. This would include a curfew from 23:00 to 07:00, temporary restrictions on movement, and a ban on mass gatherings. During a televised address, Tokayev threatened to crackdown on protesters, stating "I plan to act as toughly as possible", and said that he had no intentions of fleeing the country. By around late evening, anarchy had broken out in Almaty as large numbers of riot police began to arrive as automatic gunshots were being heard throughout the city with armed demonstrators and security forces exchanging fire while residents were urged to stay away from the streets by loudspeakers. Various state-media agency buildings stationed in Almaty were burnt down and looting had taken place in which grocery stores, banks, ATMs, and shopping centers were targeted. 6 January Oil production at Kazakhstan's highest-producing oil field Tengiz was reduced. US oil producer Chevron Corporation holds a 50% stake in Tengizchevroil (TCO) which operates the Tengiz oil field. Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry issued a statement saying: "Employees of the Almaty police department have launched a mop-up operation in the streets of Karasay-batyr and Masanchi. Measures are being taken to detain the violators. In total, some 2,000 people have been taken to police stations." Dozens of protesters and at least 12 police officers were killed with one police officer who was found beheaded. Witnesses in Almaty described scenes of chaos with government buildings stormed or set on fire and widespread looting. The interior ministry said 2,298 people had been arrested during the unrest, while the police spokesperson Saltanat Azirbek told state news channel Khabar 24 that "dozens of attackers were liquidated". 3,000 Russian paratroopers arrived in Kazakhstan on the morning of 6 January, after president Tokayev made a formal request for assistance to the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also sent troops. Protestors remained in the Aktau town square on 6 January. Six thousand people protested in the centre of Zhanaozen. The akim of Zhanoazen, Maksat Ibagarov, stated that "none of the local activists [would] be persecuted". 7 January On 7 January, as a concession, President Tokayev said that the vehicle fuel price caps of 50 tenge per litre had been restored for 6 months. Tokayev said in a statement, "Constitutional order has largely been restored in all regions of the country." He also announced that he had ordered troops to shoot without warning at anyone protesting, calling protesters 'bandits and terrorists' and saying use of force will continue. In a speech to the nation, he said, "We hear calls from abroad for the parties to negotiate to find a peaceful solution to the problems, this is just nonsense. What negotiations can there be with criminals and murderers? They need to be destroyed and this will be done." He went on to thank Russia for sending troops to help establish order. Russia's Defence Ministry stated that more than 70 planes were flying, around the clock, to bring Russian troops into Kazakhstan and that they were helping to control Almaty's main airport. According to several Russian media sources, former president Nursultan Nazarbayev had left the country with his three daughters and their families. It was not clear where Nazarbayev had gone, but he had apparently left the country for health reasons. A peaceful protest took place in Zhanaozen, where protestors asked for a new government, more freedom for civil rights activists, and a return to the 1993 Kazakh constitution. Protests also continued in Aktau. The Kazakh government announced that seven additional policemen had been killed in Almaty. Levan Kogeashvili, a 22-year-old Israeli national was shot and killed while driving to work in Almaty. The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that he had been residing in Kazakhstan for several years and his family said that he was not involved in the protests. 8 January thumb|205x205px|Counterterrorist forces in search for anti- militants at a parking lot in Almaty, 8 January 2022 Protests continued in Zhanaozen. The National Security Committee said that its former chief and former prime minister, Karim Massimov, had been arrested on suspicion of treason. Joanna Lillis, writing in Eurasianet, considered the possibility of Massimov having been involved in an attempted coup d'état to be credible, signifying a shift in elite politics in Kazakhstan. The Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that 4,404 people had been detained and at least 40 people had died as a result of the protests. Kazakhstan authorities launched a countrywide antitrust investigation into 180 LNG sellers due to a suspected collusion. 9 January On 9 January, the interior ministry, said initial estimates put property damage at about 175 million euros, adding that more than 100 businesses and banks had been attacked and looted and about 400 vehicles destroyed. The ministry confirmed that more than 160 people had been killed and more than 5,000 had been arrested for questioning as part of 125 separate investigations into the unrest. The Interior Ministry reported more than 2,200 people sought treatment for injuries from the protests, and about 1,300 security officers were injured. The office of Kazakhstan's president said that in total 5,800 people had been detained. The health ministry said in total 164 people, including two children, had been killed. It also specified that 103 people had died in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty. Interior Minister Erlan Turgumbayev held a press conference, saying, "Today the situation is stabilised in all regions of the country... the counterterror operation is continuing in a bid to re-establish order in the country". 10 January On 10 January, the government declared a day of mourning for the victims of the protests. Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry reported that a total of 7,939 people have been detained across the country. The National Security Committee, Kazakhstan's counterintelligence and anti-terrorism agency, said that the situation in the country had “stabilized and is under control.” Tokayev called the protests a "coup attempt.” The government also said that "foreign-trained Islamist radicals" were among those who had attacked government buildings and security forces in the last week and that police had now detained almost 8,000 people to bring the situation under control. Internet service was restored in Almaty following a five-day blackout. Military general and politician Zhanat Suleimenov committed suicide, at the age of 59, after a criminal case was opened against him during the protests. 11 January On 11 January, in a speech to an online meeting of the CSTO military alliance by video link, Tokayev said that order had now been restored in Kazakhstan and called the protests over. He announced that the CSTO had completed its mission in Kazakhstan and would begin withdrawing from the country on January 13 and would be fully withdrawn in the next 10 days. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in defending Kazakhstan from what he described as a ”foreign-backed terrorist uprising”, and promised leaders of other ex-Soviet states that a Moscow-led alliance (CSTO) would protect them too. In a speech to parliament regarding the past days, Tokayev promised reform and acknowledged public discontent over income inequality and criticized Nazarbayev and his associates due to their wealth. He said the public discontent was justified and that he wanted associates of the former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to share their wealth to the people. Tokayev told parliament, ”Thanks to Nazarbayev, a group of very profitable companies emerged in the country as well as a group of people wealthy even by international standards, I think it is time they pay their dues to the people of Kazakhstan and help them on a systemic and regular basis." He went on to say that the financial system is dominated by large business groups, "based on the principle 'everything for friends, and laws for everyone else'". He spoke of initiatives to narrow the wealth gap, raise taxes on the mining sector, and eliminate irregularities in state procurement and areas where associates of Nazarbayev have business interests. The Interior Ministry mentioned that security forces had detained over 9,900 people in connection with the protests. Tokayev nominated a new prime minister, Älihan Smaiylov. International flights were resumed to and from the country's capital, Nur-Sultan. Violence On 5 January, authorities in Almaty reported that over 400 businesses were damaged from the protests and that 200 people had been arrested; police in Atyrau fired into protesters which resulted in the death of at least one individual. The government reported on 5 January that eight law enforcement personnel were killed and 317 wounded. A report carried by the French AFP news agency stated that dozens of protestors had been killed, while the Russian TASS news agency aired footage of a heavy gunfight near Almaty's Republic Square. On 6 January, dozens of protestors were killed during an operation, while the number of security forces killed rose to 18. According to local authorities, two of the security officers were found decapitated. On 7 January, President Tokayev said that the army and law enforcement agencies had been ordered "to shoot to kill without warning." By 19 January, the death toll of the unrest reportedly reached 227. Analysis Dosym Satpaev, a Kazakh political analyst, said that the Kazakh government would mainly use force to respond to protests, stating: "The authorities are trying everything to calm things down, with a mix of promises and threats, but so far it's not working.... There will be imitations of dialogue but essentially the regime will respond with force because they have no other tools." Political scientist Arkady Dubnov of the Carnegie Moscow Center observed that such protests were unsettling for the Russian government, with Dubnov saying: "There is no doubt that the Kremlin would not want to see an example of such a regime beginning to talk to the opposition and conceding to their demands." In an article for Foreign Policy, Eugene Chausovsky wrote that "Tokayev felt the need to get CSTO assistance in order to secure strategic sites and installations, including government buildings and airports in key cities such as Almaty, while Kazakh security forces could focus on handling the demonstrators directly." Joanna Lillis, writing in Eurasianet on 7 January, described Tokayev's shoot to kill declared policy and his terminology, including "bandits and terrorists ... to be eliminated", as resembling that of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Lillis saw this as a significant change from Tokayev's earlier promises of liberalising the political situation and consulting civil society. She interpreted the dismissal and arrest of Karim Massimov, head of the National Security Committee and close to Nazarbayev, together with a statement by Nazarbayev's former adviser Ermukhamet Ertysbayev that a coup d'état had been attempted, as signs of a significant shift of power within the Kazakh political elites from Nazarbayev to Tokayev. She considered the claims of an attempted coup d'état to be credible. Hans-Henning Schröder, a political scientist and expert on Russia, told Deutsche Welle: "All of Russia's major neighbors have been rocked by social unrest. If I were in the Kremlin, I would start to worry about whether Russia could be next." Daniil Kislov, the founder and General Director of the Ferghana Information Agency, speculated to The New York Times that the violence in Almaty was "all artificially organized by people who really had power in their hands," as a proxy for a power struggle between Tokayev and former president Nazarbayev. Kislov claimed that Nazarbayev's nephew Samat Abish, who was previously deputy head of the Kazakh State Security Service before being ousted by Tokayev, was responsible for orchestrating much of the violence. Galym Ageleulov, a human rights activist in Almaty, stated that the violence only started in Almaty when a crowd that was "clearly organized by crime group marauders” started the march to the City Hall, while at the same time police presence dissipated. Sergey Khestanov, macroeconomic adviser to the general director of Otkritie-Broker, claimed that the massive protests weren't caused directly due to economic factors, suggesting Kazakhstan's high standard of living within the former Soviet Union comparably to Russia and that the average age in Kazakhstan being relatively young leads to higher social activity, which played role in fueling discontent due to "a sufficiently long, stable and powerful economic growth" being "sharply inhibited". Impact Global market As Kazakhstan produces more than 40% of the world's uranium, the uranium prices rose since the protests erupted. Canadian uranium company Cameco stated that "any disruption in Kazakhstan could of course be a significant catalyst in the uranium market. If nothing else, it's a reminder for utilities that an over-reliance on any one source of supply is risky." The internet blackout also impacted cryptocurrency mining operations, with the global cryptocurrency computational capacity (hashrate) dropping by 12 percent. Prior to the protests, Kazakhstan accounted for around 18 percent of global hashrate for Bitcoin, due to the fact that neighboring China in 2021 banned the mining of cryptocurrencies and many of the cryptominers moved to Kazakhstan. Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, suggested that further oil production outages during protests could impact global oil prices by reaching the October 2021 peak and possibly three-digit prices as well. According to Chevron Corporation, which operates Tengiz Field, the production of oil was reduced after its contractors had disrupted railway lines in support of the protests. However just days leter, Chevron announced that it would be gradually increasing its output again. Economy During the protests and riot in Kazakhstan, the fortune of four local billionaires shrank by $3 billion according to Forbes. At the same time, the middle daughter and son-in-law of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Dinara and Timur Kulibayev, lost $200 million. The couple controls the country's largest bank in terms of assets, Halyk Bank; the fortune of each co-owner is estimated at $3.1 billion. One of the most affected billionaires was Kazakh businessman Vyacheslav Kim, who is the chairman of the board of directors of the fintech company Kaspi Bank. In two days, its shares fell immediately by 30%, from $188 as of 4 January to $87 on 6 January; according to Forbes, decreasing his fortune by $1.4 billion to $4.2 billion. By the end of the week, his assets grew slightly and were estimated at $4.4 billion. The general director of Kaspi.kz, a billionaire from Georgia Mikhail Lomtadze living in Kazakhstan lost about $1.4 billion. The size of his fortune fell to $3.8 billion. Reactions National Speaking from France, the leader of Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Ablyazov, told Reuters on 7 January 2022: "I see myself as the leader of the opposition". Ablyazov also said that the West should remove Kazakhstan from Russian influence to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from incorporating Kazakhstan into "a structure like the Soviet Union". International Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Unrest in Kazakhstan caught international observers by surprise. President Tokayev began communications with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who had quashed the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, and was in discussions with President of Russia Vladimir Putin, calling for the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to intervene against protesters that he described as "international terrorists". Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who had just been made chairman of the CSTO on 3 January 2022, responded to Tokayev's request, stating "As the Chairman of the CPC Assembly Security Council, I am starting immediate consultations with the leaders of the CSTO countries". On 6 January, the CSTO agreed to intervene in Kazakhstan with a collective group of forces that it described as having the aim of peacekeeping, with the organization citing the Collective Security Treaty's Article 4, which states "In the case of aggression (an armed attack threatening safety, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty) against any Member States, all other Member States at the request of this Member State shall immediately provide the latter with the necessary aid, including military". Pashinyan said that the CSTO was to be deployed due to "the threats to national security and sovereignty to the Republic of Kazakhstan, including from external interference". A Russian Air Force regiment in Orenburg was reported to be readying itself for deployment to Kazakhstan. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said: "Peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization were sent to the Republic of Kazakhstan for a limited time to stabilize and normalize the situation." She confirmed armed forces of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were sent to Kazakhstan as part of the wider CSTO effort. According to CSTO, the CSTO armed forces are only authorised to participate in the protection of strategic infrastructure facilities, including Almaty International Airport and Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in south-central Kazakhstan. Russian State Duma member Leonid Kalashnikov stated that actions in relation to the protesters themselves were to be handled by local Kazakhstani law enforcement. On 7 January, the Belta news agency reported that Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko "discussed in detail the state of affairs in Kazakhstan" via phone with former president and chair of Security Council of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev. On 11 January, Tokayev announced that the CSTO had completed its mission in Kazakhstan and would begin withdrawing from the country on January 13, and they were fully withdrawn by 19 January. Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) On 7 January, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's regional anti-terrorist structure announced that it was ready to extend assistance to Kazakhstan upon request, and voiced support for the Kazakh government's security measures. By country Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: The Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Fazilrabi Zahin published a statement saying the administration is "closely monitoring the situation in Kazakhstan and, as a close neighbor and economic partner state, is concerned about the recent unrest." The ministry also "urges both the government and protestors to resolve issues through talks and peaceful means, and to return calm and stability to the country." Armenia: Currently chairing at CSTO, Armenia started consultations among CSTO member countries and sent 100 soldiers to peacekeeping mission, citing protection of water source and one of the largest bread factories as the main aims of its deployed troops. However, Armenians took dim view of Armenia's participation in CSTO mission to Kazakhstan, with many citizens objecting that the CSTO did not help Armenia when it asked for help in 2021-2022 Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis, and pointing out at the irony of the Pashinyan's government itself coming to power as the result of street protests. “The people of any country must choose their own government; no other country has the right to interfere in its internal affairs. Today, the Armenian armed forces have a mission to protect the borders of our country. We condemn the short-sighted and irresponsible actions of the Armenian government.” a coalition of Armenian NGOs said in a statement. Azerbaijan: The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs had expressed condolences on 10 January "to the families and loved ones of people who lost their lives in a number of regions of the country, brotherly Kazakh people. We wish Kazakhstan peace, stability, peace and well-being." Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko called on demonstrators to negotiate with President Tokayev who called him as "a decent person, a diplomat" and "very intelligent and educated man", telling "It’s a lesson for us. One more lesson. In the sense that we now understand what could have happened to us." State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council Alexander Volfovich on 6 January described the Kazakh unrest as an "external hybrid threat" that aims to destroy a legitimate government via unconstitutional methods similarly to a colour revolution. He called on the Belarusian military personnel to be deployed in Kazakhstan "to provide assistance to the fraternal people of Kazakhstan, prevent the situation from aggravating and send peacekeeping forces there." Canada: The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying it was "closely monitoring the unrest". It called for "restraint and de-escalation" and that the situation be resolved "quickly and peacefully". China: The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin expressed that China and Kazakhstan shared friendly relations and are strategic partners and "hopes for early restoration of public order" in Kazakhstan and also reiterated that the matter is an "interior affair of Kazakhstan" and believes in the ability of the "Kazakh authorities to resolve the issue properly". Wang hoped for a speedy stabilization of the situation. On 7 January, president Xi Jinping stated that "China opposes external forces that deliberately trigger unrest and incite a 'colour revolution' in Kazakhstan". France: Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on 6 January called the events in Kazakhstan "worrying" and urged all parties "to show moderation and open a dialogue". President Emmanuel Macron expressed his concern in regards with the deadly unrest, adding that he would continue in monitoring the situation. Germany: Federal Foreign Office spokesman Christofer Burger said that the officials were looking into the reports of Tokayev’s shooting order, telling "it must be said very clearly that a use of lethal force, of live ammunition against civilians can only be a very last resort, particularly if military forces are deployed." Hungary: Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó in a video briefing said that violent protesters need to be held accountable and concerns over human rights have "no place" when it comes to restoring order, saying that "Destabilization efforts or coups are completely opposed to Hungary’s security interests" and that "Hungary supports efforts to restore peace and order in central Asia, specifically Kazakhstan." India: The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated that events in Kazakhstan were being closely followed, and extended "deepest condolences to families of innocent victims who have lost lives in the violence". The statement hoped for "an early stabilization of the situation". The Indian community in Kazakhstan of about 7,800 - including 5,300 students and some 1,000 construction workers - was reportedly safe. The violence erupted at a time when leaders of the five Central Asian states were expected to be chief guests at India's Republic Day celebrations on January 26. Iran: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said, "We believe that the wise government and nation of the friendly, brotherly and neighborly country can resolve their problems and disputes peacefully and through dialog, without foreign interference and based on their own national interests." Kyrgyzstan: The Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on a "civilized dialogue within a legal framework" to prevent a "further escalation of the situation", hoping for Kazakhstan to resolve the current crisis "independently and without outside interference" while positioning Kyrgyzstan as strategic partner by conforming its readiness to "provide all possible support to the brotherly Kazakhstan, if necessary." During a telephone conversion between leaders of CTSO on 5 January, President Sadyr Japarov expressed concern about the reports of casualties, numerous cases of looting and pogroms, and other cases of violence. Japarov later expressed condolences to President Tokayev and the Kazakh people, wishing for "stability, unity, peace and prosperity." Malaysia: Minister of Foreign Affairs Saifuddin Abdullah stated that Wisma Putra is monitoring the developments closely. He also confirmed that 50 Malaysians in the country are in safe condition. Mongolia: The Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised its citizens to not attend demonstrations and rallies and that it would continue to monitor the situation closely. Pakistan: The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan formed 'help desks' within its embassies in Almaty and Nur-Sultan in an attempt to facilitate Pakistanis in Kazakhstan requiring emergency services. Romania: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania stated that it was closely following the unrest in Kazakhstan since its inception. It also declared that it had been in contact with the around 100 Romanian citizens in the country and that the personnel of the Romanian embassy in Nur-Sultan were not in danger, and called for a peaceful and inclusive settlement of the situation without the need to resort to violence. Russia: President Vladimir Putin claimed victory on 11 January in defending Kazakhstan from what he described as a ”foreign-backed terrorist uprising”, and promised leaders of other ex-Soviet states that a Moscow-led alliance (CSTO) would protect them too. Bashkortostan: Head Radiy Khabirov after meeting with Kazakh officials on 19 January said, "When the 'well-known events' began in Kazakhstan, we were in touch with our colleagues, wishing them good luck and strength. And we were absolutely sure that the people of Kazakhstan would choose the right path of development." Chechnya: In a joint live Instagram broadcast, Head Ramzan Kadyrov called on Kazakh citizens to not destroy the state and compared the events with the beginning of the Chechen War. Serbia: President Aleksandar Vučić stated that in Kazakhstan there will be "hundreds or thousands of dead, a devastated country" and that "foreign services, various great powers, have also intervened". South Korea: Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed hope for the restoration of peace in Kazakhstan and that South Korea will closely monitor political situations and take measures for the safety for its nationals residing in the country. Tajikistan: The Tajik Foreign Affairs Ministry on January 6 expressed concerns over violence, seizure of government buildings and looting as well as emergence of armed groups sharing support to the Kazakh government in attempts at stabilizing the situation and that the "wise people of Kazakhstan and their leadership will put an end to acts of violence in the shortest possible time through dialogue." That same day, the Ministry issued a travel warning as well as guidelines towards Tajik citizens in Kazakhstan "to exercise maximum vigilance and avoid crowded places." Turkey: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Tokayev in a phone call that Turkey stands in solidarity with Kazakhstan. The Turkish Grand National Assembly issued a solidarity message with the participation of the ruling Justice and Development Party, along with the opposition Republican People's Party, Nationalist Movement Party and Good Party, in which they expressed support to the Kazakh government's reform agenda to further improve the well-being and welfare of the people. Turkmenistan: President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow in a letter to Tokayev expressed deep condolences in response to high casualties and injuries resulting from the days of violent unrest. Berdimuhamedow expressed sympathy and support to the families and relatives of the victims, as well as wishes for quick recovery to the injured. Ukraine: The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued statement to which it condemned violence and expressed condolences with the deaths and urged for the conflict to de-esclate and foreign deployed CTSO troops to respect sovereignty of Kazakhstan and not to maintain presence beyond the declared time period. United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during phone call with President Tokayev on 10 January "expressed his confidence in the ability of the Kazakhstan government and people to overcome this difficult period quickly." United Kingdom: Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, in the House of Commons, condemned the violence and said that the UK Government would be coordinating with allies. United States: The U.S. government appealed for calm while reported by The Independent'' to be monitoring the unrest. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioned Kazakhstan's decision to seek CSTO's military assistance, saying that "one lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave". Uzbekistan: The Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the events "alarming" and that it would continue monitoring the development of the situation with a written statement saying "We are convinced that the wise people of Kazakhstan will be able to prevent the escalation of instability, avoid violence and human casualties" and that the people of Kazakhstan "have the necessary determination and will to preserve unity, restore peace and tranquility in the country and independently overcome the problems that have arisen." In a 10 January letter, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed deep condolences to President Tokayev and the Kazakh citizens in connection with the numerous victims and serious injuries among the servicemen and the population, as well as significant damage as a result in the aftermath of the conflict. On 11 January, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Uzbek citizens will be evacuated from Kazakhstan by the nearest flights of Uzbekistan Airways. Entities with limited recognition Republic of Artsakh: The President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan stated that the most effective and efficient mechanism for preventing the escalating danger and avoiding new disasters was the entry of the CSTO peacekeeping forces into Kazakhstan. He added that extremist groups and formations are behind the plans on destabilizing the situation. According to the Artsakh's Foreign Minister David Babayan these are the planned actions of Turkey and pan-Turkic circles to implement a dangerous expansionist project, and that more than 20,000 militants arrived in Kazakhstan likely through the territory of Turkey and Azerbaijan. By international union European Union: On 5 January 2022, the EU issued a statement saying: "We call on all concerned to act with responsibility and restraint and to refrain from actions that could lead to further escalation of violence. While recognising the right to peaceful demonstration, the European Union expects that they remain non-violent and avoid any incitement to violence". The Organization of Turkic States stated "their confidence in the capacity of the Kazakh authorities to peacefully defuse tensions and reestablish calm and order." United Nations: On 6 January, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet called on all sides in Kazakhstan to refrain from violence and to seek a peaceful resolution to their grievances following mass unrest after days of demonstrations. In a statement, Bachelet said: "People have the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. At the same time, protesters, no matter how angry or aggrieved they may be, should not resort to violence against others". On 10 January, the United Nations criticised Kazakhstan over photos showing military personnel wearing United Nations peacekeeper helmets. United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations had complained to Kazakhstan's diplomatic outpost in New York about the apparent use of United Nations peacekeeping equipment and said the issue “had been addressed”. NATO: On 7 January, NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs & Security Policy and Special Representative for the Caucasus & Central Asia, Javier Colomina, said on Twitter: "NATO shares the serious concern over the situation in Kazakhstan, including reports of casualties. We call on all parties to exercise restraint, refrain from violence, and pursue dialogue. Authorities must respect international human rights obligations, including the right to peaceful protest". Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): on 5 January the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Zbigniew Rau, declared "I call for a peaceful return to order and respect for democratic processes, while rights and freedoms, including freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, must be protected." See also 2020s in political history 2021 global energy crisis List of protests in the 21st century 2018–2020 Kazakh protests 2020 Kyrgyz protests 2020–2021 Belarusian protests 2021 Russian protests Euromaidan, protests in Ukraine in 2013–2014 Jeltoqsan, December 1986 protests in Almaty, at the time named Alma-Ata Zhanaozen massacre, December 2011 protests in the Mangystau Region with 14 protesters killed References 2022 crimes 2022 protests 2022 riots Protests 21st-century crimes in Kazakhstan Arson in Asia Arson in the 2020s Articles containing video clips January 2022 crimes January 2022 events in Kazakhstan Pricing controversies 2022 Riots and civil disorder in Kazakhstan sah:Казахстаҥҥа протестар (2022)

69671360

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%20Reneau

George Reneau

George McKinley Reneau (May 18, 1902 – June 5, 1938) was an American blind street musician who became one of country music's earliest recording artists. Known as "The Blind Musician of the Smoky Mountains", Reneau recorded more than 50 songs on the Vocalion and Edison labels in the mid-1920s. While Reneau was credited on his early recordings as a solo artist on vocals, guitar and harmonica, the singing on many if not most of his songs was provided by an uncredited Gene Austin, a vaudville performer and Tin Pan Alley composer who later would became one of the most successful recording artists of the era. Musical career Reneau was born on May 18, 1902, in Dandridge, Jefferson County, Tennessee, between the Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains on the state's eastern border with North Carolina. While not much is known about his early life, Reneau is believed to have been born blind. At an early age, he attended the Nashville School for the Blind and eventually relocated from Dandridge to nearby Knoxville. Reneau, who began playing guitar and harmonica in his late teens or early 20s and later learned to play the banjo, became a street performer in the Market House area of the city's downtown. In early 1924, the manager of the phonograph and record department in a Knoxville furniture store recommended Reneau to Vocalion Records, which was looking for new talent to record. Traveling to the company's studios in New York City several times over the next two years, Reneau recorded 50 songs for the label. While he was given solo credit on his Vocalion recordings, scholars later determined the vocalist on many of the releases was actually Gene Austin, since Reneau's harmonica playing can often be heard during the singing. By late 1925, when he recorded the last of his Vocalion releases, Reneau was doing all of his own singing. Over this period, he also re-recorded 10 of his songs for the Edison label as the Blue Ridge Duo with Austin as vocalist. After his contract with Vocalion ended, he teamed up with Lester McFarland, another blind musician from Knoxville and a championship fiddler, and in 1927, the two recorded several sides for minor labels as the Gentry Brothers. Between recording sessions, Reneau continued to perform on the streets of Knoxville, supporting himself, his wife and two step-children. In the summer of 1925, he was arrested for violating the city's anti-begging law as well as for drunkenness. The latter charge was dismissed, and Reneau was found not guilty of begging by a magistrate who was sitting in for the regular judge. When the police arrested Reneau again for performing on the streets, the judge ruled in the musician's favor on the grounds he had not specifically asked for contributions from passers-by. Final years Reneau's recording career ended by his mid-20s, and over the next decade he eked out a living on Knoxville's streets. After contracting rheumatism in his arms, he was no longer able to play guitar or banjo, and in 1932, his brother-in-law, who was also blind, began accompanying him, playing guitar while Reneau sang along. By the late 1930s, Reneau's health had deteriorated further, and he died of pneumonia on June 5, 1938, at the age of 36. Recordings Following are all of Reneau's releases for the Vocalion label as well as his recordings on Edison with Gene Austin as the Blue Ridge Duo. Note that a few of Reneau's Vocalion recordings featured Tennesee champion fiddler "Uncle Am" Stuart. This listing does not include Reneau's releases for miscellaneous labels under various pseudonyms, nor does it cover his work with Lester McFarland. Vocalion Records as solo artist Arkansaw Traveler, 1924 Bad Companions, 1925 Baggage Coach Ahead, The, 1925 Bald Headed End of the Broom, 1924 Birmingham, 1924 Blue Ridge Blues, 1924 C. & O. Wreck, The, 1924 Casey Jones, 1924 Fatal Wedding, The, 1925 Gambling on the Sabbath Day, 1925 Hand of Fate, The, 1925 Here, Rattler, Here (Calling the Dog), 1924 I'm Glad My Wife's in Europe, 1925 I've Got the Railroad Blues, 1924 Jack and Joe, 1925 Jesse James, 1924 Letter Edged in Black, The, 1925 Life's Railway to Heaven, 1924 Lightning Express, The, 1925 Little Brown Jug, 1924 Little Rosewood Casket, 1925 Lonesome Road Blues, 1924 Love Always Has Its Way, 1925 May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister?, 1925 My Redeemer, 1924 New Market Wreck, The, 1924 Old Man on the Hill, The, 1925 Old Rugged Cross, The 1925 On Top of Old Smoky, 1925 Prisoner's Song, The, 1925 Railroad Lover, 1925 Red Wing, 1924 Rock All Our Babies to Sleep, 1925 Rovin' Gambler, 1925 Sinking of the Titanic, The, 1925 Smoky Mountain Blues, 1924 Softly and Tenderly, 1925 Susie Ann, 1924 Turkey in the Straw, 1924 Two Orphans, The, 1925 Weeping Willow Tree, The, 1925 We're Floating Down The Stream Of Time, 1925 When I Shall Cross Over the Dark Rolling Tide, 1925 When the Work's All Done This Fall, 1925 When You and I Were Young, Maggie, 1924 Wild and Reckless Hobo, 1925 Wild Bill Jones, 1925 Woman"s Suffrage, 1925 Wreck of the Southern 97, The, 1924 You Will Never Miss Your Mother Until She Is Gone, 1924 Edison Records as Blue Ridge Duo Arkansas Traveler, 1924 Blue Ridge Blues, 1925 Life's Railway to Heaven, 1925 Little Brown Jug, 1924 Lonesome Road Blues, 1925 Sinking of the Titanic, 1926 Susie Ann, 1924 Turkey in the Straw, 1924 Wreck of the C. & O., 1926 You Will Never Miss Your Mother Until She Is Gone, 1925 References 1902 births 1938 deaths People from Knoxville, Tennessee Country musicians from Tennessee American street performers Blind musicians 20th-century American singers American male guitarists American harmonica players Banjoists

69672746

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20bisexuality

History of bisexuality

The history of bisexuality concerns the history of the bisexual sexual orientation. Ancient and medieval history of bisexuality, when the term did not exist as such, consists of anecdotes of sexual behaviour and relationships between people of the same and different sexes. A modern definition of bisexuality began to take shape in the mid-nineteenth century within three interconnected domains of knowledge: biology, psychology and sexuality. In modern Western culture, the term bisexual was first defined in a binary approach as a person with romantic or sexual attraction to both men and women. The term bisexual is defined later in the twentieth century (for example by Robin Ochs) as a person who is sexually and/or romantically attracted to both males and females, or as a person who is sexually and/or romantically attracted to people regardless of sex or gender identity, which is sometimes termed pansexuality. The first use of the word "bisexual" with the meaning of sexual attraction to both men and women dates back to the 19th century, when the German psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing used it to refer to the gender of individuals whom he believed exhibited both feminine and masculine behaviours. In English the word was used in 1892 by Charles Gilbert Chaddock, an American neurologist, when he translated the 7th edition of Krafft-Ebing's book Psychopathia Sexualis. Prior to Krafft-Ebing, "bisexual" usually meant having both female and male parts as in hermaphroditic or monoicous plants, or in the sense of mixed-sex education, meaning inclusive of both males and females. From the 1970s onwards, bisexuality as a distinct sexual orientation gained visibility in Western literature, academia and activism. Despite a wave of research and activism around bisexuality, bisexual people have often been marginalised in literature, film and research. Societal attitudes towards bisexuality vary by culture and history; however, there is no substantial evidence that the rate of same-sex attraction has varied across time. Prior to the contemporary discussion of sexuality as a phenomenon associated with personal identity, ancient and medieval culture viewed bisexuality as the experience of homosexual and heterosexual relationships. The cultures of ancient Greece and Rome accepted that adult men were involved in homosexual relationships, as long as they took the active role of penetration. Ancient history Ancient cultures and societies have conceptualised sexual desire and behaviour in a variety of ways throughout history, which are subject to debates. Homosexual relationships between men are more visible and recorded than those between women in literature and hisorical texts. Sexual relations between women are, however, present in the literature of ancient China. Ancient Greece Ancient Greek religious texts, reflecting cultural practices, incorporated bisexual themes. The subtexts varied, from the mystical to the didactic. Same sex relationships between boys and men as a part of rituals in pre-city Greece were researched and confirmed by scholars. The sexual and romantic relationship between males were not recorded explicitly by Iliad or Odyssey. The Greeks did not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate practices, but had a concept of aphrodisia, sexual acts that give pleasure, regardless of whether they are performed with a man or a woman. There was, however, a notion of (active) subject and (passive) object in the relationship between two persons, one of whom is an object and necessarily dominated by the other. However, Plato and Aristotle disagree on the place of men and women. For Plato, both men and women can be subjects or objects, whereas for Aristotle women are necessarily passive objects. For both philosophers, however, the male hierarchy is unquestioned. Ancient Rome In Ancient Rome a freeborn Roman performing the penetrative role could have sex with male and female partners as it was considered socially acceptable. The social status of the partners was more important to judge the moral aspects than their sex. Once married, a man was supposed to have sexual relations only with prostitutes, slaves and infames. Having sex with another freeborn man's wife, his marriageable daughter, his underage son, or with the man himself was not socially accepted and was considered immoral. Sexual use of another man's slave was subject to the owner's permission. The crucial factor was the capacity of performing self control and managing one's sex life to prove that a freeborn was capable of governing others. Giving too much focus on sensual pleasure could undermine the man's standing and his identity as a cultured person. Ancient Japan The existence of men having sex with men in Japan has been documented since ancient times. There were few laws restricting sexual behaviors in Japan before the early modern period. Anal sodomy was prohibited by law in 1872, but the provision was not repealed until seven years later by the Penal Code of 1880 in accordance with the Napoleonic Code. Historical practices identified by research as homosexual include shudō (衆 道), wakashudō (若 衆 道) and nanshoku (男 色). Several authors have noted a strong historical tradition of open bisexuality and homosexuality among male Buddhist institutions in Japan. Genshin, a Tendai priest criticised homosexuality in severe terms, but the condemnation had more to do with condemning the practice with a man that was not under one's authority some interpreted his position as a condemnation of practices with an acolyte who was not under his authority. A wakashū (headscarf-wearing) sneaks a kiss to a prostitute behind his boss' back. Nishikawa Sukenobu, ca. 1716-1735. Hand-coloured shunga print. These practices are recounted in countless literary works, most of which have yet to be translated. English translations are available, however, for Ihara Saikaku, who featured a bisexual man in The Life of a Man in Love (1682), for Jippensha Ikku's account of the first gay relationship in the post-publication 'Preface' to Shank's Mare (1802 et seq), and Ueda Akinari's portrayal of a gay Buddhist monk in Tales of Moonlight and Rain (1776). Similarly, many of the greatest artists of the period, such as Hokusai and Hiroshige, took pride in documenting such love affairs in their prints, known as Ukiyo-e, pictures of the floating world, where they adopt an erotic tone, shunga or springtime pictures. Nanshoku was not considered incompatible with heterosexuality; books of erotic prints dedicated to nanshoku often featured erotic images of young women (concubines, mekake or prostitutes, jōrō) as well as attractive teenagers (wakashū) and young cross-dressers (onnagata). Similarly, women were seen as particularly attracted to wakashū and onnagata, and it was assumed that these young men would return this interest. Nanshoku practitioners and the young men they desired would be considered bisexual in modern terminology. Ancient China In Ancient China, there are many historical records about same sex relationships between upper-class people. The writings on sexuality in literature and historical records in ancient China are often allusive and implied, using phrases and words only recognizable for people who are familiar with the literary culture and background. Words like "Long Yang (龙阳 lóngyáng)" and "male trend (男風; nánfēng)" are created to describe men who are engaged in a sexual or romantic relationship with men. Although women's same sex relationships are less recorded compared to men's, some researchers believe that societal attitude towards same sex relationship between women are more stable compared to that of men's. People who engage in sexual or romantic relationships with the same sex typically also engage in heterosexual relationships. For example, emperors who have male concubines also have female concubines and offspring. In addition, the concept of sexual identity was not present in ancient China before Westerners' introduction of the idea. One example that produced the word that describes a homosexual relationship - Duànxiù, or "breaking the sleeve" - happened between the Han Emperor Ai and his male lover Dong Xian (董賢). Emperor Ai was so devoted to his male lover that he attempted to pass the throne on to him. When Emperor Ai had to leave early in the morning, the Emperor carefully cut off his sleeve to not waken Dongxian, who had fallen asleep on top of it. People in China will imitate the cutting of sleeves to express their love for same sex lovers. One of the most well-known historical stories about same sex relationships in ancient China is the story of "YuTao (余桃 yútáo)", the "leftover peach", as documented in the Intrigues of the Warring States. The book is a collection of political idioms and historical stories written by Han Fei (280 - 233 BC), a Chinese philosopher. Han Fei recorded this story between Mi Zixia (彌子瑕) and Duke Ling of Wei (衛靈公). His male lover Mi found a very sweet peach in the garden; after tasting it, he shared the remaining half with Emperor Ling. As more Western and Central Asian visitors came to China during the Tang Dynasty, China became increasingly influenced by the sexual moral conduct of foreigners. Female companions of emperors began accumulating political power which only male companions could gain in the past. Same-sex relationships became more allusive and less recorded in the Tang Dynasty. From the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, stories about female same-sex companions between Buddhist and Taoist nuns were first discovered. Modern history According to Dutch anthropologist Gert Hekma, the term bisexual was used in Dutch for the first time in 1877, to refer to a hermaphrodite who had their sexual career as both a heterosexual woman and a heterosexual man. Later, the term bisexuality is used to represent both the double sexual-object choice and androgyny. Since the 19th century, bisexuality became a term with at least three different yet interconnected meanings. In the field of biology and anatomy, it referred to biological organisms that are sexually undifferentiated between male and female. By the early 20th century, in the field of psychology, bisexuality is used to describe a combination of masculinity and femininity in people psychologically instead of biologically. In the late 20th century, particularly since the AIDS epidemic, bisexuality is seen as sexual attraction to both male and female. Therefore, the contemporary history of bisexuality involved many intellectual, conceptual and sociocultural changes. Freudian theory In 1905, Sigmund Freud presented his theory of psychosexual development in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. In the book, he wished to demonstrate that bisexuality was the baseline sexual orientation for humans. Freud established his theory on a biological development basis that children in the pregenital phasedo not make a diffference between female and male sexes, but believe that both parents have the same reproductive powers and identical genitalia. When children reach the phallic stage, their gender identity becomes stable, and heterosexuality is the gradual result of the repression of an initial bisexuality. According to Freud, during the phallic stage, children develop an Oedipus complex where they have an inconscious sexual attraction for the parent of the opposite gender and feel jalousy towards the parent of the same gender. This situation transforms later into unconscious transference and conscious identification with the hated parent, providing a structural model which appeases sexual impulse towards the parnet asribed to the same sex by also provoking a fear of castration by the parent of the opposite sex to appease sexual impulses. Carl Jung criticized the notion of bisexuality lying at the basis for psychic life, and the fact that Freud did not according to him give an adequate description of the female child. In 1913 he proposed the Electra complex. Freud rejected this suggestion. Kinsey reports In 1948, American biologist Alfred C. Kinsey, who was himself bisexual, published two books on human sexual behaviors, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, which are widely known as the "Kinsey reports". Kinsey and his team conducted 1,600 interviews with people about their sexual histories. Kinsey rejected the notion of a clear-cut line between different sexualities. Instead of assigning people to different categories of sexualities, Kinsey and his colleagues developed a seven-level Kinsey scale. The scale considered people between K=1 and K=5 as "ambisexual" or "bisexual". According to the Kinsey Institute, the books Kinsey published sold nearly a million copies around the world and were influential in revolutionizing the public perception of sexuality. Their research found that 11.6% of white males in United States (ages 20–35) had about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response throughout their adult lives, and that 7% of single females (ages 20–35) and 4% of previously married females (ages 20–35) had about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response for this period of their lives. As a result of this research, the earlier meanings of the word "bisexual" were largely displaced by the meaning of being attracted to both sexes. However, Kinsey himself disliked the use of the term bisexual to describe individuals who engage in sexual activity with both sexes, preferring to use "bisexual" in its original, biological sense as hermaphroditic, and saying, "Until it is demonstrated [that] taste in a sexual relation is dependent upon the individual containing within his [sic] anatomy both male and female structures, or male and female physiological capacities, it is unfortunate to call such individuals bisexual". In the United States 1850 to 1950 The first English-language use of the word "bisexual", in the sense of being sexually attracted to both women and men, was by the American neurologist Charles Gilbert Chaddock in his 1892 translation of the same term used in the same way in the 7th edition of Krafft-Ebing's seminal work Psychopathia Sexualis. Prior to Krafft-Ebing, "bisexual" was usually used to mean having both female and male parts as in hermaphroditic or monoicous plants, or to mean inclusive of both males and females as in the sense of mixed-sex education. Under any label, openly bisexual people were rare in early American life. One notable exception was the openly bisexual poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver in 1923. Furthermore, the poet Walt Whitman is usually described by biographers as either bisexual or homosexual in his feelings and attractions. Early film, being a cutting-edge medium, also provided opportunity for bisexuality to be expressed. In 1914 the first documented appearance of bisexual characters (female and male) in an American motion picture occurred in A Florida Enchantment, by Sidney Drew. However, due to the censorship legally required by the Hays Code, the word bisexual could not be mentioned and almost no bisexual characters appeared in American film from 1934 until 1968. 1960s LGBT political activism became more prominent in this decade. The first public protests for equal rights for gay and lesbian people were staged at governmental offices and historic landmarks in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. between 1965 and 1969. In DC, protesters picketed in front of the White House, Pentagon, and the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Two of the protesters at the second White House picket, Judith "J.D." Kuch and Kris "Gene" Kleeberg, identified themselves as bisexual. In 1966 the Student Homophile League at New York University and Columbia University was founded by Stephen Donaldson (aka Donny the Punk), a bisexual activist.Columbia University officially recognized this group in 1967 and it became the official first gay student group college in the United States to be officially recognize by a university. Activism on behalf of bisexuals in particular also began to grow, especially in San Francisco. Still in San Francisco, in 1967 Frank Esposito and Margo Rila and founded one of the earliest organizations for bisexuals, the Sexual Freedom League in. In 1969 protests erupted during a police raid at the Stonewall bar. Police raids were frequent in queer bars, and people grew tired of being controlled and harassed by the police.The protesters were Bar patrons and them were bisexeals. One of the main figure who started the rebellion was These events are known as The Stonewall Rebellion and are usually accepted as a milestone marking the beginning of the LGBT rights movement. In commemoration of this, the next year the first LGBT pride march was held. Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist coordinated the first LGBT Pride march and later became celebrated as the "Mother of Pride". She came up with the idea for organising events over one week around Pride Day which later generated the annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June. Brenda Howard, with the bisexual activist Robert A. Martin (aka Donny the Punk) and gay activist L. Craig Schoonmaker were instrumental in disseminating the word "Pride" for these festivities.Tom Limoncelli, another bisexual activist later said "The next time someone asks you why LGBT Pride marches exist or why [LGBT] Pride Month is June tell them 'A bisexual woman named Brenda Howard thought it should be. 1970s Bisexuals became more prominent in the media in the 1970s. In New York City, Don Fass founded the National Bisexual Liberation group in 1972, which issued The Bisexual Expression, most likely the earliest bisexual newsletter. In 1973 bisexual activist Woody Glenn was interviewed by a radio show of the National Organization for Women on WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1974, both Newsweek and Time ran stories on "bisexual chic", bringing bisexuality to mainstream attention as never before. In 1976 the landmark book View from Another Closet: Exploring Bisexuality in Women, by Janet Mode, was published. In a September 1976 interview with Playboy, androgynous glam rock musician and pop star David Bowie discussed being bisexual; his wife, Angie Bowie, was also public in her assertions of bisexuality during this time. Bisexuals were also important contributors to the larger LGBT rights movement. In 1972, Bill Beasley, who was a bisexual activist in the Civil Rights Movement and well as the LGBT movement, was organized the first Gay Pride March in Los Angeles. He was also active with the Gay Liberation Front. In 1975, activist Carol Queen came out as bisexual and organized GAYouth in Eugene, Ore. in Dade County, Florida in 1977 the psychologist Alan Rockway, who was bisexual, was the co-author of a county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation.It was the first LGBT rights ordinance to be voted and achieve success in America. Anita Bryant led an ati-gay campaign called Save our children against the ordinance, and Rockway began a boycott of Florida orange juice, which she advertised, in response. A press conference was orrganized in opposition to Bryant with Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon and Benjamin Spock by the San Francisco Bisexual Center. Alexei Guren founded the Gay Teen Task Force in response to Bryant's campaign in Miami. The Florida Citrus Commission canceled her contract as a direct response to this pressure. Also in 1979, Dr. Marvin Colter founded ARETE, a support and social group for bisexuals in Whittier, Calif., which marched in the 1983 Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade and had a newsletter. The bisexual movement had its own successes as well. Most notably, in 1972 a Quaker group issued the "Ithaca Statement on Bisexuality" supporting bisexuals. The Statement, which may have been "the first public declaration of the bisexual movement" and "was certainly the first statement on bisexuality issued by an American religious assembly", appeared in the Quaker Friends Journal and The Advocate in 1972. In 1976 the San Francisco Bisexual Center was founded by Maggi Rubensteinand Harriet Levi. The community center offered support and counselling to Bay Area bisexuals, and published a newsletter from 1976 to 1984, called The Bi Monthly. It was the longest surviving community center for bisexuals. In 1978, the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid was introduced by Fritz Klein inThe Bisexual Option. Bisexual activism also began to spread beyond the coasts, a fnd in from 1978 until 1979, several Midwestern bisexual groups were created: BI Women Welcome in Minneapolis, One To Five (by Gary Lingen and Scott Bartell for Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minn), BI Ways in Chicago, and The BI Married Men's Group in Detroit. 1980s In the 1980s AIDS began to affect the LGBT community, and bisexual people took an important role in combating it. San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein appointed David Lourea to a role on her AIDS advisory committee, resulting in the inclusion of bisexual men in official AIDS statisctics by the Department of Public Health in San Francisco. Health departments throughout the United States began to recognize bisexual men because of this, whereas before they had mostly only recognized gay men. The first American bisexual newsletter published at national scale was edited in 1988 by Gary North, and it was called Bisexuality: News, Views, and Networking. In 1989 Cliff Arnesen testified concerning bisexual, lesbian, and gay veterans' issues. He was the first veteran to do so on such issues as well as the first outed LGBT veteran to testify before the Congress about general issues concerning veterans. He testified on May 3, 1989, during formal hearings held before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. He also testified before the same Subcommittee on May 16, 1990, as part of an HIV/AIDS panel. Bisexual people also continued to be active in the larger LGBT movement. The first BiCon UK (a get-together in the United Kingdom for bisexuals, allies and friends) was held in 1984. In 1986 in San Francisco Autumn Courtney (from BiPOL) became co-chair of Lesbian Gay Freedom Day Pride Parade Committee; she was the first openly bisexual person to be elected to this sort of position in the United States. In 1987 75 bisexuals activists formed a group to march in the first ever nationwide bisexual gathering, the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Lani Ka'ahumanu published an article for the march: "The Bisexual Movement: Are We Visible Yet?". It was the first article about bisexuals and the emerging bisexual movement to be published in a national lesbian or gay publication. The foundation of the North American Bisexual Network (NABN), was evoked during this gathering though not founded until three years later. It would later become BiNet USA. Also in 1987, Barney Frank became the first U.S. congressman to come out as gay of his own volition; he was inspired in part by the death of Stewart McKinney, a closeted bisexual Republican representative from Connecticut. Barney Frank revealed to The Washington Post that after McKinney's death there was a debate on whether he was LGBT or not and that he did not want this to happen to him. 1990s The oldest national bisexuality organization in the United States, BiNet USA (former NAMBN), was founded in 1990. It had its first meeting at the first National Bisexual Conference in America. This first conference was held in San Francisco, and sponsored by BiPOL. Bisexual health was included in the workshops at the conference, and the "NAMES Project" quilt included with bisexual quilt pieces. More than 450 people attended and the mayor of San Francisco declared that June 23, 1990 was the Bisexual Pride Day. The conference also inspired attendees to found the first bisexual group in their hometown, called BiNet Dallas. The bisexual movement also became more accepted as part of established institutions. In 1990, Susan Carlton offered the first university course on bisexuality in America at UC Berkeley, and in 1991, Sari Dworkin and Ron Fox, two psycologists were the founding co-chairs of the Task Force on Bisexual Issues of Division 44 in the LGBT group of the American Psychological Association. In 1997, bisexual activist and psychologist Pat Ashbrook produced for the first time a national model for LGBT support groups within the Veterans Administration hospital. Bisexual literature became more prominent in the 1990s. In 1991, the Bay Area Bisexual Network began publishing Anything That Moves: Beyond The Myths Of Bisexuality, founded by Karla Rossi, who was the managing editor of the editorial collective until 1993. It was the first national bisexual quarterly magazine.1991 also saw the publication of one of the seminal books in the history of the modern bisexual rights movement, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out, an anthology edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Ka'ahumanu. After this anthology was forced to compete (and lost) in the Lambda Literary Awards under the category Lesbian Anthology, and in 2005, Directed by Desire: Collected Poems a posthumous collection of the bisexual Jamaican American writer June Jordan's work had to compete (and won) in the category "Lesbian Poetry", BiNet USA led the bisexual community in a multi-year campaign eventually resulting in the addition of a Bisexual category, starting with the 2006 Awards. In 1995, Harvard Shakespeare professor Marjorie Garber made the academic case for bisexuality with her book Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life, in which she argued that most people would be bisexual if not for "repression, religion, repugnance, denial, laziness, shyness, lack of opportunity, premature specialization, a failure of imagination, or a life already full to the brim with erotic experiences, albeit with only one person, or only one gender." Bi Community News began publishing as a monthly print journal in the UK in 1995. In 1997, bisexual activist Dr. Fritz Klein founded the first academic journal on bisexuality: Journal of Bisexuality. However, other media proved more mixed in terms of representing bisexuals. In 1990, a film with a relationship between two bisexual women, called Henry and June, became the first film to receive the NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). But in 1993, bisexual activist Sheela Lambert wrote, produced, and hosted the first television series not only for bisexuals but made by bisexuals, called Bisexual Network. Regional organizations in the bisexual movement also began to have more impact. Between 1992 and 1993 several "first" annual regional bisexual conference took place in Minnesota, Florida and Seattle: Bisexual Empowerment Conference: A Uniting, Supportive Experience (usually called BECAUSE) was the first in 1992, followed by First Annual Southeast Regional Bisexual Conference. Minnesota also changed its State Civil Rights Law, obtaining the most progressive civil rights protections for LGBT people in the country. The bisexual community in Minnesota's lobbied with LGBT groups to obtain this. Also in 1992 the First Annual Southeast Regional Bisexual Conference was organized, then in 1993 the first Northwest regional conference in Seattle. In the UK, BiPhoria was formed in 1994, the oldest bi organisation in the UK today. In 1993 the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation took place and is considered an important moment for bisexuality rights in the USA. As a result of lobbying by BiPOL (San Francisco), openly bisexual people took leadership roles in the local and regional organization, and the word "bisexual" was included in the name of the March for the first time. Lani Ka'ahumanu spoke at the rally, and over 1,000 people marched with the bisexual group. Coinciding with the March in Washington, DC, 600 people attended the Second National Conference Celebrating Bisexuality held with the help of the Alliance of Multicultural Bisexuals, BiNet USA, and the Bisexual Resource Center. It was the largest Bisexual Conference ever held at the time. Several important surveys concerning bisexuality were conducted around this time. In 1993, Ron Fox wrote the first large scale academic study on bisexual identity, and maintained an exhaustive bibliography on bi research. Also in 1993, The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior showed that 5 percent of men and 3 percent of women considered themselves bisexual. In 1995 BiNet USA Bisexual Youth Initiative, Fayetteville, N.C., developed a national LGBT youth survey, which was published and sent to communities, to improve services to bisexual youth. In 1992, Colorado voters approved by initiative an amendment to the Colorado state constitution (Amendment 2) that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to recognize bisexuals or gay people as a protected class. This led to the 1996 Supreme Court Case Romer v. Evans, in which the Court ruled in a 6–3 decision that the state constitutional amendment in Colorado preventing protected status based upon bisexuality or homosexuality did not satisfy the Equal Protection Clause. The majority opinion in Romer stated that the amendment lacked "a rational relationship to legitimate state interests", and the dissent stated that the majority "evidently agrees that 'rational basis'—the normal test for compliance with the Equal Protection Clause—is the governing standard". The state constitutional amendment failed rational basis review. The concept of bisexual pride became more widespread in the late 1990s. At an LGBT PrideFest in Connecticut in 1997, Evelyn Mantilla came out as America's first openly bisexual state official. The next year, the Bisexual Pride flag was designed by Michael Page (it was unveiled on Dec 5th, 1998 ), and in 1999 the first Celebrate Bisexuality Day took place. It was organized by Gigi Raven Wilbur, Wendy Curry and Michael Page, and became an interrnational event held every year on September 23. In France In France, there is little research or documentation specifically related to bisexuality. One of the leading works is Catherine Deschamps' 2002 study entitled Le miroir bisexuel. In 1995 a group of four women, including Catherine Deschamps, from the Act Up-Paris movement or from lesbian associations met at the (CGL) in Paris to work on an article on bisexuality for the newspaper Le 3 Keller. In the wake of this, they created a mixed group at the CGL, and in 1997 , the first bisexual association in France, was founded from this group. In Switzerland French-speaking Switzerland In Switzerland, Stéphanie Pache founded Infobi - Antenne bisexuelle romande in Lausanne in 1997, the first bisexual association in French-speaking Switzerland. A feminist activist and involved in the LGBT movement, she was aware of her bisexuality and looked for resources and books on the issue in Switzerland, but found nothing except a book by sexologist Charlotte Wolff published in 1980. She founded a bi-group within the Vogay association, which was created on 1 July 1996 in Lausanne. The association 360 in Geneva created in 1998 also responds to the need of LGBTIQ people with the wish to have a perspective of openness integrated in its statutes to tackle for the problem with a monolith perception of gay and lesbian identities. The newspaper 360° was created at the same time. Within this association, the bi discussion group was founded, which later became the Bipan group in 2021. The group organised its first public conference on 9 October 2013 entitled "Un soupçon de liberté: la bisexualité décomplexée" at the Maison des Associations in Geneva, inviting Karl Mengel, author of the book Pour et contre la bisexualité - Libre traité d'ambivalence érotique" published by Musardines in 2009. References Bisexuality

69673194

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant%20Stevens%20%28police%20commissioner%29

Grant Stevens (police commissioner)

Grantley John Stevens is the Commissioner of the South Australian Police and State Coordinator for the COVID-19 pandemic in South Australia. Police career Stevens started in the South Australian Police around 1986. Through his career, he has been involved in a number of high-profile programs. He has experience in counter terrorism, community programs, drug and alcohol management and human resource management. He led the police response to child sexual abuse from 2004 and also domestic violence in the community. As a senior sergeant, Stevens was awarded the National Medal for long (15 years) service on 27 February 2001. He was assistant commissioner when he was awarded the Australian Police Medal in the 2012 Australia Day Honours. Stevens studied for a Bachelor of Business (Human Resource Development) and Graduate Certificate of Management at the University of South Australia. Stevens was appointed deputy commissioner in September 2012. He was announced as the next Commissioner in March 2015 and took up the job on 21 July 2015. Stevens was promoted to the role of Police Commissioner on 21 July 2015. As the state emergency coordinator, he declared a state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic on 22 March 2020. The declaration was extended many times. Personal life Stevens is married to Emma, and has one daughter and four sons. In January 2022, Stevens was diagnosed with COVID-19 and reported to be isolating in a private residence, while continuing in his role remotely. References Living people Australian police officers Year of birth missing (living people)

69673505

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell%2C%20Mr.%20President

Farewell, Mr. President

Farewell, Mr. President (or Goodbye, Mr. President; ) is a 1987 Finnish thriller and action film directed by Matti Kassila and starring Hannu Lauri. It tells the story of a bitter waiter planning to assassinate the president. The film is based on a 1979 thriller novel of the same name by Pentti Kirstilä. Unlike contemporary Finnish films, the film is a thrilling film strongly influenced by post-classic Hollywood films. With a budget of more than FIM 3 million, the film once received little attention from viewers and its reception were mostly mixed. However, Hannu Lauri, who played the lead, was awarded the Jussi Award for his chilling performance. Plot summary The main character of the film is Asko Mertanen (Hannu Lauri), a Tamperean waiter who have tall poppy syndrome. During his work, he sees the bosses of the city and the construction business elite celebrating "with worker's money." Feeling anger and bitterness about this, Mertanen is planning the assassination of the President of Finland (Tarmo Manni). Mertanen's girlfriend, waitress Eeva-Maria (Laila Räikkä), wants to witness as he practices for his plan by shooting at a live target. At the same time, police are investigating the death of another female waitress, leading to interrogating Eeva-Maria, and during that, the police notice Mertanen for the first time. Several events come in contact with him, and in this way Detective Hanhivaara (Antti Litja), who is investigating strange shootings, manages to track him down. Cast Production The film was shot in the summer of 1986 in Helsinki, Tampere and the surrounding areas. Hannu Lauri plays the role of Mertanen, and as a bald-headed president reminiscent of Urho Kekkonen, Tarmo Manni is doing his last film role work as the President. President Kekkonen died during the filming, and Kassila even thought that the film could not be continued. Earlier, in March 1986, there had been the assassination of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden, and during the filming, Mikkeli hostage crisis also happened. Reception Contemporary reviews gave the film both praise and criticism. Sakari Toiviainen (Ilta-Sanomat) considered the film a rarity: "A well-made action film in a 100% Finnish environment with 100% Finnish people". Erkka Lehtola's (Aamulehti) evaluation of the film was also positive, considering it to be done professionally, but still finding criticism for the lack of a social reference background. Pentti Stranius (Kansan Ääni) found the character of the murderer too obvious, even clichéd, while Heikki Eteläpää (Uusi Suomi) thought that Hannu Lauri's role as murderer was very charismatic. Arto Pajukallio (Tv-maailma) describes his later evaluation the film's dialogue as "too contrived", while Pertti Avola (Helsingin Sanomat) states that the story has gained more credibility over time. Analysis Jaakko Seppälä states in his article on Kassila's career-telling biography, Elokuvat kertovat, Matti Kassila, that although main character Mertanen is motivated by tall poppy syndrome, the film itself does not deal with the "horsetrading" of politics and the business world. "Tall poppy syndrome", Seppälä says, "is the key to understanding the whole film." He equates Mertanen with Lalli, a Finnish peasant who traditionally killed Bishop Henry in the Middle Ages. Admittedly, Lalli's act is revenge at the individual level, which is not what Mertanen's plan is. Seppälä describes Mertanen's act as collective in the sense that Mertanen believes that by his actions he will end the era of corruption. Sources References External links Farewell, Mr. President at Radio Times Jäähyväiset presidentille at Elitisti (in Finnish) 1987 films Films about assassinations Films based on Finnish novels Films directed by Matti Kassila Films set in Helsinki Films shot in Finland Finnish thriller films

69673922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Christy%20Schwundeck

Death of Christy Schwundeck

Christy Schwundeck was a German citizen of Nigerian descent. On 19 May 2011, she went to a job centre in Frankfurt-am-Main and asked for money because her benefits had stopped and she was hungry. She refused to leave the centre and when the police arrived, a situation developed in which she stabbed one police officer and another officer shot her in the stomach, killing her. Her death provoked outrage internationally. The police officer was cleared of all charges on the grounds of self-defence. Early life In 1995, Christy Schwundeck left Benin City in Nigeria and claimed asylum in Germany. She worked as a cleaner and gained a residence permit, becoming a German citizen. She married a German man, taking his last name. She lived in Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, where she experienced everyday racism because she was a black woman. Her marriage broke down in early 2011, although she remained friends with her ex-husband and in the spring she moved to Frankfurt. Incident Early on the morning of 19 May 2011, Schwundeck called her ex-husband in distress because the previous week she had applied to the job centre for financial assistance and received no reply. He advised her to go to the centre to ask for an advance. At 08:30, she went to the job centre on Mainzer Landstraße. She received benefits under the Hartz IV system but she had not received the latest installment on 1 May and had no money. She had previously received emergency cash at job centres in Aschaffenburg and Wiesbaden, as was legally mandated. In order to get to the centre, she was forced to travel on the train without a ticket. At the centre, she entered room 22 and asked for 10 euros in cash so she could buy food. The advisor refused to give her money and she decided to stay seated, leading to the security being called. The deputy team leader also became involved; he offered Schwundeck a food voucher which would be equivalent to her benefits in June, which she did not want to take. She continued to sit in her seat. At 08:50, Frankfurt police received a call from the job centre saying that a woman was making trouble and refusing to leave. Two officers (one male, one female) parked outside the centre at 09:01 and went inside, finding four people in room 22, namely the advisor, the deputy team leader, a security guard and Christy Schwundeck. Schwundeck was still sitting on her seat with her bag on the table beside her. One officer asked her for identification and she put her hand inside the bag, but did not produce any identification. When the male police officer went to pick up her bag, Schwundeck stabbed him with a knife. The female officer retreated to the door of the room and pulled her gun. She shouted, "" ('Drop the knife, or else I'll shoot!') When Schwundeck did not comply, she shot her. Schwundeck was shot in the stomach and died from her injuries. It was later recorded that she tested negative for drugs and had nothing in her stomach except a greenish-brownish liquid, with nine eurocents in her wallet. At the time of her death, she was 39. Juridical process In January 2012, the public prosecutor dropped the case against the female police officer, on the grounds that she had acted in self-defence. The prosecutor said that Schwundeck had run towards the female police officer, putting her in fear of her life. He said that use of pepper spray or a warning shot was impracticable in a small room. In March 2012, Der Spiegel reported that Schwundeck's brother and her ex-husband had made a legal complaint to the Public Prosecutor General which demanded a trial of the officer. Legacy The death of Schwundeck shocked the African diaspora. Claudia Czernohorsky-Grüneberg, head of Frankfurt's job centres, told the Hessenschau television programme that the request for 10 euros was legitimate. In an interview with T-Online, Siraad Wiedenroth (director of Initiative Schwarze Menschen) noted that the time between the police being called and the death of Schwundeck was less than an hour. In 2019, demonstrators commemorated the deaths of people as a result of the Hartz IV system outside the Federal Constitutional Court, where the sanctions made under Hartz IV were challenged. Black Lives Matter protestors in Germany drew links between the death of Schwundeck and other deaths in police custody such as those of Ousman Sey, Dominique Koumadio, Slieman Hamade and N'deye Mareame Sarr. Connections were also drawn with the death of Oury Jalloh. At a memorial event in Frankfurt in 2021 which marked ten years since the death of Schwundeck, a representative of the Initiative Christy Schwundeck blamed the events on "deadly institutional racism". See also Death of Achidi John References 2011 deaths 21st century in Frankfurt People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Germany

69674018

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%20in%20Sri%20Lanka

2022 in Sri Lanka

The following lists notable events that will occur and take place during 2022 in Sri Lanka. Incumbents National Provincial Governors Central Province – Lalith U Gamage Eastern Province – Anuradha Yahampath North Central Province – Maheepala Herath Northern Province – Jeevan Thiagarajah North Western Province – Wasantha Karannagoda Sabaragamuwa Province – Tikiri Kobbekaduwa Southern Province – Willy Gamage Uva Province – A. J. M. Muzammil Western Province – Roshan Goonatilake Ongoing events COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka Events by month January 2 January - Total number of COVID-19 death toll in Sri Lanka surpassed 15,000 with 24 more deaths. 4 January - Former Sri Lankan cricketer and current Sri Lanka Women's cricket team head coach Hashan Tillakaratne tested positive for COVID-19. 5 January - International cricketer Bhanuka Rajapaksa retired from international cricket after three-year career at the age of 30. But on 13 January 2022, he withdrew his retirement following a request from sports minister. 8 January - International cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka retired from Test match cricket. 9 January - International cricketer Avishka Fernando tested positive for COVID-19. 11 January - A hand grenade has been recovered from the premises of All Saints' Church, Borella. On 13 January, the main suspect involved in setting up the hand grenade inside the church has been identified as a 56-year-old who was associated with the church for nearly 16 years. 12 January The construction work of the second phase of Eastern Container Terminal which is spread over an area of 75 hectares is 1,320 meters long at the Colombo Port was inaugurated. The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar sentenced to death former Prisons Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa over the Welikada Prison riot in 2012 while also acquitting the first defendant in the case, former Inspector of Police (IP) Neomal Rangajeewa from all charges in the case. 15 January - The Ethugalpura Gateway, the second phase of the Central Expressway from Mirigama to Kurunegala was declared open for the general public. 17 January - The General Secretary of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) former parliamentarian V. Anandasangaree has tested positive for COVID-19. 18 January - The female lion cub named ‘Dora’ who was born on July 26, 2021 at the Ridiyagama Safari Park has made her public debut. She was the first lion cub to be born to the lioness called ‘Lara’ at the Ridiyagama Safari Park. 19 January - One power generator that supplies 150 megawatts at the Kelanitissa Power Station has been temporarily shut down due to the lack of fuel. Later on the day, all the operations at the Kelanitissa Power Station, which generates 300 MW of electricity have been halted completely. 20 January Minister of Public Security retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Shanakiya Rasamanickam have tested positive for COVID-19. Sri Lanka leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was included in both ICC Men’s T20I and ODI teams of the year 2021 whereas skipper Dimuth Karunaratne was included in the ICC Men’s Test team and pace bowler Dushmantha Chameera has been selected to the ICC Men’s ODI team. 21 January - The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Sri Lanka surpassed 600,000. 22 January 2021 (2022) Grade 5 Scholarship Examination was held at 2,943 centres from 9.30 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. with a total of 340,508 candidates. Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) parliamentarians Sarathi Dushmantha and Nalaka Kottegoda have tested positive for COVID-19. 24 January Sri Lanka women's national cricket team qualified for the 2022 Commonwealth Games when they beat Bangladesh Women by 22 runs at the final of Commonwealth Games Women’s Cricket Competition Qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Samagi Jana Balawegaya parliamentarian Rohini Kumari Wijerathna tested positive for COVID-19. 25 January - State Ministers Jayantha Samaraweera and Dilum Amunugama, as well as MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his wife, all tested positive for COVID-19. 26 January - Sri Lanka international cricketer Dilruwan Perera announced his retirement from international cricket after 14–year career. 28 January - Laboratory tests proved that 95% of the new COVID-19 positive cases reported in Sri Lanka are infected with the Omicron variant. 29 January The Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has tested positive for Covid-19. A 40-year-old Sri Lankan father Indika Gunathilaka murdered his four-year-old daughter: Lily, and six-year-old son: Kohan, before hanging in the garage of their home on Essington Street in the southeast Perth suburb of Huntingdale. 31 January - International cricketer Chamika Karunaratne, first-class cricketer Nuwan Thushara, interim head coach Rumesh Ratnayake and trainer Dilshan Fonseka, all of whom were tested positive for COVID-19. February 2 February A group of outsiders have attacked the hostel of the Kelaniya University’s Faculty of Medicine in Ragama where three students with injuries were admitted to the Colombo North Teaching Hospital in Ragama. On next day, Avinda Randila Jehan Fernando, the son of State Minister Arundika Fernando has been arrested over the assault after he surrendered to the police. Later State Minister Arundika Fernando resigned from his ministerial position over the arrest of his son. Total number of COVID-19 death toll in Sri Lanka surpassed 15,500 with 23 more deaths. 3 February Minister of Environment Mahinda Amaraweera has tested positive for COVID-19. Sri Lanka received its first-ever Geographical indication (GI) certification when the European Union (EU) Commission granted GI status to Ceylon cinnamon. 6 February - Samagi Jana Balawegaya parliamentarian Harshana Rajakaruna has tested positive for COVID-19. 7 February - The 2021 (2022) G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination commenced at 2,438 centers island-wide with a total of 345,242 candidates. 8 February - Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna parliamentarian Dilan Perera and international cricketer Kusal Mendis have tested positive for COVID-19. 9 February - Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullah, who was held in custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), returned home after nearly two years. 11 February A large-scale drug peddler identified as Dulan Sameera Sampath alias “Abba” died in a shootout with the Police Special Task Force (STF) in the area of Egoda Uyana, Moratuwa. The University of Vavuniya was declared open as the 17th state university of Sri Lanka under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 12 February - International cricketer Binura Fernando tested positive for COVID-19 during the Australian cricket tour. 14 February - A group of individuals have reportedly attacked the residence of senior journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama at Wewala, Piliyandala where the glass on several windows had been shattered while feces had also been thrown at the house. 15 February - International cricketer Wanindu Hasaranga contracted COVID-19 during Australian cricket tour. Deaths January 8 January – Robin Fernando, 84 (actor) 9 January – Desmond de Silva, 78 (singer) 9 January – Gamini Ambalangoda, 66 (dramatist) 17 January – Neela Wickramasinghe, 72 (songstress) 18 January – Air Chief Marshal Pathman Hariprasadha Mendis, 88 (aviator) February 10 February – Oshadie Kuruppu, 27 (badminton player) 15 February - Saman Chandranath Weerasinghe, 77 (lyricist) 20 February - Tissa Bandaranayake, 65 (actor) 23 February - Sunil Madhava Premathilake, 78 (journalist) 24 February - Bandula Padmakumara, 71 (journalist) 26 February - Duckson Puslas, 31 (footballer) References Years of the 21st century in Sri Lanka 2020s in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Sri Lanka

69674511

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail%20Vasilyev-Yuzhin

Mikhail Vasilyev-Yuzhin

Mikhail Ivanovich Vasilyev-Yuzhin (Russian: Михаил Иванович Васильев-Южин; 10 November 1876 – 8 November 1937) was a Russian revolutionary, Old Bolshevik, Soviet statesman and jurist, and a victim of the Great Purge. Early career Vasilyev-Yuzhin was born into a working-class family in Pyatigorsk. He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1898 while he was an external student at Moscow University, where he graduated in 1901 from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty. When the RSDLP split, in 1903, he joined the Bolsheviks. Early in 1905, he was sent by Vladimir Lenin to Odessa to support the sailors who had mutinied on the Battleship Potemkin, but did not reach the city until several days after the Potemkin had sailed. In the weeks preceding the Moscow uprising of 1905, he was one a troika at the head of the Moscow Bolshevik party committee, along with Virgil Shantser and Martyn Liadov, and was elected to the executive of the Moscow Soviet when it was founded in November, but was caught in a police raid on 7 December, the day the uprising began, but the police failed to identify him. In 1906–1917, he carried out work for the Bolsheviks in Baku, St Petersburg and Saratov, and was arrested several times, though was not seriously persecuted. Career post-1917 During the February Revolution in 1917, Vasilyev-Yuzhin was elected deputy chairman of the Saratov Soviet, and chairman of the provincial committee of the Bolsheviks. During the October Revolution, he led the armed rising in Saratov that brought the province under Bolshevik control. When Cheka was founded in December 1917, Vasilyev-Yuzhin was appointed a member of its collegium, and was one of the founders of the soviet militia. During the Russian Civil War, he acted as a political commissar for the 15th army, and took part in the suppression of the Tambov Rebellion. From January 1919 to 1922 he was a member of the Collegium of the People's Commissariat of the Interior and from December 1918 to April 1921 he was the head of the Main Police Department. In August 1922 he was appointed a prosecutor, first with the Special Tribunal, later for the Russian Supreme Court. On 8 February 1924, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the USSR Supreme Court. He chaired numerous trials, and was one of the panel of judges at the Shakhty Trial, the first major show trial of the Stalin era. Vasilyev-Yuzhin was arrested in 1937, and shot on 8 November. He was posthumously 'rehabilitated' References Soviet politicians Soviet jurists Great Purge victims 1876 births 1937 deaths Russian revolutionaries Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Old Bolsheviks Great Purge victims from Russia Soviet rehabilitations People of the Russian Civil War

69674876

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy%20Theatre%20%28New%20York%20City%29

Embassy Theatre (New York City)

The Embassy Theatre, also known as the Embassy 1 Theatre, is a former movie theater at 1560 Broadway, along Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the theater opened in 1925 at the ground floor of 1560 Broadway, the headquarters of the Actors' Equity Association. While no longer in use as a theater, the space is preserved as a New York City designated landmark, and it continues to operate as a store. The theater interior is accessed by an entrance vestibule, which connects to an outer lobby with marble trim and a coved ceiling. The inner lobby, decorated with woodwork and mirrors, was originally used to sell tickets; it was designed in a similar manner to the outer lobby. The auditorium originally had 598 seats, which were arranged on a single raked floor, facing a proscenium arch with a movie screen. The side walls of the auditorium contain piers with lighting fixtures, behind which are murals by Arthur Crisp. The ceiling contains plasterwork decoration and lighting fixtures by Rambusch Decorating Company, including a central recessed dome. These design details remain intact except for the removal of the original seats and movie screen. The theater opened on August 26, 1925, and was originally operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Its first manager, Gloria Gould, staffed the theater almost exclusively with young women. After Guild Enterprises began operating the Embassy in 1929, the theater became the first newsreel theater in the United States. The decline of the newsreel format forced the Embassy to revert to showing films in 1949. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the theater as an interior landmark in 1987, and the Embassy showed its last film in 1998. The Times Square Business Improvement District renovated the theater into a visitor center, which operated from 1998 to 2014. Following another renovation, the Embassy reopened in 2019 as a store themed to soccer star Pelé. Design The Embassy Theatre is part of the Actors' Equity Building at 1560 Broadway. The building is on the east side of Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It faces Duffy Square, the northern end of Times Square. The Actors' Equity Building abuts the I. Miller Building to the south and the Palace Theatre to the north. The land under the building is owned by Actors Equity, while the building itself is owned by GFP. The theater is part of the building's retail space, which SL Green leases from GFP. The theater was completed in 1925 and was designed by Thomas W. Lamb, with decorations by the Rambusch Decorating Company. It is housed in what was originally a retail space for men's clothes. The theater retains the floor plan of the original retail space; the floor and the ceiling are both at the same height as the original retail space. , the old Embassy Theatre itself is a retail space. Lobbies The theater's entrance vestibule has been modified several times since it opened. There are two lobbies: an outer lobby with marble trim and an inner lobby with woodwork. The outer lobby measures long and connects the theater's entrance vestibule and inner lobby. The inner lobby leads further inward into what was originally the auditorium. The lobby spaces are similar in design details. Outer lobby Two sets of double doors lead from the entrance to the outer lobby. Each door is made of bronze with 20 glass panes; a transom window runs above the doors. The outer lobby's floor consists of black tile squares, separated by a grid of white marble. The space includes veined marble walls with wainscoting and illuminated sign displays. , the walls contain freestanding and wall-mounted truss structures with displays of sport wear. A plasterwork frieze, containing motifs of medallions and swags, runs at the top of the walls. The coved ceiling is surrounded by a molded band and contains two overhanging brass-and-crystal chandeliers, as well as ceiling vents for air conditioning. The outer and inner lobbies are separated by two brass-and-glass double doors, similar to those between the entrance and the outer lobby. Inner lobby The woodwork of the inner lobby was intended to give an intimate feeling. The space originally contained a ticket booth, and the renovated inner lobby contains a counter near the north wall. The walls contain blond-wood paneling with square mirrors; while these mirrors still exist, they are covered with vinyl stickers. Above the square mirrors are entablatures with friezes made of burled walnut, as well as gold-colored bas-relief panels with putti and vases. The square mirrors are separated by projecting, wood-paneled piers on each wall. The piers contain circular mirrors surrounded by carved wreaths. The coved ceiling is surrounded by a plasterwork frieze. The center of the ceiling has a gilded medallion, from which hangs a brass-and-crystal chandelier. The inner lobby's south wall included entrances to lounges for men and women. The lounge was decorated in a Francois I style, while the women's lounge was designed in a "Chinese Chippendale" style. Public telephones were placed in both rooms. These spaces have since been redecorated. Auditorium The former auditorium is accessed from the inner lobby and was designed with a single level of seating. There was neither a balcony nor boxes. Originally, the auditorium had 598 seats, later cited as 582. The original seats contained tapestry coverings; lacquered carmine-colored arms; and lacquered black-and-gold seat backs. Aisles ran along each side of the auditorium. The room has a slightly raked floor that slopes down toward the proscenium arch on the east wall. Although the raked floor still exists, the Pele Soccer store's floor is largely a flat surface placed on a pedestal. The raised floor is designed to resemble a soccer field. To the north and south of the raised floor are ramps that are actually part of the original raked floor. On the north and south walls of the auditorium are four piers. Each pier contains oval marble panels surrounded by floral designs, as well as gilded lighting fixtures above the marble panels. These piers were originally decorated with gilded details, and damask curtains were draped between the piers. The piers are topped by arches containing grotesque heads. The lighting fixtures were designed so they appeared to be resting on mermaids' backs. Air vents were placed within the bottoms of each pier. This created what Exhibitor's Trade Review magazine called "the latest and most effective heating and ventilation system". The walls are topped by a cornice with brackets and paneling; this cornice contains some air-conditioning grilles. There were formerly "gilded Hermes" above some of the piers. Behind the piers are six murals painted by Arthur Crisp. The six murals are decorated with architectural subjects. Two additional murals formerly existed near the proscenium, flanking the organs there. The organ itself was a three-manual console, leased for two years from M. P. Möller from 1925 to 1927. By the late 1980s, the two murals near the proscenium had been removed, while the remaining murals were in poor condition. The two murals near the rear of the auditorium were visually divided by a sound wall, although they remained physically intact. The remaining murals were restored in 2019 as part of the Pele Soccer store's construction. The westernmost mural on the north wall had been damaged, so a freestanding sign describing the theater's history was placed in front of the damaged mural. The east wall of the auditorium contains the proscenium arch. In front of the arch, there was originally a stage measuring about deep, as well as an orchestra pit and a motion-picture screen. The screen was removed in 1997 and replaced with a mural by artist Jessica Daryl Winer. Entitled Curtain Call, the mural depicted 200 notable Broadway personalities. The modern Pele Soccer store has an LED display within the proscenium opening, measuring tall by about wide. The auditorium's ceiling is mostly flat but is designed with plasterwork in low relief. The center of the ceiling has a wide recessed dome, which is surrounded by eight smaller brass-and-crystal lighting panels. The central dome is surrounded by gilded filigree decorations, which were subsequently painted cream to match the surrounding ceiling. Rambusch Studio designed the lighting fixtures. According to Exhibitor's Trade Review, the lighting fixtures were designed specifically for the theater, with a mixture of direct and indirect lighting. History Movie palaces became popular in the 1920s, between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression. In the New York City area, only a small number of operators were involved in the construction of movie palaces. Only a few architects were generally responsible for the designs of these movie palaces, including legitimate theater architects Thomas Lamb, C. Howard Crane, and John Eberson. In particular, many movie palaces were built around the Times Square area in the early 20th century. Original theater use Billboard magazine reported in April 1925 that Joel Weinstock would operate the 600-seat Embassy Theatre adjacent to the Palace Theatre, a vaudeville house. The Embassy was planned to be the first movie house in New York City to operate 24 hours a day, charging 25 cents for admission at all hours. In July 1925, it was announced that socialite Gloria Gould had signed a contract to manage the new theater, which would be operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Nineteen years old at the time, Gould was described in Exhibitors' Trade Review as "the youngest person, either male or female, to have ever achieved the distinction of directing a modern motion picture theatre, and that in the great metropolis of the world". Also unusual was the fact that Gould had no previous experience managing a cinema. The Embassy Theatre officially opened on August 27, 1925, with the film The Merry Widow. Opening-night tickets were $5.50 each (); about half the audience were "local or national celebrities", protected by a police reinforcement. When the theater opened, Gould said the theater would not host any comedies or newsreels. All seats were reserved and cost $2 each (), as Gould wanted the theater to cater to impatient "society people", rather than the general public. Furthering the Embassy's exclusive nature, "beggars, vagrants, peddlers, bootleggers and blind persons" were not allowed to enter. Gould also announced that all of the Embassy's staff would be women, from the ushers to the musicians, in the belief that women could work more efficiently than men; she said MGM vice president Major Bowes supported the effort. Gould's ushers had to be blondes in their late teens or early twenties, at most tall, with white teeth and the "ability to wear clothes with dignity". Almost four hundred women applied for staff positions, including a "white-haired widow" and a "daughter of a Russian general", according to Gould. According to the American Guild of Organists, there were still four men on staff: a porter and three operators. The Embassy initially only had two screenings daily: one at 2:45 p.m. and the other at 8:45 p.m. By October 1925, the popularity of The Merry Widow had prompted the theater's management to add a third screening on weekends at 6 p.m. Six weeks after the theater opened, Gould traveled to Paris, claiming she needed to "rest" from her "interesting theatrical work"; however, she subsequently sought legal residence there. The Embassy's film offerings in 1926 included Mare Nostrum, La Bohème, Ben-Hur, and Tell It to the Marines. Ticket prices had dropped to $0.50 or $1.00, as the concept of reserved seats was no longer novel nor in high demand, especially with the development of larger movie houses. Other films shown at the Embassy in its early years included Slide, Kelly, Slide, Annie Laurie, Hula, and Love in 1927; Submarine, The Cavalier, and The Viking in 1928; and Bellamy Trial and Father and Son in 1929. Newsreel use In October 1929, William Fox took over the Embassy, with plans to use the theater exclusively for displaying Movietone newsreels. The theater was the first of its kind to feature newsreels with sound (although the first sound newsreel had been created in 1927 at the Sam H. Harris Theatre), and it was the first exclusive newsreel theater in the U.S. The Embassy incurred a relatively high cost of $500 per week for one reel, a price no one was willing to pay. The first newsreel was screened on November 2, 1929, with footage of news items such as the city's 1929 mayoral election debates and the Wall Street Crash. There was a ticket price of 25 cents () for an hour-long show. Screenings took place every hour from 10 a.m. to midnight. As part of an opening-week promotion, the Embassy distributed tickets to thousands of residents. The renamed Embassy Newsreel Theatre saw six or seven thousand visitors per day in its first two weeks as a newsreel theater. The newsreels were completely changed every week, and the theater was on the heavily traveled Times Square, adding to the Embassy's popularity. By 1930, Movietone's editor E. L. Harvey said the Embassy had "far outgrown its original plans" of being "a show window on Broadway for Fox News". The Embassy's newsreels included the first sound reel of a whale being captured; a tribute to U.S. president Calvin Coolidge; the rise of Adolf Hitler; appearances by Pope Pius XI and J. P. Morgan Jr. and the trial and sentencing of several men who kidnapped oil magnate Charles F. Urschel. Fox Movietone published advertisements saying, "The Embassy Newsreel grossed more than $11,000 in a 550-seat house showing only Fox Movietone News." The Embassy Theatre's lease expired in January 1934, and the theater was dark for several weeks because of conflicts over the lease. In early February 1934, the Bethlehem Engineering Corporation leased the theater to Newsreel Theatres Inc., managed by Francis C. Wood Jr. Newsreel Theatres Inc. announced plans to reopen the Embassy for newsreel use, and the theater reopened on February 12, 1934, as the Embassy Pathé News Theatre, showing newsreels from Pathé News. The theater had 9,000 visitors in the first four days after it reopened. Among the newsreel stories shown at the Embassy under Pathé News' operation were Bruno Richard Hauptmann's trial in 1935, as well as a 1938 film on the Nazi Party. William French Githens, who helped run Newsreel Theatres Inc. with Francis Carter Wood Jr., recalled that U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt was "the greatest single attraction", with patrons flocking by the hundreds to watch Roosevelt's fireside chats. The Embassy Newsreel continued into the 1940s despite the growing popularity of the television. The Embassy Newsreel Theatre grew into a chain with locations on 50th and 72nd Street as well as the original theater on Times Square. As a whole, the newsreel industry was impacted negatively by World War II, when studios began sharing footage with each other to reduce costs, which consequently resulted in a decrease in competition between newsreel studios (and thus less content). Furthermore, there was growing criticism of the newsreels' tendencies to dramatize factual events, as well as the fact that newsreels discussed stories in a decreasing order of importance. In November 1949, it was announced that the Embassy would revert to showing feature films. Githens said he had decided to return the Embassy to cinematic use specifically because newsreels could no longer compete with television. Return to feature films Norman Elson, a son-in-law of prolific theater architect Herbert J. Krapp, took over the Embassy in 1950. When the Embassy was revived as a feature-film theater, it was renamed the "Broadway-Embassy", with the films Quartet and The Hidden Room. The Broadway Embassy had only showed films for two months when it returned to showing newsreel clips during the daytime in January 1950. Under the new policy, the newsreels were changed every Wednesday and Sunday, with a 25-cent admission price between 5 p.m. That April, the Embassy's management considered showing feature films that had won Academy Awards. Under the reinstated newsreel policy, the Embassy showed the documentary Cassino to Korea in 1950. In the early 1950s at least, the Embassy was often used for showing short documentaries, which were advertised on the outer lobby's signs. By December 1952, the theater had again returned to showing feature films because newsreels were facing greater competition from television. The Embassy's features in the 1960s included numerous French and Italian films. During this decade, Alfie ran at the Embassy for over six months in 1966, being the longest-running English-language film to be shown at the theater. This was followed in the 1970s by films such as Take a Girl Like You (1970) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). In its later years, the Embassy Theatre on Times Square was also called the Embassy I to distinguish it from similarly named theaters in Manhattan. By the 1980s, many of Times Square's cinemas had closed and had been modified or demolished, but the Embassy I remained active, with its architectural details being largely preserved. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started considering protecting the Embassy as an official city landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. Norman Elson's son Peter favored the designation, and the LPC designated the theater as an interior landmark on November 17, 1987. This was part of the commission's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to theaters in Midtown Manhattan. The Embassy was one of the few movie theaters being considered as a landmark; most of the other theaters were Broadway houses whose facades and interiors were both being considered as landmarks. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designation in March 1988. Commercial use Times Square Information Center By February 1997, the Times Square Business Improvement District was planning to open a visitors' center in the theater. At the time, the visitor center was housed in the Selwyn Theatre, which was planned to be renovated as part of the 42nd Street redevelopment project. Guild Enterprises' lease on the Embassy was also about to expire, and the single-screen cinema faced competition from two upcoming multiplexes in Times Square: the AMC Empire 25 and a 13-screen Sony Theaters house. The Embassy Theatre closed in December 1997, the same month that the Selwyn Theatre's facade collapsed, rendering that building unusable. In February 1998, the Times Square BID announced that it would spend $1 million to turn the Embassy into a visitor center. The restoration was designed by Ronnette Riley, while EverGreene Architectural Arts was hired to restore the decorative finishes. Most of the former seats were removed and sold to churches in Brooklyn. The project cost $1.1 million. A press preview for the Times Square Information Center took place on September 1, 1998, and the center was opened to the public the next day. The Times Square Information Center's inner lobby had restrooms, a currency exchange, and a booth selling memorabilia from the New York City government. There was an information booth below the auditorium's central light fixture, as well as 21 restored theater seats. The visitor center featured six internet terminals, which were installed as part of a collaboration with Yahoo!, There was a newsstand, four Fleet Bank ATMs, and ticket booths operated by the League of American Theatres and Producers, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York City government, and Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises. The center also contained a display about Times Square's history, narrated by then-mayor Rudy Giuliani and television personality Dick Clark, as well as Winer's mural. Subsequent additions to the visitor center included a concierge service for Broadway and off-Broadway shows, which opened in 2008. The visitor center was renovated in 2010. An exhibit about Times Square's old peep shows, a Times Square Ball, a photo booth, and a collection of hats used in Broadway shows were added to the visitor center during this time. Retail conversion In July 2013, the Actors Equity Building's owners proposed adding an escalator from the outer lobby to the basement, as well as relocating the inner lobby wall. Manhattan Community Board 5 opposed this plan. The owners subsequently made another proposal in October 2013, which involved modifying the basement escalators and leveling the raked auditorium floor; Community Board 5 also opposed this plan. The community board approved a third proposal made by Carlton Architects, who represented Brazilian soccer player Pelé, a prospective retail tenant for the space. Carlton proposed that the theater's layout be retained "to respect the space". The Times Square BID closed its information center in June 2014. In November 2019, a Pelé Soccer store opened within the former Embassy Theatre space. Prior to the store's opening, the marquee above the theater's entrance was modified with the store's name. Television screens were installed in the theater's entrance vestibule, displaying soccer games, and the outer and inner lobbies were arranged with soccer memorabilia. The auditorium itself was used sell to soccer gear and footwear, and the auditorium floor was modified to look like a soccer field. See also List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets References Notes Citations Sources External links 1925 establishments in New York City Broadway (Manhattan) Commercial buildings in Manhattan Former cinemas in the United States New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan New York City interior landmarks Theater District, Manhattan Theatres completed in 1925 Times Square buildings Thomas W. Lamb buildings

69676254

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zobeda%20Khanom%20Chowdhury

Zobeda Khanom Chowdhury

Zobeda Khanom Chowdhury (; 1901–1986), also known as Zobeda Rahim Chowdhury (), was one among the leading woman who partook in the Bengali language movement from Sylhet and a pioneering women in Bangladeshi politics. Early life and education Zobeda Khanom was born in 1901, to a Bengali Muslim family in Jorhat, Assam. Her father was Khan Bahadur Sharafat Ali and her mother was Nurjahan Begum. The family were originally from Paniumda, Nabiganj in Sylhet, but Ali had moved to Assam for employment. Her education began in Dibrugarh, also in Assam, where her father was working at the time. She then enrolled at the Eden Mohila College in Dacca, where she became the college's first female Muslim student. In 1928, the Sylhet Muslim Students Conference was held, which was attended by the likes of Qazi Nazrul Islam, AK Fazlul Huq, and Muhammad Shahidullah. She first became the president of the Sylhet District Women's Congress and later left the party and became the president of the Sylhet District Women's Muslim League in 1943. In 1919, her father arranged for her to marry Dewan Abdur Rahim Chowdhury, who was a member of the Assam Legislative Council. They had five sons and four daughters. Political activism She was the leader of Sylhet Womans Association. Demanding to make Bengali the state language, the women of Sylhet district met the Minister of Communications at the beginning of the language movement in 1948 and later handed over a memorandum to the then Prime Minister of East Bengal. Here she played a leading role. After sending this memorandum, they came under pressure in various ways. At that time, the Eastern Herald, a pro-Urdu newspaper in Sylhet, in its editorial, made indecent remarks about the leader Zobeda Khanom and the memorandum. Syeda Najibunnesa Khatun, another great language activist, protested against this indecent statement. She said in a protest note published in the March 12 issue of the weekly Nau-Belal: "Those that despite being Bengali-speakers of East Pakistan oppose their mother tongue are treacherous children... In what way are the non-Urdu-speaking Muslims of Sylhet inferior in observing the rules of Islam than those proficient in Urdu? On the contrary, the conscious people have expressed the view that culture and heritage deserve a prominent place among the Muslims of Sylhet in the whole of East Pakistan." Tamaddun Majlish founder Abul Kashem also sent a letter to Zobeda Khanom, expressing the Majlish's gratitude to her activism in Sylhet and giving her a sense of hope in response to the indecent media backlash. The Bengalis were outraged when Urdu was declared the state language of Pakistan at the Ramna Race Course Ground in Dhaka by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and at the convocation ceremony of Dhaka University on March 24. In this time, Zobeda Khanom sent a letter to Jinnah requesting Bengali to be given status. Her son, Ahmad Kabir Chowdhury, also took part in the language movement. He was killed during a police firing at a student protest on 21 February (now recognised as International Mother Language Day). Zobeda Khanom was one of the many members of the Sylhet Regional All-Parties State Language Council. Death Zobeda Khanom died in Bangladesh in 1986. See also Syeda Shahar Banu References   1986 deaths 1901 births Bengali language movement activists People from Nabiganj Upazila 20th-century Bengalis

69677632

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satel%20Film

Satel Film

Satel Film is an Austrian TV and film production and distribution company, founded in 1971 and based in Vienna. Its documentaries, TV series and shorts include Kottan ermittelt, Schlosshotel Orth, the biopics Andreas Hofer – Die Freiheit des Adlers and (as a co-production) Brecht, thriller Opernball, the TV films Heilerin I and Heilerin II and the police procedural SOKO Donau, released in Germany as SOKO Wien. References 1971 establishments in Austria Film production companies of Austria

69678114

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl%20Richmond%20%28serial%20killer%29

Earl Richmond (serial killer)

Earl Richmond Jr. (November 6, 1961 – May 6, 2005) was an American serial killer who committed four murders, including those of two children, in New Jersey and North Carolina from April to November 1991. Before the murders, Richmond served in the United States Army as a drill sergeant, stationed at Fort Dix in New Jersey, where he committed two known rapes. Following his arrest for murder, he was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in 2005. Early life Earl Richmond Jr. was born on November 6, 1961, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Ultimately, not much is known about his childhood and adolescent years, but he entered the military in the early adult years. Between 1988 and 1990, Richmond served as drill sergeant at Fort Dix in Trenton, New Jersey. Crimes Military crimes During his time in the army, multiple sexual assaults on female recruits were reported in the immedient area. The first of which occurred on April 15, 1989, when a female Air Force officer was sexually assaulted at gun point at a bus stop. Days later, a 17-year-old girl was raped in her motel room just outside of Fort Dix. A man named Richard Stevens was arrested and convicted of the first assault by a federal court, but his conviction was overturned three years later after it was proven that Stevens was most likely innocent. On April 5, 1991, Richmond entered the home of 24-year-old Lisa Ann Nadeau, an Army Specialist based out of Fort Dix, as well as a payroll clerk. Richmond tied up, strangled, stabbed, and beat Nadeau to death with a hammer. He was not suspected in her murder, but afterwards Richmond traveled to North Carolina. Murder of the Hayes family Richmond began staying with 27-year-old Helisa Hayes and her two children, 8-year-old Philip and 7-year-old Darien. Richmond was a family friend of Hayes, as he had dated one of Hayes’ sisters, and was a friend of Hayes’ ex-husband Wayne. On November 2, after apparently getting into an argument, Richmond dragged Hayes into the bedroom where he raped her. Afterwards he forced Philip into the bathroom where he stabbed him 40 times with a pair of scissors, and strangled him with an electrical cord before he strangled Darien with a wire from a curling iron. The bodies were discovered on November 4 by Hayes’ father. Police initially focused on Wayne Hayes, Helisa's ex-husband. Arrest and convictions It was not until April 1992 that Richmond would become a suspect, and he was brought into the police station for an interview on April 3. During which, he denied involvement. At the same time, a DNA test was brought forward, which confirmed Richmond's involvement. Upon learning this, Richmond confessed to the murders. At the same time, DNA testing also connected Richmond to two unsolved rapes that occurred in New Jersey in April 1989, as well as the April 1991 murder of Nadeau. Richmond was tried in federal court for Nadeau's murder since it occurred on a military base. He was convicted in May 1993 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In May 1995, Richmond was convicted of the Hayes’ murders and sentenced to death. Execution On May 6, 2005, Richmond was executed by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. His last words were "I'd like to extend my deepest apologies to all the victims' families and their loved ones. I'd like to say that I'm not a man that shies away from his responsibilities. I'd like to say that I hope that now, through my death, that y'all can move forward with your lives. Thank you and God bless you." See also Capital punishment in North Carolina Capital punishment in the United States List of people executed in North Carolina List of people executed in the United States in 2005 List of serial killers in the United States References 1961 births 2005 deaths 21st-century executions by North Carolina 21st-century executions of American people American people convicted of murder Criminals from North Carolina Executed American serial killers Executed people from North Carolina People convicted of murder by North Carolina People executed by North Carolina by lethal injection People from Fayetteville, North Carolina 20th-century American criminals People executed for murder

69678450

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20controversies%20involving%20GoDaddy

List of controversies involving GoDaddy

GoDaddy has been involved in many controversies since its foundation in 1997. Verisign lawsuit In 2002, GoDaddy sued VeriSign for domain slamming and again in 2003 over its Site Finder service. This latter suit caused controversy over VeriSign's role as the sole maintainer of the .com and the .net top-level domains. VeriSign shut down Site Finder after receiving a letter from ICANN ordering it to comply with a request to disable the service. In 2006, GoDaddy was sued by Web.com for patent infringement. Deletion of FamilyAlbum.com On December 19, 2006, GoDaddy received a third party complaint of invalid domain contact information in the WHOIS database for the domain FamilyAlbum.com. GoDaddy wrote a letter to the owner of FamilyAlbum.com saying, "Whenever we receive a complaint, we are required by ICANN regulations to initiate an investigation as to whether the contact data displaying in the WHOIS database is valid data or not... On 12/19/2006 we sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain." The editor of "Domain Name Wire" said that since domain names are valuable it was reasonable to expect that the registrar would try to contact the domain owner by phone or postal mail. On February 28, 2007, GoDaddy offered to get the domain name back for the previous owner if he would indemnify GoDaddy from legal action by the new registrant. GoDaddy stated that the new owner paid $18.99 for the domain, the price of a backorder, not a regular registration. On November 2, 2007, Domain Name Wire reported that it appears that GoDaddy no longer cancels domains for invalid WHOIS. The editor on Domain Name Wire received a message from a reader who is trying to acquire a domain with obviously false WHOIS information. The message from GoDaddy said, "The domain has been suspended due to invalid WHOIS. The domain will remain in suspension through expiration, including the registry's redemption period, unless the owner updates the contact information before that time." On January 24, 2007, GoDaddy deactivated the domain of computer security site Seclists.org, taking 250,000 pages of security content offline. The shutdown resulted from a complaint from MySpace to GoDaddy regarding 56,000 user names and passwords posted a week earlier to the full-disclosure mailing list and archived on the Seclists.org site as well as many other websites. Seclists.org administrator Gordon Lyon, who goes by the handle "Fyodor", provided logs to CNET showing GoDaddy de-activated the domain 52 seconds after leaving him a voicemail and he had to go to great lengths to get the site reactivated. GoDaddy general counsel Christine Jones stated that GoDaddy's terms of service "reserves the right to terminate your access to the services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever." The site seclists.org is now hosted with Linode. The suspension of seclists.org led Lyon to create NoDaddy.com, a consumer activist website where dissatisfied GoDaddy customers and whistleblowers from GoDaddy's staff share their experiences. On July 12, 2011, an article in The Register reported that, shortly after Bob Parsons' sale of GoDaddy, the company purchased gripe site No Daddy. The site had returned a top 5 result on Google for a search for GoDaddy. Shutdown of RateMyCop.com On March 11, 2008, GoDaddy shut down RateMyCop.com — a RateMyProfessors-type site where people would comment on their interactions with law enforcement officers. Some reports said there had been complaints from police. A GoDaddy spokesperson said, "Basically, he was paying for compact car, when he really needed a semi-truck." The registrar for the name, Name.com, continued to allow the DNS to resolve, and it is now hosted at Lunarpages. GoDaddy stated the reason for shutting down the Web site had nothing to do with censorship or complaints but that the site was receiving too many simultaneous connections. In 2006, GoDaddy locked access to the Irish Web site RateYourSolicitor.com after the Irish high court issued an order to remove offensive material about a barrister from the site. China domains In March 2010, GoDaddy stopped registering .cn domains (China) due to the high amount of personal information that is required to register in that country. Some called it a public relations campaign, since it closely followed Google's revolt in China. GoDaddy's top lawyer Christine Jones told Congress, "We were having to contact Chinese users to ask for their personal information and begrudgingly give it to Chinese authorities. We decided we didn't want to become an agent of the Chinese government." GoDaddy resumed registering .cn domain names in February 2016 as part of its push into the Asia market. Animal rights Elephant shooting On April 1, 2011, animal rights groups including PETA complained when a video of Bob Parsons shooting and killing an elephant at night in Zimbabwe was made by Parsons and posted on his personal blog. PETA said they would be closing their account with GoDaddy. Super Bowl XLIX Puppy Ad On January 27, 2015, GoDaddy released its Super Bowl ad on YouTube. Called "Journey Home", the commercial featured a Retriever puppy named Buddy who was bounced out of the back of a truck. After making a journey home his owners are relieved because they just sold him on a website they built with GoDaddy. GoDaddy claims the ad was supposed to be funny and an attempt to make fun of all the puppies shown in Super Bowl ads. Most notably, Budweiser's famous Super Bowl ad also featured a Retriever puppy. The ad found very few fans from the online community. Animal advocates took to social media calling the ad disgusting, callous and that the commercial advocated puppy mills. An online petition collected 42,000 signatures. GoDaddy's CEO, Blake Irving, wrote a blog entry later that day promising that the commercial would not air during the Super Bowl. He wrote on his blog "At the end of the day, our purpose at GoDaddy is to help small businesses around the world build a successful online presence. We hoped our ad would increase awareness of that cause. However, we underestimated the emotional response. And we heard that loud and clear." He goes on to say that Buddy was purchased from a reputable breeder and is part of the GoDaddy family as Chief Companion Officer. Implementation of Selective DNS Blackout policy In July 2011, GoDaddy introduced a policy of blocking DNS queries from some outside DNS servers, in order to prevent other DNS queries from being too slow. Among other things, this prevents some bots from visiting websites, forcing some search engines to exclude domains hosted with GoDaddy. With this policy, they are choosing to allow their DNS servers to be under-provisioned (meaning that their servers are unable to gracefully handle their normal load). To prevent slow DNS, which would generate complaints quickly, they decided to block 100% of packets from hand-picked DNS servers based on volume and visibility. This reduces load somewhat, while making it difficult for customers to pinpoint GoDaddy as the problem. This policy also affects search engine ranking for various GoDaddy customers who have multiple domains with different registrars. GoDaddy has refused to comment on the policy or the perception that their servers cannot handle the load or they are giving preference to their platinum level customers at first. It has also interfered with projects that collect Internet statistics. In September 2011, GoDaddy made an official statement from Rich Merdinger, now Vice President of Domains at GoDaddy, and claim that this is to protect GoDaddy users' privacy, and that they're ensuring that DNS records are being accessed properly and not being harvested for unintended uses. Namecheap rivalry On December 11, 2011, Rival domain name registrar Namecheap claimed that GoDaddy was in violation of ICANN rules by providing incomplete information in order to hinder the protest moves of domain names from GoDaddy to Namecheap, an accusation which GoDaddy denied, claiming that it was following its standard business practice to prevent WHOIS abuse. GoDaddy still maintains the strict policy of 60 days lock in inter registrar domain transfers, if there was a change in registrant information. Many other registrars are giving an option for their customers to opt out from this 60 days lock as per the ICANN Policy which states: "The Registrar must impose a 60-day inter-registrar transfer lock following a Change of Registrant, provided, however, that the Registrar may allow the Registered Name Holder to opt out of the 60-day inter-registrar transfer lock prior to any Change of Registrant request". At this time GoDaddy does allow customers who update their domain contact information to opt-out of the 60 day lock upon verification. Backing of SOPA and resultant boycott On December 22, 2011, a thread was started on the social news website Reddit, discussing the identity of supporters of the United States Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which included GoDaddy. GoDaddy subsequently released additional statements supporting SOPA. A boycott and transfer of domains were proposed. This quickly spread across the Internet, gained support, and was followed by a proposed Boycott GoDaddy day on December 29, 2011. One strong supporter of this action was Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, who threatened that the organization would remove over 1,000 domains from GoDaddy if they continued their support of SOPA. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales also announced that all Wikipedia domains would be moved away from GoDaddy as their position on SOPA was "unacceptable". After a brief campaign on Reddit, imgur owner Alan Schaaf transferred his domain from GoDaddy. GoDaddy pulled its support for SOPA on December 23, releasing a statement saying "GoDaddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it." Later that day, CEO Warren Adelman couldn't commit to changing GoDaddy's position on the record in Congress when asked, but said "I'll take that back to our legislative guys, but I agree that's an important step." When pressed, he said "We're going to step back and let others take leadership roles." He felt that the public statement removing their support would be sufficient for now, though further steps would be considered. Further outrage was due to the fact that many Internet sites and domain registrars would be subject to shutdowns under SOPA, but GoDaddy is in a narrow class of exempted businesses that would have immunity, where many other domain operators would not. By December 24, 2011, GoDaddy had lost 37,000 domains as a result of the boycott. GoDaddy gained a net 20,748 domains. Service outage On September 10, 2012, a major networking failure caused by corrupted router tables resulted in a DNS outage intermittently affecting millions of customers' sites for a period of 4.5 hours. Initial reports attributed it to a DDOS attack. This claim was disputed by Wagner, who stated that the isolated incident was due to internal mistakes that led to corrupt data tables. Wagner stood by the quality of GoDaddy's infrastructure, citing a 99.999% uptime. GoDaddy later said in an apology e-mail to its customers on September 14, 2012, that the outage was due to the corruption of router data tables, confirming indications that millions of web sites and e-mails were affected. Fraudulent subdomains In April 2019, GoDaddy removed more than 15,000 fraudulent website sub-domains after Jeff White, a cyber-security researcher at Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 threat intelligence team, discovered a massive scam where criminals were selling products, such as weight loss pills, through an affiliate marketing program using compromised websites to add legitimacy to their products and services. The products and services were also shown to be endorsed by celebrities, such as Stephen Hawking, Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani, although none of them are believed to have been involved in these activities. Security breach On October 19, 2019, GoDaddy experienced a security breach that affected 28,000 customer's hosting accounts. The breach lasted for a period of six months before detection by the company's security team on April 23, 2020. The breach was conducted by utilizing an altered SSH file and targeted customer's hosting information, compromising the usernames and passwords of the accounts involved. On November 17, 2021, GoDaddy discovered unauthorized third-party access to their Managed WordPress hosting environment that affected up to 1.2 million of their clients, thus exposing their email addresses and phone numbers. In addition to that it had also exposed WordPress admin passwords, SSL keys and sFTP passwords. Kata'ib Hezbollah In October 2020, US Justice Department seized Kata'ib Hezbollah propaganda websites hosted by GoDaddy. The seized websites, Aletejahtv.com and kataibhezbollah.com, were illegally utilized by the terror group to recruit new members and promote extremist propaganda. A number of counter terrorism groups, including Counter Extremist Project (CEP) has previously called on GoDaddy to stop providing domain registrar services to such parties. CEP Executive Director David Ibsen mentioned publicly that Internet infrastructure companies can play a critical role in preventing the spread and facilitation of terrorism online. One such example came from infrastructure-as-a-service provider Voxility, when it ceased to provide services to Epik-owned BitMitigate in August 2019. COVID-19 fake employee bonus stunt In December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic crisis the company tricked employees into thinking they had earned a bonus of $650, instead they were told they had failed a phishing test and were required to do social engineering training. After significant criticism in the media as 'cruel' and 'stupid' the company apologised to its staff but did not offer actual bonuses. Deplatforming clients in protest On January 11, 2021, the company deplatformed the web forum AR15.com following the U.S. Capitol attack. GoDaddy told Axios that the action was due to the site's failure to moderate content "that both promoted and encouraged violence." The National Shooting Sports Foundation, in a message from its president, condemned what it called the "de-platforming of gun sites" as a "dark harbinger" for discussion of controversial issues and an "indiscriminate silencing of opinion and debate." Texas Heartbeat Act In September 2021 the company cancelled a contract with the pro-life group Texas Right to Life who were running a website encouraging whistleblowing of those who were breaking the Texas Heartbeat Act. Owned by the Texas Right to Life group, the website was used as a platform for the public to submit tips on suspected pregnancy terminations in Texas. In a statement to Ars Technica, Texas Right to Life Director of Media and Communication Kimberlyn Schwartz noted that, "We will not be silenced. If anti-Lifers want to take our website down, we'll put it back up." See also List of controversies involving The New York Times References External links Official website GoDaddy

69680523

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jongerenorganisatie%20Forum%20voor%20Democratie

Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie

Youth organization Forum for Democracy (, JFVD) is a political youth organization in the Netherlands that acts as the youth wing of the Forum for Democracy party. Organization JFVD is aimed at people between the ages of 14 and 27. It has a national board with five members and a regional hub for each Dutch province controlled by one member of the national board with at least two coordinators working with them. These hubs organize events such as summer camps for members, debates and lectures. The membership was claimed to stand around 4498 in 2021. The JFVD was originally founded and chaired by Freek Jansen. He was subsequently succeeded by Iem al Biyati. The youth wing also publishes a magazine called The Dissident. Controversies In April 2021, the JFVD was investigated by the mother party after Dutch magazine HP/De Tijd published instances of members sharing messages in WhatsApp groups that were deemed to have extremist and racist content (including praise of Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant) . In response, then FvD Senator and vice-chairman Lennart van der Linden described the messages as "disgusting" but added "we do not want to be a thought police for things that people do in private" and that one of the people involved was not a member of the party. The FvD subsequently discharged three members as a result of the incident. In November 2021, Het Parool revealed more instances of remarks deemed racist, homophobic and antisemitic made by members and alleged that the JFVD chair and parliamentary candidate Freek Jansen had appointed individuals who had made controversial statements into coordinating positions of the youth wing. Jansen responded to the allegations by saying that the youth wing had no place for "racist and antisemitic ideas". However, the controversies led to calls from some FvD politicians for the youth wing to be disbanded and were cited as a reason by some FvD MEPs and Senators for quitting the party over what they felt was a slow and inadequate response to the incidents. References Nationalist parties in the Netherlands Youth wings of conservative parties Political organisations based in the Netherlands Conservative parties in the Netherlands

69681164

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Great%20Jewel%20Robbery

The Great Jewel Robbery

The Great Jewel Robbery is a 1925 American silent crime drama film directed by John Ince and starring Herbert Rawlinson, Grace Darmond and Frank Brownlee. Synopsis Private detective Doris Dunbar is on the trail of jewel thief Hooper and tracks him to the Red Mill Inn where she also encounters playboy Steve Martindale. She and Martindale are kidnapped by Hooper, but are eventually freed by the police. Main cast Herbert Rawlinson as Steve Martindale Grace Darmond as Doris Dunbar Frank Brownlee as McGroody Carlton Griffin as Hooper Marcella Daly as Mrs. Hooper Chester Conklin as Cootie Joe References Bibliography Connelly, Robert B. The Silents: Silent Feature Films, 1910-36, Volume 40, Issue 2. December Press, 1998. Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997. External links 1925 films 1925 crime films English-language films American films American silent feature films American crime films Films directed by John Ince American black-and-white films

69683050

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqbal%20Singh%20Lalpura

Iqbal Singh Lalpura

Iqbal Singh Lalpura (born February 7, 1953) is an Indian politician, author and retired IPS Officer from the state of Punjab. He is currently serving as chairman of India's National Commission for Minorities. He is a member and a national spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party, he is active in politics since 2012. Political Achievements Political career Lalpura, A former IPS officer who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2012, was chosen as Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities In September 2021 Before being appointed as chairman, he was a national spokesperson for the BJP and a popular face on television debates. Key Post As Senior Police Officer Deputation to FBI, USA as expert on Militancy 2006 Lalpura As Author Books Authored on Sikh Philosophy and History Japji Sahib Ik Vichar Lalkarde Sahib Zade Gurbani Katha Vichar Musalman Kahawan Muskal Brahman Bhala Akhiyaia Nanak Tin Ke Sang Sath Kichh Suniyia Kichh Kahiyia Wangaar Singho Khabardar Such Suniasi Marde Ae Khuda Nanak Manas Toon Davte Raj Karega Khlasa Kadon Tak Dehande Rahenge, Kade Takhat Kade Sidhanth Upcoming Books Love Serve & Protect Life with Crime & Criminals Jagat Guru Baba Tilak Janju – Manukhuta Da Rakha Meadia Coverage News Paper/ Magazines Daily Ajit Punjabi Tribune Punjabi Jagran Jagbani Punjab Kesri Aaj di Awaj Nawan Jamana Dainik Bhaskar Gurmat Parkash Panch Janya Punjab Times (UK) Desh Punjab (UK) Shere Punjab (USA) Punjab Spectrum (USA) The Sikh (Canada) Punjabi in Holland (Holland) TV & Radio Door Darshan Jalandhar Day & Night T.V. Chandigarh ZEE T.V P.T.C. Global Punjab USA. Chann Pardesi Radio USA, Canada, Europe, Australia Harman Radio - Europe, Australia Such di Goonj – Holland NEWS 18 Awards References 1953 births Living people Indian police officers Narendra Modi ministry

69683393

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward%20Bates%20Soper

Edward Bates Soper

Edward Bates Soper (February 7, 1855 – March 30, 1899) was an American serial killer. Initially sought for the murder of his first wife and two daughters in Archie, Missouri in 1895, Soper killed a son from his second wife near Portland, Oregon two years later. After his arrest, he confessed to five homicides committed throughout his life, starting with the murder of his father in 1880, but was hanged solely for the one of the murders in Archie. Early life and Missouri murders Edward Bates Soper was born on February 7, 1855, in Kearney, Missouri, the second of eight children born to farmers John Lewis Soper and Sarah Hyatt Soper (née Estes). Little is known of his life prior to committing his first crime, that being stealing a horse at the age of 20 and selling it in Kansas City. Sometime after committing this deed, Soper hatched a plan to kill his father John, whom he had grown to hate over the years for unclear reasons. Murder of John Soper On January 30, 1880, Edward Soper started a literary society near the family home in Kearney, inviting his father to join in. Once the elder Soper accepted his invitation, Edward went to hide in a feeding lot, and when he saw his father approaching, he drew his pistol and shot him four times, killing him. Soper then disposed of the murder weapon in a nearby creek, returned to the society and went on to participate in the exercises, acting as if nothing had happened. When the crime was discovered, another man named Mapes was convicted on circumstantial evidence and imprisoned for the murder. Murder of Ardela Hunt and children Soper himself was arrested for horse theft and sentenced to a 2-year prison term in a local penitentiary. After his release, Soper returned to Clay County, where he married 35-year-old Ardela Hunt, a divorcée with two children: 6-year-old Maude and 3-year-old Gillis. While the marriage was generally considered a happy one, Soper and his wife would begin to quarrel after the latter decided to join a local Christian church, to which the former objected, as he was supposedly a spiritualist. On April 21, 1891, while Ardela and the two children were sleeping in their respective rooms at the family farm in Archie, Soper grabbed an axe and proceeded to murder all three of them, bludgeoning them repeatedly. After killing them, he sat down and wrote several letters, claiming that he had exterminated his family because he could not properly take care of them and would rather have them die than to live in misery. He then locked the doors and proclaimed that he was moving out of town because he had supposedly discovered an illegal saloon, which he considered immoral. Three days after his departure, neighbors broke down the family home to find his wife and children's decomposing bodies. Soon after this discovery, an arrest warrant was issued for Soper, who would remain on the run for several years. In June 1891, three fishermen found the highly decomposed body of an apparent drowning victim in the Missouri River, which was initially believed to be Soper. After a coroner's inquest, the man's body was erroneously identified as that of Soper, and the case was temporarily closed. Move to Oregon, new murder and arrest In the meantime, the real Soper had moved to Albina, Oregon (now a district of Portland), where he lived under the assumed name of R. S. "Sandy" Soper and worked as a car cleaner for the Pullman Company. In 1894, Soper remarried to a woman named Catherine Brownleewe, with whom he had a child, Gilis. For around three years, the trio lived a relatively happy life until one fateful day, when Soper accidentally revealed his real name to his wife. Murder of son On April 16, 1897, under the guise of going to a shoemaker, Soper took his 2-year-old son with him and went out, but never returned home. A few days later, he sent his wife a letter claiming that the child was "placed where it would be well cared for", and asked her not to worry about him. In actuality, Soper had gone to a bank of the Willamette River, where he then threw Gilis into the river and let him drown, before fishing out the corpse and burying it nearby. Arrest For the next month or so, Soper remained on the run, using the alias "Homer Lee" and finding himself a job as a farm hand on a farm in Ashland. He remained under the radar until a police officer from Kansas City, Sam E. Lowe, happened to read about the Portland case in a newspaper. Taking note that the man had the same surname as the supposedly dead Soper, Officer Lowe contacted his brother, a local prosecutor, who used his connections around various towns in Oregon to arrange for Lowe to be dispatched and hunt the fugitive down. After searching for some time, Lowe tracked Soper down to the Ashland farm, where the officer promptly placed Soper under arrest and immediately sought to have Soper extradited back to Missouri. On the way, Soper confessed to killing his wife and three children, but initially denied responsibility for his father's murder. While Soper showed no outward remorse for his deeds, Officer Lowe would later claim that Soper would have nightmares about drowning Gilis, and would exclaim "He can't swim; he can't swim; poor little fellow." upon waking up. After being asked by the medical examiner to say exactly where he had disposed of Gilis' body, Soper provided directions which led to the discovery of the boy's decomposing corpse. Trial, imprisonment and execution Due to the severity of his crime in Missouri, Soper was extradited back to the state and charged with killing his wife, to which he pleaded insanity. After a trial that lasted several months, he was convicted and promptly sentenced to death. He later appealed his sentence to the Supreme Court of Missouri, but his appeal was rejected along with that of several other murderers. On March 30, 1899, Soper was hanged on the gallows in Harrisonville, in front of a crowd of approximately forty people. Prior to his execution, he ate what was described as a "hearty meal", refused any religious counsel and, as his final words, simply said "All is done." His death was likely instantaneous, as an autopsy revealed that his neck was broken after the fall. See also Capital punishment in Missouri List of serial killers in the United States Further reading Wood, L. (2017). Yanked Into Eternity: Lynchings and Hangings in Missouri. United States: Hickory Press. Enstad, S. (2021). P.S. Katie Don't Hate Me: The True Story of the Archie Butcher. United States. References External links State v. Soper, 148 Mo. 217 (1899) Feb. 21, 1899 Supreme Court of Missouri Edward Bates Soper from "Show Me Murder" podcast P.S. Katie Don't Hate Me. A biography of Edward Bates Soper's life. 1855 births 1899 deaths 19th-century American criminals American male criminals Male serial killers American serial killers American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Missouri Patricides Uxoricides Filicides Axe murder 19th-century executions of American people 19th-century executions by the United States Executed American serial killers People executed by Missouri by hanging People executed for murder Executed people from Missouri Fugitives wanted by the United States Fugitives wanted on murder charges Criminals from Missouri People from Kearney, Missouri

69684375

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibi%20%28podcast%29

Alibi (podcast)

Alibi is a true crime podcast produced by The Wits Radio Academy and hosted by Paul McNally and Freddy Mabitsela. Background The show started after de Vries sent a letter to a group of journalism students. The show is hosted by Paul McNally and Freddy Mabitsela. McNally cites Serial as an inspiration for the show. Anthony de Vries's story has been compared to Adnan Syed. Anthony de Vries was incarcerated for seventeen years for double murder and robbery. The first season is an eight part series. Season one covers the story of Anthony de Vries, a man who was incarcerated at the Boksburg Correctional Centre at the time of recording. The first episode discusses the relationship between the police during South African apartheid and de Vries. The third episode of the season visits the scene of the crime in Vereeniging. The second season was launched in January of 2020. Season two was a six part series. The second season covers the story of Priscilla Mchunu, a teacher from Laduma High School, who had been killed in 2017. Other production credits include Paul McNally, John Bartmann, Kutlwano Serame, and Freddy Mabitsela. Paul McNally is the co-founder of the production company Volume. The show was syndicated on a national radio station. The creators of the show spoke at the Africa Podfest. Other podcasts related to Africa include African Tech Roundup, Sound Africa, Animation South Africa Podcast, and Property Woolf. Reception The show received "Best Radio Feature" at the national Vodacom Journalist of The Year Awards. The show was featured in Toyota Connect Magazine as one of the "15 South African Podcasts You Need to Know About". The show had a 4.5 star rating on Apple Podcasts in March of 2020. The show received criticism for turning a tragedy into entertainment. References External links Audio podcasts 2019 podcast debuts Crime podcasts Investigative journalism

69684458

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%20Philadelphia%20apartment%20fire

2022 Philadelphia apartment fire

On the morning of January 5, 2022, a fire tore through a row house converted into apartments in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Twelve people died, nine of them children, and two others were injured. Five additional people escaped from the first floor unit with minor injuries. The fire happened just four days before the 2022 Bronx apartment fire, also in the Northeastern United States. Building The building was a three-story rowhouse that had been split into two apartments and operated by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. It had one fire extinguisher in a shared entryway on the first floor; however as neither the city's building codes nor PHA policy require additional measures for rental units that size, there were initially no other safety measures. The building had no additional fire extinguishers, sprinklers, fire escapes, or tamper proof smoke detectors provided in the rentals. PHA had installed four smoke detectors in each rental unit of the duplex in 2019 and an additional two in 2020. The units were inspected by the PHA separately in April and May 2021 and both were found to have working smoke detectors at that time. There were at least twenty-six people living in the duplex with eighteen living in the front section of the second floor and the entire third floor. Eight others lived in the first floor and rear half of the second floor. Fire The fire began around 6:30 am EST on the second floor of the duplex, and neighbors claimed to hear screams around 6:30 am. Fire fighters found a heavy fire coming from the kitchen area and heading up the staircase to the third floor. Firefighters and investigators believe that the fire began at a Christmas tree in the southwest corner of the second floor unit, near the open stairwell to the third story. Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said that of the six smoke alarms that were in the unit when the fire started, none were operational when the fire happened. Five had had their batteries removed, and one had been destroyed. There was one working alarm in the basement. Of the fourteen people occupying the unit at the time only two were rescued. A 5-year-old child was found on the second floor and an adult was able to escape out a window, with both classified as critically injured and hospitalized. The child later told investigators at the hospital, that he had been playing with an orange cigarette lighter and accidentally set the tree on fire. A lighter was found near the tree after the fire had been extinguished and no other potential ignition sources was found during the preliminary investigation. Victims Of the occupants of the second and third floor rental, twelve people were killed; three adults and nine children. All of the deceased were members of the same family and all lived in the same unit. A relative told reporters that in the fire she had lost her three daughters aged between 33 and 18-years-old and nine grandchildren aged 16 to 4-years-old. City officials did not announce any of the victims' ages or names initially, but later confirmed the adults and children's ages and identities. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Rosalee McDonald (age 33), Virginia Thomas (age 30), Quinsha White (age 18), Quientien Tate-McDonald (age 16), Destiny McDonald (age 15) Shaniece Wayne (age 10), Dekwan Robinson (age 8), Natasha Wayne (age 7) J’Kwan Robinson (age 5), Janiyah Roberts (age 4), Taniesha Robinson (age 3) and Tiffany Robinson (age 2). Investigation The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced on January 6, that they were mobilizing their National Response Team to help with the investigation due to the magnitude of the fire to help the city's fire marshal and police department. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a 5-year-old boy who escaped the fire stated to investigators that the blaze started after he accidentally lit a Christmas tree on fire while playing with a lighter. The Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel told reporters on January 11, that the commission believed with a "99 to 100% confidence" that the fire was caused by a Christmas tree in the second floor unit, but could not definitively say who started the fire. Reactions PHA President and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah spoke out in support of the family who lived in the second and third floor unit and called for others to suspend their judgement of the family and other PHA tenants. Jeremiah highlighted that it was not PHA policy to evict families that grew in size and the lease had been updated to show the increase in family members over the years. He also took the time to highlight the need for funding to increase additional fire safety improvements in the older PHA homes and the improvements seen in newer buildings. News reports on the fire brought up the subject of overcrowded housing. The New York Times wrote, "Firefighters found that 18 people had been inside the four-bedroom public housing unit, triple the number of people who had moved in a decade earlier... the family had wanted to move to a larger home for years... But with 40,000 households already on the waiting list for public housing in Philadelphia, they had little choice." Fire officials said the building was overcrowded, with 26 people inside a structure that was meant to accommodate two families. Philadelphia law did not limit the number of people who can occupy a home, after a judge determined such limitations violated residents’ rights. See also 2022 Bronx apartment fire Fire safety Public housing in Philadelphia African-American family structure References 2022 disasters in the United States 2022 fires 2022 fires in North America Apartment fire Building fires in the United States 2022 apartment fire Fires in Pennsylvania January 2022 events in the United States Residential building fires

69685208

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline%20of%20the%20Anglophone%20Crisis%20%282022%29

Timeline of the Anglophone Crisis (2022)

This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon during 2022. The Anglophone Crisis is an ongoing armed conflict in the Republic of Cameroon in Central Africa, where historically English-speaking Ambazonian separatists are seeking the independence of the former British colony of Southern Cameroons, which was unified with Cameroon since 1961. January On January 3, separatists detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in the town of Limbe, Southwest Region, which will host matches of the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Separatist fighters who had vowed to disrupt 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in the city said on social media they were responsible for the blast and stated that it was "a warning sign of what they will do during AFCON". The delayed AFCON is scheduled to be held in Limbe and Buea starting on January 9. Cameroon has deployed additional troops to the cities, while separatists have warned the Confederation of African Football against holding the tournament. On January 8, Cameroonian army soldiers on patrol in a military vehicle were ambushed in Bafut. The government forces left from Santa and were surprised by separatist fighters hiding in the forest. Several soldiers were wounded, according to an initial report. On January 11, SDF senator Henry Kemende was killed in Bamenda. No one claimed responsibility. On January 12, The Mali national football team suspended training before the AFCON game against Tunisia following clashes between separatists and the Cameroon Armed Forces in Buea, killing two. Three police officers were also injured by a homemade bomb. In a separate incident near Buea, a Cameroonian soldier was killed in a separatist IED ambush; the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) claimed responsibility. The Tunisian Football Federation decided to cancel the post-game recovery session of the Tunisia national football team due to security threats. On January 15, armed separatists abducted eight plantation workers in Tiko, accusing them of collaborating with the Cameroonian military. The plantation workers were released nine days later; according to the separatists, the workers had sworn not to collaborate with the Cameroonian military in the future. On January 18, at least one Cameroonian soldier was killed, several more were injured and two vehicles were destroyed in a separatist IED ambush between Buea and Muyuka. On January 19, armed men abducted five teachers in the village of Weh in Menchum, Northwest Region. On January 20, the Cameroonian military killed separatist commander "General Ebube" and two of his lieutenants in Nseh in the Bui division. On January 21, there were clashes between separatist fighters and the Cameroonian Army in Babessi. On January 22, separatist fighters invaded a burial and killed four mourners in the village of Finge, Northwest Region. On January 24, a shootout broke out between separatist fighters and the Cameroonian Army in Bui. On January 25, a Cameroonian soldier was shot dead and beheaded during a separatist raid in Bamenyam, West Region. Several other soldiers were reportedly wounded. The ADF claimed responsibility. On January 28, a Cameroonian police officer was shot dead by separatist fighters in Bamenda. The ADF claimed responsibility. In Bambalang, Northwest Region, four separatists were neutralized and their arms were seized by the Cameroonian Army. On January 31, a separatist militia known as the "Bui Warriors" battled Cameroonian forces in Bamkikai, Kumbo, until the Cameroonian Army withdrew from the area. At least three Cameroonian soldiers were reportedly killed, and one military vehicle was destroyed. February On February 1, separatist fighters attacked and burned down a military base in Bali Nyonga, Mezam. Separatists restricted circulation on the Bamenda-Mbengwi road. On February 2, President Samuel Ikome Sako was impeached by the legislative arm of the Interim Government faction loyal to him, complicating the long-running Ambazonian leadership crisis. On February 6, the Cameroonian military killed two persons at a funeral in Bamukumbit, Northwest Region. On February 7, a Cameroonian soldier was shot dead by separatist fighters in Kumba. On February 8, suspected separatists set ablaze a classroom in a primary school in Buea. On February 11, armed men referring to themselves as ARF (Ambazonia Restoration Forces) set several dormitories of Queen of the Rosary College in Mamfe on fire. On February 14, a Cameroonian soldier died after his leg was cut off by a separatist IED ambush in Sabga, Northwest Region. On February 16, it was reported that clashes between the ADF and the ARF (now led by Lekeaka Oliver, leader of the Red Dragon militia) had led to several separatist deaths. The clashes took place in six different towns, with the fighting in Kumbo being described as particularly bloody. On February 21, a Cameroonian soldier was killed in a separatist IED ambush in the Northwest Region. On February 25, the ADF abducted ten teachers from a school for disabled children in Ngomham, Bamenda. A separatist general was killed by the Cameroonian army in Kumba, Southwest Region. On February 26, suspected separatist fighters opened fire on a vehicle in Bamenda killing a nurse and wounding a doctor. References Anglophone Crisis Anglophone Crisis 2022

69686267

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat%20Schulz

Pat Schulz

Pat Schulz (August 17, 1934Dec 12, 1983) was an influential Canadian feminist, revolutionary socialist, organizer and writer. She was the subject of the National Film Board of Canada documentary Worth Every Minute, directed by Catherine Macleod and Lorraine Segato. Toronto's Pat Schulz Child Care Centre is named in her honour. Activism in the League for Socialist Action (Canada) For two decades, Schulz was a key leader of the revolutionary socialist movement in Canada. Schulz joined the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1952, at age 18. She was attracted to the left-wing of the party. Ian Angus recalls: 'Not long after joining, a CCF member tried to warn her against collaborating with a certain party member because that person was a member of the Revolutionary Workers Party. She said the warning didn't have the intended effect... "I thought, Wow! Not just a workers’ party, but a revolutionary workers’ party. I had to meet those people." The Revolutionary Workers Party, founded in 1946, was the Canadian section of the Fourth International, the worldwide Trotskyist movement. In 1954, the Ontario CCF expelled all Trotskyist members, including Schulz. From 1954 to 1974, she was a member and leader first of the Socialist Education League and later the League for Socialist Action-Ligue Socialiste Ouvriere (LSA-LSO). The LSA-LSO was one of the predecessor organizations of the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL). One of Schulz’s first projects was the 1955 launching of the Canadian edition of Workers Vanguard, a newspaper to which she was a regular contributor. In 1964 Schulz ran for the position of Toronto city council controller as the LSA-LSO candidate. That same year, Schulz was part of an all-women team that traveled throughout Ontario in a half-ton truck selling s subscriptions to Workers Vanguard. They were called "The Trailblazers" and they went to plant and factory gates and door-to-door, selling the newspaper. Desegregating the Palais Royale In 1955, Toronto's Palais Royale was a popular dance hall for young white couples. That summer, staff at the Palais Royale intervened to prevent a Black man and a white woman from dancing together, humiliating them and ejecting them onto the street. According to Irish socialist Ernie Tate: "The couple had openly breached Toronto's unofficial form of segregation under which very little social mixing took place between blacks and whites. The Palais Royale was well known for its racist policies." In response, activists in the black community organized picket lines to protest the incident. Danny Braithwaite, a young Black activist was one of the protest leaders. The black community was supported by Trotskyists and members of the CCF Youth Forum, who joined the picketers. Schulz recalled and a black male comrade entered the Palais in July and danced together without being challenged and the Palais was officially desegregated from that point on. Cuba solidarity Inspired by the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Schulz also served on the executive of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. The FPCC was instrumental in popularizing the Cuban revolution in Canada and ensuring that Canada did not adopt the US embargo against Cuba. Vern Olson, chairman of the committee at the time, recalls Schulz as "one of the heroic band who defended the Cuban revolution as it deepened, while others ran for cover." Schulz visited Cuba in 1964 at the invitation of the Cuban Communist Party to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the revolution. She returned again in 1975 and 1983 with her daughter Katheryne. Katheryne attended Fidel Castro's funeral in 2016 and laid a wreath at his memorial on behalf of her mother and the FPCC. Katheryne wrote about her experience in Counterpunch and Rabble. Vietnam War In her moving obituary, Monica Jones recalls that in 1966, Schulz was living in Montreal and organizing for the LSA-LSO. Jones writes: "She testified at a public enquiry into the conduct of Montreal police. The Montreal headquarters of the LSA-LSO had been raided earlier that year by police. Schulz told the enquiry: 'This raid occurs as the Ligue prepares for participation in the Student Days of Protest.... It is an obvious attempt to intimidate those who oppose both the presence of American troops in Vietnam and the role of the Canadian government in supporting American actions.' This was before the Anti-Vietnam War Movement grew to include millions in the late 1960s." Leaving the LSA-LSO In 1971, the LSA-LSO decided to make the fight to repeal Canada's anti-abortion laws the primary focus of its work in the women's movement. Schulz supported the fight for abortion rights. But Schulz disagreed with what she saw as an inappropriately narrow approach. During the 1973 LSA-LSO pre-convention discussion, Schulz argued for de-emphasizing the abortion campaign, and for a strategy that would stress job-related issues and the fight for child care. Feminist Organizing By 1972, Pat had moved to Toronto's Moss Park Housing Project with her daughter Katheryne and took her to her first demonstration. Protestors gathered to defend Dominica activist Rosie Douglas who was facing deportation for organizing against racism in Montreal. Pat also met like minded parents at Campus Community Co-operative Daycare, which was founded by activists who decided to take over a building at the University of Toronto and set up their own cooperative child care program. University Education Schulz went on to complete her master's degree in Canadian History at York University in 1975. Her thesis, The East York Worker's Association: A Response to the Great Depression, was published by New Hogtown Press the same year. It is one of the few historical accounts of poverty class organizing in Toronto. Final Years In 1976, Schulz moved to the Bain Co-op Apartments in Toronto's Riverdale neighbourhood. The last five years of her life were marked by cancer. She spoke in Worth Every Minute about the surgeon who decided to perform a mastectomy on her without ever informing her that she could have had a less invasive lumpectomy instead. Outraged by the way she was treated, she wrote about the lack of weekend emergency care for cancer patients, being in pain for hours without relief, overcrowding, and having to beg for proper care. Her front-page article on June 28, 1980, in theToronto Star highlighted the inhumanity of capitalist medical care. After Schulz's death, Mudpie columnist Chris Judge wrote a memorial column about Schulz's activism in the child care movement. Schulz's friends including MPP Peter Tabuns, City Councillor Janet Davis and child care activist Ev McKee worked tirelessly to establish the Pat Schulz Child Care Centre which continues to operate in Toronto's east end. Publications 1974 Patricia Schulz. "Research Guide," in Acton, Janice et al. (eds.), Women at Work: Ontario 1850–1930. Toronto: Canadian Women's Educational Press. 1975 Patricia V. Schulz. The East York Workers' Association: A Response to the Great Depression. Toronto: New Hogtown Press. 1978 P. Schulz. "Daycare in Canada: 1860-1962," in K. Gallagher-Ross (ed.), Good Daycare. Toronto: Women's Educational Press. 1978 P. Schulz. “With a Little Help from Our Friends.” in K. Gallagher-Ross (ed.), Good Daycare. Toronto: Women's Educational Press. References 1934 births 1983 deaths Canadian feminist writers Canadian civil rights activists Canadian anti-war activists

69687736

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayanta%20Narayan%20Choudhury

Jayanta Narayan Choudhury

Jayanto Narayan Choudhury (born 5 May 1955), also known as Jayanta Narayan Choudhury or J N Choudhury (Assamese: জয়ন্ত নাৰায়ন চৌধুৰী) is a 1978 batch (31RR) IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Choudhury served as the Director of National Security Guard (NSG), India from 22 January 2014 to 31 May 2015. Post retirement from the National Security Guard, the GAIL(India) Limited appointed Jayanto Narayan Choudhury as the company's Independent Director. Early Life & Education Jayanta Narayan Choudhury was born on 5 May 1955. Choudhury's father was an Indian Army jawan, and so he had to travel several places in his childhood along with his family. Though he was born in Lucknow, he was brought up in Nalbari of Assam. Choudhury's journey in childhood continued from Lucknow to Nalbari and Shillong. He had his basic educations in Darjeeling, Shillong, and Ajmer. Police career Choudhury, a 1978 batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS, worked in various departments in different capacities at the national level. Mr. Choudhury joined the IB in 1985. Choudhury served as Additional director of the Intelligence Bureau till 2011. Before that, Mr. Choudhury seved as the Superintendent of police (SP) of North Lakhimpur district from June 1983 to June 1985. Choudhury assumed the charge of the Director General of Police of Assam on the very first day of 2012. In 2014, he left over the charge of the DGP of Assam Police and took the charge of 28th Director General of NSG. See also Director General of the National Security Guard M. A. Ganapathy (police officer) Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary References Indian Police Service officers Indian police chiefs National security of India 1955 births Living people Intelligence Bureau (India) Director Generals of Assam police

69688601

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6hm%20scandal

Röhm scandal

The Röhm scandal resulted from the public disclosure of Nazi politician Ernst Röhm's homosexuality by anti-Nazis in 1931 and 1932. According to historian Laurie Marhoefer, Röhm became the world's "first openly gay politician" as a result of the scandal. Röhm was an early member of the Nazi Party and was close to party leader Adolf Hitler. Röhm was homosexual, although he tried to separate his personal and political life. In the late 1920s, he lived in Bolivia where he wrote letters to a friend, Karl-Günther Heimsoth, in which he candidly discussed his sexual orientation. Röhm's double life began to fall apart when he returned to Germany in 1930 and was appointed leader of the Sturmabteilung (SA). Although the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany supported the repeal of Paragraph 175, the German law criminalizing homosexuality, both parties used homophobia to attack their Nazi opponents and inaccurately portrayed the Nazi Party as dominated by homosexuals. Their goal was to prevent or delay the Nazi seizure of power, which ultimately occurred in early 1933. Beginning in April 1931, the SPD newspaper Münchener Post published a series of front-page stories about alleged homosexuality in the SA, which turned out to be based on forgeries. SPD leaders set out to obtain authentic evidence of Röhm's sexuality and, if possible, convict him under Paragraph 175. Röhm was tried five times, but never convicted. During the German presidential election in March 1932, the SPD released a pamphlet edited by ex-Nazi with Röhm's letters to Heimsoth. This second round of disclosures sparked a plot by some Nazis to murder Röhm, which fell through and resulted in additional negative press for the party. The scandal came to national attention as a result of the beating of Klotz by Nazi deputies in the Reichstag building on 12 May 1932 as revenge for his publication of Röhm's letters. Many Germans saw this attack on democracy as more important than Röhm's personal life. The Nazis' electoral performance was not affected by the scandal, but it affected their ability to present themselves as the party of moral renewal. Hitler defended Röhm during the scandal. The latter became completely dependent on Hitler due to loss of support in the Nazi Party. Hitler had Röhm and his friends murdered in 1934, citing both his homosexuality and alleged treachery. This purge opened the systematic persecution of homosexual men in Nazi Germany. Background Ernst Röhm (1887–1934) was one of the early leaders of the Nazi Party and built up its paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung (SA), which violently attacked communists and other perceived enemies of the German people. He was a friend of later German dictator Adolf Hitler and in 1923 he was convicted of treason for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch. After he was elected to the Reichstag and went to live in Berlin in 1924, he frequented homosexual establishments, including the Eldorado club. In 1929, Röhm joined the homosexual association Bund für Menschenrecht (League of Human Rights) and became known to many figures in Berlin's homosexual community. Röhm resented having to conceal his sexual orientation and was as open about it as it was possible to be without stating it. In 1925, a man he had hired as a prostitute robbed him; Röhm reported the man to the police. Although Hitler found out about this incident, he did not take action. Röhm–Heimsoth letters In 1928, the homosexual, nationalist physician Karl-Günther Heimsoth wrote a letter to Röhm questioning a passage in the latter's autobiography, Die Geschichte eines Hochverräters ("The Story of a Traitor"). As part of a denunciation of conservative, bourgeois morality, Röhm had written, "The struggle against the cant, deceit and hypocrisy of today's society must take its starting point from the innate nature of the drives that are placed in men from the cradle… If the struggle in this area is successful, then the masks can be torn from the dissimilation in all areas of the human social and legal order." He blamed bourgeois morality for causing suicide. Röhm's arguments about morality found little support among other Nazis. Heimsoth asked if Röhm intended this passage as a criticism of Paragraph 175, the German law prohibiting sex between men. Röhm replied, stating "You have understood me completely!" He told Heimsoth that he had initially intended to be more explicit, but toned the passage down on the advice of friends. Röhm and Heimsoth befriended each other and spent time together at homosexual meeting places in Berlin. They corresponded while Röhm was in Bolivia, where he had emigrated in 1928 to work as a military adviser. Both men saw their homosexuality as compatible with Nazism; Heimsoth hoped that Röhm could lead the Nazi Party to become accepting of homosexuality. In his letters, Röhm discussed his sexual orientation in unambiguous language, once describing himself as "same-sex orientated" () and saying he had an aversion to women. Political views of homosexuality In 1928, the Nazi Party responded negatively to a questionnaire about their view of Paragraph 175, declaring "Anyone who even thinks of homosexual love is our enemy." Nazi politicians regularly railed against homosexuality, claiming that it was a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the German people. They promised to have homosexuals sterilized if they took power. The majority of Nazis held traditional moral beliefs and found Röhm and his associates, some of whom were homosexual, intolerable. At this time any civil servant or officer whose homosexuality was discovered would have been dismissed, regardless of whether a violation of Paragraph 175 could be proven. The SA's tacit tolerance of homosexuals in its own ranks was in contrast to this. This tolerance was dependent on remaining discreet and certainly not publicly known, lest it bring the SA's hypermasculine image into question. Unlike Röhm, who tried to separate his private and political life, historian Laurie Marhoefer writes that "most Nazis considered supposedly private matters like sexuality intensely public and political". Biographer comments, "If Ernst Röhm was at all revolutionary, he was revolutionary in his demand that National Socialism and German society accept him as he was—a man who desired other men." The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and Communist Party of Germany (KPD) were the primary supporters of repealing Paragraph 175, but they opportunistically used accusations of homosexuality against political opponents. Contemporaries noted the hypocrisy of this approach. Confronted with the rise of Nazism, they exploited a stereotype associating homosexuality with militarism that had been established during the Eulenburg affair. In 1927, SPD deputies heckled Nazi deputy Wilhelm Frick, shouting "Hitler, heil, heil, heil. Heil Eulenburg!" after Frick called for harsh penalties for homosexuality. The SPD initiated the Röhm scandal in an effort to prevent or delay the Nazi seizure of power at a time when the defenders of the Weimar Republic's democracy sensed that they were running out of options. Development of the scandal Röhm's return to Germany Röhm returned to Germany at Hitler's request in November 1930, and was officially appointed chief of staff of the SA on 5 January 1931. This appointment was seen by many as the second most powerful office in the Nazi movement, but Röhm's position was weakened by his homosexuality and he was dependent on Hitler's personal support. His predecessor, Franz von Pfeffer, wrote that Röhm had been appointed "probably, also because of his inclinations... [which] offered a useful point of attack at any time". Röhm's appointment was opposed from the beginning by some in the SA who saw it as cementing the subordination of the SA to the Nazi Party's political wing. His homosexuality was seized upon by those who disagreed with the organizational reforms but could not openly criticize Hitler without breaking with Nazism, because of the Führer principle. On 3 February, Hitler countered the criticism of Röhm, asserting that the SA "was not a school to educate the daughters of the upper classes, but rather a formation of rough fighters". Hitler said that the personal life of a Nazi was only a concern for the party if it contradicted the fundamental principles of Nazism. The leader of the Berlin SA, Walther Stennes, rebelled against the SA leadership and declared that he and his followers would "never serve under a notorious homosexual like Röhm and his Pupenjungen (male prostitutes)". Hitler dismissed Stennes's objection, stating, "The SA is not a girls' boarding school." Röhm's appointment of old friends to powerful positions in the SA evoked the ire of his opponents, but contrary to popular perceptions, not all these men were homosexual and they were appointed due to perceived loyalty rather than sexuality. The internal opposition to Röhm intensified in February 1931 when Hitler replaced Stennes by Paul Schulz, who promoted two suspected homosexuals, Edmund Heines and Karl Ernst, within the Berlin SA. Rumor had it that Ernst was only promoted because of an intimate relationship with , a friend of Röhm's who was not a member of the party or SA. Many Berlin SA personnel disagreed with these appointments, complaining about the "Röhm-Röhrbein-Ernst Triple Alliance", which was perceived as a homosexual clique. It was incorrectly claimed by Röhm's opponents that "large circles of Berlin party comrades are informed about the gay clubs", and these rivals noted with satisfaction that the perceived homosexual cliques were exposed in the left-wing media. On the night of 26 June, a Nazi named Walter Bergmann was arrested at a Berlin pub where he had found Ernst and Röhrbein together. Bergmann shouted, "Look at these parasites on the party, these Pupenjungen, these damned ass-fuckers who let the party's reputation go to hell." Although Röhm asserted in one of his letters to Heimsoth that the party had become "accustomed to my criminal idiosyncrasy", Marhoefer concludes that this "was wild optimism or self-delusion". Röhm's double life became unsustainable in the face of his higher profile and the rising popularity of the Nazi Party. He became more circumspect than before, avoiding homosexual clubs. His friend Peter Granninger procured young men sixteen to twenty years old and brought them to apartments owned by Granninger and for sexual encounters. When an unemployed waiter in Munich, Fritz Reif, tried to blackmail him in April 1931, it was reported in the press. By the beginning of 1931, newspapers started to allude to his homosexuality, leading Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels to write in his diary on 27 February that the Nazi Party was seen as "the Eldorado of the 175-ers". The 1931 press campaign On 14 April 1931, the SPD newspaper Münchener Post began reporting a series of front-page stories on the "hair-raising depravity in the Section 175 sense" that it argued was rampant in the Nazi Party. The first story claimed that Röhm and Heines were part of a homosexual clique in the SA and that they walked arm-in-arm with Hitler, citing an unnamed former Nazi (possibly Otto Strasser). The second article, published on 23 April, reported on Röhm's dalliances with a male prostitute. The third accused the Nazis of hypocrisy for condemning homosexuality in public but turning a blind eye to homosexuals in its own ranks, reporting that Hitler had ignored various reports of Röhm's homosexuality. The Münchener Post claimed without evidence that German youth were endangered by Röhm's homosexuality and coined the word to describe the alleged moral dissolution of the SA. Other SPD and KPD newspapers repeated the reports. One of the main sources for the stories were alleged letters between Röhm and the former Nazi Eduard Meyer. Röhm wrote in the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter that Meyer's letters were forged and sued the Münchener Post for libel. The investigation confirmed that Meyer had forged the letters; Meyer was arrested for forgery and killed himself in prison before the trial could begin. Coverage of the scandal in the left-wing media diminished, but the rumors persisted. Röhm's homosexuality was cited as part of a broader pattern in which it was argued that the Nazis did not "possess the moral qualities" requisite for leadership. In September 1931 the SPD's brought up "the gay (schwul) captain Röhm" in response to a Nazi political poster calling for "a clean Germany, a true family life". Trials against Röhm Observing the Meyer debacle, SPD leaders decided to find authentic evidence of Röhm's homosexuality to charge him under Paragraph 175. The Berlin police, under the jurisdiction of Prussian interior minister Carl Severing (SPD), often declined to enforce this law but opened an investigation against Röhm based on the testimony of waiter Fritz Reif. The police confiscated the letters between Röhm and Heimsoth and interrogated both men. Under interrogation, Röhm admitted to bisexuality and said that he had masturbated with other men, but never violated Paragraph 175. On 6 June 1931, a trial against Röhm opened. Reif testified that he and a friend, hotel employee Peter Kronninger, had participated in mutual masturbation with Röhm in late 1930 in a hotel room. Reif said that when he did not receive the money he was promised, he ended up going to the police. Röhm and Kronninger denied the incident. The trial was eventually dropped for lack of evidence. In all, Röhm was unsuccessfully tried five times in 1931 and 1932, but the prosecution was never able to prove that he had violated Paragraph 175. It was especially difficult to obtain evidence for a crime committed in private. Helmuth Klotz's pamphlet (March 1932) The SPD decided to publish the Röhm–Heimsoth letters during the 1932 German presidential election in which Hitler was running against incumbent Paul Hindenburg. The former Nazi turned anti-fascist publicist prepared a 17-page pamphlet titled Der Fall Röhm (The Röhm Case) that contained facsimiles of three letters. In early March 1932, the SPD printed and mailed 300,000 copies of the pamphlet to important Germans including politicians, army officers, doctors, teachers, and notaries. In the pamphlet, Klotz argued: "This fish stinks from its head. Decay reaches deep into the ranks of the NSDAP" (Nazi Party). He asserted that a party that tolerated homosexuality in its highest echelons must intend to "poison the Volk[,]… destroy [its] moral strength" and would lead to the decline of Germany similar to the decline of ancient Rome. Klotz claimed that leaving Röhm in his position would make the Nazis complicit in "crimes of having knowingly and intentionally furthered the seduction of German youths into becoming homosexual minions". In his pamphlet, Klotz claimed that "By publishing the Röhm letters, I make no value judgment against homosexuals", but he did not notice or care that the campaign against Röhm stirred up hatred of homosexuals as well as Nazis. Röhm sued in an attempt to stop the distribution of the letters, but the lawsuit was thrown out of court as he did not assert that the letters were fakes. The court ruled that there was no illegality in the publication of genuine letters. Röhm admitted to other Nazis that he had written them. The court cases attempting to halt the distribution of the pamphlet regularly featured in the Hamburger Echo for months. SPD newspapers soon picked up on Klotz's pamphlet, publishing excerpts of the letters. The allegations against Röhm found their way into election posters and stickers. The campaign did not target Röhm as much as Hitler and the entire Nazi movement, smearing them as ridden with homosexuality and suggesting that German youth were morally endangered. On 6 April, four days before the second round of the presidential election, Hitler defended Röhm and declared that he would remain the SA chief of staff. Röhm later told the Nazi that he had offered his resignation, but Hitler had refused it. Many Nazis were astonished that Hitler had not broken with Röhm, both because of their own prejudices and because they thought he harmed the party's chances of gaining political power. Konstantin Hierl worried the scandal would "break the faith of the masses in the strength and purity of the National Socialist Movement" and hurt the party among conservative voters that Hitler needed to poach from Hindenburg. Historian Andrew Wackerfuss argues that Hitler supported Röhm because of a combination of personal affection, Röhm's professional competence, and a defensive support for his own appointment. In an effort to protect the Nazi Party from the scandal, in March 1932 Walter Buch put ex-Nazi in charge of a plot to murder Röhm. The plan called for killing Röhm, du Moulin-Eckart, and Röhm's press officer at the Brown House and framing the KPD. Danzeisen engaged the unemployed architect Karl Horn as a hitman, but Horn told the intended victims and the plan fell through. Röhm tried to put an end to the plot quietly by telling Hitler and Himmler, while du Moulin-Eckart and Cajetan Graf von Spreti reported it to the Munich police. The plot became public knowledge when covered by the Münchener Post on 8 April. Danzeisen, but not Buch, was tried and convicted for his role in the plot, generating additional negative press coverage for the Nazi Party into late 1932. Although most media did not report on the scandal until May 1932, Marhoefer argues that knowledge of the scandal was widespread before then. The scandal was unpleasant for the Nazi Party, but it did not affect their electoral performance. Although Hindenburg won the election on the second ballot, Hitler obtained 37 percent of the vote. Historian writes, "At the very least, the revelations about Röhm were an unwelcome distraction [for Hitler's campaign]... at worst a damaging blow to the Hitler's credibility as a worthy claimant to the high office of Reich president". On 4 March, the governor of Prussia, Otto Braun (SPD) asked Chancellor Heinrich Brüning to bring the Röhm–Heimsoth letters to Hindenburg's attention. Hindenburg remarked privately that in the Kaiserreich, a man in Röhm's situation would have been given a pistol to shoot himself. The scandal made it more difficult for Hindenburg to appoint Hitler chancellor as the latter requested on a meeting on 13 August, accompanied by Röhm and Frick. Hindenburg found it "downright disgusting" to have to meet Röhm and "shake hands with the (faggot)". Assault of Helmuth Klotz in the Reichstag (May 1932) On 12 May 1932, Klotz visited the Reichstag café to meet SPD chairman Otto Wels. After Wels was called away to a vote, Klotz was recognized by Heines, who had entered the café with a group of Nazi deputies. Heines shouted something to the effect of "You're the hoodlum who published the pamphlet!" and slapped him across the face. The Nazis subsequently assaulted him with their fists and a chair, but fled when a waiter and other deputies intervened. Two policemen appeared at the scene and offered to escort Klotz outside so he could identify his attackers. Klotz agreed, but outside the café they were set upon by dozens of Nazis who assaulted them. Multiple witnesses reported hearing someone shout, "I'll beat him to death." Someone called Klotz's wife and told her to come to the Reichstag "to collect his bones". Since parliament was in session at the time of the attack, Reichstag president Paul Löbe (SPD) ordered the maximum suspension (30 days) of Heines, , Fritz Weitzel, and for assaulting Klotz. He announced that he had called the police to restore order and arrest the four Nazis, who refused to leave. At this news, the entire Nazi Reichstag delegation, 107 men, shouted, "Heil Hitler!" Dozens of policemen under the command of Bernhard Weiss entered the plenary, but were heckled by antisemitic slurs directed at Weiss, who was Jewish. The police struggled to identify the Nazis that they were trying to arrest, although they ultimately succeeded. The ensuing chaos was such that Löbe had to discontinue the parliament's session. A brawl between Nazi and SPD deputies in the plenary was narrowly avoided. The Reichstag never met again before the July 1932 German federal election. The attack and subsequent trial made the headlines of widely read national newspapers. On 14 May, Krause was acquitted; Heines, Stegmann, and Weitzel were convicted and sentenced to three months in jail. The judge condemned the Nazi deputies for their hooliganism in the Reichstag building, a holy site of democracy, when they could have chosen non-violent methods of resolving their dispute with Klotz. As a result of the attack on Klotz, the Röhm scandal was widely covered on the front pages of German newspapers, although the nature of the scandal was not always specified in the press coverage. Nevertheless, the scandal did not significantly affect the July election. The scandal had not died out by 11 January 1933, when the Münchener Post published an article speculating that Hitler would dismiss Röhm. Press coverage The Nazi press responded to the scandal mostly by ignoring it and sometimes by denying nonspecific allegations against Röhm, claiming that they were fabrications by socialists and Jews. It also exaggerated Röhm's military activities in Bolivia, falsely claiming that he was offered the position of Chief of Staff of the Bolivian Army. Marhoefer argues that even convinced Nazi opponents did not necessarily use Röhm's sexuality to attack the party, and argues that this was a success of the homosexual movement in convincing Germans that private sexuality was not their concern: "It is difficult to imagine the national media in the 1930s in a country other than Germany reacting to a homosexual sex scandal about a leading politician with such restraint." Some conservatives and Nazi sympathizers who opposed homosexual emancipation nevertheless portrayed Röhm's sexuality as a matter not of public concern, and Marhoefer argues that this is a sign of acceptance that homosexuality did not necessarily entail expulsion from public life. Nevertheless, she states, "The highly public, persuasive allegations about Röhm's sexuality made it tough for the NSDAP to campaign as a party of moral renewal." After the Klotz attack, the main message in press coverage was the exposure of the Nazis' violent methods, their "rule of fists" () as opposed to the rule of law, and antipathy for democracy. Röhm's homosexuality was an issue of secondary or tertiary importance. This was the case for those as far left as the SPD and as far right as the German National People's Party (DVNP). A wide range of conservatives and liberals blamed Klotz for bringing up the issue of Röhm's sexuality. While a considerable number of right-wing papers were hostile to democracy and justified the attack on Klotz, others were uneasy with what they saw as Nazi thuggishness. The Nazi-sympathizing Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger held that "above all the Reichstag building is not the right place to take revenge or vengeance with a series of ear-boxings", although it also condemned Klotz's pamphlet. Far-right Erich Ludendorff published a pamphlet titled "General Ludendorff Says: Let's Get Out of This Brown Swamp!" in which he attacked Hitler for supporting Röhm. The title alluded to the ancient German practice of drowning homosexuals in swamps. Ludendorff's pamphlet was favorably covered by the left-wing media. The general tenor of the coverage by the SPD was to appeal to homophobia in order to discredit Nazism, and portray homosexuality as embedded in the Nazi Party. For example, Vorwärts appealed to the "" using Nazi terminology, and implied that any boy or young man joining the Hitler Youth or SA was in danger of homosexual predation. Antifascist papers frequently tied together the Nazis' alleged homosexuality with their violence and murder. In October 1932, the Hamburger Echo published a satirical letter from the point of view of a young stormtrooper who does not realize he is the subject of homosexual advances, positing that the SA seduced innocent youth into homosexuality, radical politics, and militarism. Although the KPD had declined to publish the Heimsoth letters, after the scandal broke it responded inconsistently. In the KPD newspaper it was argued that Röhm abused his position of power to take advantage of economically vulnerable workers. Die Rote Fahne argued that the NSDAP was a breeding ground for homosexuality and Röhm was unsuitable as a youth leader. Only a few leftists criticized the outing. One of these was Kurt Tucholsky, who wrote in Die Weltbühne, "We oppose the disgraceful Paragraph 175 wherever we can; therefore we must not join the choir of those among us who want to banish a man from society because he is homosexual." In contrast to the left-wing press, homosexual activists emphasized the hypocrisy of the Nazi Party. While homosexual associations such as the League of Human Rights and the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (WhK) opposed Nazism, they condemned the outing, arguing that Röhm's private life should remain private. Both the WhK and Friedrich Radszuweit, the leader of the League of Human Rights, criticized the SPD for exploiting homophobia to attack the Nazi Party. Although the WhK, whose leadership was dominated by Jews and leftists, understood the existential threat of Nazism, they nevertheless rejected outing as a tactic. Radszuweit wrote that the Nazis' dispute was with the Jews rather than homosexuals, and argued that Röhm's political survival suggested that the Nazis would soon drop their support for Paragraph 175. Bisexual activist Adolf Brand wrote, "when someone... would like to set in the most damaging way the intimate love contacts of others under degrading control—in that moment his own love-life also ceases to be a private matter". Brand warned that homosexual SA men were "carrying their hangman's rope in their pockets". In the edition of his memoirs published in late 1933, Röhm condemned the scandal, calling it "a large-scale moral campaign... unprecedented in its shamelessness and meanness". Aftermath and legacy Röhm developed even more enemies within the party as a result of the disclosure of his homosexuality and became increasingly isolated. In 1932, he admitted that he had become personally dependent on Hitler, telling Kurt Lüdecke: "My position is so precarious. I can't be too exigent... I stick to my job, following him blindly, loyal to the utmost—there's nothing else left me." In April 1933, one of Hitler's conservative backers, Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht, deplored Röhm and his "homosexual clique" to which he attributed great political power. Röhm was appointed Reich minister without portfolio in Hitler's cabinet in December 1933 and reluctantly confirmed by Hindenburg, thus becoming "probably the first previously known homosexual in a German government" according to historian . No other Weimar political party had a known homosexual in its leadership. In 1934, Schulz reflected that any other party in the Weimar Republic would have gotten rid of Röhm within an hour. Marhoefer argues that Röhm became the world's "first openly gay politician" as a result of the scandal. Although the Nazis were willing to temporarily tolerate Röhm and some other homosexuals within its ranks as long as they were useful, the party never adopted this as a general principle or changed its views on homosexuality. The homosexual–Nazi stereotype The Röhm scandal fueled the persistent but false notion that the Nazi Party was dominated by homosexuals, a recurring theme in 1930s left-wing propaganda. In the aftermath of the scandal, leftist paramilitaries began to taunt the SA with shouts of, "Hot Röhm" (), "Heil Gay" () or "SA, Trousers Down!" (), which almost always started a fight. Anti-Nazi jokes alluded to Röhm's homosexuality, such as the following on the ideal German: "Blond like Hitler, tall like Goebbels, slim like Göring, and chaste like Röhm." Sopade reports prepared in 1934 indicated that many Germans had heard of the Röhm scandal before 1933 and associated it with the SPD. The worldwide bestseller The Brown Book of the Reichstag Fire and Hitler Terror (1933)—a brainchild of KPD politician Willi Münzenberg—claimed that Röhm's assistant Bell, who was murdered in early 1933 in Austria, had been his pimp and had procured Reichstag arsonist Marinus van der Lubbe for Röhm. The book claimed that a clique of homosexual stormtroopers led by Heines set the Reichstag fire; van der Lubbe remained behind and agreed to accept the sole blame because of his desperation for affection; Bell was killed to cover it up. There was no evidence for these claims, and in fact Heines was several hundred kilometers away at the time. Wackerfuss states that Reichstag conspiracy appealed to antifascists because of their preexisting belief that "the heart of the Nazis' militant nationalist politics lay in the sinister schemes of decadent homosexual criminals". In 1933, the persistent scandal around Röhm and other homosexual Nazis was one of the motivations for the criminalization of homosexuality in the Soviet Union—homosexuality was claimed to be a danger to the state and a fascist perversion. Soviet writer Maxim Gorky asserted, "If you just root out all the homosexuals—then fascism will vanish!" Röhm purge In mid-1934, Hitler had Röhm, along with most of his close political friends, killed during what he termed the "Night of the Long Knives". Nazi propaganda claimed that Hitler had recently discovered Röhm's homosexuality, and that the murders were a defense against a coup by the SA. The stereotype of homosexual men as treacherous conspirators connected these justifications. Wackerfuss argues that, "By deploying public panic against homosexuality, Hitler and the Nazi media won support for their illegal murders and laid further foundations for unchecked state violence." Although Hitler had previously known and tolerated everything that he now cited as his reasons for murdering the SA leadership, his explanation was widely accepted by the German public. Anti-fascists echoed the Nazis in emphasizing homosexuality as a reason for the purge; Münzenberg claimed that the Nazis killed the SA leadership to eliminate the witnesses to the Nazis' perpetration of the Reichstag fire. The 1934 purge opened the systematic persecution of homosexual men in Nazi Germany. According to Werner Best, Himmler believed that the capture of the state by homosexuals had been narrowly averted. Himmler became determined to hunt down and eradicate homosexual cliques in the Nazi security apparatus. By 1945, Nazi leaders were praising Röhm's ideas about reforming the army and ultimately blaming his homosexuality (rather than their murder of him) for the failure to put these ideas into practice, which they held responsible for the loss of World War II. Goebbels claimed that if Röhm had not been "a homosexual and an anarchist... in all probability some hundred generals rather than some hundred SA leaders would have been shot on 30 June". In 1950s West Germany, the Federal Ministry of Justice cited the danger of homosexual subversion (with explicit reference to Röhm) as a reason to retain the Nazis' more punitive revision of Paragraph 175 in the context of the Cold War. The law was eventually repealed in 1994. References Sources Books Chapters Journal articles Further reading Der Fall Röhm (March 1932), by , hosted on the website of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation 1931 in politics 1932 in politics LGBT history in Germany Political sex scandals Political scandals in Germany Night of the Long Knives

69689267

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tek%20Fog

Tek Fog

Tek Fog is a software application operable via a mobile phone, which is reportedly used by the Bharatiya Janata Party to infiltrate social media platforms in order to promote favourable viewpoints through misinformation and target perceived opponents. The application also managed a huge database of Indian citizens, based on occupation, religion, age, gender etc., and delivered targeted insults and criticism. A key function of the software was to manipulate trending features on Twitter and Facebook, by automatically sharing or retweeting posts, and promoting existing hashtags to trending levels. Le Monde commented that it is perhaps the most elaborate online political manipulation operation ever discovered. Alerted by a disgruntled employee-turned-whistleblower, the independent Indian news publication The Wire conducted a two-year investigation and published its findings in January 2022, reporting that the Tek Fog application was used "to artificially inflate the popularity of the [Bharatiya Janata Party], harass its critics and manipulate public perceptions at scale across major social media platforms." Opposition parties have denounced the app as a national security threat and demanded a probe. The ruling BJP and the prime minister Narendra Modi were silent. The BJP youth wing functionary Devang Dave who is said to have supervised the operations denied the party's involvement. The Wire investigation implicated the BJP along with private companies Persistent Systems and Mohalla Tech (which operates a service called ShareChat) in the deployment of the app. The BJP's youth wing members are said to have supervised the operators, giving them ideological directions. It reported that Mohalla Tech was involved in the management of Tek Fog, and that the whistleblower that revealed information about Tek Fog, was paid via Mohalla Tech as their assigned client, and ShareChat was widely exploited by Tek Fog. The investigation found that Persistent Systems was involved in the production and management of Tek Fog. An internal source within Persistent System confirmed the involvement of the company, with 17,000 files connected to Tek Fog developed by Persistent Systems. MP Derek O'Brien has called for a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs to discuss the app. Congress has urged the Supreme court to ask its expert panel to investigate the app. The Editors Guild of India condemned "the online harassment of women journalists, which includes targeted and organised online trolling as well as threats of sexual abuse" and demanded steps to break and dismantle the "misogynistic and abusive digital eco-system" of Tek Fog. The Wire Investigation An investigation by The Wire found that Tek Fog, a piece of application software, was used by the information technology cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP IT Cell) as part of its social media campaigning to spread propaganda. In 2022, The Wire reported that the Tek Fog app was used by BJP "to artificially inflate the popularity of the party, harass its critics and manipulate public perceptions at scale across major social media platforms." Tek Fog was used to manage inauthentic accounts en masse on social media. Tek Fog was capable of hacking inactive WhatsApp accounts in order to mass message their contacts with propaganda messages, while impersonating the inactive WhatsApp account owner. Tek Fog App The Wire, in its report, described the app as being capable of several actions, characterised by internet security expert Anand Venkatnarayanan as a "military grade psychological operations weapon". According to him, so far such capabilities were only accessible to state actors who used them against the populations in enemy countries. "Putting such a weapon in the hands of non-state actors affiliated to a political party contesting for mind space of citizens in a democracy has never been done before." Some of the capabilities said to have been incorporated into the app are listed below. Hijacking of social media trends The Tek Fog app could hijack the 'trending' section of social media sites, Twitter and Facebook. The operators of Tek Fog could share and forward social media messages automatically by an individual or a group. This was used to artificially inflate the popularity of "extremist narratives and political campaigns." Phishing and capturing inactive WhatsApp accounts Tek Fog was capable of hacking inactive WhatsApp accounts en masse in order to mass message their contacts with propaganda messages, while impersonating the inactive WhatsApp account owner. (Inactive WhatsApp accounts are those accounts that were not being used by their owners, either because WhatsApp was uninstalled from their phone or their phone was reset.) As a first step of the process, the targeted WhatsApp accounts that were active were sent a media file (video or image) from an unknown number. The media file contained spyware that became active after download. The downloaded spyware would make the phone vulnerable to remote surveillance. The hacker would be able to monitor its activity status. When the phone became inactive due to (unistallation or reset), the inactive status would be visible to the hacker, who could take control of the target account and use it to send messages remotely, without the knowledge of the owner of the targeted WhatsApp account. Only inactive WhatsApp accounts were targeted, since sending messages remotely from an active WhatsApp account would raise suspicion from the original owner. According to The Wire, while verifying this exploit, the whistleblower with access to Tek Fog was able to hack and take control of a test WhatsApp account used by its reporters "within minutes". The application then sent a message to all the frequent contacts of the captured account. Database of private citizens for targeted harassment Tek Fog had an extensive database of private citizens with information about their "occupation, religion, language, age, gender, political inclination and even physical attributes like skin tone and breast size." The Wire had received screenshots that showed these parameters. The Wire verified the existence of database by monitoring harassment messages that were sent with extreme granularity to "female journalists", who were among the targeted groups. Modification of existing news articles Tek Fog had an ability to modify existing news articles to change its links and keywords. The changed link would then lead the read to a webpage that looked similar to the original website but had fake content, different from what the original author had written. The text modification capabilities were powered by artificial intelligence models. Automated messaging Tek Fog could send automated messages from inauthentic accounts automatically created in bulk. These primarily contained political propaganda and abuse messages. The users of the app utilized the database of citizens categorized using multiple attributes and sent automated hate messages as replies on social media. The phrases in these automated messages were decided in a centralized document to harass prominent persons. The hate messages were used to target Muslims and female journalists whose work was not in line with the right-wing Hindutva BJP narrative. The researchers discovered that 18% of the total 4.6 million replies received by 280 prominent women journalists on Twitter were made by the accounts operated through Tek Fog app. These replies were made over a period of 5 months. Organisations involved The use of Tek Fog was said to be a part of a political-corporate nexus that had connected large tech players and platforms with the political party BJP. This nexus included:- Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (Youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party). A former National Social Media and IT Head of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha who currently worked as the election manager of BJP in Maharashtra was the immediate supervisor of the source in The Wire investigation. BJYM members supervised the operators and gave them ideological operation. The Wire verified their involvement using the codes sent through their official email id. These codes helped to identify the secure server hosting Tek Fog and external websites connecting to the Tek Fog server. Persistent Systems is an Indian-American technology services company involved in development and maintenance. A current employee of the company provided documents related to the development of the application from the company's internal servers. It showed around 17,000 assets found by the search term "Tek Fog". ShareChat is a social media platform created by Mohalla Tech Pvt. Ltd. The operatives of the Tek Fog had used Sharechat, "to test and curate fake news, political propaganda and hate speech before automating it to other popular social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp". The involvement of ShareChat was verified through 14 accounts controlled using Tek Fog. These 14 accounts had made posts on Share chat, Twitter and Facebook in April 2020. The Wire found that 90% of the social media posts from these accounts were first uploaded on ShareChat after which they were moved to Twitter or Facebook. Victims The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) in a statement condemning the app said that the "Women journalists have been prime targets of the app. The Wire investigation lists women journalists who received up to one million abusive tweets between January and May 2021. They include Rana Ayyub, Barkha Dutt, Nidhi Razdan, Rohini Singh, Swati Chaturvedi, Sagarika Ghose, Manisha Pande, Faye D'Souza, Arfa Khanum Sherwani and Smita Prakash". On 9 January, journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani released a list of prominent women from several religions including Hindus, who were targeted and harassed by Tek Fog. Reactions The journalist body, Editors Guild of India said that The Wire investigation "laid bare an extensive and well funded network built around an app, Tek Fog, which steals unused WhatsApp accounts to send out toxic messages to targeted journalists", "several women journalists were subjected to thousands of abusive tweets". "The purpose of this deeply hurtful messages was to instill fear in them and prevent them from expressing themselves freely and go about their jobs." The Editors Guild condemned "the continuing online harassment of women journalists, which includes targeted and organised online trolling as well as threats of sexual abuse." The Guild demanded "urgent steps to break and dismantle this misogynistic and abusive digital eco-system". Congress party called Tek Fog, "a poisonous weapon of the BJP’s propaganda machinery, which is harmful to the country". The Minister of State for Home in Maharashtra government, Satej Patil questioned the silence of the Government of India and Information and Technology ministry over the Tek Fog expose. Patil demanded that the Union government should take cognisance of the issue. He made a public appeal to the victims from Mumbai that were targeted by Tek Fog app to register a police complaint, after which Maharashtra Police and Cyber Crime Investigation Cell will investigate the case. Journalist Zarrar Khuhro, wrote in Dawn, Tek Fog "was used in many underhanded ways to promote the hateful Hindutva ideology, and in particular to abuse and cow activists, journalists and opposition politicians." Reactions of BJYM, Persistent Systems and ShareChat It was reported by The Washington Post that the "Indian publication the Wire spent two years investigating the Tek Fog app. They said it had India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's "footprints," but didn't definitively tie it to the party". Devang Dave, head of BYJM IT Cell, denied that he or anyone from his organisation knew about such an app. Persistent systems and Mohalla Tech denied any involvement with each other or with Tek Fog. Investigation by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs On 12 January 2022, The Hindu reported that Anand Sharma, the head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India seeking a response on Tek Fog. They directed the Ministry to co-ordinate with other ministries, and provide information on the app and it's use by 20 January 2022. The investigation was initiated after several calls for the Standing Committee to investigate Tek Fog. Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien (of the Trinamool Congress), a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs had previously written to Anand Sharma, the head of the committee, to discuss the secret app "Tek Fog" that "has serious ramifications and could jeopardise national security". He wrote, "This application is capable of penetrating encrypted messaging platforms and secure social media conversations, in order to heavily manipulate and exploit narratives on said platforms." Chairman Sharma was reported to have taken note of the matter, and may be discussed in the next meeting of the Parliamentary Panel on Home Affairs. On 10 January, O'Brien wrote a second letter to convene a meeting to discuss Tek Fog. He wrote that the app provided an ability to hijack the WhatsApp accounts of citizens using spywares. The inactive contacts of the hijacked number would then be used to send mass messages. He wrote, "All of the hijacked number's contacts are synced to a database on cloud, ripe for picking as future targets of disinformation and harassment... It is also pointed out that this hacking technique was formerly used by the Pegasus spyware, before the NSO Group developed an even more sophisticated zero-click hijacking method,". The application could send automated messages, spread misinformation, fake news and mislead citizens. On 12 January, Congress leader and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also wrote to the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Anand Sharma, asking the committee discuss the "Violative Software Application 'Tek Fog'", in their next meeting. The Parliamentary standing committee asked the Union Home Ministry to provide information about the 'Tek Fog' app that was allegedly used for manipulating social media trends. On 12 February, responding to the request, MoS for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "The ministry has searched for the app on all prominent app stores and APK stores and could not find so called app in any of these online stores." Call for Supreme Court intervention Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate held a press conference on the issue where she "urged the Supreme Court to look into this and to punish, in no uncertain terms, the people who are behind this because no one should have the right or the freedom to erode India’s democracy". Congress wanted the Supreme Court to get the issue examined by the expert panel that was looking into the alleged use of the Pegasus spyware on Indian citizens. She said that the app "targets Indian citizens and hurts the very foundation of our democracy". Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called the app, one of the several "factories of hate" set up by BJP. The Editors Guild of India cited the investigative report by The Wire, and urged the Supreme Court to order an investigation into the allegations that the Tek Fog app was used to harass women journalists with abusive tweets. The report had alleged that influential people from the ruling party BJP may be involved. The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) issued a statement, asking for an "urgent inquiry by the Supreme Court into the role of social media and tech companies in amplifying the crime of Hate Speech,". The alleged use of the Tek Fog app by the ruling-BJP, was condemned by the DUJ. Notes See also Pegasus Project revelations in India References Further reading Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: External links The Wire Bharatiya Janata Party Cyberbullying Disinformation

69689556

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan%20Agostinelli

Nathan Agostinelli

Nathan George Agostinelli (born August 17, 1930) is an American retired politician, army officer, and civic leader who served as mayor of Manchester, Connecticut (1966–1971) and as Connecticut State Comptroller (1971–1975). He ran for Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut on the ticket of Republican gubernatorial nominee Robert H. Steele but lost the 1974 Connecticut gubernatorial election to the Democratic ticket of Ella Grasso and her running mate, Robert K. Killian. Life and career A Republican and son of Italian immigrants, Agostinelli is the only person from Manchester who has been elected to statewide office. He attended Manchester High School, the University of Hartford, and the University of Connecticut. Agostinelli ran a Manchester restaurant before being elected and while serving as mayor. A Korean War veteran, he retired from the Connecticut Army National Guard in 1983 at the rank of brigadier general after 23 years of service. He was president of Manchester State Bank from 1974 to 1996, chair of the Capitol Region Council of Governments from 1969 to 1971, and state director of the Selective Service System under President Bill Clinton. In the 1970 election for State Comptroller, he defeated Democratic nominee Julius Kremski of New Britain by 536,875 votes to 521,178 votes—a margin of about 3%. He opted not to seek reelection in order to run for lieutenant governor. He left politics after losing the 1974 general election. Agostinelli has received more than 20 service awards, including a Presidential Commendation and the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal. The Town of Manchester named the Nate Agostinelli Veterans Memorial Park in his honor in 2021. Flag controversy On October 12, 1970, President Richard Nixon visited Hartford and spoke at the Hilton hotel. A group of antiwar demonstrators gathered across the street at Bushnell Park to protest his visit. Agostinelli, who was attending the event, suddenly rushed at the protestors, snatched a Viet Cong flag displayed by one of them, hurled the flag onto the pavement, and stomped on it while television cameras rolled and police attempted to break up the scuffle. Later that afternoon, police arrested 12 protestors between the ages of 16 and 24 on assorted misdemeanor charges (a thirteenth protestor had been arrested earlier in the day). Edgar B. Huertas, 18, and William. T. O'Brien, 23, were charged with displaying a red flag in contravention of a state statute. The charges against the protestors were soon dropped. Agostinelli was never arrested or charged. Before President Nixon left Hartford, he met privately with Agostinelli to shake his hand and praise his action. On October 17, Agostinelli received a Presidential Commendation from Nixon. The commendation certificate did not mention the flag-stomping incident, stating that the commendation was awarded "in recognition of exception services to others, in the finest American tradition." However, Nixon's letter accompanying the commendation praised Agostinelli for his "courageous action" and "forthright, strong-hearted gesture" in ripping the flag away from the protestors. Agostinelli was serving as a major in the Connecticut Army National Guard and was campaigning for State Comptroller at the time of the incident. The American Civil Liberties Union condemned Agostinelli's actions as showing "a total disregard for the law." Agostinelli reportedly received hundreds of phone calls and telegrams praising his actions, including a message from the mayor of Minneapolis. He went on to win the general election for State Comptroller. In May 1971, a federal circuit court struck down as unconstitutional a Connecticut state statute making it a criminal offense to "carry or display a red flag or any other emblem as a symbol calculated to . . . incite people to disorders or breaches of law." Agostinelli responded by suggesting that the judges in the case should undergo a psychiatric examination. He quickly apologized for the comment. He never apologized for the flag-stomping incident but acknowledged in a 1988 interview that his reaction was "emotional" and impulsive. He described the Vietnam War as a "disaster" in hindsight and commented that "the leadership, the president [Nixon], fooled me." References 1930 births Living people People from Rockville, Connecticut People from Manchester, Connecticut University of Connecticut alumni University of Hartford alumni 20th-century American politicians Connecticut Republicans Connecticut Comptrollers Mayors of places in Connecticut American politicians of Italian descent United States Army personnel of the Korean War Connecticut National Guard personnel Flag controversies in the United States

69690999

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo%20Signorelli%20%28politician%29

Paolo Signorelli (politician)

Paolo Signorelli (14 March 1934 – 1 December 2010) was an Italian author, activist, and politician of the extreme right. Early life and education Signorelli was born in Rome on 14 March 1934. His mother was from Ciociaria. His father, born in Viterbo, had served in World War I, getting seriously injured in the 1916 battle at Isonzo and coming home as an invalid. Signorelli finished high school at the Liceo Augusto in Rome and went on to graduate from the Sapienza University of Rome with a Ph.D. in Political Science. His thesis was about revolutionary syndicalism. Activism Signorelli became politically active from a young age, already sympathetic to the cause and the veterans of the Italian Social Republic, and started getting into brawls with leftist fellow students. As a 14-year old, he enlisted in the RGSL (Raggruppamento giovanile studenti e lavoratori, "Regrouping of young students and workers") of the Movimento Sociale Italiano. In the year 1950, he worked for the "traditionalist" magazine Imperium that was publishing works by Julius Evola, "the leading philosopher of Europe's neofascist movement." As a student, he commanded Caravella, the branch of MSI's student organization FUAN (Fronte universitario d'azione nazionale) inside Sapienza University. After his graduation, he started working at the De Sanctis classical high school in the capital, teaching history and philosophy. In the 1950s, he came into contact with prominent figures of the Italian extra-parliamentary right such as Clemente "Lello" Graziani, who went on to found in 1956 the "New Order Scholarship Center" (Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo), and of the MSI leadership such as Giorgio Almirante, Augusto De Marsanich, and Arturo Michelini. In 1956, he joined in the violent confrontations in the streets of Rome between young nationalists who were protesting against the Soviet invasion of Hungary and leftist unions, such as the union of printers, who had come out in support of the "Soviet Union's intervention against the counter-revolutionaries in Budapest." In 1957, proclaiming that the party had lost "all revolutionary aspirations," Signorelli left the MSI together with Pino Rauti, Clemente Graziani, Giulio Maceratini, Stefano Delle Chiaie, Rutilio Sermonti, Adriano Romualdi and others who were also opposing the "moderate line" advocated by the leadership of Arturo Michelini. In 1969, Signorelli along with others, such as Rauti, rejoined the MSI party. In 1976, he was expelled from the Movimento and went on to participate in the establishment of Lotta di Popolo ("Struggle of the People"), a movement that ostensibly rejected "dogmatic ideological references" and aimed to "re-evaluate" the ideas of prominent left-wing revolutionaries such as Mao Zedong and Ernesto Guevara in the name of establishing a common front opposing "imperialism, capitalism, and Zionism." Armed militancy In the 1970s, the Almirante leadership of MSI was aiming at the establishment of a destra nazionale ("national Right") front. Young militants in Rome, led by secretary Teodoro Buontempo and deputy secretary Paolo Sgrò, expressed "impatience" with what they perceived as Almirante's "moderate choice." In 1975, Signorelli and Buontempo formed the Lotta Popolare ("Popular Struggle") faction that took hold in about fifteen MSI sections, bringing together those who, like Buontempo, wanted an initiative towards more active militancy but had no intention to break with party strategies and discipline, and those who, instead, like Signorelli, wanted a "strategic contrast" between the militant "struggle of the people" and the political "national Right". Bologna train-station bombing At 10:25 am local time of 2 August 1980, a time bomb hidden in an unattended suitcase detonated in an air-conditioned waiting room at Bologna's train station. The final toll from the bombing was 85 people dead and over 200 wounded. On 28 August 1980, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Bologna issued arrest orders against some eighty members of the extreme right organizations Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari, Terza Posizione, and Movimento Rivoluzionario Popolare, among whom was also Paolo Signorelli, accusing them of conspiracy to commit crimes, subversion, and other activities related to the bombing. Renewed investigations resulted in criminal charges, including murder, being brought against prominent figures of the Italian far-right, such as Massimiliano Fachini, the Fioravanti brothers, Francesco Pazienza, Stefano Delle Chiaie, Licio Gelli, Francesca Mambro, and Paolo Signorelli. The first trial began in Bologna on 9 March 1987. On 11 July 1988, four defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, others were convicted with lesser sentences for forming an armed gang and subversion, while Signorelli and others were acquitted. Appeals were submitted by both the defendants and the prosecution, so a new trial began in October 1989. More defendants were acquitted, including Signorelli again. After further prosecutorial appeal, on 12 February 1992, the Supreme Court of Cassation acquitted Signorelli of murder, once more. The Court also acquitted other defendants, and went on to cancel the previous trial's judgment in toto, ordering a new one on account of the sentences having been "illogical, incoherent, [and] not assessing proofs and evidence in good faith." D'Amato assassination On 23 June 1980, magistrate Mario Amato, appointed to resume the investigation of assassinated judge Vittorio Occorsio into the activities of the Italian extra-parliamentarian right, was himself assassinated in Rome by, as it was subsequently established, a group of NAR members. Arrests were issued for various persons, including Signorelli. In the 1986 trial, while Giusva Fioravanti, Francesca Mambro, and Gilberto Cavallini were convicted for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, Signorelli was acquitted. Incarceration After his initial arrest, Signorelli remained incarcerated. He was eventually allowed to return to his home in 1987 under a regime of house arrest after the agitation mostly of Radical Party MP Laura Arconti, who went on hunger strike in order to publicize Signorelli's situation. The decision to allow Signorelli to return home was taken by Socialist Party MP and Minister of Justice Giuliano Vassalli. He regained full freedom of movement after almost ten years. Ideology Signorelli himself refused the characterization of his ideological stance as "neofascist." At one point, during the discussions inside the far right, Signorelli stated his doubts about armed militancy: "Yes, we talk about [conquering] ground but structures of [our] movement are created: we tend towards action, yet this soon degenerates from political struggle into armed practice, often an end in itself." In 1996, Signorelli published a book titled Defendant by profession (Di professione imputato) in which he related his time in prison and presented some political observations. Personal life Signorelli met his future wife Claudia while studying at the university. They were married in 1959 and had two children, son Luca and daughter Silvia. According to their grandson, also named Paolo, Signorelli was a fan of Serie A football club Lazio. Paolo's older brother, surgeon Ferdinando Signorelli, was elected in the 1980s in the Senate with the MSI party and served in the Senate's permanent committee on health and sanity. Death and legacy Signorelli died in Rome on 1 December 2010 from cancer. In 2015, freelance journalist Raffaella Fanelli conducted an interview with Vincenzo Vinciguerra, the neofascist militant serving a life sentence for the 1972 bomb attack in Peteano that resulted in the killing of three carabinieri. Vinciguerra, relating the events around the years of armed militancy, mentioned Paolo Signorelli as having being "at the top" of the "fascist groups" of that period. The interview was published in La Repubblica the same year and Signorelli's daughter, Silvia, sued the journalist for defaming the reputation of a deceased person, namely her father. In February 2018, the Court of Milan that had been assigned the preliminary investigation of the case terminated the proceedings against the journalist. The Court accepted that Signorelli had been member of "an armed gang" and held a "major position" in a "subversive association," and thus decided that the suit had no merit, since "there could be no falsehoods in Vinciguerra's statements." In October 2019, an inspector of the Roman police station in via San Vitale, by order of the Bologna prosecutor, as he stated, phoned Signorelli's 85-year old widow Claudia and asked her to come to the station because she was a "person of interest" concerning the Bologna bombing. Notes References Further reading 1934 births 2010 deaths People from Rome Italian neo-fascists Italian anti-communists Italian Social Movement politicians Historians of fascism

69691601

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth%20D%C3%ADaz

Ruth Díaz

Ruth Díaz (born 1975) is a Spanish actress. She had a breakthrough performance in the 2016 film The Fury of a Patient Man. Biography Born in Reinosa, Province of Santander, in 1975, she began to perform in stage plays at age 17, excelling in a stage representation of Fortunata y Jacinta at the in Madrid in 1993. Díaz graduated from the RESAD. She landed her first television role in the police drama series El comisario in 1999, whereas she made her feature film debut in the 2001 film Killer Housewives. She featured afterwards in the films and El calentito. Some of her early television roles include performances in Al salir de clase (2001), Hospital Central (2003), Amar en tiempos revueltos (2009), Los misterios de Laura (2010) and Cuéntame (2012). After some time relatively distanced from the acting profession with no major roles (due to her pregnancy and the economic crisis, although she made her directorial debut with the 2013 short film Porsiemprejamón), she returned to cinema playing the role of Ana in the 2016 film The Fury of a Patient Man, which earned her recognition and awards. In 2018, she starred as Mercedes Carrillo in the third season of Locked Up and was also cast for the role of Laura in El pueblo. Awards and nominations References Spanish film actresses Spanish stage actresses Spanish television actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses 1975 births Living people

69692066

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear%20Comes%20to%20Chalfont

Fear Comes to Chalfont

Fear Comes to Chalfont is a 1942 detective novel by the Irish writer Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the twenty third in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a prominent figure of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Like much of the author's work it combines a traditional mystery with a police procedural. Synopsis The plot revolves around the killing of Richard Elton, the owner of the Surrey property at Chalfont, whose marriage of convenience with his wife Julia has reached breaking point due to her love for another man. French, with a new young sergeant under his wing, arrives to investigate the matter with his usual methodical precision. References Bibliography Evans, Curtis. Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961. McFarland, 2014. Herbert, Rosemary. Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015. 1942 British novels Novels by Freeman Wills Crofts British crime novels British mystery novels British thriller novels British detective novels Hodder & Stoughton books Novels set in Surrey Novels set in London Irish mystery novels Irish crime novels

69692953

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Loss%20of%20the%20Jane%20Vosper

The Loss of the Jane Vosper

The Loss of the Jane Vosper (also written as The Loss of the 'Jane Vosper') is a 1936 detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the fourteenth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective of the Golden Age known for his thorough technique. It particularly dwells on the process of police procedure. Comparing the novel to Margery Allingham's latest release Flowers for the Judge in his review for the The Spectator, Cecil Day-Lewis writing under his pen name of Nicholas Blake commented "Mr. Crofts’s new book is excellent too. The loss at sea of the “Jane Vosper”, holed by mysterious explosions in the cargo, is so vividly described, indeed, that the sequel seems a little flat" References Bibliography Evans, Curtis. Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961. McFarland, 2014. Herbert, Rosemary. Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015. 1936 British novels Novels by Freeman Wills Crofts British crime novels British mystery novels British thriller novels British detective novels Collins Crime Club books Novels set in England Irish mystery novels Irish crime novels Novels set on ships

69693003

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl%20Wayne%20Buntion

Carl Wayne Buntion

Carl Wayne Buntion (born March 30, 1944) is an American man convicted of capital murder in Texas and sentenced to death row. At 77 years old, he is the oldest death row inmate in Texas. Crime On June 27, 1990, Buntion was the passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by Houston Police Department officer James Irby. At the time, Buntion was on parole. Irby began speaking with the driver, and Buntion exited the vehicle and shot Irby once in the head. Irby fell to the ground, and Buntion shot Irby twice in the back. Buntion fled the scene, shooting at others who were nearby. Buntion was apprehended in a nearby building. At the time of the shooting, Buntion had been on parole, after serving thirteen months of a fifteen-year sentence for sexually assaulting a child. In 1971, his twin brother Kenneth Buntion had been killed by two police officers during a shootout. At the time, Carl had supposedly vowed to avenge his brother's death. In addition, he had allegedly told a companion that he would rather shoot it out with police than be sent back to prison. Legal Proceedings In 1991, a jury found Buntion guilty of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated Buntion's death sentence in 2009. In 2012, Buntion was again sentenced to death by a jury. Buntion's lawyers appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In October 2021, the Supreme Court denied Buntion's appeal. In a statement following the denial, Justice Stephen Breyer said that Buntion's "lengthy confinement, and the confinement of others like him, calls into question the constitutionality of the death penalty." Personal life Buntion was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. See also List of death row inmates in the United States List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States References 1944 births 1990 murders in the United States American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to death Criminals from Texas Living people People convicted of murder by Texas Prisoners sentenced to death by Texas 1990 in Texas 20th-century American criminals

69694148

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josep%20Denc%C3%A0s

Josep Dencàs

Josep Dencàs i Puigdollers (March 19, 1900 – February 13, 1966) was a Catalan nationalist politician active in the Republican Left of Catalonia. A supporter of Catalan independence movement, he served as interior minister of short-lived Catalan State during the turbulent Events of 6 October. He was considered a leading figure of the Catalan version of fascism. Biography He was born in Vic on March 19, 1900 in a family of pharmacists. He studied at the University of Barcelona, where he graduated in medicine. He entered Freemasonry through his father-in-law. Political career Dencàs participated in the establishment of an earlier Catalan Republic (and the Second Spanish Republic) in 1931, having participated in the founding of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) a few days earlier. He was elected ERC deputy for the Barcelona district in the general elections of June 1931 and in the first elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, in 1932. During these months he focused on organizing the Republican Youth of Catalonia (JEREC), with the aim of gaining influence within the ERC itself. He was also behind the creation of paramilitary groups, the "Escamots", which Dencàs himself led. In December 1932, he was appointed Minister of Health and Social Assistance in the government of Francesc Macià and later Minister of the Interior in the first government of Lluis Companys in January 1934. As head of police, he implemented a brutal campaign of repression against the anarchists of the CNT-FAI. Influenced by the ultranationalist and racist ideas of Pere Màrtir Rossell i Vilar, Dencàs defined himself as a "national socialist." He was considered one of the most violent leaders of the JEREC. He was instrumental in the preparation for the 1934 proclamation of the independent Catalan State separate from Spain. The new state however only lasted ten hours, after which the forces loyal to the Madrid government managed to quash the rebellion. After this failure, he went into exile, escaping through the sewers of Barcelona. His performance as Minister of the Interior was widely criticized for fleeing while other groups fought to the end. In fact, the British writer Gerald Brenan in his book The Spanish Labyrinth accused him of collusion with the Spanish right-wing, in particular with José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones. According to Ramón Ardit, after the surrender, the resisting Catalans said they wanted to "kill Dencàs." Later life Exiled in France, he was arrested by the French authorities and released shortly after. In 1936 when Spanish Republican authorities restored the Catalonian government, Companys re-appointed some former officials but Dencàs, as he was blamed for the previous unsuccessful uprising. Dencàs returned to Catalonia in 1936 and led Estat Català to split from ERC. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War surprised him in Barcelona and he did not play a role in the war. The anarchists of CNT-FAI drove him out of Barcelona in mid-August 1936, when he boarded an Italian steamer. Shortly after, on August 15, the Estat Català party expelled him from the party. Initially, he went into exile in Italy under Benito Mussolini, which reinforced accusations of collusion with fascists, although he soon moved to France again. Some authors such as Jacinto Toryho have suggested that he was involved in 1936 Catalan coup d'état attempt, through his contacts with Italian fascists. Later he settled in Morocco, where he worked as a doctor at a charitable medical center subsidized by the Real Estate Bank of Morocco which founded by the also exiled ERC leader Josep Andreu Abelló. He died of cancer in Tangier in 1966. References Exiled politicians from Catalonia Republican Left of Catalonia politicians 1900 births 1966 deaths People from Vic University of Barcelona alumni Spanish Freemasons Members of the Parliament of Catalonia Spanish fascists

69694436

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulli%20Bai%20case

Bulli Bai case

The Bulli Bai case is related to an online mock auction of Muslim women in India. Photos of prominent Muslim journalists and activists were uploaded on the Bulli Bai app without their permission where they were auctioned virtually. Like Sulli Deals, the app did not actually sell anyone, but harassed and humiliated these women. The app has been removed from the Internet platform GitHub, where it was hosted, following outrage over the app. The police investigating the case, have linked the creators of the app to alt-right group "Trads" (stands for "traditionalists), who promote genocide against minorities. Vishal Kumar Jha (in Bengaluru), Shweta Singh (in Uttarakhand), Mayank Rawal (in Uttarakhand), Niraj Bishnoi (in Jorhat) and Neeraj Singh (in Odisha) are culprits arrested by police for creating the Bulli Bai app. Background On 4th of July, 2021 several Muslim women pictures were posted on twitter as "deal of the day". After which several accounts started speaking against the Sulli Deals app which was hosted on GitHub as "open-source project." After multiple complaints, GitHub took the app down and suspended the "Sulli Deals" account which hosted the app. Delhi Police investigated the matter and did not make any arrests in the Sulli Deals case until end of 2021. In January 2022 Delhi police claimed to have arrested the creator of Sulli Deals from Indore Madhya Pradesh. Incident Reportedly on 1 January 2022, a GitHub Pages site was launched in the subdomain "bullibai.github.io" that contained allegedly doctored pictures of numerous Indian women that includes journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities, accompanied by derogatory content. These pictures were reportedly taken from their respective Social Media accounts before being edited and uploaded to the website for an auction without their consent. All of these women were Muslims. The GitHub page and the user account that launched it has since been removed by GitHub following complaints about objectionable content. Investigation Following women's complaints, police in at least three states namely, Mumbai, Delhi and Uttarakhand have launched an investigation into the Bulli Bai app. Accused According to the police investigating the case, all the four accused were reported to be influenced by Hindu right-wing ideology. The police have linked the creators of the app to alt-right groups inspired by Neo-Nazism. The members of these groups call themselves "Trads", short for traditionalists. These groups promote rhetoric for genocide of Muslims, Dalits, Sikhs and other Indian minorities. The creators of the app had used Sikh religion names to mislead people. According to Mumbai Police, this could have caused religious enmity and violence. Vishal Kumar Jha On 3 January 2022, a 21-year-old second-year engineering student named Vishal Kumar Jha was detained from Bengaluru by Mumbai Police Cyber Cell, in connection with the case. Shweta Singh On 4 January 2022, an 18-year-old woman named Shweta Singh and the alleged mastermind behind this app was arrested by a Mumbai Police team from Uttarakhand and is currently being held as the prime suspect of the probe. She told the police that "her actions were based on Hindu right-wing ideology, which she had picked up on social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter". Mayank Rawal On 4 January 2022, a 21-year-old Mayank Rawal, accused of promoting Bulli Bai on twitter was detained from Uttarakhand by Mumbai Police Cyber Cell. Neeraj Bishnoi On 6 January 2022, a 21-year-old Neeraj Bishnoi, resident of Assam's Jorhat and a second-year engineering student of Vellore Institute of Technology in Bhopal was arrested by Delhi Police Special Cell's IFSO team in collaboration with Jorhat Police from his residence in Jorhat after being accused of creating the Bulli Bai website and the twitter handles that promoted it. Neeraj Singh Neeraj Singh, age 28, arrested on 20 January 2022 is the fourth person to be arrested by Mumbai police, and the fifth overall. Police claimed that he was involved in both Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals cases, and had planned and executed the two apps. He is an MBA graduate from Jharsuguda district in Odisha. Reactions The journalist body, Editors Guild of India released a statement taking note of the incident and stated, "Though law enforcement agencies have arrested those supposedly behind such apps, there is a need for further investigation to ensure that all those behind such despicable acts, even beyond those arrested, are brought to justice." On 11 January 2022, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand de Varennes, said, "Minority Muslim women in India are harassed and ‘sold’ in social media apps, #SulliDeals, a form of hate speech, must be condemned and prosecuted as soon as they occur. All Human Rights of minorities need to be fully and equally protected". See Also 2022 Karnataka hijab row References 2022 in India January 2022 crimes Islamophobia 2022 controversies Misogyny Sexual harassment in India Cyberbullying 2022 in Internet culture Neo-Nazism in India Hindu nationalism Neo-Nazism in Asia Hindutva

69694645

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade%20%28New%20Line%20Blade%20franchise%20character%29

Blade (New Line Blade franchise character)

{{Infobox character | color = #AF181F | name = Blade | franchise = Blade | image = | caption = Wesley Snipes as Blade in Blade: Trinity (2004). | first = Blade (1998) | last_major = Blade: The Series (2006)' | last_minor = Conclave | creator = Marv WolfmanGene Colan | adapted_by = | portrayer = | voice = | affiliation = | occupation = Vampire hunter | full_name = Blade (né Eric Cross Brooks) | title = | species = Dhampir | family = | children = Fallon Grey (daughter) | nationality = American }} Blade, born Eric Cross Brooks and also known as The Daywalker, is a fictional character primarily portrayed by Wesley Snipes and Sticky Fingaz in the New Line Blade franchise (1998–2006). Based on the fictional Marvel Comics vampire hunter of the same name created by writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator Gene Colan; unlike the comics, in which Blade was depicted as a green-suited human immune to vampire bites, Blade is depicted as a sunglasses and leather-wearing dhampir (a vampire immune to usual vampire weaknesses at the cost of ageing normally), who gained his abilities after his mother was bitten by a vampire while giving birth to him; a variation of this storyline was integrated into Spider-Man: The Animated Series by John Semper in 1995 ahead of the first Blade (1998) film being made, adapted from an early script for the film by David S. Goyer, and was ultimately integrated into comics as well in 1999, retconning Blade's original origin; Blade's redesigned costume was also integrated. Following two further sequel films starring Snipes: Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004), Fingaz was cast to replace him in Blade: The Series in 2006. After discussions to have Snipes reprise the role in a crossover film with the Underworld film series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fell through, Mahershala Ali took over the role. In October 2021, Marvel Comics writer Daniel Kibblesmith confirmed that his one-shot The Darkhold: Blade would follow Snipes' version of the character. Snipes' portrayal of the character received significant critical praise, described as the "quintessential black superhero [before] Black Panther", with the first film starring him receiving a cult following and beginning Marvel's film success, setting the stage for further comic book film adaptations. Concept and creation The character Blade made his first appearance as a supporting character in The Tomb of Dracula #10 (July 1973), written by Marv Wolfman with art by Gene Colan, his first solo story coming in the black-and-white horror-comics magazine Vampire Tales #8 (December 1974), and his first solo series (in color), Blade the Vampire Hunter, being published from July 1994 to April 1995 across ten issues, written by Ian Edginton and Terry Kavanagh, with art by Doug Wheatley. When New World Pictures bought the rights to Marvel Comics, set to make a Mexico-set western starring Richard Roundtree (who would later portray Blade's father in Blade: The Series) as Blade. Marvel Studios then started to develop the film in early as 1992, when rapper/actor LL Cool J was interested in playing the lead role. Blade was eventually set up at New Line Cinema, with David S. Goyer writing the script. When Goyer heard a film was in development he went in to pitch with director Ernest Dickerson. New Line originally wanted to do Blade as "something that was almost a spoof" before the writer convinced them otherwise. Goyer wanted to take the character seriously and pitched a trilogy of movies"almost Wagnerian in scope"., saying that "I'm going to pitch you the Star Wars of black vampire films", wanting to demystify vampires and treat them as serious villains with a greater sense of realism instead of the doomed romantic characters shown in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Goyer's drafts early draft took a "post-modern approach" he compared to the films From Dusk till Dawn and Vampire in Brooklyn. Snipes stated that while such a character is not going to have much emotional depth, he then stated: "there's some acting involved in creating the character and making him believable and palatable." Casting When Goyer first pitched the idea of doing a Blade film, New Line Cinemas asked that Blade and his mentor Jamal Afari both be cast as white instead of black, which Goyer rejected. While the role of Afari was redeveloped as Abraham Whistler, portrayed by white actor Kris Kristofferson, New Line head Mike DeLuca then suggested Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Laurence Fishburne for the role of Blade; of these three, only Snipes was seriously considered, and had the film's finalised script sent to, as opposed to Washington or Fishburne, who were sent earlier drafts. Having failed to get a Black Panther film starring him into production, Snipes signed on to star as Blade in 1996, the film releasing in 1998, before signing on to reprise his role in Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004); in the former film, a young Blade is portrayed by André Hyde-Braithwaite. On November 7, 2005, it was announced that rapper Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones had signed to star as Blade in Blade: The Series, replacing Snipes following Blade: Trinity, with Jon Kent Ethridge portraying a young Blade. Characterization and redesign The comic book version of Blade used teakwood knives and was much more the everyman in his behavior and attitude, wearing green armor and sporting a short afro-style haircut. Although courageous and brave, he displayed flaws as well, such as an inability to get along with certain other supporting cast members and hatred of vampires that bordered on fanaticism. The character was not originally a "daywalker" but a human being immune to being turned into a vampire. Lacking the superhuman speed and strength of his undead quarry, he relied solely on his wits and skill. The film portrayal of Blade was updated for a 1990s audience, given a pair of sunglasses and a leather jacket, with the original comics character subsequently visually modified to match, and bitten by the character Morbius in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #8 (August 1999) to similarly make him a dhampir like his film counterpart. Relishing the "challenge [of] stepping back into Blade's shoes" for Blade II, Snipes stated: "I love playing this role. It's fun as an actor to test your skills at doing a sequel, to see if you can recreate something that you did", with Peter Frankfurt adding that "Wesley is Blade; so much of the character was invented by Wesley and his instincts are so spot on. He takes his fighting, his weapons and attitude very seriously. He's incredibly focused, but he's also very cool and fun", and Guillermo del Toro saying that "Wesley knows Blade better than David Goyer, better than me, better than anyone else involved in the franchise, [that he] instinctively knows what the character would and wouldn't do, and every time he twists something around, something better would come out". However, with Blade: Trinity, Snipes was unhappy with both Goyer's script and original choice of director; when Goyer was selected to replace the director, Snipes additionally protested, reportedly causing difficulty during filming, including frequently refusing to shoot scenes and forcing Goyer to use stand-ins and computer effects to add his character to scenes. Goyer described making the film as "the most personally and professionally difficult and painful thing I've ever been through." Co-star Patton Oswalt alleged that Snipes would spend much of his time smoking marijuana in his trailer, becoming violent with Goyer after accusing him of racism, and refusing to directly interact with Goyer or his co-stars outside of filming, instead communicating with them through his assistant or the use of notes. Snipes also allegedly referred to co-star Ryan Reynolds as a "cracker" on one or more occasions. Snipes denied that version of events and said having been promoted to the role of executive producer on the film, he had the authority to make decisions but that some people had difficulty accepting that. Addressing Blade's characterisation after being cast to replace Snipes in Blade: The Series, Fingaz commented that he was not out to make people forget about the Blade films, saying that "I think it's more my own direction, but I have to incorporate some of what [Snipes] did, [which is] what people are familiar with, and you don't want to change it up drastically. You might want to change the seasoning a little bit, but you want the same meat." Goyer commented on Blade's characterisation in the series as being written as "Wiseguy with vampires", following him after "realiz[ing] at the beginning of the pilot that he's not making much headway, just sort of hacking and slashing, that he needs to know more about [vampire society's] inner workings." Snipes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe In October 2016, Underworld film series star Kate Beckinsale confirmed that a crossover film between Underworld and Blade had been discussed as a sequel to Blade: Trinity, with both her and Snipes returning, but was declined because Marvel Studios had plans to introduce the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In May 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Marvel had a working script for a Blade film. By July 2015, Snipes said he hoped to reprise the role in any future film and had been in discussions with Marvel Studios about doing so, in an adaptation of the unpublished Blade the Hunter, following Blade and his teenaged daughter Fallon Grey. On July 20, 2019, at the San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios announced that it would be rebooting the character and integrating Blade into the MCU, but that Mahershala Ali had been cast as the title character, after he had personally pitched a Blade film starring himself to Kevin Feige. In October 2021, Marvel Comics writer Daniel Kibblesmith confirmed that his one-shot comic book The Darkhold: Blade #1 (October 2021), illustrated by Federico Sabbatini, Rico Renzi, and Clayton Cowles, would follow Snipes' version of the character; presented as a vision given to the Blade of Earth-616 by the titular Darkhold, the narrative follows Snipes' Blade after an alternate ending to the first film where he fails to stop Deacon Frost from using La Magra to make vampires the dominant species on Earth. Fictional character biography Blade In the opening scene of Blade, in 1967, a pregnant Vanessa Brooks is attacked by a vampire, causing her to go into premature labor. Doctors are able to save her baby, who she names Eric, but the woman dies of an unknown cause. Thirty years later, Eric, now named Blade, has become a vampire hunter, possessing an eidetic memory, he remembers every moment of his life, including being born. After Blade raids a Los Angeles rave club owned by the vampire Deacon Frost, police take one of the vampires he had burned to the hospital, where-to he follows to continue killing them after they awake, kill Dr. Curtis Webb and feeds on hematologist Karen Jenson to regain their strength, and escape from Blade. Blade takes Karen to a safe house where she is treated by his old friend, mentor, and surrogate father, Abraham Whistler, who explains that he and Blade have been waging a secret war against vampires using weapons based on their elemental weaknesses, such as sunlight, silver, and garlic. As Karen is now "marked" by the bite of a vampire to become a familiar (a human loyal to vampires), both he and Blade tell her to leave the city. After Karen returns to her apartment and is attacked by police officer familiar, blade subdues Krieger and uses information from him to locate an archive that contains pages from the "vampire bible". He comes upon Pearl, a morbidly obese vampire, and tortures him with a UV light into revealing that Deacon wants to command a ritual where he would use 12 pure-blood vampires to awaken the "blood god" La Magra; to which Blade's blood is the key: Blade reveals to Karen that he is a dhampir, a human-vampire hybrid possessing the supernatural abilities of the vampires without any of their weaknesses; except for the requirement to consume human blood and the ability to age normally; while Blade injects himself with a special serum that suppresses his urge to drink blood, the serum is beginning to lose its effectiveness due to overuse. Deciding to help Blade, Karen experiments with the anticoagulant EDTA as a possible replacement, finding that it explodes when combined with vampire blood and giving it to Blade to use as a weapon, while also synthesizing a vaccine that can cure the infected like her, but which will not work on Blade. Karen tells Blade that she is confident that she can cure his bloodthirst with years of treating it. However, while Blade is gone to hunt Frost's forces, Frost and his men attack his hideout, infect Whistler, and abduct Karen. When Blade returns, he reluctantly helps Whistler commit suicide. When Blade attempts to rescue Karen from Frost's penthouse, he is shocked to find his still-alive mother, who reveals that she came back the night she was attacked and was brought in by Frost, who appears and reveals himself as the vampire who bit her and responsible for Blade's existence. Blade is subdued and taken to the Temple of Eternal Night, where Frost plans to perform the summoning ritual for La Magra, draining him of his blood. Karen, after escaping her bonds, frees Blade and allows him to drink her blood, enabling him to recover and providing him more power than he has ever had. As Frost completes the ritual and obtains the powers of La Magra, Blade confronts him after killing all of his minions, including his own mother. During their fight, Blade injects Frost with all of the syringes, and the overdose of EDTA causes his body to inflate and explode, killing him. Karen offers to help Blade cure himself at the cost off his abilities, instead, he asks her to create an improved version of the serum, so he can continue his crusade against vampires. In an deleted cliffhanger ending while still atop the roof with Karen, Blade sees another Daywalker, Michael Morbius, staring at him from another building, and leaves Karen behind in order to face them. In the theatrical ending, set months later, Blade prepares to kill another vampire in Moscow. Blade II film Two years later, Blade searches Prague for Whistler, having found out that he had survived his suicide attempt, turned into a vampire, and held prisoner for two years by former followers of Frost. Rescuing Whistler and curing him using a long and arduous method of blood transference, Blade introduced him to Scud, Blade's young new technician and stoner. Subsequently, vampire overlord Eli Damaskinos sends his minion, Asad, and daughter Nyssa to strike a temporary truce with Blade, informing him of a pandemic that has been turning vampires into "Reapers", primal, mutant creatures with a ravenous thirst for blood and a highly infectious bite that transforms both human and vampire alike into them. Admitting that they now have a common enemy, Blade reluctantly allies with the vampires, teaming up with the Bloodpack, an elite group of vampires originally assembled to kill him, one member of which, Reinhardt, who particularly hates Blade and challenges to fight, Blade has Scud implant an explosive in his head to keep him in line, while growing close with Nyssa a natural-born vampire and Damaskinos' daughter, who has never killed a human. In a battle with Reapers in a vampire nightclub, Blade discovers that like him, they are immune to most vampire weaknesses. The Reaper leader, Jared Nomak, arrives and holds Nyssa hostage, before attempting to recruit Blade to his cause, citing their mutual hatred of vampires. After several off the Bloodpack's members are killed, Blade fights Nomak, who he finds is immune to his weapons. As the sun rises, Nomak retreats and Whistler returns, revealing that he has found the Reaper nest in the sewer, which Blade and the Bloodpack proceed to; several of their number are killed by a Reaper horde before Blade saves Nyssa and uses the UV-bomb to kill all of the Reapers except for Nomak. Nyssa is seriously injured until Blade allows her to drink his blood to survive. After Reinhardt and Damaskinos' forces betray and capture Blade, Whistler, Nyssa, and Scud, it is revealed that the Reapers exist as a result of Damaskinos' efforts to engineer a stronger breed of vampires and make daywalkers like Blade: Nomak, the first Reaper, is his own son, whom Damaskinos considers a failure due to his weakness to sunlight. Scud reveals himself to be one of Damaskinos' familiars, but Blade, who already suspected this, kills him with the explosive he planted on Reinhardt earlier. After Damaskinos reveals that he plans to harvest Blades blood in order to perfect his experiments and give himself an immunity to sunlight and create a new and entirely invincible breed of vampires, Whistler escapes and frees Blade, almost drained of blood, causing him to fall into Damaskinos' blood pool, restoring his strength and allowing him to fight his way through Damaskinos' henchmen and kill Reinhardt. After Nyssa betrays her father to her brother, furious at him for hiding his existence, Nomak then bites Nyssa, drinking her blood, before engaging Blade in battle and stabbing Nomak in his only weak spot. With his revenge complete, and wanting to end his suffering, Nomak kills himself with Blade's sword. Fulfilling Nyssa's wish of dying as a vampire, Blade takes her outside and embraces her as her body disintegrates due to the rising sun. Blade II video game Six months after the events of the Blade II film, Blade having vanquished Nomak and the Reapers, the Blade II video game opens with Blade and Whistler receiving information of a blood exchange taking place between a mafia outfit and a vampire clan in the parking lot of Karkov Towers, a multi-company tower block and possible vampire safe house. Blade arrives just in time to see the exchange, with a suited vampire disappearing into the tower carrying a briefcase, and is told by Whistler that the briefcase contains a vial of DNA and must be recovered. After fighting his way into the tower through the underground car park, and passing through the "Exploitika" nightclub, Blade destroying the computer mainframe of a vampire-run company called Nth Phase. Finding the vampire with the briefcase, Blade learns that that the DNA is actually that of Damaskinos, former overlord of the Vampire Nation, and a DNA sequencer is currently unraveling the DNA. Blade is able to destroy the machine and then meets Whistler on the roof, gives him a canister of poison, which Blade puts into the ventilation system, killing every vampire in the building. Upon returning to their base, Blade and Whistler discover that their ally, Dr. Grant, has been kidnapped by the Byron vampire clan. Following her GPS signal to a subway station, Blade fights his way through the vampires into the sewers, where he is joined by Whistler, who plants a series of explosives which Blade detonates, following the sewers to Gaunt Moor Asylum, where the Byrons have taken Grant. After rescuing her, Blade learns from her that the vampires are torturing humans so as to capture "dark energy" as part of an experiment called "Project: Vorpal". After escorting her out of the building, Blade returns to investigate Vorpal, discovering that are using the dark energy to attempt to create a super vampire warrior much stronger than Reapers. Although he is able to destroy the incubation chamber, Blade learns from Grant then reveals the Arcan clan is the one behind the project, not the Byrons, and infiltrates their mountain base to destroy their dark energy storage chambers. After meeting up with Grant and escorting her to the dark energy receiver so she can take it offline, he is unable to prevent her from being caught in an explosion and mortally wounded. As Grant dies, she tells Blade to destroy the core; upon heading there, meeting up with Whistler, the duo plant a series of bombs before fleeing the base and remotely setting off the explosions, destroying the core and putting an end to Project: Vorpal. Blade: Trinity After Blade is framed for countless murders by the vampire leader Danica Talos, by tricking him into killing familiars he thought were vampires, his existence is exposed to the public and FBI agents locate and raid his hideout, apparently killing Whistler. Demoralized, Blade surrenders and is arrested. After familiars embedded in the FBI attempt to hand him over to their vampire masters, Blade is rescued by Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler, Whistler's daughter, who invite Blade to join their band of vampire hunters, the Nightstalkers, which Whistler had secretly founded without Blade's knowledge. From them, Blade learns that Danica, an old enemy of King, has revived Dracula "Drake", supposedly the first vampire and a daywalker like Blade, with the goal of using his powers to cure vampires of their weaknesses. In addition to being equipped by the Nightstalkers with their newly-innovative ultraviolet "Sun dog" ammunition, Blade learns that they have created an experimental bioweapon known as Daystar, capable of killing vampires at the genetic level, and that they believe if they can infect Drake, the virus will kill him and ensure the rest of the species is wiped out, including Blade. Eager to test Blade, Drake isolates him from the Nightstalkers and explains his view that what he has seen of modern humans and vampires are inferior in his eyes and that he intends to wipe them from the Earth, requesting his assistancce in doing so, before leading him to a vampire compound where Abigail and Blade find evidence of the vampires' plans for human subjugation, as well as a network of "blood farms" where brain dead humans are drained of their blood for vampire consumption. Blade deactivates the farm's life support systems and executes the familiar who had been rounding up homeless humans for vampire consumption. Returning to the Nightstalkers' hideout, Abigail and Blade find all of them dead except for King and a young girl, Zoe, both of whom have been taken captive by Danica's forces. After arriving to Danica's base and freeing them, Blade enters into combat with Drake; losing, he prepares to kill him with his own sword. After Abigail fires an arrow containing the Daystar virus at him, Drake catches it and drops it to the floor by Blade, not realizing the danger it poses to him. After Abigail shoots Drake with another arrow, wounding him, Blade uses the distraction to stab Drake with the Daystar arrow, triggering a chemical reaction that completes the "Daystar" virus, releasing it into the air and killing Danica and the rest of the vampires. As Drake slowly succumbs to his wounds and the virus, he praises Blade for fighting honorably, but warns him that he will eventually succumb to his need for blood, thus proving that Blade is the future of the vampire race. Using the last of his power, Drake shapeshifts into Blade. The FBI recover the body, but as they begin the autopsy, it transforms back into the deceased Drake. King narrates that Drake's final transformation was gift so that Blade could escape, leaving Blade free to continue fighting his never-ending war against the forces of evil. In a post-credits scene, Blade drives in his bike, heading to places unknown. In the unrated extended edition, Drake's body in the morgue (in Blade's form) does not transform back into Drake; instead, "Blade" awakens as his autopsy begins and attacks the doctors and FBI agents present, before menacingly approaches a cowering orderly, while King narrates that the virus did not kill the real Blade as the human half of his heart did not stop beating, it only slowed down, causing him to enter into a comatose state until his body was ready to fight again. Blade: House of Chthon In Blade: House of Chthon, the two-hour television film pilot for Blade: The Series, Blade reluctantly joins forces with the ruthless and beautiful Iraq was veteran Krista Starr, the twin sister of Zack, a familiar murdered by his master Marcus Van Sciver, who apparently plans to develop a vaccine to make those of his kind who survived the Daystar virus indestructible by turning them all into Daywalkers like Blade. Forced to accommodate Krista's need for revenge. Blade also continues to keep his own bloodsucking tendencies in check through daily injections of a new special serum, seeking to counteract the damage left by Drake. After Marcus, smitten with Krista, injects her with his blood to turn her into a vampire, Krista is approached by Blade, who injects her with his own serum and offers her a chance to help him avenge her brother's death and bring down Marcus and the House of Chthon by going undercover in Marcus' organization: Zack is revealed to have been doing a sting operation with Blade. The two form a reluctant partnership. Blade: The Series Following on from Blade: House of Chthon, the events of Blade: The Series follow Blade as he hunts various vampires within and without the House of Chthon, reluctantly reconnects with his estranged biological father Robert, and serves as Krista's handler as she works undercover and struggles to deal with her own hunger for blood and growing predatory nature. Ultimately, Blade discovers that Marcus believes in peace between humans and vampires, believing that they can survive without needing to kill, and that the "vaccine" os actually a virus called the Aurora Project that will specifically target the ruling vampire class of "purebloods", leaving "turnbloods" (normal vampires like Marcus and Krista, who were once human) unscathed. With Blade's help, he eventually unleashes his weapon in the series finale, and Blade looks on at a world finally at peace. The Darkhold: Blade In The Darkhold: Blade, a one-shot following an alternate ending to Blade (1998), Blade fails to kill Deacon Frost before he succeeds in his plan to use La Magra, creating the "V-Wave", which immediately transforms billions worldwide into vampires (including many of Earth's superhumans), leaving the remainders of humanity divided between vampires and their dwindling food supply. While Blade continues his hunt, becoming known as a "boogeyman" to the vampire underworld, killing vampire and familiar alike, his former vampire ally Amadeus Cho is kidnapped by a collection of vampiric former Avengers and returned to the custody of his former master Wilson Fisk, the current "undisputed vampire king of New York City" (who now resembles Pearl). After Amadeus' interrogation by Fisk is interrupted by the failed attack of "the Last Avengers", led by Blade, Blade unleashes an aerosolized silver gas attack upon his penthouse, killing the Kingpin, the Avengers and all other vampires within, before succeeding him as "the king of the vampires." Appearances Blade is portrayed by Wesley Snipes in three feature films: Stephen Norrington's Blade (1998), Guillermo del Toro's Blade II (2002), and David S. Goyer's Blade: Trinity (2004), and by Sticky Fingaz in the television series Blade: The Series, debuting with television film Blade: House Of Chthon on June 28, 2006, and concluding with its thirteenth episode, "Conclave", on September 13, 2006. Video games Snipes' Blade appears in several video games based on the film series: Blade, a prequel of the first film published and released by Activision in 2000, with a separate game released for the Game Boy Color later that year, voiced by Redd Pepper, Blade II, released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on September 3, 2002 (unlike the other Blade video games, it is a narrative sequel to the film of the same name, taking place between the events of Blade II and Blade: Trinity, in which Blade is voiced by Tom Clarke Hill), and Blade: Trinity, a tie-in Java mobile game starring the character and adapting the film of the same name, developed by Mforma and released in December 2004. Other works Snipes' Blade has appeared in three segments of the parody series Robot Chicken, voiced by Jordan Peele. In "Sesame Street Rave", a parody of the opening scene of Blade, Blade rescues Alex from a rave attended by the cast of Sesame Street, turned into vampires by Count von Count, before killing them all. In "Bob Barker's New Gig", a retired Bob Barker (voiced by Jonathan Lipow) dresses as Snipes' Blade to become a vigilante, spaying and neutering all pets in the city in a parody of Blade'', concluding with Snoop Dogg, a werewolf. In "Blade's Blades", Blade kills two vampires before pinning a third to a wall in order to give him a sales pitch to buy "Blade's Blades" (a variety of specialised knives) from him as part of a multi-level marketing scheme, under the justification that merely being a vampire hunter doesn't pay his bills, before demonstrating his knives' capabilities by using them to block bullets shot by a gun. Impressed, the pinned vampire offers to buy two knives, asking whether or not Blade takes Discover; although insulted, Blade begrdugedly admits that he does, and accepts the payment. See also Blade (Marvel Cinematic Universe) References American male characters in television American superheroes Black characters in films Characters created by David S. Goyer Fictional capoeira practitioners Fictional characters from New York City Fictional characters with superhuman senses Fictional half-vampires Fictional hapkido practitioners Fictional Jeet Kune Do practitioners Fictional karateka Fictional kenjutsuka Fictional knife-fighters Fictional swordfighters Fictional vampire hunters Fictional vigilantes Fictional wushu practitioners Film characters introduced in 1998 Male characters in film Marvel Comics film characters Marvel Comics television characters Orphan characters in film Blade (franchise)

69695260

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahin%20Qadiri

Mahin Qadiri

Mahin Qadiri (Farsi: مهین قدیری) (1977 – December 20, 2010) was an Iranian serial killer who was convicted of robbing and killing six elderly people (one man in 2006, and five women between February and May 2009) in Qazvin. She was subsequently convicted, sentenced to death and promptly hanged in 2010. Qadiri holds the distinction of being the country's first identified, and thus far only confirmed, female serial killer. Early life Mahin Qadiri was born in Qazvin in 1977, the third in a family of eight children. Little is known of her early life, but she is known to have studied until the third grade, was married by the age of 14 and had two daughters. Despite her lack of proper education, Qadiri was noted for her intelligence, complex personality and unconditional love for her family. This was especially directed towards her disabled daughter Fatemeh, who suffered from fevers since she was very little. While her marriage was stable and she was on good terms with family members, it was known that Qadiri had a costly spending habit and was frequently in debt. This was tolerated to a certain extent, but it eventually became so out of hand that her husband stopped supporting her financially and her refused to give let her have the parental inheritance. Murders Without a source of income to pay off her amounting debts, Qadiri decided that the quickest way to find money was to steal valuable items and then resell them. As victims, she would often choose the elderly, as they were frail and less likely to put up a challenging fight. Qadiri's first murder was committed in 2006, when she strangled and robbed an elderly man in Qazvin, for which she was immediately arrested and charged with murder. However, the court had insufficient evidence to prove that she was the culprit beyond a reasonable doubt, and she was acquitted. For the next three years, she is not known to have committed any violent crimes, before embarking on a killing spree lasting from February 6 to May 6, 2009. Qadiri's modus operandi consisted of driving her yellow Renault around various imamzadehs in Qazvin and singling out elderly women who wore any golden ornaments or similar jewellery. After picking a suitable victim, she would offer to give them a ride home, often complimenting about how kind they were or how much they reminded her of her mother, before offering a juice box laced with an anesthetic. Once the victim was paralyzed or otherwise unable to properly fight back, Qadiri would proceed to strangle them using her headscarf or her bare hands. Her first murder victim fell out of the car since she was placed in the front seat, and so, for the four that followed, would have them seat in the back, where it was also less visible by any potential passers-by. Investigation and arrest On May 11, 2009, Qadiri gave a ride to a 60-year-old woman to whom she offered one of her poisoned drinks. However, the woman vehemently refused, and asked to be dropped off when she noticed that her benefactor was driving in the wrong direction. After hearing that a serial killer had been killing elderly women in a similar fashion, the woman notified police, describing her would-be assailant's car as a Renault. After obtaining this information, the police inspected more than 27,000 cars inside the country, as they considered the possibility that the perpetrator might not be from Qazvin. Eventually, authorities identified a cream-colored Renault as the one that had been seen at one of the murder sites. As a result, they tracked it down to Qadiri, whom was arrested on the early morning of May 15 at her home in the Minoodar area. While inspecting her home, investigators found newspaper articles detailing her crimes, as well as other articles and writings about other serial killers. She confessed to all six crimes, claiming that she killed only when she was in dire need of money to pay off her debts or to treat her daughter's illness, and that a burden had been lifted off her shoulders when she was finally caught. Later on, Qadiri revealed that she had also done it out of hatred for her mother, who had placed her in this harsh financial situation. Trial, imprisonment and execution Qadiri was charged and subsequently convicted on six counts of premeditated murder, for which she was given the death sentence. In addition, she was convicted on six counts of robbery, for which she was given 24 months imprisonment and 74 lashes. Journalists were barred from attending the press conferences and hearings, which received a significant amount of backlash from the press and public. After failing to appeal her sentence, Qadiri was hanged at the Qazvin Central Prison on December 20, 2010. In the media A documentary titled Mahin, directed by Mohammad Hossein Heidari and produced by the Awj Art Media Organization, was made to document the killer's life. It would subsequently win three awards (Best Film, Best Director and Best Artistic Achievement) at the 7th Shahr International Film Festival, and finished second place for the Best Film award at the Haghighat Film Festival. See also List of serial killers by country References 1977 births 2010 deaths 21st-century Iranian criminals Female criminals Iranian female serial killers Iranian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Iran People convicted of robbery People acquitted of murder Executed serial killers Executed Iranian women 21st-century executions by Iran People executed by Iran by hanging People executed for murder People from Qazvin

69695654

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando%20L%C3%B3pez%20Nogales

Armando López Nogales

Armando López Nogales (born 1 September 1950) is a Mexican former lawyer and politician who was the Governor of Sonora from 1997 to 2003 as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He also served as a Senator in the LVI Legislature of the Mexican Congress representing Sonora, as well as a federal deputy in the LIV Legislature. Early life Armando López Nogales was born on 1 September 1950 in Cananea, Sonora to Rafael López Martínez and Mariana Nogales Gracia. The local miners' union, which his father was a member of, provided him with a scholarship to attend the Universidad de Sonora. He earned his law degree in 1972, writing his thesis on international reclamation, before teaching agrarian law at the same institution. He also worked as a lawyer both in Hermosillo and Mexico City. Political career López Nogales joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) as a teenager. From 1976 to 1977 he was the private secretary of Governor of Sonora Alejandro Carrillo Marcor. He then joined the Secretariat of Agrarian Reform, where he was the chief of the Office of Agriculture and Livestock. In 1979, he was elected to a three-year term as a local deputy in the XLIX Legislature of the Congress of Sonora. During this time he also served as the PRI secretary of political action at the state level. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Sonora's 1st District in 1988, where he was a member of the Grand Committee and the Government and Constitutional Affairs Committee. López Nogales returned to the Secretariat of Agrarian Reform in 1991 under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, starting as assistant secretary of organization and agrarian development before being promoted to undersecretary of agrarian reform the following year. He was elected as a Senator for Sonora in the 1994 elections, where he served as President of the Agrarian Reform Committee. He also served as the party president at state level for a short time. He left the Senate in 1997 to run for Governor of Sonora. Governor of Sonora López Nogales was nominated by PRI officials as the party's candidate for Governor on 3 February 1997, and his nomination was subsequently ratified at the state party convention later that month. Even though his campaign was poorly managed and plagued with internal conflict, he was the favorite from early on. He ran with the slogan Armando juntos un mejor futuro con López Nogales (Building together a better future with López Nogales), with his first name doubling as the Spanish word for "building". His discourse during the campaign focused on local issues such as agriculture, ranching, infrastructure, public works, employment, and industry. López Nogales polled at 43% in a predicted landslide victory right before the election according to the most prestigious survey service, Covarrubias y Asociados. His main opponents were National Action Party (PAN) candidate Enrique Salgado Bojórquez and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) candidate Jesús Zambrano Grijalva. As expected, López Nogales won the race with over 40% of the vote, almost 9% ahead of the PAN and more than 18% ahead of the PRD. His six-year term saw notable improvements in health and education in Sonora, though there was also a significant increase in public debt. In 2001, he visited his hometown of Cananea and designated it the capital of the state for a day in commemoration of the city's centennial anniversary. During his governorship, López Nogales had a controversial relationship with José Luis Hernández Salas, editor of Hermosillo-based daily newspaper El Independiente. According to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, the governor invited Hernández Salas to dinner in Hermosillo in June 1999, where López Nogales asked him to cover his friend, PRI presidential candidate Francisco Labastida, favorably ahead of the upcoming election in exchange for financial support for the paper. After the governor was rejected by Hernández Salas, he took ahold of El Independiente three months later in September via dubious legal proceedings and "put it at the service" of Labastida's campaign. He also placed the Hernández Salas' house under police surveillance, causing him to flee to the United States in fear of his life. After his term, López Nogales retired into private life to work his ranch in Cananea. He wrote a book about his life and government work, Mis raíces y mis años de vida, which was published in 2019. References Living people 1950 births Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Governors of Sonora Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Members of the Congress of Sonora Universidad de Sonora alumni Universidad de Sonora faculty Politicians from Sonora People from Cananea 20th-century Mexican lawyers 20th-century Mexican politicians 21st-century Mexican politicians

69695796

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max%20Kayser%20%28politician%29

Max Kayser (politician)

Max Kayser (9 May 1853 - 29 March 1888) was a German Social Democratic political journalist-commentator and politician. Between 1878 and 1887 he served as an unusually youthful member of the German "Reichstag" ("National Parliament"). Nevertheless, between 1881 and 1884 - years during which, in parts of Germany, Bismarck's "Anti-Socialist Laws" were applied with particular enthusiasm - he was faced with a succession of court cases and excluded from a number of cities and towns, on account of his political record. Life Provenance and early years Max Kayser was born at Tarnowitz (as Tarnowskie Góry was known before 1944/45), a small linguistically diverse and ethnically fragmented mining town, located in a part of Upper Silesia that was part of Prussia (and later of Germany) between 1742 and 1945. Little is known of his family provenance or childhood, but the facts that he attended a "Gymnasium" (secondary school), and evidently benefited from a conventional "middle-class" school education, indicate that the family was, by the standards of those times, financially secure. He was born into a Jewish family, but subsequently identified as a so-called "religious dissident" (without a faith). On leaving school he undertook an apprenticeship in business at Breslau (as Wrocław was then known). Till 1871 he remained in Breslau, employed in wholesaling/retailing. Although he never enrolled as a university student, at least one source refers to his having attended university lectures in "National Economics" ("Nationalökonomie" / "Volkswirtschaftslehre"), an aspect of "Popular/Applied Economics" that featured in German curricula at the time. He relocated to Berlin, probably during 1871, and was briefly employed in a roller-blnd factory. While still in Breslau, his involvement as an executive member of the city's "Business association" ("Kaufmännischer Verein") at the age of just 18 indicated a certain level of political consciousness and organisational commitment. In Berlin Kayser again demonstrated his appetite for further education, attending public lectures on "National Economics" presented by socialist economists as disparate as Eugen Dühring and Adolph Wagner. He was also a member of the executive board of the Berlin-based "Workers' Democratic League" ("Demokratische Arbeiterverein") and of the "Democratic Association" ("Demokratische Vereinigung") between 1871 and 1873. Kayser also worked, jointly with Carl Hirsch co-editor with the "Demokratische Zeitung" (newspaper) between 1871 and the publication's collapse in July 1873. Immediaely after that, Kayser's contributuions began to appear in the Mainz-based "Süddeutsche Volksstimme". He also became a member of the International Workingmen's Association, possibly as early as 1869. Political journalist Between August 1873 and May 1874 Kayser worked for the Social Democratic Workers' Party as a paid agitator. During 1874 Kaiser relocated from Berlin to Saxony: alongside his work for the short-lived "Süddeutsche Volksstimme", Kaiser he wrote for Social-Democratic newspapers printed in Chemnitz ("Freie Presse,") and Leipzig ("Vorwärts"). Possibly of greater impact were his contributions to the "Dresdner Volksbote" (rebranded and relaunched in 1877 as the "Dresdner Volkszeitung"), the principal Social Democrat newspaper of the Saxon Capital. Nevertheless, the political establishment during the Bislarck era remained deeply concerned by the rise of socialism, and while Kayser remained active as a journalists through the mid-1970s, by the time the Leipzig version of "Vorwärts" had been placed under a ban by the authorities in October 1878, most of the papers for which he wrote had either suffered, or else were undergoing, the same fate, falling foul of the Anti-Socialist Laws. Party congresses Kayser was a regular participant at the early social democratic "party" congresses. Between 22 and 27 May 1875 he attended the so-called Unification Congress at Gotha. This was noteworthy, in particular as the occasion on which the SDAP and the ADAV came together to form the SAP. Pressure to present a united front to the existing political establishment came both from Chancellor Bismarck's intensification of his anti-socialist strattegy and from the way in which major issues that had formerly divided the two Socialist associations - most shrilly over the geographical extent of a theoretical future united German state - had been set to rest by the creation of a real united Germany in 1871. Kayser attended the Gotha congress as the delegate representing 395 party members from Dresden and, according to some sources, Pirna. Between 19 and 23 August 1876 another party congress was held at Gotha. Kayser attended. representing party members in Dresden and Pirna, as he did again in 1877. In 1883 he was again a delegate at the party congress, held between 29 March and 2 April at Copenhagen The last Party Congress which Max Kayser attended as a delegate was thate held at St. Gallen in October 1887. Tobacco In April 1880 he co-founded "Max Kayser & Cie.", a Tobacco and cigar business in Dresden, in which he remained active as co-owner, jointly with his brother-on-law and political ally August Kaden, till the brutal onset of his final illness in 1887. Reichstag At the 1878 General Election the Socialist Workers' Party, despite winning 7.6% of the popular vite, ended up with just 9 of the 397 seats distributed between the parties in the German "Reichstag" ("National Parliament"), on account of the allocation system in place at the time. One of them went to Max Kayser, who represented "Electoral District Saxony 9" ("Wahlkreis Sachsen 9"), the Freiberg and Hainichen electoral district, in a heavily industrialised region of southern Saxony. Still aged just 26, he was the youngest in the little SADP group in the assembly, and one of the youngest members of the Reichstag. Under the terms of the Anti-Socialist Laws passed by the government in 1878 and regularly modified during the ensuing twelve years until Chancellor Bismarck reluctantly retired and the laws were not renewed, the authorities succeeded in deferring but not in preventing the political advance of what became the Social Democratic Party. Between 1881 and 1884, as one of the more prominent SAP members of the "Reichstag", Kayser found himself excluded from many German towns and cities on political grounds between 1881 and 1884. There were times when he was unable to find accommodation and was forced to spend the night in a railway wagon. He faced a number of court trials in connection with alleged breaches of press laws, in connection with which he was sentenced, in aggregate, to more than 18 months in jails. Within the Social Democratic parliamentary group Kayser was regarded by party comrades (and other observers) as the most right-wing of their members. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels together produced a "circular letter", addressed to the Social Democratic parliamentary leadership in which, at characteristic length, they railed against "Max Kayser's conduct in the Reichstag". At a time when the benefits of free trade were an article of faith across the traditional political left in Europe, Kayser was the only Social Democrat in the Reichstag to vote in support of the Bismarck government's programme of "protective tarriffs" in 1879, explaining that although he knew tarriffs would not eliminate unemployment, he believed that they might go some way to mitigate its impact. Kayser was sharply critical of the Liberals, asserting that they displayed a woeful absence of understanding when it came to Social issues and policy, concerning the working and living conditions of the so-called proletariat, urban industrial workers. He robustly rejected solution involving private insurance as a matter of principal, believing that individuals should not profit from the misfortunes of others: insurance must be a matter for the state. He used the opportunities afforded by his membership of the Reichstag to argue powerfully against the "Anti-Socialist Laws". Death During 1887 Kayser fell gravely sick with a throat illness which some sources identify as a cancer of the larynx. He died "as a consequence of a larynx operation" at Breslau on 30 March 1888. Max Kayser had spent many years under close police surveillance, and his funeral celebrations followed the same pattern. As the security services looked on, more than 3,000 mourners accompanied his coffin on its slow progress along the Lohestraße to Breslau's Jewish cemetery. They included the party leaders August Bebel and Paul Singer. Personal Max Kayser was married with at least one child: his son was also called Max Kayser. Although there are various references in sources to his family, there are few details. It is known that he had siblings. His younger brother, Richard Kayser, became a distinguished physician specialising in head and neck treatment and surgery. His business partner, August Kaden, is described in sources as his brother-in-law. Notes References 1853 births 1888 deaths Members of the International Workingmen's Association Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the 4th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 5th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 6th Reichstag of the German Empire

69696219

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.%20H.%20M.%20Shamsud%20Doha

A. H. M. Shamsud Doha

A. H. M. Shamsud Doha was a Pakistani politician. He served as the Minister of Agriculture of Pakistan in the 1960s. Doha was the Inspector General of Police in East Pakistan and had an contentious relationship with future President of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Career Doha served in the British India police service. In 1952, Doha was the Director General of East Pakistan Ansars. He described religious minorities fleeing East Pakistan to India as enemies. 20 November 1952 to 26 September 1956, Doha was the Inspector General of Police of East Pakistan. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Doha was the Minister of Agriculture and Works of Pakistan. Personal life Doha's son, A R Shamsud Doha, was a former Foreign Minister of Bangladesh. References Year of birth missing Possibly living people

69696413

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20smart%20cities

List of smart cities

The following is a list of cities that have implemented smart city initiatives, organized alphabetically. List of cities Almaty In 2021, Kazakhstan and Singapore agreed to develop a project called the G4 City. Project in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan. The project will consist of 4 smart cities located along the Almaty – Ust-Kamenogorsk highway at the section of Almaty – Kapshagay. Amsterdam The Amsterdam smart city initiative which began in 2009 currently includes 170+ projects collaboratively developed by local residents, government and businesses. These projects run on an interconnected platform through wireless devices to enhance the city's real-time decision making abilities. The City of Amsterdam (City) claims the purpose of the projects is to reduce traffic, save energy and improve public safety. To promote efforts from local residents, the City runs the Amsterdam Smart City Challenge annually, accepting proposals for applications and developments that fit within the city's framework. An example of a resident developed app is Mobypark, which allows owners of parking spaces to rent them out to people for a fee. The data generated from this app can then be used by the city to determine parking demand and traffic flows in Amsterdam. A number of homes have also been provided with smart energy meters, with incentives provided to those that actively reduce energy consumption.</ref> Other initiatives include flexible street lighting (smart lighting) which allows municipalities to control the brightness of street lights, and smart traffic management where traffic is monitored in real time by the city and information about current travel time on certain roads is broadcast to allow motorists to determine the best routes to take. Barcelona Barcelona has established a number of projects that can be considered 'smart city' applications within its "CityOS" strategy. For example, sensor technology has been implemented in the irrigation system in Parc del Centre de Poblenou, where real time data is transmitted to gardening crews about the level of water required for the plants.</ref> Barcelona has also designed a new bus network based on data analysis of the most common traffic flows in Barcelona, utilising primarily vertical, horizontal and diagonal routes with a number of interchanges. Integration of multiple smart city technologies can be seen through the implementation of smart traffic lights as buses run on routes designed to optimise the number of green lights. In addition, where an emergency is reported in Barcelona, the approximate route of the emergency vehicle is entered into the traffic light system, setting all the lights to green as the vehicle approaches through a mix of GPS and traffic management software, allowing emergency services to reach the incident without delay. Much of this data is managed by the Sentilo Platform. Brisbane Brisbane launched a project to install poles around the city that would keep track of important information such as air quality or environmental noise. The information they collect is used by the city council to improve operations around the city. They also serve as street lights, have outlets for charging, and Wi-Fi. Columbus, Ohio In the summer of 2017, the City of Columbus, Ohio began its pursuit of a smart city initiative. The city partnered with American Electric Power Ohio to create a group of new electric vehicle charging stations. Many smart cities such as Columbus are using agreements such as this one to prepare for climate change, expand electric infrastructure, convert existing public vehicle fleets to electric cars, and create incentives for people to share rides when commuting. For doing this, the U.S. Department of Transportation gave the City of Columbus a $40 million grant. The city also received $10 million from Vulcan Inc. One key reason why the utility was involved in the picking of locations for new electric vehicle charging stations was to gather data. According to Daily Energy Insider, the group Infrastructure and Business Continuity for AEP said, "You don't want to put infrastructure where it won't be used or maintained. The data we collect will help us build a much bigger market in the future." Because autonomous vehicles are currently seeing "an increased industrial research and legislative push globally", building routes and connections for them is another important part of the Columbus smart city initiative. Copenhagen In 2014, Copenhagen claimed the prestigious World Smart Cities Award for its "Connecting Copenhagen" smart city development strategy. Positioned in the Technical and Environmental Administration of Copenhagen, the smart city initiatives are coordinated by Copenhagen Solutions Lab, the city's administrative unit for smart city development. There are other notable actors in Greater Copenhagen that coordinate and initiate smart city initiatives including State of Green and Gate21, the latter of which has initiated the innovation hub smart city Cluster Denmark. In an article with The Economist, a current major smart city project is explained: "In Copenhagen, as in many cities around the world, air quality is high on the agenda when it comes to liveability, with 68 percent of citizens citing it as of high importance when it comes to what makes their city attractive. To monitor pollution levels, Copenhagen Solutions Lab is currently working with Google and has installed monitoring equipment in their streetview car in order to produce a heatmap of air quality around the city. The information will help cyclists and joggers plan routes with the best air quality. The project also gives a glimpse of the future, when this kind of information could be collected in real time by sensors all over the city and collated with traffic flow data." In another article with The World Economic Forum, Marius Sylvestersen, Program Director at Copenhagen Solutions Lab, explains that public-private collaborations must be built on transparency, the willingness to share data and must be driven by the same set of values. This requires a particularly open mindset from the organisations that wish to get involved. To facilitate open collaboration and knowledge-sharing, Copenhagen Solutions Lab launched the Copenhagen Street Lab in 2016. Here, organisations such as TDC, Citelum and Cisco work in collaboration with Copenhagen Solutions Lab to identify new solutions to city and citizen problems. Dubai In 2013, the Smart Dubai project was initiated by Shaikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president of UAE, which contained more than 100 initiatives to make Dubai a smart city by 2030. The project aimed to integrate private and public sectors, enabling citizens to access these sectors through their smartphones. Some initiatives include the Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy to create driverless transits, fully digitizing government, business and customer information and transactions, and providing citizens 5000 hotspots to access government applications by 2021. Two mobile applications, mPay and DubaiNow, facilitate various payment services for citizens ranging from utilities or traffic fines to educational, health, transport, and business services. In addition, the Smart Nol Card is a unified rechargeable card enabling citizens to pay for all transportation services such as metro, buses, water bus, and taxis. There is also the Dubai Municipality's Digital City initiative which assigns each building a unique QR code that citizens can scan containing information about the building, plot, and location. Dublin Dublin has been refereed to as an unexpected capital for smart cities. The smart city programme for the city is run by Smart Dublin an initiative of the four Dublin Local Authorities to engage with smart technology providers, researchers and citizens to solve city challenges and improve city life. It includes Dublinked- Dublin's open data platform that hosts open source data to smart city applications. Gdynia Gdynia was the first city in Eastern Europe to receive the ISO 37120 certificate issued by the World Council on City Data. In 2015, the TRISTAR intelligent road traffic management system was implemented in the city. Trolleybuses in Gdynia have been operating since 1943 and are still being developed as low-emission transport - some of them have their own batteries, which allows them to reach areas with no traction. Over 200 sets of up-to-date data from 21 areas of the city's functioning are published on the Open Data portal. The data sets meet the requirements of machine readability and are also presented in a way comprehensible to users. There is also an Urban Lab for cooperation between residents, experts and representatives of city structures. Isfahan Isfahan has a smart city program, a unified human resources administration system, transport system. Kyiv Kyiv has a transport dispatch system. It contains GPS trackers, installed on public transportation, as well as 6,000 video surveillance cameras which monitor the traffic. The accrued data is used by local Traffic Management Service and transport application developers. London In London, a traffic management system known as SCOOT optimizes green light time at traffic intersections by feeding back magnetometer and inductive loop data to a supercomputer, which can co-ordinate traffic lights across the city to improve traffic throughout. Madrid Madrid, Spain's pioneering smart city, has adopted the MiNT Madrid Inteligente/Smarter Madrid platform to integrate the management of local services. These include the sustainable and computerized management of infrastructure, garbage collection and recycling, and public spaces and green areas, among others. The programme is run in partnership with IBMs INSA, making use of the latter's Big Data and analytics capabilities and experience. Madrid is considered to have taken a bottom-up approach to smart cities, whereby social issues are first identified and individual technologies or networks are then identified to address these issues. This approach includes support and recognition for start ups through the Madrid Digital Start Up programme. Malta A document written in 2011 refers to 18th century Żejtun as the earliest "smart city" in Malta, but not in the modern context of a smart city. By the 21st century, SmartCity Malta, a planned technology park, became partially operational while the rest is under construction, as a Foreign Direct Investment. Manchester In December 2015, Manchester's CityVerve project was chosen as the winner of a government-led technology competition and awarded £10m to develop an Internet of Things (IoT) smart cities demonstrator. Established in July 2016, the project is being carried out by a consortium of 22 public and private organisations, including Manchester City Council, and is aligned with the city's on-going devolution commitment. The project has a two-year remit to demonstrate the capability of IoT applications and address barriers to deploying smart cities, such as city governance, network security, user trust and adoption, interoperability, scalability and justifying investment. CityVerve is based on an open data principle that incorporates a "platform of platforms" which ties together applications for its four key themes: transport and travel; health and social care; energy and the environment; culture and the public realm. This will also ensure that the project is scalable and able to be redeployed to other locations worldwide. Milan Milan, Italy was prompted to begin its smart city strategies and initiatives by the European Union's Smart Cities and Communities initiative. However, unlike many European cities, Milan's Smart city strategies focus more on social sustainability rather than environmental sustainability. This focus is almost exclusive to Milan and has a major influence in the way content and way its strategies are implemented as shown in the case study of the Bicocca District in Milan. Milton Keynes Milton Keynes has a commitment to making itself a smart city. Currently the mechanism through which this is approached is the MK:Smart initiative, a collaboration of local government, businesses, academia and 3rd sector organisations. The focus of the initiative is on making energy use, water use and transport more sustainable whilst promoting economic growth in the city. Central to the project is the creation of a state-of-the-art 'MK Data Hub' which will support the acquisition and management of vast amounts of data relevant to city systems from a variety of data sources. These will include data about energy and water consumption, transport data, data acquired through satellite technology, social and economic datasets, and crowdsourced data from social media or specialised apps. The MK:Smart initiative has two aspects which extend our understanding of how smart Cities should operate. The first, Our MK, is a scheme for promoting citizen-led sustainability issues in the city. The scheme provides funding and support to engage with citizens and help turn their ideas around sustainability into a reality. The second aspect is in providing citizens with the skills to operate effectively in a smart city. The Urban Data school is an online platform to teach school students about data skills while the project has also produced a MOOC to inform citizens about what a smart city is. Moscow Moscow has been implementing smart solutions since 2011 by creating the main infrastructure and local networks. Over the past few years Moscow Government implemented a number of programs, contributing to its IT development. So, Information City programme was launched and subsequently implemented from 2012 to 2018. The initial purpose of the programme was to make daily life for citizens safe and comfortable through the large-scale introduction of information and communication technologies. In the summer of 2018, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced the city's smart city project, aimed at applying modern technologies in all areas of city life. And in June 2018, the global management consultancy McKinsey announced that Moscow is one of the world's top 50 cities for smart technologies. Smart City technologies have been deployed in healthcare, education, transport and municipal services. The initiative aims to improve quality of life, make urban government more efficient and develop an information society. There are more than 300 digital initiatives within the smart city project, with electronic services now widely provided online and through multifunctional centers. Moscow's citywide Wi-Fi project was launched in 2012 and now provides more than 16,000 Wi-Fi internet access points. The total number of access points will exceed 20,500 by early 2021. Moscow is actively developing eco-friendly transport using electric buses, and autonomous cars will soon be tested on the city's streets. Other initiatives include Moscow's Electronic School programme, its blockchain-based Active Citizen project and smart traffic management. New Songdo City New York New York is developing a number of smart city initiatives. An example is the series of city service kiosks in the LinkNYC network. These provide services including free WiFi, phone calls, device charging stations, local wayfinding, and more, funded by advertising that plays on the kiosk's screens. San Leandro The city of San Leandro, California is in the midst of transforming from an industrial center to a tech hub of the Internet of things (IoT) (technology that lets devices communicate with each other over the Internet). California's utility company PG&E is working with the city in this endeavor and on a smart energy pilot program that would develop a distributed energy network across the city that would be monitored by IoT sensors. The goal would be to give the city an energy system that has enough capacity to receive and redistribute electricity to and from multiple energy sources. Santa Cruz An alternative use of smart city technology used to be found in Santa Cruz, California, where local authorities previously analyzed historical crime data in order to predict police requirements and maximize police presence where it is required. The analytical tools generate a list of 10 places each day where property crimes are more likely to occur, and then placing police efforts on these regions when officers are not responding to any emergency. This use of ICT technology is different to the manner in which European cities utilize smart city technology, possibly highlighting the breadth of the smart city concept in different parts of the world. The city of Santa Cruz suspended the use of predictive policing technology in 2018, after there were questions about its validity in such a small community. Santander The city of Santander in Cantabria, northern Spain, has 20,000 sensors connecting buildings, infrastructure, transport, networks and utilities, offers a physical space for experimentation and validation of the IoT functions, such as interaction and management protocols, device technologies, and support services such as discovery, identity management and security In Santander, the sensors monitor the levels of pollution, noise, traffic and parking. Shanghai Shanghai's development of the IoT and internet connection speeds have allowed for third-party companies to revolutionize the productivity of the city. As mobile ride share giant, DiDi Chuxing, continuously adds more user protection features such as ride recording, and a new quick response safety center, Shanghai is furthering their smart city agenda. During the first China International Import Expo, Shanghai focused on smart mobility and implemented sensors to accept smartphone traffic cards in all metro stations and buses to increase efficiency in the city. Singapore Singapore, a city-state, has embarked on transforming towards a "Smart Nation", and endeavours to harness the power of networks, data and info-comm technologies to improve living, create economic opportunities and build closer communities. Stockholm Stockholm's smart city technology is underpinned by the Stokab dark fibre system which was developed in 1994 to provide a universal fibre optic network across Stockholm. Private companies are able to lease fibre as service providers on equal terms. The company is owned by the City of Stockholm itself. Within this framework, Stockholm has created a Green IT strategy. The Green IT program seeks to reduce the environmental impact of Stockholm through IT functions such as energy efficient buildings (minimising heating costs), traffic monitoring (minimising the time spent on the road) and development of e-services (minimising paper usage). The e-Stockholm platform is centred on the provision of e-services, including political announcements, parking space booking and snow clearance. This is further being developed through GPS analytics, allowing residents to plan their route through the city. An example of district-specific smart city technology can be found in the Kista Science City region. This region is based on the triple helix concept of smart cities, where university, industry and government work together to develop ICT applications for implementation in a smart city strategy. Taipei Taipei started the "smarttaipei" project in 2016, where the major concept of is to change the culture of city hall government to be able to adopt new ideas and new concepts called bottom-up mechanism. The Taipei City government established the "Taipei Smart City Project Management Office", also known as the "PMO", to implement and governance the development of smart city. Thereafter, building an innovation matchmaking platform to combine industry and government resources to develop smart solutions that satisfy public demands. PMO accept proposals from industry and help to negotiate with relative department of Taipei city to initiate new proof of concept(PoC) project, with the help of a matchmaking platform which allows citizens access necessary innovative technologies. There are more than 150 PoC Project established, and only 34% project finished. Tallinn Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, was a recipient in 2020 of the Netexplo Smart Cities 2020 Prize for digital transformation. Since 2013 Tallinn has offered free public transit to its residents, coordinated through pairing of contactless fare cards with national identity cards via digital public portal. Tallinn also hosts the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities, a collaborative research institution investigating autonomous public transport and smart grid solutions. Estonia advocates its E-Estonia program, which allows for transnational digital residency and electronic voting. Criteria for Inclusion See: Article on Smart Cities References Smart cities Lists of cities

69696457

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield%20And%20Sword

Shield And Sword

Schild und Schwert (Shield and Sword) is the brand of a neo-Nazi music festival in Germany. Until 2019, the event was held in Ostritz in eastern Saxony. At Shield And Sword, mainly German but also "traditional neo-Nazis" from the neighboring countries gather with activists of the new rights. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundeverfassungsschutz) mentioned, that "Schild und Schwert"-the festival has particular importance for the subcultural right-wing extremist scene". In 2018 for the first time, the neofascist MMA material art scene and the music scene united at the festival by the MMA event "Kampf der Nibelungen“. 2018 In 2018 the NPD activist Thorsten Heise and NPD-lawyer Peter Richter organized Shield And Sword. They combined it with the nazi MMA-event „Kampf der Nibelungen“ at the birthday of Adolf Hitler. The music line-up included white metal bands like „Die Lunikoff-Verschwörung“ by the former Landser-singer Michael Regener, „Kategorie C“, „Amok“ from Soitzerland, „Oidoxie“ from Dortmund and others. Nearly every band has a connection to „Blood & Honour“. 2019 In 2019 the festival had 500 to 600 according to police. 1.400 police officers from several state polices and from Poland had been there. The city of Ostritz prohibited any alcohol at the festival. 2020 In 2020 the festival was firstly postponed and than canceled because of COVID-19 pandemic. References 2018 establishments in Germany Neo-Nazi music Neo-Nazism in Germany

69697336

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White%20Noise%20%28play%29

White Noise (play)

White Noise is a 2019 play by Suzan-Lori Parks. It premiered at The Public Theater in New York. Characters The central characters are two woke interracial couples, good friends since college. Leo, a black artist and insomniac. He has tried a white noise machine to help him sleep, and describes himself as "the fractured and angry and edgy black visual artist." Dawn, a white liberal lawyer. Something of a "white saviour". Ralph, a white and wealthy writer. Misha, the black host of the YouTube show Ask a Black. Plot Leo, out walking one night, is assaulted by police. To regain a sense a safety, he asks his friend Ralph to buy him as a slave for forty days, positing that he will be safer as a white man's property. Ralph, initially terrified of being white, male and straight, agrees. Their new relationship corrupts Ralph and releases his inner "whitey", and he joins a club exclusively for whites. In the second act, Ralph makes Leo wear a slave collar. Productions The 2019 debut at The Public Theater in New York was directed by Oskar Eustis, and included Daveed Diggs as Leo, Zoe Winters as Dawn, Thomas Sadoski as Ralph and Sheria Irving as Misha. A 2021 London production at the Bridge Theatre was directed by Polly Findlay, and included Ken Nwosu as Leo, Helena Wilson as Dawn, James Corrigan as Ralph and Faith Omole as Misha. One change between the productions is that while in the 2019 production the characters hang out in a bowling alley, the hang out is a shooting range in 2021. 2021 reviewers have noted that the play brings to mind the 2020 murder of George Floyd, though it premiered the year before. Reception 2019 Theater critic Ben Brantley said "Though White Noise runs a full three hours, and skids on some of its plot twists, it doesn’t feel long. By its end, you may marvel at how many forms, faces and exploitative uses of racial identity it has covered. ... In burrowing deep into what one character calls “the worm hole” of how we talk — and think — about race, Ms. Parks isn’t cutting anyone any slack. Herself included." The Guardian'''s reviewer gave the play four out of five stars, saying it "finds [Parks] at her most realistic, which is fun in some ways and frustrating in others. It’s a pleasure to hear her vital, playful intelligence shoved into the mouths of contemporary, recognizable characters and then exasperating when those characters behave implausibly." Theater critic Hilton Als, in a mostly negative review, found the play lacking compared to some of Parks' earlier work. 2021The Independent and The Daily Telegraph gave the play four out of five stars. The Independent said that while the scenario is massively implausible, the play "is undercut with a fatalism about a culturally required wokeness that only goes surface-deep, that’s rapidly shrugged off like a heavy coat when things get too heated. It’s grim, brilliantly perceptive, and lets no one off the hook." According to The Daily Telegraph, "its ambitious scope of ideas ensures that the play is funny, challenging, audacious and profoundly unsettling. Three hours seldom passed so quickly."The Guardian, the newspaper i and the Evening Standard gave the play three out of five stars, one reviewer saying that "even when neither the story nor the characters are believable, this is still a propulsive drama with pace, plotting and a deadly magnetism, and its greatest triumph lies in the virtuosity and vigour of its astonishing cast."The Times'' gave the play two out of five stars. The reviewer said that while the play is extremely well acted, "Parks demands three hours of your time, and in return offers a rambling piece constructed around a ludicrous premise." Awards 2019 Obie Award, playwriting. 2019 Outer Critics Circle Award, outstanding new off-Broadway play. References External links White Noise at Bridge Theatre Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks Handles Heavy Themes In Racial Drama White Noise, 2019 NPR interview Daveed Diggs, Thomas Sadoski & Suzan-Lori Parks Discuss The Public's Play, White Noise, video from 2019 White Noise | Interview with White Noise Movement Director Jade Hackett, video from 2021 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks Off-Broadway plays Obie Award-winning plays Plays about race and ethnicity Fiction about interracial romance

69697801

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%20Birmingham%20Erdington%20by-election

2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election

A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Erdington is expected to be held on 3 March 2022, after the writ was issued on 31 January. It was triggered by the death of the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Jack Dromey on 7 January. Background and voter registration Labour has held Birmingham Erdington since the seat was re-established in 1974. Dromey had been the MP for the constituency since 2010, being re-elected in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He died suddenly in his Birmingham flat on the Friday morning of 7 January 2022, according to a family statement. He had spoken in a House of Commons afternoon debate on the UK resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees the day before. The deadline to register to vote was 00:00 GMT on 15 February, with applications for postal votes due by 17:00 GMT on 16 February. Candidates The Labour Party candidate is Paulette Hamilton, who is Birmingham City Council's cabinet member for Health and Social Care. She was selected in a virtual hustings against Ashley Bertie, the former West Midlands deputy police and crime commissioner, receiving 82 votes to Bertie's 32. The Conservative Party selected Robert Alden, who had contested the seat in the previous four general elections. Reform UK (formerly the Brexit Party) is standing Birmingham postman Jack Brookes. The Liberal Democrats candidate is Lee Dargue. He works in the rail sector, occupational health and safety and environmental management. The Green Party selected local businesswoman Siobhan Harper-Nunes as its candidate. Michael Lutwyche is standing as an independent. Lutwyche is a Justice-4-the-21 campaigner, supporting the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings. Dave Nellist, standing for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), was the Labour MP for Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Nellist received support from the Breakthrough Party, the Northern Independence Party and Left Unity, who joined the TUSC on 20 January 2022 in the PAL - People's Alliance of the Left. Previous result See also 2022 Birmingham City Council election References External links Elections and voting. Birmingham City Council website (birmingham.gov.uk). 2022 elections in the United Kingdom Erdington 2022 Birmingham Erdington March 2022 events in the United Kingdom

69698955

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing%20Committee%20on%20Home%20Affairs

Standing Committee on Home Affairs

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs (SCOHA) is a department related standing committee (DRSC) of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the purpose of legislative oversight of the domestic policy, internal security and decision making of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is one of the 24 DRSCs that have been mandated with the onerous task of ministry specific oversight. The committee currently is headed by MP Anand Sharma. Current Composition Each of the committees have 31 members – 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. These members are to be nominated by the Speaker of Lok Sabha or the Chairman of Rajya Sabha respectively. The term of office of these committees does not exceed one year. These committees are serviced either by Lok Sabha secretariat or the Rajya Sabha secretariat, depending on who has appointed the chairman of that committee. Following are the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs Comments and reports Tek Fog In January 2022, MP Derek O'Brien (Trinamool Congress) and a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs wrote to Anand Sharma, head of the committee to discuss the secret app "Tek Fog" that "has serious ramifications and could jeopardise national security". He wrote, "This application is capable of penetrating encrypted messaging platforms and secure social media conversations, in order to heavily manipulate and exploit narratives on said platforms." On 12 January, Congress leader and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also wrote to the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Anand Sharma, asking the committee discuss the "Violative Software Application 'Tek Fog'", in their next meeting. The Parliamentary standing committee asked the Union Home Ministry to provide information about the 'Tek Fog' app that was allegedly used for manipulating social media trends. On 12 February, responding to the request, MoS for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "The ministry has searched for the app on all prominent app stores and APK stores and could not find so called app in any of these online stores." Police Reforms In 2022, the committee submitted to Rajya Sabha, its report titled "Police — Training, Modernisation and Reforms", the committe expressed concern about the low representation of women in police forces, at only 10.30%. Chairpersons See also 17th Lok Sabha Estimates Committee Committee on Public Undertakings Public Accounts Committee (India) Standing Committee on Finance References Committees of the Parliament of India Ministry of Home Affairs (India) India

69699088

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedon%20Town%20Hall

Hedon Town Hall

Hedon Town Hall is a municipal building in St Augustine's Gate, Hedon, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The building, which is the meeting place of Hedon Town Council, is a Grade II* listed building. History The council's fine silver collection was established when a member of parliament, John Alured, presented the council with a silver tankard in appreciation of the help he had received from the council in supporting his election to parliament in 1640. The collection was supplemented by further gifts from members of parliament: a wine bowl from Colonel Matthew Alured in 1659, a large silver flagon from Sir Charles Duncombe in 1685 and a silver tankard from Matthew Appleyard in 1689. Another member of parliament and secretary to the Treasury, Henry Guy, presented an early 15th century silver mace, and it was in this context that, in the early 1690s, Guy decided to commission a town hall and present it to the town. The building was designed in the neoclassical style, built in red brick and was completed in 1693. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto St Augustine's Gate; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway with an architrave and a cornice on the ground floor, a sash window on the first floor and a small modillioned pediment above. The outer bays were fenestrated with sash windows on both floors and featured a modillioned cornice above. Internally, the principal room was the courtroom which was also used as a council chamber; there was also a lock-up for incarcerating petty criminals. The magistrates' bench was curved so that attention was focussed on all the members of the bench and not just the chief magistrate. Petty session hearings were held in the courtroom once a month. Hedon had a very small electorate and, in the early 19th century, it was alleged that the council had been receiving corrupt gifts, i.e. silver, from politicians for supporting their election to parliament, which meant the town was recognised by the UK Parliament as a rotten borough. Its right to elect members of parliament was removed by the Reform Act 1832 and its processes for electing the borough council, which had met in the town hall, was also reformed under the Borough Improvement Act 1860. The building was given a new façade with a stucco finish in around 1860. The new facade was rusticated on the ground floor and featured a band between the two floors with a series of grotesques which were installed just below the band. The borough coat of arms, which featured a ship, was placed above the doorway and the coat of arms of Henry Guy encircled in Acanthus leaves was installed just below the first floor window. By the mid-1890s the lock-up was damp and deteriorating and its use was discontinued in 1898, when a purpose-built police station was established in the Market Place. In July 1919, after the end of the First World War, a large crown assembled on the local cricket field and marched to the town hall as part of the "Peace Day" events. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Hedon Borough Council for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Holderness District Council was formed in 1974. The building, instead became the offices and meeting place of Hedon Town Council. See also Grade II* listed buildings in the East Riding of Yorkshire References Government buildings completed in 1693 City and town halls in the East Riding of Yorkshire Grade II* listed buildings in the East Riding of Yorkshire Hedon

69699159

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy%20V

Billy V

William "Billy V" Van Osdol is a veteran radio broadcast personality, television reporter and personality, entertainer, emcee, and actor in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has been at the forefront of numerous events in the Hawaii entertainment, hospitality, and sports industries, and most notably at many of Hawaii's biggest events including the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards and the Merrie Monarch Festival. Billy V has also played Ed Romero, a conservation officer, from 2012-2018 on the CBS hit police action TV series, Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series). Radio KCCN FM100 (1990-2006) Billy V was instrumental in developing the KCCN-FM radio station. He helped develop the programming with Honolulu Skylark, assisted in building studios and production rooms, implemented on-air programs, and worked with initial sales teams before being called to assist Hawaiian 105 KINE-FM. During his time on the station, KCCN-FM become Honolulu's #1 Radio Station in 2000, according to Neilson. Hawaiian 105 KINE (2006-2021) After much success at KCCN-FM, Billy V was asked to assist in Hawaiian 105 Hawaiian 105 KINE. Billy V opened the Morning Show, "Nāʻau Therapy," with Mele Apana. The show earned the station's highest ratings in years. Billy V along with Mele Apana have been largely responsible for bringing Hawaiian music back to Hawaiian 105 Hawaiian 105 KINE. In 2014, Billy V left Hawaiian 105 KINE after the departure of Mele Apana. After nearly five years, Billy V returned to Hawaiian 105 KINE for the Saturday 12-6PM timeslot playing songs from Hawaii's top musicians and sharing behind-the-scenes stories from celebrities and other special guests. In 2021, SummitMedia Corporation, owner of Hawaiian 105 Hawaiian 105 KINE, issued a mass layoff which included many Hawaii radio personalities including Billy V, Shannon Scott, and Wayne Maria. Television Hawaii News Now Billy V joined the television news broadcast, Hawaii News Now, as a spotlight Entertainment Reporter from Hawaiian 105 KINE. Periodically, he would fill in for Breaking News, Traffic, and Weather segments. He joined the Hawaii News Now-Sunrise team full-time in December 2015. His role at the TV station lead to anchoring prominent Hawaii broadcasts including the Queen Liliuokalani Hula Competition, the Merrie Monarch Festival and the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. Na Hoku Hanohano Awards Billy V has anchored the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts' televised Hawaii music award ceremony, the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, for more than 20 years. Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series) Billy V has also played Ed Romero, a conservation officer, from 2012-2018 on the CBS hit police action TV series, Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series). Past Television Events Sports University of Hawaii Athletics In 1999, Billy V started emceeing for the Rainbow Classic collegiate basketball tournament sponsored by Outrigger Hotels & Resorts. He then joined the University of Hawaii as a Game Day Activities Coordinator assisting with game announcing, client relations, and game day coordination. Currently, his voice can be heard announcing several University of Hawaii sports including women's volleyball, men's basketball and football. Other Works Hawaiian Airlines In-Flight Program Honolulu Festival References External links Living people American male actors American television journalists People from Hawaii American male journalists Year of birth missing (living people)

69699186

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter%20Twelve%3A%20Anatomy%20of%20a%20Murder

Chapter Twelve: Anatomy of a Murder

"Chapter Twelve: Anatomy of a Murder" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American television show Riverdale. The episode was written by Michael Grassi and directed by Rob Seidenglanz. It originally aired on The CW in the United States on May 4, 2017. The episode focuses on the main characters discovering information regarding the death of Jason Blossom, which had served as the main story arc for the first season of the show. The episode received primarily positive reviews and was watched by 0.995 million viewers in its initial broadcast. Plot Following the previous episode, FP Jones is in jail for the murder of Jason Blossom, with the murder weapon found in his house. However, Archie, Betty, and Veronica had searched his house earlier and had not found the weapon, leading them to believe that FP was framed. However, he confesses to the murder and tells the Sheriff Keller how and why he did it, also admitting that he had stolen files related to the investigation from the sheriff's home. The confession leaves FP's son Jughead despondent, but after being consoled by his friends, he is also convinced of his father's innocence. Investigating further, they talk to Joaquin, another member of FP's gang, the Southside Serpents He reveals that FP had been responsible for getting rid of Jason's dead body and that he was helped by Joaquin and another Serpent. They go to question this other Serpent, but discover his dead body in a motel, a victim of an apparent drug overdose. Police discover a bag of money in the motel room with the initials "H.L." on it, tying the murder to Veronica's father Hiram Lodge. Meanwhile, Betty's dad Hal Cooper reveals that he was the one who stole the files from the sheriff's house, as he was afraid that the files could lead the sheriff to implicating the Cooper family in the murder, since Jason was dating his other daughter Polly at the time of his death. This reveal shows that FP's confession was at least partially false, and eventually another Serpent reveals the location of a bag FP had hidden in the woods as a "contingency plan". Inside the bag, they find Jason's letterman jacket and a thumb drive with a security camera video showing Jason's father Clifford murdering him. They turn the evidence over to the police and learn that, while Clifford was responsible for Jason's death, FP had falsified his confession after Clifford threatened to kill Jughead if he told the truth. The police go to arrest Clifford, but find him hanging on his family estate, next to hidden bags of drugs. Cast and characters Starring KJ Apa as Archie Andrews Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper Luke Perry as Fred Andrews Guest starring Casey Cott as Kevin Keller Martin Cummins as Tom Keller Robin Givens as Sierra McCoy Molly Ringwald as MaryAndrews Skeet Ulrich as F.P. Jones Nathalie Boltt as Penelope Blossom Peter James Bryant as Mr. Weatherbee Barclay Hope as Clifford Blossom Lochlyn Munro as Hal Cooper Rob Raco as Joaquin DeSantos Christopher Rosamond as Mustang Tiera Skovbye as Polly Cooper Co-starring Wonita Joy as Counter Lady Samantha Spear as Deputy Trevor Stines as Jason Blossom Production During the production of season 1, it was decided that the season-long mystery surrounding Jason Blossom's murder would be resolved in the penultimate episode. This decision was disapproved of by some studio executives who felt that the reveal should have been saved for the season finale, but executive producer Greg Berlanti approved of the idea, telling the writers, "Solve the mystery in the penultimate episode so that in the last episode, you can get back to all the characters and not make it about the mystery." Overall, show creator and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa expressed satisfaction with how the two episodes were handled. Reception Critical reception The episode received overall positive reviews. Film website CinemaBlend ranked it number 2 on their list of the best episodes of Riverdale (as of December 5, 2021), saying, "It was like the perfect bow on the mystery that captured everyone’s attention, from the clues, to the reveal of who did it, to the very ending sequence. Everything was so delicately crafted that it felt like a true murder mystery, one that almost reminded me of Knives Out." An article in Birth.Movies.Death. gave the episode a good review, praising the reveal as a satisfying conclusion to the season-long mystery regarding Jason's death. Den of Geek gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, praising the set-up for the season finale and calling the episode "an incredibly satisfying episode that lays the groundwork for dark things to come". The A.V. Club gave the episode an A rating, calling it "easily Archie’s best episode" and similarly expressing interest in how the season finale would conclude the season. Ratings The episode was watched by 0.995 million viewers and received a television rating of 0.4 in the key demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds. References Further reading External links 2017 American television episodes Riverdale (2017 TV series) episodes

69699413

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package%20Killer

Package Killer

The Package Killer is the name attributed to an unidentified American serial killer, responsible for the murders of at least three women in the St. Louis area from March to September 1990. His pseudonym comes from the receptacle ways he discarded the bodies. Murder victims (Confirmed) - On March 26, 1990, the body of 19-year-old Robyn J. Mihan was discovered alongside a Highway stuffed between two mattresses in Silex, Missouri. She had been reported missing four days prior on March 22. An autopsy showed that she had been strangled, and her hands were bound together. She had worked as a prostitute. (Suspected) - On June 11, 1990, the body of 40-year-old Donna Reitmeyer was found inside of a rubber trash bin near South Broadway. Her body was so badly decomposed that the cause of death remains unknown, but signs of violence were located. (Confirmed) - On October 4, the body of a woman was found inside of a plastic trash can along a roadside near Interstate 270 by a jogger who had noticed a foul odor. The woman remained unidentified for months, until police were able to confirm the woman was 27-year-old Brenda Jean Pruitt, whose family had reported her missing on May 9. (Confirmed) - On February 17, 1991, the body of a woman was found stuffed in a wooden box along the I-70. The victim was found to have been wearing a stocking cap, and authorities released the type of cap in hopes to identify the body. She was identified as 21-year-old Sandy Little, who had been missing since September 4, 1990. She was found to have worked as a sex worker. (Suspected) - On May 12, 1991, the body of 37-year-old Sandra Cain was found on the road along Interstate 44. An autopsy wasn't able to confirm the cause of death, but narrowed it down that she either had been hit by a car or thrown off the overpass. Cain had worked as a sex worker, and reportedly, victim Sandy Little had told Cain to not go with the man in the station wagon. It is speculated that the man is the killer. Suspect The three murders were connected, and they contributed to the murders to the work of a serial killer. The perpetrator was named The Package Killer due to his ways of how he disposed of the bodies. During the investigation, investigators came up with a suspect, a 34-year-old man who had a history of violence towards sex workers. The man had been accused of torturing and raping several local prostitutes. The man was questioned, but denied being the killer. He was never arrested, and the package killer remains unidentified. See also List of serial killers in the United States References American serial killers Unidentified serial killers American rapists Crimes against sex workers in the United States Crimes in Missouri Criminals from Missouri Fugitives wanted by the United States 20th-century American criminals Murder in Missouri 1990 murders in the United States Unsolved murders in the United States

69699830

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen%20Qichang%20%28Trotskyist%29

Chen Qichang (Trotskyist)

Chen Qichang (; 1900–1942) was a Chinese communist politician. He was an early member of Communist Party of China and was active in the labor movement. He broke with the party to join with Chen Duxiu in his new Trotskyist group and became a prominent figure among Chinese Trotskyists. He was killed by Japanese gendarmerie while struggling against Japanese occupiers in Shanghai during Second Sino-Japanese War. He had a number of pseudonyms and pen names, including Chen Qingchen (陈清晨)、Chen Zhongshan (陈仲山) and Jiang Weiliang (江维亮). Biography Early life and CPC Chen was born in 1900 in Luoyang and came from a poor family. He was admitted to and studied at Peking University in the 1920s. He studied education but switched to economics. While at school, he joined Communist Party of China in 1925 and served at various lower-level local party committees in Beijing. After Chiang Kai-Shek carried out Shanghai massacre to initiate white terror in China, he fled to Shandong，and then to Shanghai to participate in the labor movement there. He organized textile and tram workers in Shanghai French Concession. One of his schoolmate at Peking University was the Wang Shiwei, who would become a celebrated communist writer. Later he financially assisted Wang's life when she had a miscarriage in 1930. It was also said that Chen introduced Wang into the CPC. Wang later left the party but then rejoined in 1937 when he arrived in Yan'an to join Mao Zedong's Chinese Red Army. However, he was arrested by the communist police for penning an article titled Wild Lilly which was critical of the party bureaucracy. Kang Sheng accused him of being a Trotskyist and spy (and it was possible his early association with Chen Qichang, in Kang's claims, substantiated the charge, even though Wang never was a Trotskyist). Wang was later executed by Kang's orders. Trotskyism Chen read Leon Trotsky's opinions about China in 1929. Agreeing with Trotsky's views, he joined former CPC leader Chen Duxiu in turning to Trotskyism and was subsequently expelled by CPC. Among those who joined the Trotskyist cause included Zheng Chaolin and Chen's schoolmate Wang Fanxi (not to be confused with Wang Shiwei). Wang Fanxi later highly praised Chen for his high moral standards and personal courage. Along with these associates, Chen became a part of Chinese Communist Left Opposition. During an internal conflict among Chinese Trotskyists in 1935，Chen supported Chen Duxiu and opposed Liu Renjing，who announced that Chen Qichang was expelled from the group. However, later Liu and a few others were arrested by Kuomintang police, and Liu as a result defected to the government. Liu's proclamations then became moot. The same year，C. Frank Glass, Yin Kuan, Wang Fanxi and Chen Qichang met to rebuild the Trotskyist organization. Writing to Lu Xun In 1936, Chen wrote to prominent author Lu Xun in an attempt to win him over to Trotskyism. However, Lu was very ill and Feng Xuefeng replied to Chen with a very vituperous and later well-known reply on Lu's behalf. The reply contained insinuation that Trotskyists were collaborators with the Japanese Army. This was consistent with Joseph Stalin's false accusations that Trotskyists were secretly working with Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan. Resistance against Japan and death During the Second Sino-Japanese War (part of World War II) the Japanese army occupied Shanghai. He participated in underground resistance there. In 1942 he was arrested by Japanese forces and executed. Family Chen's wife, Chen Shang Yanfang was born same year as he in 1900 and died in 1991，She was said to have been survived by a son and daughter. One of the sons, Chen Daotong, reconciled with CPC but after establishment of People's Republic of China he was arrested in 1952 during Mao Zedong's anti-Trotskyist purge (to win favor from USSR during Stalin's rule at the time). He was released in 1956. He remained in contact with Zheng Chaolin, one of his fellow Trotskyists who was released much later in 1979. Chen Daotong died in 2014 from lung cancer. References 1900 births 1942 deaths Peking University alumni Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Governors of Liaoning Chinese Marxists Chinese socialists Chinese New Left Chinese Trotskyists People from Luoyang People killed in the Second Sino-Japanese War

69700648

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike%20Kullman

Mike Kullman

Michael G. Kullman (January 22, 1962 – July 21, 2003) was an American football defensive back who played one season in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Kutztown, and also spent time semi-professionally with the Bucks County Redskins and Ches-Mont Bandits. Early life and high school Kullman was born on January 22, 1962, in Frankfurt, West Germany. His family moved to United States when he was young, and he attended Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Weighing 89 pounds as a freshman in 1975, he tried out for the school freshman football team, but was cut two weeks into training camp. He tried out for the varsity roster two seasons later as a wide receiver, but was one of the first cuts. After being released, he played the season on the 120-pound football team in the Liberty Bell Youth Organization. After adding 25 pounds before the start of the next season, Kullman was persuaded by coach Angelo Coia, a former National Football League (NFL) player, to tryout for the Ryan varsity team again. Shortly before the first preseason cuts, having "not made any progress", and with a third release being "too humiliating", Kullman quit the team. Semi-professional career After graduating from high school, Kullman spent the 1978 and 1979 seasons with the "Far Northeast 140-pound" football team. He did not play in 1980, but returned to the sport in 1981 as a member of the semi-professional Bucks County Redskins. He later stated that his semi-professional stint was "different than any of his prior football experiences," saying, "I'm 18 years old, and all the rest of the guys on the team were, like, 24 or 25. It was different. After practice, all the guys would go to bars. And I couldn't." Kullman spent the 1982 season as a member of the Ches-Mont Bandits. College career After spending 1982 with the Bandits, Kullman enrolled at the Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 1983. Though he did not see much action as a freshman that year, he became a starter at free safety over the next three years. Following his junior year of 1985, he was named first-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. He was a second-team selection the following year, having his best game statistically against Bloomsburg University in a 7–7 tie. That game, he made 20 tackles, a quarterback sack, one interception and one fumble recovery. He finished his college career with 228 tackles made, 10 interceptions, and 22 pass breakups. He graduated with a degree in criminal justice. Professional career Kullman was not selected in the 1987 NFL Draft. In the offseason, his secondary coach at Kutztown, Tony Leonzi, called the Philadelphia Eagles defensive backs coach Jeff Fisher and convinced him to give Kullman a tryout. "The coach at Kutztown contacted me during the off-season, in April, just after our first minicamp," Fisher said. "He said he had a real good athlete – a local guy – who was a pretty good player. I said we would give him a free-agent shot. Obviously, you get a lot of calls like that." However, Kullman impressed at his tryout, and was signed by the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in May. An article in The Philadelphia Inquirer described him as, "the longest long shot on the team," but that "he has a shot, he says. And one shot is better than none at all." It also wrote, "Kullman is Walter Mitty dressed in a green, No. 35 jersey. He is 25 years old – the oldest rookie on the Eagles roster. He negotiated his own contract, which, he says falls far short of making him a millionaire." In the preseason, Kullman appeared in one quarter versus the New York Jets, but did not appear in their game against the Detroit Lions and was subsequently released. One week later, he was given a $1,000 retainer in case of a strike. When the Players Association went on a strike later in the year, Kullman returned to the Eagles. Kullman appeared in three total games for the Eagles, and was their starter in one of them. In his NFL debut, a 3–35 loss against the Chicago Bears, he intercepted a pass and returned it 13 yards. He made his first start against the Dallas Cowboys in the following game. He played his final career game in the following week, intercepting a pass in a 10–16 overtime loss at the Green Bay Packers. The strike ended after the game, and Kullman was released by the team. In three appearances, he made two interceptions, returning them for 25 total yards, and made nine tackles. After being released, Kullman announced plans to pursue a career in law enforcement, similar to his father, who served as a police officer. Later life and death Kullman later owned the Crocodile Rock Cafe in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. From 1993 to 1996, he served as an assistant coach at his alma mater of Kutztown University. Kullman was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in December 2000, and died of the disease on July 21, 2003, at the age of 41. He was posthumously inducted into the Kutztown Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. Notes References 1962 births 2003 deaths German players of American football American football defensive backs Kutztown Golden Bears football players Philadelphia Eagles players National Football League replacement players

69701357

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark%20Encounter

Dark Encounter

Dark Encounter is a 2019 science fiction mystery thriller, written and directed by Carl Strathie, in which a terrorising alien encounter reveals the dark truth behind a child disappearance in rural Pennsylvania. Plot In November 1982, married couple Ray and Olivia return to their small town home, to find that their eight-year-old daughter, Maisie, has disappeared without a trace. One year later, after a funeral service, the family arrives at Ray and Olivia's house. In addition to the two of them and their son Noah, Ray's brother Billy, Olivia's sister Arlene and her husband Kenneth, the sheriff of a neighboring parish, and Olivia's widowed brother Morgan join for dinner. The group attempts to have dinner, but Ray begins an argument with his brother Billy. Later, Ray and Morgan have a short conversation about grieving: Morgan offers his advice, but Ray makes it clear he has no intention of moving on, and storms out of the kitchen. A strange play of light begins in the forest, which Ray looks at with concern. He suspects that local children are using flares, and sets out to confront them in the forest. Against his will, Morgan, Billy, Sheriff Kenneth and his son Noah join him. They drive into the forest, and witness strange phenomena: electricity goes haywire, both on their flashlights and on the car, an inexplicable light crosses the forest, and Morgan disappears without a trace. At the same time, Sheriff Kenneth experiences something that renders him catatonic, and the party reunites in the car, with Morgan still missing. Olivia and Arlene, who remained in the house, are startled by rumbling noises. After the men return, the house experiences further disturbing phenomena. The lights flickers erratically, electrical devices turn on by themselves, an invisible force attracts metal objects and a figure sneaks around the house and tries to enter. Drawn by the glaring light, Ray, Kenneth and Arlene disappear one after the other. Billy, Olivia and Noah flee from the property to the nearest country road, where they witness a light show in the night sky; it is now clear that the events are due to extraterrestrial beings. The trio is picked up by the local sheriff and another policeman and driven back to the house. Neither of the three reveals what had actually happened, and just declare that they were tormented by some unknown trio. At their own request, the three stay behind in the house and barricade themselves in the bedroom of the missing daughter, and the police officers go back to town. At the police station, a crown is waiting to give statements regarding similar events; a police woman describes similar occurrences to the sheriff. Back in the house, an alien enters the bedroom and touches Olivia's forehead. She finds herself in a copy of the house, where she can see past events through the windows: the scenes that led to the disappearance of her daughter Maisie a year earlier take place. While Ray and Olivia were in town, she sees how Sheriff Kenneth visited Maisie and took advantage of her parents' absence to rape her. He then killed the girl and buried her in the forest where the light shows began a year later. Olivia wakes up in her bed again. As the truth unfolds, the walls of the house begin to crack, and Olivia finds herself laying in Maisie's bed, while she processes what she just found out about. Her son calls her, and she wakes up in the room again. All of the people who had previously disappeared slowly reappear in the house, with a small nosebleed and evident shock. They were all shown, like Olivia was, what had happened a year ago, and Kenneth's horrendous crime is now known to them all. As they go down the stairs, Kenneth begins to curl himself against the wall, and Arlene attacks Kenneth. Moments later, the sheriff arrives, while Olivia asks Kenneth where Maisie's body is. The sheriff organises a search party that finally finds Maisie's body, and the family holds a second funeral. He is then interviewed on TV about the events that unfolded, and the alien's aid in finding Maisie. The last scene shows Ray and Olivia in bed, as they begin process what has happened and find inner peace. Production Dark Encounter is the second feature film from director Carl Strathie, who shot the science fiction thriller Solis in 2018. Cinematographer Bart Sienkiewicz, editor Chris Timson and composer David Stone Hamilton worked for both films. Actor Sid Phoenix was part of the crew for the earlier film. Strathie is self-taught and never attended film school, but made various short films before Solis. Dark Encounter is set in rural Pennsylvania, although for budget reasons the film was shot entirely in Yorkshire, UK Interior shoots took place in the GSP Studios near Selby in North Yorkshire. The shooting took place in early 2018. The film premiered on August 23, 2019, at the British film festival FrightFest. Cast Mel Raido as Ray Laura Fraser as Olivia Spike White as Noah Sid Phoenix as Billy Alice Lowe as Arlene Grant Masters as Kenneth Vincent Regan as Morgan Nicholas Pinnock as Sheriff Jordan Sean Knopp as Deputy Miles References External links 2019 films 2010s science fiction drama films 2010s science fiction thriller films 2010s English-language films 2019 science fiction films

69703010

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou%20Youping

Zhou Youping

Zhou Youping (Chinese: 周友平; 1972 – August 29, 2014) was a Chinese serial killer and former karaoke singer who was convicted of killing six men during erotic sex games in Changsha from October to November 2009. Whilst he claimed the deaths were accidental, Youping was nonetheless convicted, sentenced to death and summarily executed for the crimes. Early life Zhou Youping was born in a small town in Xiangxiang in 1972, the second brother in a family with three children. From an early age, he developed an interest in singing from his father, who was reported to be a capable singer. From an early age, Zhou was described as handsome, was constantly surrounded by girls and a top student in his town. In 1989, he enrolled in an art school in Hunan and joined the Huagu Opera troupe. During his time there, Zhou realized that he was gay, initially struggling with his sexuality as he feared his parents would disown him, but it is unclear if that ever occurred. Zhou eventually dropped out and moved with his sister to Changsha, where he rented a one-room apartment. After settling in, he began singing in karaoke halls in Changsha and Xiangxiang, frequently covering songs by Tengger. His handsome appearance and beautiful voice earned him moderate success, but he never reached the critical acclaim that he had hoped. Despite this, Zhou lived a relatively lavish lifestyle, frequently buying perfumes and bringing various "boyfriends" to his residence. Crimes On the evening of June 22, 2006, Zhou arranged to meet a man at a hotel in the Kaifu District. When they met, he drugged the man with sedatives, then stole 600 yuan and his mobile phone. Four days later, the man found Zhou and confronted him, with the two engaging in a scuffle which was broken up by authorities. Zhou was subsequently arrested when the policemen learned that he had robbed the victim, and he was subsequently given a 3-year prison sentence and a 5,000 yuan fine. He was paroled for good behavior in August 2008, but ceased singing altogether. Around September 2009, Zhou started posting on various BDSM websites, advertising that he was searching for "slaves". His victims of choice were usually men in their 20s or early 30s from the northern regions, most of which were relatively tall. He would usually meet at them in hotels or guesthouses around Changsha, where they would engage they would choke each other with ropes. From October 11 to November 26, six of Zhou's one-night stands were found hanging in their rooms. Due to the similarity of all the deaths (the way the victim had hanged themselves, being naked, etc.) led authorities to believe that none of them were accidental, and they eventually started an inquiry to resolve what exactly had transpired. Arrest, trial and imprisonment After several days of investigation, the authorities arrested Zhou on November 28 and charged him with six counts of murder. In the interrogations, he confessed to participating in the so-called "hanging game", but claimed that he did not partake in it himself - instead, he simply watched as the victims choked themselves to death and simply left. Zhou was eventually convicted of the six deaths and sentenced to death by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court on March 29, 2011. He appealed the sentence on the grounds that the victims had hanged themselves voluntarily, and he was thus not directly responsible for their deaths. The Hunan Higher Provincial People's Court were unable to convict him for four of the deaths due to insufficient evidence, but reaffirmed the convictions in two of the cases. The Supreme People's Court upheld the verdicts, finalizing Zhou's death sentence and depriving him of his political rights for life. Execution On August 29, 2014, Chinese state media reported that Zhou Youping had been executed in Changsha; the method of execution was not specified. See also List of serial killers by country External links A Multidimensional Analysis of the Subjective Mental State of Crime——Taking Zhou Youping's Serial Death by Sexual Abuse as an Example (in Simplified Chinese) References 1972 births 2014 deaths 21st-century Chinese criminals Chinese male criminals Male serial killers Chinese serial killers Chinese people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by China Executed Chinese people Executed serial killers 21st-century executions by China People executed for murder Chinese male singers LGBT people from China People from Xiangxiang Violence against men in Asia

69703011

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry%20of%20the%20Interior%20%28East%20Timor%29

Ministry of the Interior (East Timor)

The Ministry of the Interior (MI; , ) is the government department of East Timor accountable for internal security and related matters. Functions The Ministry is responsible for the design, implementation, coordination and evaluation of policies for the following areas: internal security; migration and asylum: border control; civil protection; road security; and police cooperation. Minister The incumbent Minister of the Interior is Taur Matan Ruak, Prime Minister of East Timor. He is assisted by António Armindo, Deputy Minister of the Interior, and Joaquim José Gusmão dos Reis Martins, Secretary of State for Civil Protection. See also List of interior ministries Politics of East Timor References Footnote Notes External links – official site (inactive ) Interior East Timor East Timor, Interior 1975 establishments in East Timor

69703810

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfe%20%28TV%20series%29

Wolfe (TV series)

Wolfe is a British television police procedural drama on Sky Max, created by Paul Abbott. It follows Professor Wolfe Kinteh, a crime scene investigator and academic who solves crimes in northern England. It stars Babou Ceesay as the titular lead. It began on September 10, 2021. Cast Babou Ceesay as Professor Wolfe Kinteh Natalia Tena as Val Kinteh Amanda Abbington as Dot Adam Long as Steve Shaniqua Okwok as Dominique Christine Tremarco as DCI Betsy Chambers Talitha Wing as Flick Naomi Yang as Maggy Episodes Reception Ed Power of The Telegraph gave it two out five stars, deeming it 'uneven'. References External links 2021 British television series debuts 2020s British crime drama television series 2020s British mystery television series 2020s British police procedural television series British crime television series Sky UK original programming English-language television shows

69704012

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%20Murree%20snowstorm

2022 Murree snowstorm

On 7 January 2022, a snowstorm occurred in Murree, Rawalpindi District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, dropping more than of snow, killing 23 domestic tourists who had visited to see the snowfall. Many died as temperatures fell to around negative 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 F). Background A day before the incident, hundreds of thousands of people from other parts of Pakistan had driven to the high-altitude town of Murree in Rawalpindi District, Punjab, Pakistan, to see the snowfall. Several vehicles became stuck on the roads due to the snowfall and thousands of tourists spent the night on the roads. Snowfall began on Tuesday night and continued intermittently throughout the week, attracting many tourists. Murree is a popular destination for Pakistani tourists whenever it sees snow. The Met Office had issued an alert on 5 January warning that heavy snowfall could potentially cause road closures in the area from 6-9 January. Soon after that, the Murree tehsil administration issued a travel advisory, urging tourists to check weather and traffic updates before coming. Since Murree is just a tehsil within the broader Rawalpindi district, the district administration itself did not hold a meeting to discuss the issue, although Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali said on social media that an increased number of traffic wardens were deployed. The National Disaster Management Authority also did not call for a meeting with district officials to prepare for the increased traffic. Tourists complained that hotels had driven up prices to capitalise on the massive influx of tourists, prompting many people to sleep in their cars. Rooms that normally cost Rs.6,000-10,000 per night were being rented for Rs.70,000 per night, while food prices were also marked up high. Prices for an average of Rs.40 for a cup of tea skyrocketed to Rs. 700. This led to the hashtag #BoycottMurree trending on Twitter on Sunday. Storm On Friday, 7 January, a blizzard dumped four feet of snow on Murree. During the intervening night of 7 and 8 January, over 157,000 vehicles entered Murree as snowfall began. Cars were packed bumper-to-bumper on the roads surrounding Murree. All routes into and out of Murree were effectively blocked, leaving the tourists stranded. When it began to snow heavily, a lot of people left their cars on the roads to seek shelter in hotels, further contributing to the congestion. Negligence by local authorities may have also contributed to the congestion: in some areas, over 13,000 cars were allowed onto roads that were only designed to accommodate 4,000 at a time. In some places, the heavy snowfall and strong winds caused trees to fall, blocking roads and in at least one case falling onto multiple vehicles. At least 22 tourists died. The victims suffered from hypothermia while some may have died of carbon monoxide inhalation because their exhaust pipes were blocked by snow, which resulted in leakage of carbon monoxide into the cars, causing the deaths. The victims included Islamabad police officer Naveed Iqbal, his sister, three nephews, and three of his own children; a couple from Rawalpindi with two sons and two daughters; and four friends from Mardan. Funerals were held for the victims on Sunday in their respective hometowns. On Saturday, the death toll reached 23; a four-year-old girl died at Jhika Gali, apparently of hypothermia and pneumonia. The snowstorm also caused problems for local residents: water pipes were damaged due to freezing, making drinking water inaccessible in most places. Hotels also started to run out of food and cell phone service was "patchy". Gas cylinders also started to run out. Rescue operations On Friday night, Chief Traffic Officer Taimoor Khan announced that all traffic into Murree was now banned. On Saturday, 8 January, the government deployed military forces to assist in rescue efforts. Work is underway to remove the vehicles stuck in the snow. Five infantry platoons of the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, and Rangers have also been called for rescue operations. Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkwa Integrated Tourism Development Project (KITE) announced on Saturday that Galiyat would be completely closed to tourists for the next two days. Over Saturday night over 700 vehicles were pulled out from the snow and stranded tourists were taken to safety at one of five military-run relief camps, where they were given medication and warm food. By 10:30 pm on Sunday, military authorities reported that all stranded motorists had been gotten to safety, while army engineers and troops continued to work on clearing snow off from roads in the area. Engineers had already cleared the Murree Expressway. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar chaired a meeting at Gharial on Sunday, which formed a committee to investigate which government departments had been responsible for the disaster. Buzdar promised "impartial action" toward the responsible parties and announced that there would be 17.6 million Rs. in compensation paid to the families of the deceased. He also directed officials to take action against the hotels that had engaged in price gouging during the snowstorm. The meeting also announced that Murree would be made into a separate district within Punjab, with two new police stations, and that two new parking plazas would be installed in the busiest areas of Murree. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority announced that people in the area with no mobile balance would be given extended free calls; they also instructed operators to keep backup power supply to make sure the telecommunication needs of people stranded could be met. Roads remained closed on Monday. People in Murree still lacked electricity and drinking water; the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) sent people to restore the electricity supply but was unsuccessful due to lingering extreme weather. The district administration has issued instructions that locals should not leave their homes at night and ambulance services, security vehicles and firefighters have been asked to remain alert. Reactions and criticism Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered an inquiry into the Murree tragedy and said that a large number of people had reached Murree without determining the weather. He tweeted: “Shocked & upset at tragic deaths of tourists on road to Murree. Unprecedented snowfall & rush of ppl proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin unprepared. Have ordered inquiry & putting in place strong regulation to ensure prevention of such tragedies.” Many people criticised the tweet as insensitive, with journalist Absa Komal responding “Insensitive and shocking response, it is your administration’s failure, accept it at least! They could have easily taken preventive measures knowing that a huge number of people were heading towards Murree.” Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad reached Murree to oversee the rescue operation. He has also said that if people had been prevented from coming to Murree from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there would not have been any tragedy but the situation would have been brought under control by morning. Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry has said that a large number of people died in a short period of time which caused problems. By promoting tourism we do not mean that all people come at the same time. Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif tweeted: “What a massive tragedy Murree is turning out to be! Heartbroken to learn about the loss of so many precious lives.” He said, "Where was the government all the while? What arrangements did it make to deal with such an influx? Incompetence is fast turning into criminality. Prior arrangements & round the clock supervision were the normal SOPs in the past." JUI-F leader and former Opposition leader Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman tweeted, The death of 19 tourists in Murree is a tragic tragedy. First, tourists were allowed to enter without warning and then instead of rescuing the people trapped in the snow and delivering food and medicine, they were left helpless. Is it the government or the killer of the people? The people of Murree are requested to help their Pakistani brothers and sisters". Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari released a statement saying, “It would have been better if the tourists were informed about the weather in Murree in advance." PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz tweeted, “The job of governments is not only to count tourists but also to make prior arrangements and security measures for them” and “These deaths are not because of the snowfall, but due to government negligence.” PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi directly blamed Imran Khan and Usman Buzdar for the incident, saying they did not care about the people and "[were] sitting only to prolong their rule". On Monday, opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif called for a judcial committee to be formed to investigate the incident, supported by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other opposition parties. See also Weather of 2022 List of natural disasters in Pakistan References 2022 disasters in Pakistan 2022 in Punjab, Pakistan 2022 meteorology 2022 natural disasters Disasters in Punjab, Pakistan History of Rawalpindi District January 2022 events in Pakistan 2022 snowstorm

69704785

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laerte%20Patroc%C3%ADnio%20Orpinelli

Laerte Patrocínio Orpinelli

Laerte Patrocínio Orpinelli (1952 – January 3, 2013), known as The Bicycle Maniac (Portuguese: Maníaco da Bicicleta), was a Brazilian serial killer and rapist who beat, raped and strangled at least 10 children around São Paulo from 1990 to 1999, but is suspected in more than 100 deaths since the 1970s. He was sentenced to 100 years imprisonment for his known crimes, and died behind bars in 2013. Early life Laerte Patrocínio Orpinelli was born in 1952 in Araras, the seventh of nine children. From an early age, he was aggressive towards his siblings, neighbors and especially his mother, and would frequently try to attract attention by banging cans in the family yard. This angered his mother, Eliza, who tied him with pieces of rags to the edge of his bed or the foot of a table to keep him at bay. When he was untied, Orpinelli would retaliate by throwing bricks at her. At school, he was considered an outcast, as he barely spoke, never played with other children and had poor grades, eventually dropping out in the third grade. In his early teens, he started drinking large quantities of alcohol which eventually spiralled into a drinking problem, for which he had to be interned in psychiatric clinics on several occasions. When he was not imprisoned, Orpinelli wandered around various towns in the northern parts of São Paulo, making a living as a door shiner for commercial establishments. He was noted for dirty, ragged appearance, but was otherwise considered harmless. Murders By the early 1990s, the town of Rio Claro was still recovering by the crime spree of Francisco de Marco, who was accused of killing four chidren in the area. When children started to vanish again, with their skeletal remains later discovered in the Edmundo Navarro de Andrade State Forest, local population immediately attributed them to De Marco, despite him being imprisoned. However, when more remains continued to be discovered after that, it put the local population on high alert, with parents taking extra precaution to protect their children. Orpinelli's modus operandi consisted of biking around various towns on his red bicycle, scouring for unsupervised children who were playing away from their parents. In some cases, he first befriended the possible victim's parents, granting him easier access to their child. When the parents weren't around, Orpinelli lured the children with promises of sweets or convincing them that he knew their parents, he offered them to go to his house. If they accepted, he would give them a ride on his bike and go to isolated areas, usually forests or abandoned houses, where he would then rape them. His attacks incorporated extreme brutality and torture, and often resulted in him either beating them to death or strangling them. Sometimes, he would stone them to death, then left nude bodies out in the open. In his later confessions, Orpinelli claimed that he had drank the blood of some victims and that Satan influenced him to chase and kill children. At the same time, he claimed that his alcoholism greatly contributed to his crimes, saying that he would go out of his mind when he "had a few." His known victims were predominantly children aged 3–11 of an economically disadvantaged background, with no apparent preference when it came to sex. The crime scenes themselves were also very close to one another, with his known victims being in Rio Claro, Monte Alto, Pirassununga and Franca, although there's a possibility there might be more victims in other areas. Partial victim list Orpinelli's first confirmed victims were cousins Osmarina "Marina" Pereira Barbosa and José Fernando de Oliveira, 10 and 9, respectively, who were approached by Orpinelli at their home in Rio Claro's Santa Maria neighborhood on January 17, 1990. Both were lured to a nearby canefield, where Orpinelli first raped and beat Pereira to death, before beating De Oliveira to death as well. He later claimed that the boy took longer to die than the girl. Both of the chidrens' bones were found in September of that year. On August 28, 1996, 8-year-old Aline Cristina dos Santos Siqueira disappeared from Rio Claro, and was reportedly last seen in the company of an individual riding a bicycle. Orpinelli later confessed to kidnapping and killing her, but her body has never been found. On May 26, 1998, 11-year-old Edson Silva de Carvalho disappeared from Monte Alto, and his body was later found in an advanced state of decomposition. His first murder is the first known to be committed outside Rio Claro. According to Orpinelli, Silva started screaming while he was assaulting him, causing him to get angry and bash his head against the wall, killing him instantly. Orpinelli's youngest known victim to date was 3-year-old Crislaine dos Santos Barbosa - her case is also distinguished by the fact that unlike the previous victims, her abductor actually stalked her mother, broke into the family home in Pirassununga and then kidnapped her on April 25, 1999. In his confession, Orpinelli claimed that he did not rape her, but instead just punched her to death. Dos Santos' skeleton was found a few months later in a sugar cane field behind a motel. Orpinelli's final known victim was 9-year-old Jéssica Alves Martins, who was kidnapped from her home in Franca on November 21, 1999. Her body, showing signs of rape and strangulation, was found two days later in a cane field. Investigation The crimes were initially considered unrelated and investigated separately, until December 1998, when police in Rio Claro received a complaint that an unknown individual had attempted to abduct two minors. While the police department did not give it much thought, the police chief of another department, Sueli Isler, became interested and started investigating further. However, she was only allowed to completely dedicate herself to the case the following year, and using information provided by the various' victims family members, the suspect's name and sketch were released to the public. This was distributed to the police stations of all nearby regions, and was quickly picked up by local newspapers and media. Arrest, trial and imprisonment On the evening of January 10, 2000, Orpinelli was spotted at the Itu Night Hotel in Itu, a resting place for the homeless and indingents. He registered and stayed for three nights, and then went to the city of Leme, where he was arrested at a gas station by the Military Police. Orpinelli, who confessed to all of his crimes and presented a notebook in which he had written down his travel dates and locations, was first indicted in 2001, and in 2008, he was convicted and given a combined sentence of 100 years from the various municipalities. Death On January 6, 2013, the São Paulo Penitentiary Administration announced that Orpinelli was found dead in his cell by jailers after being transferred to the Iaras Penitentiary in Iaras. His official cause of death was listed as natural causes, possibly caused by his diabetes and high blood pressure. His body was then buried in the Municipal Cemetery of Araras. In the media and culture Multiple books and documentaries have covered the case, among them being an episode on Investigação Criminal, aired in 2013. A film based on the 2011 book O Matador de Crianças, written by Reginaldo Carlota, is currently in the works. One of his brothers was interviewed after his crimes, and in the interview, he proclaimed that he hasn't seen his brother in more than a decade and had no desire to see him. See also List of serial killers by country References 1952 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Brazilian criminals Male serial killers Brazilian serial killers Brazilian rapists Brazilian murderers of children Brazilian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Brazil People convicted of child sexual abuse Serial killers who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Brazilian detention Violence against children People from Araras

69704951

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald%20Perkins

Reginald Perkins

Reginald Perkins (April 29, 1955 – January 22, 2009) was an American serial killer who is believed to have murdered up to six women in Ohio and Texas between 1980 and 2000. Convicted of the December 2000 murder of his stepmother, Perkins was sentenced to death and executed via lethal injection. While in prison, DNA evidence linked him to two other murders in Fort Worth in 1991, and he is suspected of killing a further three women in Ohio in the 1980s whom he was acquainted with. Early life Perkins was born on April 29, 1955, in Woodruff County, Arkansas. He left Arkansas at a young age and grew up in Texas. In the 1970s, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio to be nearer to his mother. He worked several jobs as a laborer, plumber, and truck driver. Murders Ohio In 1979, Perkins began dating Ramola Nelson Washington, who moved out of her home to live with him in 1980. On April 4, 1980, Perkins raped a 12-year-old girl in an abandoned house located on the East Side of Cleveland. The girl was a friend of his younger sister. Months later, Washington asked Perkins to return a set of keys to her sister, 21-year-old Paula Nelson. Five days later, on October 23, 1980, Nelson was found strangled to death in her bedroom in Cleveland. According to Washington, a few days before Nelson's body was found, she had overheard Perkins talking to his brother about Nelson and that something had happened to her. On December 13, 1980, Perkins attempted to rape another 12-year-old girl, who was the daughter of a neighbor of his. Perkins was stopped before carrying out the attack but warned that he would kill anyone who learned about the assault. On January 4, 1981, the body of 43-year-old Jennie Morman was found in her apartment. She had been strangled to death with a scarf, and her face was covered with two pillows. Perkins had been dating Morman's daughter with whom he later had a child with. On January 23, 1981, Jerry Dean Thomas, Perkins's neighbor and the mother of the 12-year-old girl he had attempted to rape, was found strangled to death. Her body was located in her basement, and she had been strangled to death with a hairdryer cord. Days before her murder she had learned about the attempted rape of her daughter by Perkins. Perkins was questioned about the murders by Cleveland police. On November 12, 1981, Perkins was convicted of the April 1980 rape and December 1980 attempted rape of both 12-year-old girls in Cleveland. He was sentenced to life in prison. There was not enough evidence at the time, however, to link him to the three murders. Texas In 1990, Perkins was paroled and moved to Fort Worth, Texas. On May 6, 1991, the bodies of 79-year-old Hattie Wilson and her niece, 44-year-old Shirley Douglas, were found inside Wilson's apartment in Fort Worth. Both had been strangled to death. At the time, Perkins had been dating the granddaughter of Wilson. In 1993, Perkins returned to prison in Ohio for failing to attend classes for sex offenders. In 2000, he was paroled and went back to Texas to work as a truck driver for his father and stepmother's company. On December 4, 2000, 64-year-old Gertie Mae Perkins, Reginald's stepmother, failed to collect her grandson from school. As such, she was reported missing. Her home was searched, and police discovered a disconnected phone, carpet removed from the floor, and several missing sheets. The same day, Perkins pawned a wedding ring that belonged to her. Perkins was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender a day later. Perkins was questioned by police due to his history and led authorities to Gertie's car, where her body was found in the vehicle's trunk. Trial and revelation Perkins was indicted and tried in Tarrant County. Because of his history, the prosecution attempted to seek the death penalty. They brought in witnesses to testify about the three unsolved murder cases in Cleveland and how Perkins was the likely perpetrator. According to Ramola Washington, Perkins called her from jail and admitted murdering her sister Paula Nelson back in 1980. She claimed he had begged for her forgiveness. While awaiting trial, Perkins allegedly confessed to another inmate that he had killed Gertie and beaten her to death before robbing her. Ultimately, Perkins was found guilty of murder. On March 4, 2002, Perkins was convicted of the capital murder of Gertie Mae Perkins. On March 22, 2002, he was sentenced to death. In November 2008, DNA tests linked Perkins to the May 1991 murders of Wilson and Douglas in Fort Worth, proving his guilt in those killings. Execution On January 22, 2009, Perkins was executed via lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas. He was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. About an hour before his execution was due, he called a prison official to his cell and gave him a statement in which he proclaimed his innocence. See also Capital punishment in Texas Capital punishment in the United States List of people executed in Texas, 2000–2009 List of people executed in the United States in 2009 List of serial killers in the United States References 1955 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American criminals 21st-century executions of American people 21st-century executions by Texas American male criminals American murderers American serial killers American prisoners sentenced to death Criminals from Arkansas Executed people from Arkansas Prisoners sentenced to death by Texas People executed by Texas by lethal injection People executed for murder People from Woodruff County, Arkansas

69708381

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farz%20%28Pakistani%20TV%20series%29

Farz (Pakistani TV series)

Farz is a Pakistani television series first broadcast on PTV Home in 2017, directed by Kashif Nisar and written by Amir Raza. The series stars Sonia Mishal as an honest young police officer in lead role while Nauman Ejaz, Aamna Malick, Azra Aftab, Qavi Khan and Saleem Mairaj in supporting roles. Cast Sonia Mishal as Aliya Nauman Ijaz Qavi Khan as Bhai Sahab Saleem Mairaj Inayat Khan Aamna Malick as Mehak Azra Aftab as Aliya's mother Kinza Malik as Mehak's mother Iftikhar Iffi Umer Darr References Pakistani drama television series Urdu-language television shows Pakistan Television Corporation original programming

69708682

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land%20of%20Men

Land of Men

Land of Men () is a Canadian short drama film, directed by Ky Nam Le Duc and released in 2009. The film centres on José Maria (Jorge Martinez Colorado), an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who is detained in Quebec by police officers Catherine (Rosa Zacharie) and Patrick (Hugues Saint-Louis). The film premiered in June 2009 at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Canadian Short Film. It was a Genie Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 30th Genie Awards in 2010. References External links 2009 films 2009 short films Canadian films Canadian short films Films shot in Quebec Quebec films

69708895

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuke%20Okada%20%28wrestler%29

Yusuke Okada (wrestler)

is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where he is a member of the Burning stable. Early life Okada attended the Kobe Kōryō Gakuen High School where he was part of the soccer team. Among his teammates was Ataru Esaka who later joined the Urawa Red Diamonds. After graduating from Ashiya University, he became a police officer, but left the force to join All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in July 2016. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (2017–2020) Okada made his official professional wrestling debut for AJPW on January 9, 2017, at the Yokohama Radiant Hall, in a losing effort against Yuma Aoyagi. On March 25, at the Condition Green event produced by Hikaru Sato, he faced Kazuhiro Tamura. On August 27, Okada took part in the AJPW 45th Anniversary event at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, where he faced Keiichi Sato in the pre-show, losing in just over three minutes. In November, Okada teamed with Koji Iwamoto in the Jr. Tag Battle of Glory tournament. They scored two points after getting only one victory over Black Spider VII and Black Tiger VII. On December 3, he formed a tag team called "W Okada" with Tsuyoshi Okada, and they were defeated by Atsushi Aoki and Rey Paloma. Evolution (2018–2020) In 2018, Okada asked Suwama to join the Evolution stable. He was initially turned down, but after the penultimate match of the February 3 event in the Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium, he officially joined Evolution as a reward for having stood up to Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Kashin and Nosawa Rongai. Later in the month, Okada entered the 2018 Jr. Battle of Glory, winning one match against Keiichi Sato. On April 30, Okada suffered a right fibula fracture that sidelined him for six months. He made his return on October 6. On November 17, Okada defeated the debuting Hokuto Omori. In the 2019 Jr. Battle of Glory, he won two of his five matches and failed to advance to the final. In July 2019, Okada was scheduled to take part in the Jr. Tag Battle of Glory with Franceso Akira, but after the untimely death of Atsushi Aoki on June 3, he asked to instead team with Aoki's partner Hikaru Sato and went on the win the tournament by defeating Kagetora and Yosuke♡Santa Maria in the final. In 2020, Suwama started expressing frustration regarding Okada's increasing defeats, and after another defeat at the hands of JIN (Ayato Yoshida, Fuminori Abe, Jake Lee and Koji Iwamoto) on July 13, Okada announced he was leaving Evolution. Yoshitatsu Kingdom and departure (2020) After his departure from Evolution, Okada regularly teamed with Yoshitatsu and was consired an associate of the Yoshitatsu Kingdom stable. On October 17, after being involved in a Captain's Fall six-man tag team match for Yoshitatsu's Gaora TV Championship, he joined Yoshitatsu Kingdom. On December 8, Okada announced that his contract had expired and that he would be leaving AJPW at the end of the year. Okada wrestled his last match with the company at Prime Night 2020, on December 13. He teamed with Yoshitatsu and Chikara in a losing effort to Unchain (Jun Kasai, Masashi Takeda and Kenji Fukimoto). He was originally scheduled to take part in the 2020 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory, on December 27, teaming with former police officer Takayuki Ueki. DDT Pro-Wrestling (2021–present) On January 3, 2021, Okada appeared at a DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) press conference to announce he would be touring with the company. He debuted for DDT on January 9, at the Go to DDT! vol. 1 event in Korakuen Hall, during which he teamed with Makoto Oishi and Mizuki Watase to defeat Damnation (Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sasaki and Nobuhiro Shimatani). On March 14, he wrestled Yuki Ueno for the DDT Universal Championship in the main event of Day Dream Believer, but failed to win the title. On March 27, Okada announced he had officially signed with DDT. On July 24, Okada was invited in the Junretsu stable by Jun Akiyama who was his mentor in AJPW. On October 12, at Get Alive, Junretsu failed to capture the KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Championship from Team Olympian (Yoshiaki Yatsu, Akito, Hiroshi Yamato and Keigo Nakamura). As a result, and as per Junretsu leader Makoto Oishi's decision, the stable disbanded on October 23. On December 7, DDT announced that, at the request of Tetsuya Endo and Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi had endorsed the reformation of the Burning stable (originally formed in 1998, in AJPW) for its fourth incarnation. Okada was invited to join the stable alongside rookie Yuya Koroku. Championships and accomplishments All Japan Pro Wrestling Jr. Tag Battle of Glory (2019) – with Hikaru Sato Luchas de Apuestas record References External links Yusuke Okada's profile on DDT's website 1993 births Living people Japanese male professional wrestlers

69709061

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph%20Kappen

Joseph Kappen

Joseph William Kappen (30 October 1941 – 17 June 1990), also known as the Saturday Night Strangler, was a Welsh serial killer who committed the rape and murder of three teenage girls in Llandarcy and Tonmawr, near his home town of Port Talbot, in 1973. Kappen is also suspected of committing a fourth murder in February 1976. Kappen's confirmed victims were all 16-year-old females whom he lured into his car on Saturday evenings in Briton Ferry and Swansea respectively. All three were driven to rural locations where they were subsequently raped, then killed by strangulation. Kappen was never arrested for his crimes, and died of lung cancer in 1990. He is notable for being the first person globally to be posthumously identified as a serial killer via familial DNA profiling following his 2002 exhumation. He was also Wales' first documented serial killer. Background Joseph Kappen was born in 1941 and raised in Port Talbot, a heavily industrial city in Wales dominated by its large steelworks. His parents' marriage broke up when he was young and he was raised by his stepfather. He was one of seven siblings. Kappen began eliciting police attention for petty offences at age 12. He would go on to accumulate over thirty convictions for car theft, petrol theft, burglary and assault, and spent years in and out of prison. Kappen alternately worked as a lorry or bus driver, and then as a bouncer. He was known to never stay employed for long and was described as a loner. In 1962 Kappen met his first wife, 17-year-old Christine Powell, and they married in February 1964. Ten days after their nuptials, Kappen was sent to prison for burglary. Christine then gave birth to a daughter and then to a son, Paul, after she was raped by Kappen after his release from prison. Christine would later testify that Kappen was physically abusive towards her and would rape her every two weeks. At one point he fatally strangled the family dog in front of his son while walking it on a nearby beach because it was "too old". Kappen was known to regularly pursue local teenage girls during the marriage, with his job as a bouncer giving him an opportunity to interact with them. When working as a bus driver he was known to use his rest breaks to approach teenage girls on the village green at Llandarcy. In 1964 Kappen attempted to force himself on a 15-year-old schoolgirl in his Sandfields housing estate, but she escaped. In February 1973 a man resembling Kappen picked up two female hitchhikers and drove them to a nearby isolated road before attempting to rape both of them, but they also managed to escape; the victims did not report the incident as one thought she would get in trouble with her father. 1973 murders On Saturday 14 July 1973 Sandra Newton, aged 16, went missing after a night out in Briton Ferry. Three days later her body was found raped and strangled in a rural location some miles away. Newton had been abducted after trying to hitchhike home after visiting a nightclub that night. She was strangled with her own skirt and dumped in a ditch in a near a coal mine in Tonmawr. Little attempt had been made to hide the body, with it being left at the entrance of a culvert. Police suspected a local man was responsible due to the detailed knowledge of the area the killer would appear to have needed to be aware of the remote dump site. Six weeks later, Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd, both aged 16, hitched a lift home after a Saturday night out at a nightclub in Swansea. The next morning they were found dead, their bodies being found raped and strangled in Llandarcy woodland five miles away. It appeared that one girl had attempted to escape from her attacker and had made it yards from the road near to where her father had worked, but had been caught by her attacker and killed. The murders created a sense of fear in the community over whether the attacker would strike again. Although they occurred nearby, at the time the murders of Hughes and Floyd were not linked to the similar murder of Newton. Initial investigation Police soon established that Hughes and Floyd had been seen getting a lift home in a white Austin 1100 on the night of their disappearance. Police followed up numerous lines of enquiry but, as was the case in police investigations at the time, all intelligence and information was collected on large amounts of paperwork, which complicated the inquiry. The Port Talbot steelworks employed 13,000 men, all of whom had to be considered as potential suspects. Both the construction of the nearby M4 motorway and the ongoing Neath fair meant hundreds of itinerant workers had to be considered, as well as the countless strangers these events bought into the area. Detectives attempted to trace men who owned an Austin 1100 in the area, but it meant that more than 10,000 drivers had to be visited and questioned. A miners' strike forced the British government to implement a three-day working week for everyone across the country, which further reduced the resources of the enquiry and hampered the investigation. However, one of the men who was investigated as part of enquiries concerning the Austin 1100 was Kappen, who owned that model of vehicle. When police turned up at his home to speak to him, they found his Austin was on blocks with its wheels removed, with Kappen claiming that he could not have committed the murders as his car was not roadworthy. However, in the days after the killings, Kappen's car was logged as being on the road by police carrying out stop and check operations. This would have disproved this claim, but without a computerised system for cross-referencing, this fact was not noticed by detectives at the time. Kappen also claimed to have been at Neath fair on the night of the murders and his wife gave him a false alibi, which she would later say was common for her to do when police investigated her husband. Ultimately, therefore, Kappen was not pursued further as a suspect at the time. In mid-1974 the investigation was scaled down. Re-opening of investigations Police hoped that advancements in DNA testing would help solve the murders, and in 1998 there was a significant development when a profile of the killer's DNA was isolated via testing on the clothing of Hughes and Floyd. In 2000 the profile was uploaded to the DNA database to see if it matched any person arrested or charged since 1995 (the year in which DNA started to be taken from people arrested of crimes), although no match was made. However, the developments in DNA led to a full reinvestigation of the murders, titled Operation Magnum. In January 2001 the Llandarcy murders were reconstructed on BBC One's Crimewatch. Around this time there was media speculation linking serial killer Fred West to the murders as he once worked in Llandarcy, but this was swiftly ruled out by police after the DNA was checked. 35,000 persons of interest were initially identified for DNA testing, but a psychological profiler was employed to reduce the number to a priority list of 500. Fifty of these were witnesses, relatives of the victims, stepfathers, boyfriends and anyone who had featured prominently in the initial investigation, and the others were known criminal suspects. Kappen was listed as suspect number 200, and detectives visited what was believed to be his address in Port Talbot in August 2001 but found that he had died in 1990 of lung cancer, although his former wife still lived at the address. Two months later, testing on the clothes of Sandra Newton revealed that she had been a victim of the same killer as Hughes and Floyd, meaning that the three murders were officially linked for the first time and revealing that all three had been murdered by the same unidentified individual. Familial DNA enquiries Due to the period of time that had elapsed since the murders, South Wales Police decided to employ a previously unknown tactic of searching for the DNA of possible living descendants of the murderer, as if any individuals were related their genetic profile would be similar to the one that the police had of the killer. As 50% of individuals' DNA is inherited from each parent, investigators believed that they could discover who the killer was by making a partial match between the killer's profile and that of any children they might have. Investigators therefore examined local individuals' profiles that matched part of the killer's profile and created a list of 100 potential suspects. One of these was local car thief Paul Kappen, whose DNA was already on police files but who was only seven years old at the time of the murders. Paul's profile showed a distinctive similarity to that of the killer's, prompting police to make his deceased father Joseph, known to have been investigated in the original enquiry, the prime suspect. Exhumation of body and positive DNA match The findings of the DNA testing led detectives to apply to Home Secretary David Blunkett to exhume Kappen's body in order to confirm through DNA that he was the murderer, which was granted. In 2002 the body was exhumed from Goytre graveyard on the outskirts of Port Talbot, with it being said by witnesses that a thunderstorm suddenly passed over as the exhumation began and that a large thunderclap was heard when the ground was first dug up, suggesting to them that they had "unearthed evil". Kappen's family consistently denied that he could have been responsible for the murders and claimed he was innocent despite the evidence. Forensic testing on Kappen's remains would subsequently establish a perfect match to the murderer's sample, finally proving beyond doubt that Kappen was responsible for the murders. South Wales Police declared the case closed. The now-elderly surviving parents of the victims expressed relief that they had finally received a form of closure, with the mother of Hughes stating, "Now we can close the book on that hell forever." After the findings, Kappen's former wife Christine Powell, who had previously insisted that Kappen was innocent, stated that "our first thoughts are with the families of the victims. Our concerns are protection from hurt for our children. We are all deeply shocked by the revelations." Historical significance of the case The Kappen investigation was the first in the world to utilise familial DNA tracing in order to posthumously identify a serial killer, and to solve a previously unsolved murder with familial DNA. It was also reported that the exhumation of Kappen's body made history as the first time a serial killer was exhumed to ascertain his guilt. In 1996 a deceased suspect had been exhumed in the "Bible John" case for DNA testing, but he was subsequently found to not have been the perpetrator. Kappen is also considered Wales's first documented serial killer. The outcome of the case created hopes of solving other unsolved historical murders through DNA testing, and South Wales Police subsequently embarked on DNA screening in order to solve the murder of Lynette White, which was subsequently solved in 2003 when Jeffrey Gafoor was convicted in the killing. In 2004, another similar attempt to identify a serial killer through familial DNA was made by Strathclyde Police in the Bible John case, when they announced their intention to test a number of men after the discovery of a DNA sample at a minor crime scene in 2002 showed an 80% match to the profile they had from the killer; it was thought that this sample was enough of a match to mean that the offender was a relative of Bible John. Other suspected crimes Kappen remains a suspect in the unsolved murder of Maureen Mulcahy, aged 23, in February 1976. Mulcahy was similarly strangled after a Saturday night out, being found dead the following morning in wasteland very close to the Sandfields estate, where Kappen was living at the time. Witness testimony points to Kappen having abducted her in a manner similar to the 1973 murders. As soon as Kappen had been identified in the 1973 cases, detectives announced their attention to speak to Mulcahy's family. However, unlike in the 1973 cases, there was no available DNA evidence to examine or potentially link to Kappen. Police also reexamined the 1973 disappearance of nine-year-old Christine Markham from Scunthorpe, after learning that Kappen had worked as a lorry driver in Scunthorpe and had lived in lodgings in the Humberside area soon after the girl vanished. However, serial child abductor and killer Robert Black remains the prime suspect in the Markham case. After he was finally imprisoned in 1994, police announced their suspicions that Black committed a number of other murders and their intention to investigate him for murders including Markham's. Kappen has also been suspected of having committed numerous other unsolved rapes. In popular culture The Kappen case has featured in a number of documentaries: In 2002, a two-part documentary titled "Digging for the Truth - The Full Story of the Llandarcy Murders" was shown on ITV Wales. In 2016 another documentary on the case was released on ITV Wales as part of the Crimes Files series. In 2018 a series 2 episode of Sky UK's Robbie Coltrane's Critical Evidence featured the case. The episode was titled "The Saturday Night Strangler: Joe Kappen". Also in 2018 a series 1 episode of Evidence of Evil was released that focused on the case titled "The Saturday Night Strangler". In 2019 a series 1 episode of Jackie Malton's documentary series The Real Prime Suspect was released on CBS Reality which covered the case, titled "The Saturday Night Strangler". In 2020 BBC One Wales released its documentary on the unsolved murder of Maureen Mulcahy in Port Talbot in 1976 and the suspected links between the case and Kappen. The documentary was part of the Dark Land: Hunting the Killers series. In 2022 the case was featured on Sky UK's series Forensics: Catching the Killer. See also Joseph James DeAngelo, an American serial killer who was captured through familial DNA profiling Bible John, an unidentified 1960s Scottish serial killer who has also been the subject of identification attempts through familial DNA profiling Cold case Familial DNA profiling List of murderers by number of victims List of serial killers by number of victims Unsolved murders in the United Kingdom Notes References Cited works and further reading External links Murders Suspect in UK Crime Probe: A 2002 BBC News article focusing upon the murders committed by Joseph Kappen 2003 Guardian news article pertaining to Kappen 1941 births 1990 deaths 1973 murders in the United Kingdom 20th-century Welsh criminals British male criminals British people convicted of burglary British people convicted of robbery British people convicted of sexual assault British people convicted of theft Fugitives Fugitives wanted by the United Kingdom Fugitives wanted on murder charges Male serial killers Murder in Wales People from Port Talbot Suspected serial killers Unsolved murders in the United Kingdom Violence against women in the United Kingdom Welsh serial killers Welsh murderers of children

69709453

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan%20Hendrik%20Olivier

Jan Hendrik Olivier

Jan Hendrik Olivier was a Boer general during the Second Boer War who was notable for being the main Boer commander at the Battle of Stormberg. Early Life His parents lived in the Burgersdorp area and later moved to Zastron. At the age of 15, he joined the Orange Free State border police. In 1865 he became a Field Cornet and fought in the Seqiti War. He was rewarded with the farm Olifantsbeen where he becomes prosperous. He became a member of the House of Assembly in 1883 for the Caledon River Division. Second Boer War He was in command of the Rouxville and Thaba Nchu commandos, and moved with his mother through the Colesberg, Barkly East and Dordrecht areas. He was in command of the Boer forces during the Battle of Stormberg in December 1899. Later he worked with General De Wet in the eastern Free State and Brandwater area. After an argument with De Wet, he decided to join the Transvaal Army. On the way there, he was captured on July 3, 1900, and was exiled to Ceylon with three of his sons as prisoners of war. Post-War Life He was released from exile in 1902 and became a member of the Legislative Assembly for the Orange River Colony as well as a horse breeder before withdrawing from public life in 1910. He went to retire with his daughter at Rustenburg. He died during a visit to Volksrust and was buried there with his military honors. References Bibliography The Hall Handbook of the Anglo Boer War. Darrell Hall. 1999. The War Reporter. J.E.H. Grobler. Jonathan Ball Publishers. 2004. 1854 births 1930 deaths People from Burgersdorp Afrikaner people Orange Free State generals South African military personnel Orange Free State military personnel of the Second Boer War South African Republic military personnel of the Second Boer War Boer generals

69709670

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showing%20Up%20for%20Racial%20Justice

Showing Up for Racial Justice

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a network organizing white people for racial and economic justice. SURJ was founded in 2009 amidst the backlash to election of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States. SURJ seeks to bring more white people into racial justice work and to find mutual interest with Black and POC led movements. History Black activists and intellectuals from Malcolm X to Toni Morrison have argued for decades that white people bear the primary responsibility for rooting out racism. Carla F. Wallace, SURJ co-founder, said the aim is to engage white people in a larger racial justice movement led by people of color. She asks "what is our mutual interest in working for a different society? ... We must move from it being something that we do when we have time on a Saturday to something that we do because our lives depend on it." Tactics One SURJ tactic is deep canvassing, using the power of personal narrative in lengthy non-judgmental conversations to build white support for racial justice. SURJ focuses on “calling in” White people to support racial justice grounded in the vision of Black leaders. SURJ says it’s White people’s responsibility to do anti-racism work and not rely on POC to teach White people about racism. Criminal justice reform Following the George Floyd protests against police brutality, some have had challenging conversations with family members. SURJ developed a toolkit for discussing protests and police violence. Anger towards the criminal justice system can be used to bring about change if people speak up. Other actions include electoral work, where sheriffs can address reforms in the criminal legal system and mass incarceration. SURJ also works to end cash bail. Police accountability SURJ called for police accountability and strengthened oversight in the San Diego County jail. SURJ was part of the Citizens for a Safer Cleveland coalition, whose police accountability initiative created a new Community Policing Commission composed of 13 civilians with final decision-making power regarding discipline in police misconduct cases. In the debate over license plate readers, Melissa Cherry from Nashville chapter of SURJ said she was suspicious of private funding for law enforcement with discussion of defunding the police. See also Black Lives Matter Me and White Supremacy Anne Braden References External links Showing Up for Racial Justice Anti-racism in the United States 2009 establishments in the United States Criminal justice reform in the United States Social class in the United States Organizations established in 2009

69710371

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980%20Nepal%20earthquake

1980 Nepal earthquake

The 1980 Nepal earthquake devastated the Nepal–India border region on the evening of July 29. The epicenter of the 6.5 quake was located in Nepal, northwest of Khaptad National Park. At least 200 people died and 5,600 were injured in the disaster. Extensive damage occurred on both sides of the border, amounting to 245 million USD (828.9 million in 2022). Tectonic setting The Himalaya is located at the convergent boundary where active convergence leads to continental collision. The India and Eurasian plates began colliding approximately 50 million years ago when the Tethys Ocean closed. The Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), a decollement structure, defines the boundary between the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate. The convergent zone also contains three other major faults; the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), Main Central Thrust (MCT) and South Tibetan Detachment (STD). At the surface, the Main Himalayan Thrust propagates along the Main Frontal Thrust. These faults runs for approximately 2,300 km in an east-west direction, parallel to the southern foothills of the Lower Himalayan Range from Assam, through Nepal, and into Pakistan. This major thrust fault dips to the north, beneath the Himalaya at a shallow angle. It is the source of most of Himalayan earthquakes. Earthquakes on the convergent boundary are megathrust events that repeat every few centuries. Large Himalayan earthquakes including those in 1505, 1934 and 1950 with magnitudes of 8.0 to 8.9 were the result of rupturing the MHT. These events generated surface ruptures by breaching the surface via the Main Frontal Thrust. The Uttarakhand and west Nepal segment of the MHT was responsible for the 7.8 1803 Garhwal earthquake as well as two smaller but deadly events in 1991 and 1999. Deadly earthquakes occurred in 1966, and an 7.0 struck the same region in 1916. Earthquake The earthquake occurred as the result of shallow thrust faulting on the MHT boundary fault, between the MCT and the MBT. The rupture mechanism occurred on two separate fault planes; the latter corresponding to thrust faulting. A small right-lateral strike-slip component was measured as well. Damage and casualties The 6.5 mainshock was preceded by a strong 5.7 foreshock almost three hours prior. Severe shaking lasted 20 seconds during the mainshock. The death toll would have been higher if not for the foreshock which had residents on high alert, and driven them out of their homes. A total of 13,258 homes were destroyed, making at least 30,000 homeless. The greatest damage was situated in a narrow zone between northwest Darchula and southeast Bajhang. An inspection after the earthquake found that tall buildings were the most damaged. Houses with heavy roofs made of slate were also found to be greatly affected. The report concluded that weak foundations and haphazard construction practices were responsible for the extensive damage observed. In the village of Moribagad, damage was minimal. The limited damage was, according to residents, because they followed the rules of their goddess. The rule stated that residents must not build a house with more than two floors, as a middle floor is forbidden. The next rule forbids slate roofs which were heavy, hence residents constructed lightweight thatch roofs. The Mahakali and Seti Zones suffered major impacts. Three districts in the zone; Bajhang, Baitadi, and Bajura were the most affected. Up to 40 people died in the districts and 2,000 wre injured. An additional 5,000 families were left without homes. Several major towns in Darchula District were obliterated. At least 90 schools were totally destroyed in Bajhang. The Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) reported 12 district official and 21 village buildings, as well as 65 temples were also destroyed. The cost of damage in the district was $ 10.3 million. Telecommunication services were affected, as did army barracks and police stations suffer damage. The earthquake occurred during the monsoon season which further affected communications and transport services in the aftermath due to landslides. See also List of earthquakes in 1980 List of earthquakes in Nepal List of earthquakes in India References External links 1980 earthquakes Disasters in Uttarakhand Earthquakes in Nepal Earthquakes in India Sudurpashchim Province History of Uttarakhand (1947–present) July 1980 events in Asia 1980 in Nepal 1980 in India Uttarkashi district

69710588

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmel%20og%20helvete

Himmel og helvete

Himmel og helvete (Heaven and Hell) is a Norwegian propaganda film from 1969 directed by Øyvind Vennerød with a screenplay by Vennerød and Victor Borg. The film was poorly received by the critics, but it nonetheless became one of the highest-grossing theater films in Norway in 1969. Lillebjørn Nilsen and Sigrid Huun played the main characters Arne and Eva. Plot The film's action takes place in Oslo. It begins with a housewife coming home and finding her daughter Ingrid half-dead from using drugs. The daughter dies a few hours later in the hospital. While the police search Ingrid's room, the pusher Johan shows up. The police find him suspicious, but they have no authority to arrest him. It later turns out that Johan works for the Yugoslav drug dealer Zatek, who smuggles hashish from Sweden using car tires. The student Oddvar also appears in the story; he also works for Zatek. Later in the film, we meet two young people from the west end of Oslo, Eva and Arne, who hear the liberal psychologist Orheim claim that hashish is a harmless drug at a lecture during a high school assembly. At a party, the two young people together with some other students decide to smoke hashish that their friend Arne has stolen from his brother Oddvar. After smoking the drug a couple of times, Eva and Arne want to get more. They first smoke the rest of what was left after the party. Later, Arne steals hashish from Oddvar, and at the same time Eva loses interest in her schoolwork. In desperation, both students ask Oddvar where they can get more hashish—to which Oddvar mentions Zatek, who works out of Club 13 (a reference to Club 7). Eva goes to bed with Zatek to get hashish. Zatek later becomes suspicious and kills Oddvar with a knife. While Eva's parents try to find out what is wrong with their daughter, and hear about Orheim's lecture at Club 13, Arne and Eva establish a connection with some hippies in Palace Park. They both spend the night with their new acquaintances in a condemned apartment in downtown Oslo. Zatek is deported to Sweden after the authorities suspect that he is behind the murder of Oddvar. Eva, on the other hand, is admitted to a detox clinic. After a while, Eva escapes with Arne to Copenhagen to try new drugs. When Eva's mother learns that her daughter has run away, she is shocked. Eva's father kills Orheim with a paperweight. In Denmark, Eva and Lars end up in money trouble, and Eva begins prostituting herself to earn money for more drugs. During a wild LSD trip, Arne jumps from the roof over his hotel window and dies. The film ends with Eva in an LSD trip seeing herself in the mirror as a skinned corpse. Cast Sigrid Huun as Eva Falck Lillebjørn Nilsen as Arne Georg Richter as Ivar Falck Randi Kolstad as Berit, Eva's mother (credited as Randi Borch) Per Tofte as Zatek, a drug dealer Pål Skjønberg as Hermansen, a policeman Svein Sturla Hungnes as Rasmussen Per Jansen as Johan, Zatek's accomplice Arne Aas as Orheim, a psychologist Ingrid Øvre Wiik as Mrs. Lauritzen (credited as Ingrid Øvre) Arne Bang-Hansen as Trosdahl, a chief physician Kari Diesen as Arne's grandmother Svein Skaara as Knut Brenden Odd Jan Sandsdalen as a poet Ole Medbøe as Ole Inger Lise Rypdal as a pop singer Peter Anker as Per Elisabeth Bang as Mrs. Brenden Vibeke Falk as Aas, a teacher Egil Hjorth-Jenssen as a pawn operator Kirsten Oldgard as Bitten Kari Sunde as Randi Marianne Trosdahl Flemming Nielsen Bjørn Puggaard-Müller Vivi-Ann References External links Himmel og helvete at the National Library of Norway Himmel og helvete at the Swedish Film Database Himmel og helvete at the Danish national Film Institute 1969 films Norwegian drama films Norwegian-language films Propaganda films

69710733

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.%20K.%20Kunjol

M. K. Kunjol

M. K. Kunjol is a social worker from the Indian state Kerala who was awarded Padma Shri Award by President of India for social service in 2020. They staged protests demanding the transfer of a police officer for 382 days in the 1970s. He was also honored with the Ambedkar Award in 2001. References Indian social workers 1937 births Living people People from Kerala Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work

69710827

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond%20Brug%C3%A8re

Raymond Brugère

Charles Henri Raymond Brugère (25 January 1885 – 30 August 1966) was a French diplomat, Diplomat Brugère was born in Orléans, the son of General Joseph Brugère and Louise Thieclin. He graduated with a degree in the law. Brugère joined the Quai d'Orsay on 17 May 1911, and first went overseas to start serving as the third secretary at the French legation in Beijing on 1 August 1912. On 5 June 1912, Brugère married Denise Témoin, the daughter of a famous doctor, Daniel Témoin. By his wife, he had one child, a daughter named Nicole. As a reservist lieutenant in the chasseurs à cheval, Brugère was called up to duty in August 1914 to resist the German invasion of France. He was mentioned in a report for bravery under fire on 23 September 1914. Subsequently, he transferred over to the Chasseurs d'Afrique, and took part in the Dardanelles campaign of 1915. Later in 1915, Brugère went to Serbia, where he was wounded in action. Owing to his wounds, he returned to the service of the Quai d'Orsay, and was posted as the third secretary at the French embassy in Madrid on 11 March 1916. On 22 February 1918, he was posted as the third secretary at the French embassy in Copenhagen. In May 1919, he returned to France to serve in Department of Commercial Relations at the Quai d'Orsay's main office in Paris. In Paris, Brugère was known as a close associate of Raymond Poincaré, a conservative leader known as one of the "tough guys" of French politics. Brugère supported Poincaré's policy of "firmness" in upholding the Treaty of Versailles, arguing to revise the Versailles in favor of Germany that would be the end of France as a great power. Brugère supported the policy of encouraging separatism in the Rhineland, arguing that if the Rhineland could be served from Germany, the new Rhinish state would be a French client state that would allow the French to occupy the Rhineland permanently. On 21 November 1924, he was posted as first secretary at the French embassy in Ankara. On 16 December 1929, he arrived in Brussels as the embassy counselor at the French embassy. Belgium had signed a military alliance with France in 1920, which lasted until 1936, when Belgium renounced the alliance and declared itself neutral. The main concern in Franco-Belgian relations was the World Disarmament Conference that started in Geneva in February 1932, when the German government demanded gleichberechtigung ("equality of status"), using a conference that was supposed to be about disarmament as a forum to demand rearmament, claiming that it was morally right that the military restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles be ended at once. On 8 September 1932, Brugère reported to Paris that he talked with the Belgian Prime Minister Paul Hymans who told him that France must oppose gleichberechtigung, saying to allow Germany to rearm would be the end of the Versailles system. In December 1932, under heavy Anglo-American pressure, France agreed to accept "in principle" gleichberechtigung at the World Disarmament Conference with the only issue being not whatever Germany was going to rearm or not, but rather the extent of German rearmament. During his time in Brussels, he became a friend of the poet Paul Claudel who was serving as the French ambassador. The Belgian historian Catherine Lanneau described Brugère as a man of contradictions, an irascible man who erupted in most undiplomatic outbursts of rage while also being a most compassionate man full of sympathy for others; a man some found very clumsy and awkward while others praised him for his courage and idealism; a self-proclaimed "tough guy" who favored a "hard" style of power politics while also being an "idealist" and a lover of the arts and poetry. Brugère was a man who believed deeply in the greatness of France which he linked with his desire for the betterment of all humanity, believing that French culture was a "civilizing" force, and that the greater of the power of France the better the future of humanity. In this way, Brugère was able to balance the "hard" and "soft" sides of his personality. Brugère was strongly influenced by the style of diplomacy practiced by the comte de Saint-Aulaire and Claudel. In 1932, Brugère together with Maurice Paléologue, the last French ambassador to Imperial Russia, published an "Le Plan Schlieffen et le "Vengeur": Deux Lettres" (The Schlieffen Plan and the "Avenger": Two Letters") that defended the actions of France during the July crisis of 1914 against the thesis promoted by Germany of the Reich as the victim of Franco-Russian aggression. Minister in Ottawa From August 3, 1934, to August 26, 1937, he served as the French ministre plénipotentiaire (minister plenipotentiary) in Ottawa. On 16 October 1934, Brugère arrived at Rideau Hall to present his credentials to the Governor-General Lord Bessborough. Brugère was the driving force behind building a new French legation (now the French embassy) in Ottawa designed in a modernist Art Deco style intended as a showcase for the greatness of France. Brugère stated in a 1935 speech: “Since my arrival here, I have noticed the high level of moral importance that this project presents. Maybe more than anywhere else, it is important to Canada that France settles here, and in a building that bestows such honour upon us, while flattering the Canadians’ pride, who have conserved, so alive in them, the memory, and the taste of home." The legation was designed in a lavish, sumptuous style designed to impress and while being filled with imagery and symbolism that evokes New France. The message of the art deco style for the legation was that France was a nation at the forefront of modernity, a country that leading the world in culture, art, science and technology. During his time in Canada, Brugère was infuriated by the semi-isolationist foreign policy of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who made it clear to Brugèret that the affairs of Europe were of no interest to him. Brugère reported to Paris that Mackenzie King was a supporter of appeasement who felt that Adolf Hitler was morally in the right in challenging the international order created by the Treaty of Versailles and that Canada was no willing to do anything to assist France with upholding that order. Brugère noted that Mackenzie King was a protégé of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and drew unfavorable comparisons with Laurier who supported Canada's involvement in the Great War with Mackenzie King, who had no intention of fighting in another world war. In February 1936, at a party in Ottawa, Brugère pressed Mackenzie King and his Quebec lieutenant Ernest Lapointe, about Canada taking part in the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, which was scheduled for 1937. Mackenzie King was uncertain and hesitant as he usually was when faced with a decision, saying he did not know if Canada could afford the costs of opening a pavilion at the exposition. Brugère trapped Mackenzie King to sending out a cable to Paris, saying that Mackenzie King had accepted his offer, leading to the Quai d'Orsay to issue a public letter of thanks and that France would welcome Canada taking part in the exposition. After the letter, Mackenzie King had no choice, but have Canada take part in the exposition.Vincent Kuu On 29 February 1936, Brugère reported to Paris with worry about the strong "reaction" against the League of Nations amongst French-Canadians, stating it widely accepted in Quebec that the League was a "instrument" of British foreign policy that sought to "unjustly" punish Italy by imposing sanctions for invading Ethiopia. The ultra-conservative Catholic intelligentsia of Quebec-whose informal leader was a nationalist Catholic priest, the Abbe Lionel Groulx-idolized Benito Mussolini, and the decision to have Canada join with the League of Nations sanctions on Italy was deeply unpopular in Quebec. Noting that Mackenzie King was a "weathervane" politician who always followed public opinion rather than seeking to lead it, Brugère reported the prime minister was now very much against the League and its principles of collective security. On 7 March 1936, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, which was a violation of both the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Locarno. Mackenzie King stated that if Britain went to war to uphold the demilitarised status of the Rhineland, there was no possibility of Canada joining in. The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote that it was clear "...by 13 March that the British Dominions, especially the Union of South Africa and Canada, would not stand with England if war came. The South African government in particular was busy backing the German position in London and with the other Dominion governments". Brugère pressed Mackenzie King to have Canada at least make support make a statement of support for France, which he refused to do, claiming that Canada had not signed the Treaty of Locarno, leading Brugère to reply that Canada had signed the Treaty of Versailles and should be doing more to uphold it. Minister in Belgrade From 26 August 1937 to 17 June 1940, he served as the French minister plenipotentiary in Belgrade. Brugère was close to Prince Paul, the Regent for the boy king Petar II. In a dispatch to Paris, Brugère described the Prince-Regent as a man whose "incontestable qualities of character, balance, and taste...Oxonian dilettantism and charm which he exercised on his visitors were useless in the present circumstances and in a country where arguments of might are the only ones which count". Yugoslavia had allied to France in 1927, but in the 1930s, the Franco-Yugoslav alliance began to fry. At the time the alliance was signed in 1927, the Rhineland was still demilitarized. Weinberg called the demilitarized status of the Rhineland the "single most important guarantee of peace in Europe" as it exposed western Germany, especially the Ruhr, to the possibility of being seized by the French, who were widely expected to launch an offensive into western Germany if any of France's allies in Eastern Europe were attacked. The wide Rhine river together with the hilly countryside of the Rhineland made it into a natural defensive barrier; by contrast, the open North German Plain in which lay behind the Rhineland favored the offensive. As long as the Rhineland was demilitarized, Germany had no means of stopping the French from seizing much of western Germany. On 7 March 1936, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, which completely upset the calculations behind Yugoslav grand strategy. The Germans immediately began building the Siegfried Line along their western border with France to block a French offensive into western Germany. The implications of the Siegfried Line were that Germany could now attack at any will any of France's allies in Eastern Europe with no fear of a French offensive was greatly alarming to France's East European allies. At Bucharest between 15 and 20 June 1936, the chiefs of staff of the Little Entente nations of Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia met to discuss the changed situation with the conclusion being that there now only two great powers in Eastern Europe, namely the Soviet Union and Germany as France was no longer a factor. Brugère's primary duty in Belgrade to maintain the Franco-Yugoslav alliance. In his dispatches to Paris, he complained about the myopic and self-defeating nature of French protectionism, which had ensured that France was only a small market for Yugoslav exports. Through Yugoslavia was a significant market for French exports, especially automobiles, the lack of Yugoslav exports to France had proved to be a major weakness in the Franco-Yugoslav alliance that Germany was quick to take advantage of. Yugoslavia was a predominantly rural country in the 1930s, and the inability of Yugoslavia to export food to France owing to high French tariffs had allowed Germany to take the lion's share of Yugoslav imports. The Reich had a greater population than what German agriculture was capable of feeding, thus requiring Germany to import food to feed its people. In 1936, Hjalmar Schacht, the German economic minister and the president of the Reichsbank, had visited Belgrade where he made an offer to Milan Stojadinović, the Yugoslav prime minister, under which Germany would buy the entire Yugoslav harvest in exchange for which Germany would sell Yugoslavia machine tools and other industrial equipment to assist Stojadinović's plans for the industrialisation of Yugoslavia. Stojadinović accepted Schacht's offer, and as a result, by the time that Brugère arrived in Belgrade, Yugoslavia was very much in the German economic sphere of influence at least at least as far as trade was concerned. The French remained the number one foreign investors in Yugoslavia together with Poland; the number two foreign investors in Czechoslovakia with French investment being exceeded only by British investment; and the number third foreign investors in Romania being exceeded by British and American investment. Brugère's duty was to reverse these tends and pull Yugoslavia back into the French sphere of influence. Stojadinović's schemes for the industrialisation involved an intense struggle to build a weapons factory at Zenitra that came down to a showdown between the corporation of Schneider-Creusot, France's biggest weapons manufacturer vs. the corporation of Krupp AG, Germany's biggest weapons manufacturer. Brugère had orders from Paris to ensure that Schneider-Creusot won the contract while his opposite number, Viktor von Heeren, the German minister plenipotentiary in Belgrade, had orders from Berlin to ensure that Krrup won the contract. Under Stojadinović, Yugoslavia started to move closer to the Axis states of Italy and Germany and away from France. In January 1938, Stojadinović visited Berlin, where he was received as the guest of honor by Adolf Hitler. Stojadinović stated in a speech during his visit to Berlin that the problems in German-Yugoslav relations had been caused by past Yugoslav leaders viewing the problems of Europe "through French spectacles", a handicap that Stojadinović assured his hosts that he did not suffer from. Stojadinović's speech caused a sharp reaction in Paris, and Brugère was ordered to confront Stojadinović upon his return to Belgrade about his statements praising Nazi Germany. In February 1938, Brugère had an extremely unfriendly meeting with Stojadinović, where he expressed his "astonishment" about his statements in Berlin. In response, Stojadinović stated maintaining the alliance with France remained a "fundamental" element of his foreign policy, leading Brugère to demand proof of such intentions. Brugère demanded that Yugoslav Army officers start hold staff talks with French Army officers again, and have Yugoslavia to start buying French arms again, saying that as far as he concerned that Yugoslavia was a French ally in word, not deed. Prince Paul, and to lesser extent Stojadinović did not want a complete rupture with France, and the "toughness" of Brugère's remarks greatly alarmed both men. Both Paul and Stojadinović sought to assure Brugère that the Franco-Yugoslav alliance was still an "alliance". The Prince-Regent ordered the Yugoslav military to resume ties with the French military. The Yugoslav War Minister, General Ljubomir Marić, gave assurances that if it came to war, Yugoslavia and France "undoubtedly would be on the same side of the barricade". Marić stated that Yugoslavia had to be friendly with the Axis for the moment because of its military and industrial backwardness, but once there issues were addressed, it would resume its traditional alliance with France. Most importantly, it was agreed that Yugoslavia and France would work together in gathering and sharing of intelligence about Germany and Italy. On 5 April 1938, a conference was called in Paris attended by the Foreign Minister Joseph Paul-Boncour about the Sudetenland crisis in Eastern Europe. Besides for Paul-Boncour, the conference was attended by Alexis St.Léger-St.Léger, the Secretary-General of the Quai d'Orsay; Robert Coulondre, the ambassador in Moscow; Léon Noël, the ambassador in Warsaw; Victor de Lacroix, the minister-plenipotentiary in Prague; Adrien Thierry, the minister-plenipotentiary in Bucharest, and Brugère. At the conference, it was agreed that as long as France's allies in Eastern Europe continued to feud with one another, the balance in power in Eastern Europe would continue to shift in Germany's direction. Lacroix stated that President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia did not want a war and was willing to negotiate about the Sudetenland, but would fight if his country were attacked by Germany. Thierry stated that there was some hope that King Carol II of Romania might grant the Red Army transit rights to allow the Soviet forces to aid Czechoslovakia in the event of war while Noël stated there was no hope of the Poles granting the Red Army transit rights at all. Coulondre stated that the best hope of deterring Germany from war was having the Red Army being granted transit rights, saying he would work to settle the long-running Bessarabia dispute between the Soviet Union and Romania, saying if the Romanians could be persuaded to grant the Red Army transit rights to aid Czechoslovakia, then Germany might be deterred. Brugère was grimly forced to report that Yugoslavia was drifting away from its alliance with France, and would probably do nothing to help Czechoslovakia. On 10 April 1938, a new government came to power in Paris with Georges Bonnet, a man hostile to the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, becoming the Foreign Minister while Édouard Daladier became the Premier. In May 1938, Brugère reported to Georges Bonnet, the new French Foreign Minister, that the talks on intelligence co-operation were going very well, and that General Milutin Nedić, the chief of the Yugoslav general staff, wanted to work as closely as possible with the Deuxième Bureau. Colonel Maurice-Henri Gauché, the chief of the Deuxième Bureau, visited Belgrade between 3–11 May 1938, where the Yugoslavs made no effort to hide his visit and even encouraged him to wear his uniform in public, which Brugère saw as an extremely positive sign. Brugère reported to Bonnet that an intelligence link might lead to "a rekindled desire for secret collaboration on wider questions". Brugère reported that the Belgrade visit of Gauché had worked to France's "greatest imaginable benefit". During the May crisis of 1938, when President Beneš ordered a partial mobilisation of the Czechoslovak military as he believed that his country was on the verge of a German invasion, the Franco-Yugoslav intelligence alliance did not break down as some French officials feared that it would. Brugère reported that the Yugoslavs provided good intelligence about military activities in Hungary (which was expected to join with Germany in attacking Czechoslovakia). René Massigli, the political director of the Quai d'Orsay reported to the Premier Édouard Daladier, that the intelligence links with Yugoslavia "had worked very satisfactorily" during the May crisis and that he hoped for closer ties with Yugoslavia. The British historian Martin Alexander wrote that that the way that diplomats such as Brugère were achieving at least some success in holding together the French alliance system in Eastern Europe showed that even after the remilitariztion of the Rhineland that all was not lost for French diplomacy in Eastern Europe, and that it was a conscious choice on the part of Bonnet to seek to end the alliance system. On 5 February 1939, Paul dismissed Stojadinović as prime minister and replaced him with Dragiša Cvetković. Brugère regarded the change as an improvement, describing Cvetković as a Francophile and stated that he was "un de nos meilleurs amis" ("one of our best friends"). During the Danzig crisis, the French planned in the event of war to revive the Salonika Front strategy. The French General Staff planned to have the Armée du Levant commanded by Marshal Maxime Weygand based in the French mandates of Lebanon and Syria to sail from Beirut to land at Thessaloniki in order to march up the Balkans to link up with the Yugoslavs and the Romanians to aid the Poles. As such, Yugoslavia came to form a key element in French plans, and Brugère found himself holding a crucial ambassadorship. On 13 April 1939, Britain and France "guaranteed" the frontiers of Romania and Greece. Both King Carol II and the Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas accepted the "guarantees" of their respective nations. For Paul, the willingness of Metaxas to align Greece with Britain and France indicated that it was possible for the Allies to use Thessaloniki as a base to aid Yugoslavia. In the aftermath of the Italian conquest of Albania on Easter Sunday 1939, Greece and Yugoslavia, allied in the Balkan Pact, opened up intense staff talks on the best way to co-ordinate their defense in the event of an Italian invasion as both Paul and Metaxas expected Mussolini to attack their nations sometime in the near-future. Increasing the pressure on Paul was the signing in Rome on 22 May 1939 of the Pact of Steel, an offensive and defensive alliance linking Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The fact that the Pact of Steel was an offensive alliance committing either power to declare war on any nation that the other power had declared war on was most unusual. For Paul, the Pact of Steel was greatly alarming as it meant if either Germany or Italy attacked Yugoslavia, the other Axis power was obliged to join in, which led Paul to turn to Brugère to seek French support for Yugoslavia. As part of these plans to revive the Salonika Front, Brugère was in close contact with Romanian diplomats. In late May 1939, Brugère reported that King Carol II was sympathetic towards France, but would not enter the war until he was certain that the Allies would win. In June 1939, the German offer of trade credits to Yugoslavia together with rumors of an imminent Italian invasion of Greece caused Brugère to step-up his efforts to win Yugoslavia for the "peace front". Brugère told Prince Paul that he was going to fly to Paris to personally lobby Bonnet and Daladier to have France provide Yugoslavia with modern military equipment. Brugère's lobbying for Yugoslavia was successful. On 29 June 1939, it was that announced that the Bank Seligmann of Paris was going to make a loan of 600 million francs to Yugoslavia that was to be spent on weapons for the Yugoslav military. On 14 July 1939, the Yugoslav finance minister, Vojin Đuričić signed an agreement in Paris with Daladier for France to sell Yugoslavia anti-aircraft guns, trucks, howitzers, anti-tank guns, machine guns, tanks and tank transporters. On 19 August 1939, Brugère together with the French military attaché in Belgrade, Colonel Merson, met with General Dušan Simović, the chief of the Yugoslav general staff, to discuss how the Armée du Levant would link up with the Yugoslav military after landing in Thessaloniki. Brugère reported to Paris that the officer corps of the Yugoslav military were very anti-German while being very pro-French and pro-British, making them very much in favor of co-operation with Britain and France should the Danzig crisis lead to war. In the hot summer of 1939, the Danzig crisis brought Europe to the brink of war, and Prince Paul was thrown into deep depression at the prospect. Sir Ronald Campbell, the British minister in Belgrade, in a cable on 26 August 1939 to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, wrote that Paul was "in the last stages of despair". Halifax wrote on the margin of a letter he received from Paul asking for British support on the same day that he was just suffering from another attack of manic-depression, which was Paul suffered was a chronic sufferer from. Brugère, who very much liked Paul, expressed more sympathy and tried to keep his spirits up. The British historian D.C. Watt wrote that Brugère was "endlessly sympathetic" towards Paul, who had a melancholic disposition even at the best of times, and was very despondent at the prospect of war. Paul often looked out of the window of his office, observing that the city of Belgrade was doomed, and would be destroyed once again if war came. Brugère in a cable to Paris on 27 August 1939 stated if the Danzig crisis should lead to Germany invading Poland, then France should reactivate Salonika Front strategy by sending the Armée du Levant to Thessaloniki and march north into Yugoslavia with the ultimate aim of aiding Poland. World War Two On 1 September 1939, Germany activated Fall Weiss (Case White) and invaded Poland. On 3 September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Mussolini wanted to honor the Pact of Steel by declaring war on Britain and France, but King Victor Emmanuel III, who had the ultimate power in Italy, refused to sign the declarations of war. Much to his humiliation, Mussolini was forced to declare Italy neutral in the war. On 3 September 1939, Prince Paul met with Brugère to request that the French land an army at Thessaloniki with the understanding that the French would ultimately head north into Yugoslavia. Paul told Brugère that through Yugoslavia was neutral, but that his sympathies were completely with the Allies. Paul further stated that he would have Yugoslavia enter the war on the Allied side the moment that he thought the Allies were in a position to aid Yugoslavia, saying that the backwardness of Yugoslavia made it impossible for his country to fight against the Reich at present. Brugère wrote that Paul had told him that there was:"... non aucu semblant de vérité et de sincérité n’est sorti de la bouche de Mussolini et de celle de Ciano...Le comte de Ciano déclarait au Ministre de Yugoslavie à Rome que la neutralité italienne serait 'vigilante’ et qu’elle ne durerait qu’aussi longtemps que les intérêts de l’Axe, non engagés dans l’affaire de Dantzig, ne seraient pas enjeu...Il [Prince Paul] souhaite que nous arrivions le plus tôt possible à Salonique avec ou sans consentement de l’Italie" ("...no any semblance of truth and sincerity from the mouths of Mussolini and that of Ciano...Count Ciano had declared to the Minister of Yugoslavia in Rome that Italian neutrality would be 'vigilant' and that it would not last so long as Axis interests, not engaged in the matter of Danzig, were not at stake...He [Prince Paul] wishes that we arrived as soon as possible in Salonica with or without consent of Italy".) Paul advised Brugère not to trust Mussolini, who despite have declared neutrality, was bound to come into the war on the side of Germany. Brugère reported to Paris that Paul as a sign of his good faith, was willing to allow military materials from France to be transported across Yugoslavia to Romania with the understanding that the ultimate designation was Poland. Through Metaxas leaned in a pro-Allied direction, but still had doubts about the consequences of reviving the Salonika Front strategy. However, General Alexandros Papagos, the chief of the Greek general staff, wanted the Allies to land at Thessaloniki, seeing it as the best way of preserving Greek independence. The French were very keen to revive the Salonika Front strategy of World War One, but the British were opposed. Unfortunately, for Paul, the Italians had stolen the keys to the British diplomatic codes via a burglary at the British embassy in Rome in 1935. Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian Foreign Minister, knowing of the differences between French and British strategies via reading the British diplomatic cables, portrayed Italian neutrality as being more sincere than what it really was in his meetings with the British ambassador, Sir Percy Loraine and argued to him that any Allied landing at Thessaloniki would be a provocation that would drive Italy towards Germany. On 9 September 1939, the British ambassador in Paris, Sir Eric Phipps, presented a note which read: "“Le Gouvernement de Sa Majesté est convaincu de la nécessité de ne prendre actuellement aucune initiative qui puisse entraîner l’Italie à se joindre à l’Allemagne. Nos communications à travers la Méditerranée sont vitales pour nous et pour la France, et en aucun cas elles ne doivent être mises en danger. “Il est impossible d’estimer le pour et le contre d’une action dans les États balkaniques sans tenir compte des conséquences presque certaines qu’ une telle action entraînerait sur la politique italienne et qui serait pleine de dangers pour notre cause commune. L’information contenue dans un télégramme de l’ambassadeur de Sa Majesté à Rome est très significative à cet égard. Dans la situation actuelle Lord Halifax se range dans l’ensemble à l’avis de Sir Percy Loraine. A l’heure actuelle, toute l’action dans le Sud-est de l’Europe qui risquerait de rendre plus probable l’entrée de l’Italie en guerre contre nous devrait être évitée avec soin" ("His Majesty's Government are convinced of the necessity of taking no initiative at this time which might induce Italy to join Germany. Our communications across the Mediterranean are vital for us and for France, and under no circumstances should they be endangered. It is impossible to estimate the pros and cons of action in the Balkan States without taking into account the almost certain consequences that such action would entail on Italian politics and which would be full of dangers for our common cause. The information contained in a telegram from His Majesty's Ambassador in Rome is very significant in this regard. In the present situation Lord Halifax generally agrees with Sir Percy Loraine. At the present time, any action in Southeastern Europe which might make Italy more likely to enter the war against us should be carefully avoided"). By January 1940, Brugère was convinced that Paul have Yugoslavia enter the war on the Allied side, provided that the Allies landed at Thessaloniki and had operational control of the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas. When Italy declared war on France on 10 June 1940, Brugère sought to invoke the Franco-Yugoslav alliance and told Paul that he should declare war on Italy at once. Brugère felt that having Yugoslavia invade the Italian colony of Albania would take the pressure off France. Paul refused under the grounds that Italy was allied to Germany in the Pact of Steel, and it was evident that France was going to be defeated. On 17 June 1940, Brugère resigned in protest at the decision to sign an armistice with Germany. In a famous public cable he sent to Marshal Philippe Pétain announcing his resignation that serving as: "Représentant de la France dans un pays qui, jadis, a continué 3 ans la lutte à nos côtés sans avoir gardé la moindre parcelle de son territoire, j'éprouve un serrement de cœur à la pensée que les Yougoslaves pourront légitimement dire que ce qu'ils ont fait, nous avons été incapables de l'entreprendre. Ma résolution est prise : je refuse de servir un gouvernement, fut-il présidé par le Vainqueur de Verdun, qui signerait la capitulation de la France" ("the representative of France in a country which, in the past, continued the struggle at our side for 3 years without having kept any part of its territory, I feel a pang of the heart. The thought that the Yugoslavs will be able to legitimately say that what they have done we have been unable to undertake. My resolution is taken: I refuse to serve a government, even if it chaired by the Victor of Verdun, which would sign the surrender of France.") Brugère was referring to the famous retreat of the Serbian Army, which after its defeat in October 1915, had followed by thousands of Serb refugees, undertaken an arduous march across the mountains of Albania in the winter of 1915–16 to be picked up by British and French ships waiting by the shores of the Adriatic Sea. Afterwards, the Serbian Army went to Thessaloniki to continue the struggle until Serbia was liberated. Brugère felt that rather than signing the armistice with Nazi Germany that Pétain should have followed the Serb example by taking the French government and as many French troops as possible to Algeria to continue the war. Brugère mockingly wrote that to cross the Mediterranean Sea in June from Marseilles to Algiers was considerably more easier than crossing the Accursed Mountains of Albania in the dead of winter. Brugère also noted that France had signed a treaty with Great Britain forbidding either power to sign an armistice with Germany, thus leading him to argue that the armistice was illegal. The French historian Annie Lacroix-Riz called Brugère "the only diplomat to embody national resistance and sovereignty in June 1940". Brugère further argued that the manner in which Marshal Pétain abolished the French constitution with the National Assembly voting to give him dictatorial powers was illegal, arguing that 569 forfeitures of the votes of the deputies vs. 80 votes for could not in any meaningful sense of the term constitute legality. Brugère returned to France, where he joined a Gaullist resistance group. Prince Paul was sad to see Brugère leave Belgrade. After the armistice, the Germans pressed the new Vichy government to bring Daladier and the other French leaders to trial for declaring war on the Reich in 1939. In a letter to Daladier on 15 September 1940, Brugère wrote that such a trial: "would be more against France still more than yourself; it would in my eyes add considerably to our mistakes and to our misfortunes; as well as our lack of dignity, to add with public complicity or public silence to the legend that the war Hitler wanted could have been avoided or delayed and that the responsibility for its outbreak falls, with the exception of the Foreign Ministry, on the French government that was then in power". Brugère had assumed wrongly as it turned out that the main defendant at the trial would be Daladier; in fact, the Germans wanted the main defendants to be Georges Mandel and Paul Reynaud, the two main "anti-German" politicians in the last years of the Third Republic. Much to the intense chagrin of Charles de Gaulle, the United States recognized Vichy regime as the legitimate government of France until November 1942, maintaining an embassy in Vichy with Admiral William D. Leahy serving as the American ambassador. Brugère was in contact with Leahy, using him as a means of reaching out to his close friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Brugère felt that Leahy was an ignoramus who more than anybody else turned Roosevelt against de Gaulle. Brugère stated that Leahy was man who spoke very poor French and was profoundly ignorant about France, which led him to the conclusion that Marshal Pétain was a reluctant collaborator who could be persuaded to re-enter the war on the Allied side. Brugère stated that Leahy was fundamentally wrong in his assessment of Pétain, and that his misdiagnosis of Vichy led Roosevelt to shun de Gaulle with a disastrous impact on Franco-American relations. Brugère was interned by the French police on 8 November 8, 1942 when it was discovered that he was in contact with the French National Committee in London. On 8 June 1944, Brugère was freed by the Resistance. On 21 September 1944, he was appointed as the Secretary-General (number two position) at the Quai d'Orsay under the Foreign Minister Georges Bidault. On his first day in office, Brugère met an American diplomat, Selden Chapin, to press for American recognition of de Gaulle's provisional government, saying that the American policy was "injurious not only to France, but in the long run to our own interests". Brugère told Chapin: "While your government states it never had any admiration for the Pétain government, it is difficult for me was imprisoned in Vichy when you had an ambassador to that government to find that you do not recognize a government which has restored me to freedom and which is founded on liberty and is accepted by all Frenchmen". Brugère was against having diplomatic relations with Ireland, which had recognized the Vichy government. Sean Murphy, the Irish minister in Paris, met with Brugère to discuss having Ireland switch over to recognizing de Gaulle's provisional government. On 5 October 1944, Murphy reported to Dublin: "I was very coldly received and rudely received by the Secretary General." Brugère rejected Murphy's argument that “the Government de facto was the Government de jure, and the moment the Pétain Government had disappeared”, Ireland entered into diplomatic relations with de Gaulle's government. Murphy reported that Brugère “became irritable at the mention of the word ‘de facto’". As Secretary-General, Brugère drew up rules for the purge of collaborators from the Quai d'Orsay, ruling that all those fired under Vichy would have be restated; those who had joined under Vichy would have to retaker their examinations; and those diplomats who joined the Resistance would be preferred for promotion. Brugère dispatched Christian Fouchet to Poland to examine the Lublin government's claims to be the legitimate government of Poland and to contact French POWs recently released by the Red Army. Brugère's relations with Bidault were difficult, causing him to resign after only three weeks on the job. Having become a Belgianophile during his time in Brussels, Brugère lobbied President Charles de Gaulle to appoint him ambassador to Belgium. Ambassador in Brussels Brugère served as the French ambassador in Brussels from 4 October 1944 to November 1947, when he retired. During his time as ambassador to Belgium, Brugère worked for closer Franco-Belgian ties and sympathized more with Walloon politicians than Flemish ones. Brugère proved to be a highly controversial ambassador, who was widely accused of supporting Walloon politicians to make Belgium into a French-speaking state. Belgian politics were torn between a dispute over whatever King Leopold III-who signed an armistice with Nazi Germany in 1940-should be allowed to return to his throne. Brugère was also accused of supporting the antiléopoldistes who believed the king should abdicate on the account of having signed the armistice. The léopoldistes who supported the king's return to his throne often accused Brugère of interference in Belgian internal affairs. The dispute between the antiléopoldistes and the léopoldistes was such that that there were serious fears of a civil war in Belgium with conservatives and Flemings supporting the king's return while liberals and Walloons were opposed. In 1946, a group called Quebec-Wallonie appeared that called for Wallonia to break away from Belgium and Quebec to break away from Canada, arguing these two areas, which were both part of the "French cultural empire" had a similar background. A Canadian diplomat, Marcel Cadieux, thought that the writing style of the Quebec-Wallonie group's manifesto closely resembled the writing style of Brugère. During his time in Brussels, Brugère was very concerned about the way that the Belgian press covered the war in the French colony of Indochina where the Communist Viet Minh guerrillas were fighting for independence. About the pro-Viet Minh coverage in Communist newspapers such as Le Drapeau rouge, Brugère was highly annoyed, writing of "perfectly tendentious" articles, which he believed were the result of a propaganda offensive by the Soviet Union to defame France. Brugère blamed the French Communist Party, which was then in the French government, for the articles, writing that L'Humanité would not criticize a government that it was a part of, but would subcontract the work out to French language Belgian newspapers such as Le Drapeau rouge to criticize the war in Indochina. Brugère was especially offended by an article in the Socialist newspaper Le Peuple on 20 December 1946 by a political scientist, Grégoire Koulischer, that appealed to the British Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee and the French Socialist premier Léon Blum to end their empires peacefully, saying the age of European imperialism was closing and to resist the demands for independence would lead to pointless bloodshed as independence was inevitable for the British and French colonies. Koulischer accused the French Army of recruiting Wehrmacht veterans into the French Foreign Legion, whom he further accused of committing frightful atrocities against Vietnamese civilians. By contrast, Koulischer wrote that the Viet Minh had behaved decently and had only executed Vietnamese who had collaborated with the Japanese. Brugère wrote that this article was "even more unpleasant and malicious" than the ones in Le Drapeau rouge, and he made a formal complaint to the leaders of the Belgian Socialist Party about the article. Brugère also handed in a formal letter of protest to the Belgian Socialist Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak about Koulisher's article, saying he had tarnished the good name of the French Foreign Legion. Brugère asked Victor Larock, the editor of Le Peuple, not to run any more articles critical of the Indochina war. Larock apologized to Brugère for the article, saying it was an editorial oversight on his part, and stated the highly negative picture of French rule in Vietnam in Koulisher's article was due to a French Army nurse recently returned from the war who had contacted Koulischer. To counter the criticism, Brugère encouraged Face à Main, a liberal Brussels weekly run on 4 January 1947 a flattening story on France's mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission) in Vietnam and portrayed Admiral Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu, the French High Commissioner for Indochina, in a very favorable light . On 21 January 1947, La Nation, a conservative Brussels daily ran an article that praised French colonialism in Vietnam, which Brugère reported to Paris that he helped to inspire. On 26 February 1947, a Belgian newspaper, La Libre Belgique, published an article by a Catholic priest who served as a missionary in Vietnam, Father Emmanuel Jacques-Houssa, that was somewhat sympathetic towards the Viet Minh. In a report to Paris, Brugère wrote that "such nonsense in a newspaper known to be biased is likely to do us more good than harm", writing that such articles were the result of an "imbroglio of anti-French intrigues". On 23 February 1947, Brugère was to confront a Vietnamese Catholic priest, Vincent Kuu, who was to deliver a pro-independence speech at a meeting of the Christian Workers' Youth in Brussels. However, Kuu had been arrested at the Franco-Belgian border by the Belgian police for insufficient identity documents. Instead, Father Houssa replaced him, leading to a lively debate about the merits of the mission civilisatrice in Indochina. Brugère's friend Claudel in a letter to his son wrote that Brugère had sent an "inflammatory telegram" to Bidault concerning the "Royal Question" in Belgium about the Regent Charles who was acting as the head of state for his older brother. Still unable to work effectively with Bidault, Brugère retired as ambassador in 1947. Later years In retirement, Brugère became active in Gaullist politics. Brugère was a founding member of the Gaullist Rassemblement du Peuple Français and served as a Gaullist deputy in the National Assembly. Lanneau described Brugère as "fervently Gaullist" in his politics. Brugère did not became a cabinet minister under de Gaulle, but he served as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the National Assembly. He was also taken up with his literacy studies, publishing in 1957 a book Courtes mais éblouissantes vies ministérielles parallèles de Chateaubriand et Lamartine 1823–1848, a parallel biography of François-René de Chateaubriand and Alphonse de Lamartine. Another book, Ambassade de Choiseul-Gouffier à Constantinople, 1784-1792 (1958) was a biography of Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier, the classicist who served as the last ambassador of ancien régime France to the Ottoman empire. HIs 1962 book Noblesse et rigueur du métier diplomatique caused controversy where he wrote: "La franc-maçonnerie, sous le proconsulat Chautemps-Leger, fut tout aussi insinuante. L’ascension, grâce à elle, d’Alexis Leger au secrétariat général du Ministère en février 1933 ne fut pas heureuse, d’autant moins heureuse que son origine guadeloupéenne excita sans aucun profit pour nous des réticences raciales qui se manifestèrent de façon fort déplaisante, lorsque Daladier eut la singulière idée de l’emmener avec lui à Munich....e dois d’ailleurs ajouter que le Grand Orient n’a jamais compté beaucoup d’adhérents parmi nous. Dans une étude récente de Serge Hutin, sur la franc-maçonnerie, le Quai d’Orsay est même qualifié de “fief catholique” ce qui est excessif quand on pense au nombre et à la qualité des Protestants qui s’y trouvent en bonne place, ce qui assure un heureux contrepoids à ceux qui pourraient être tentés de suivre une attitude trop vaticane dans la conduite de notre politique extérieure" ("Freemasonry, under the Chautemps-Leger proconsulate, was just as insinuating. The rise, thank to them, of Alexis Leger to the General Secretariat of the Ministry in February 1933 was not happy, all the less happy as his Guadeloupe origin excited without any profit for us racial reluctances which manifested themselves in a very unpleasant way, when Daladier had the singular idea of taking him with him to Munich...I must also add that the Grand Orient has never had many adherents among us. In a recent study by Serge Hutin, on Freemasonry, the Quai d'Orsay is even described as a "Catholic stronghold" which is excessive when you think of the number and quality of Protestants who are there in a good place, which provides a happy counterweight to those who might be tempted to adopt an excessively Vatican attitude in the conduct of our foreign policy"). Brugère defined the role of an ambassador in Noblesse et rigueur du métier diplomatique as: "Un ambassadeur est un missionnaire...Les agents placés hors du périmètre d’urgence, où tout le monde, dans le désordre, leur donne ordres et contre-ordres, sont plus que jamais livrés à eux-mêmes avec juste pour ressource celle du missionnaire, perdu dans le Grand Nord, qui, son travail d’évangélisation poursuivi, en est réduit à écrire chaque semaine à la Sainte Vierge" ("An ambassador is a missionary...The agents placed outside of the emergency perimeter, where everyone, in disorder, gives them orders and counter-orders, are more than ever left to their own devices, just like a missionary, lost in the Great North, who in his work of evangelization, is reduced to writing every week to the Blessed Virgin"). Brugère died in Châtenoy where he owned a chateau in the countryside. Books by Brugère Veni, vidi Vichy,1944, Paris: Calmann-Levy, second edition as Veni, vidi Vichy... et la suite Témoignages, 1940-1945, 1953, Paris: Deux-Rives Hommages Français à Paul Hymans Brussels: l'Avenue, 1944. Courtes mais éblouissante vie ministérielle parallèles de Chateaubriand et Lamartine, 1957. Mémoires d'outre-Monge, À l'ombre de l'Élysée en pleurs, Paris: du Manuscrit, 1961 Noblesse et rigueur du métier diplomatique, Paris: Alfort, 1962 References Books and articles External links Brugère's citation for the Legion of Honour 1885 births 1966 deaths People from Orléans Ambassadors of France to Canada Ambassadors of France to Belgium Ambassadors of France to Yugoslavia 20th-century French diplomats

69710975

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder%20of%20Helena%20Jubany

Murder of Helena Jubany

The murder of Helena Jubany Lorente (Mataró, 27 February 1974, Sabadell – 2 December 2001) was a murder committed against a 27-year-old librarian who was found dead in Sabadell on 2 December 2001 after being thrown off a terrace into an inner courtyard, stripped naked and with several burns on her body. The case was dismissed and the trial did not take place. The circumstances, motive or material perpetrators of the murder were never completely clear. The proceedings were marred by irregularities and the only person charged with the acts never admitted responsibility and committed suicide while in prison. On 23 March 2020, TV3’s  programme CRIMS broadcast a double feature on this case. Context Helena Jubany was a journalist, librarian and writer from Mataró who was integrated into the cultural and social activity of the region. She began her professional career as an intern for El Punt in Maresme, for the local TV and at the Robafaves local bookshop. From 2000 she worked as a librarian in Sentmenat, where she was in charge of the children's section. As a result of this new job, she moved to a flat and lived alone in Sabadell. From then, she began to collaborate with the Nature Section of Unió Excursionista de Sabadell, a local hiking association. On 17 September 2001, Helena found a bottle of horchata with some small cakes on her doorstep with a hand-written note. The note said: The fact that it was horchata was not strange at all because it was her favorite drink, so the author of the note had to knew this. It's known Helena drank it. Some days later, on 9 October, she found a new gift on her doorstep. This time, a drink of Granini peach juice, accompanied by a second note which indicated that she should accept the gift with good humour, and that soon the mystery would be revealed. The note said: This time Jubany tasted the juice, but in doing so she found it strange and didn't finish it. Intrigued, she commissioned an analysis in a laboratory in Sabadell, where the juice was found to contain benzodiazepine, a type of somniferous drug. Murder Helena Jubany left home at noon on Friday 30 November after working with the computer, but she didn't arrive  at the Sentmenat Library, where she worked. According to the investigation, on that day she received a telephone call in the morning, and at noon, she reportedly left the house and drove to 48 Calvet de Estrella Street in Sabadell. There, in the apartment of two acquaintances of hers, Montse Careta, a teacher, and Santi Laiglesia, a criminal lawyer, someone drugged her, left her unconscious and retained her. A situation that would last all Saturday, according to the investigations, elaborated by two forensic scientists, who explained that it takes many hours until the body removes a substance like benzodiazepine in the urine. Later, while still alive, she was taken to the roof of the same building, and from there she was thrown off between three and five o'clock in the morning of 2 December, with a somniferous dose 35 times higher than normal, but not enough to cause death. She died at the age of 27 after being thrown off the terrace and the subsequent impact on the ground. The autopsy confirmed that when she was thrown, the victim was in a semi-coma. The body fell, crashing through the clotheslines, into the back yard of an adjacent building at 91-97 Guell i Ferrer Street. A neighbour found the body at 9 o'clock in the morning of the same day, stripped naked, and with burns on several parts of the body. The head was disfigured as a result of the impact on the ground, which made immediate identification impossible. Investigation On Saturday 1 December Helena had arranged to have lunch with her father, Joan Jubany (Mataró, 1945). When he saw that she did not appear, he decided to call her but there was no answer.  On Sunday she had arranged to meet a friend but she didn't appear either. Her father, worried, went to her flat in Sabadell but couldn't find her. Being on Sunday, he waited until Monday to call her work, where he was informed that she had not been to work on the previous Friday. After this, the victim's father reported her missing. After the report the police were able to identify the body which they had found some days before. The case was taken by Judge Manuel Horacio García, of the Tribunal de Instrucción No 3 in Sabadell. The first police investigations indicated that the victim "fell" from the communal terrace of the property at 48 Calvet de Estrella Street, where the victim's hair was found and Jubany's clothes were also found on the terrace. The burns were presumably caused before falling into the yard located at the confluence of Calvet de Estrella and Guell i Ferrer. A whitish substance was also found in her vagina, but the investigation did not clarify what it was. Her death caused a strong impact in Mataró, where the victim was well known in cultural circles. The first interrogations of family members, workmates, neighbours and friends allowed the police to determine that there was one person who had a connection to the place where the body was found and Helena Jubany herself. It was Montserrat Careta i Herrera, who lived on Calvet de Estrella street, specifically in the building which had the terrace from which the victim was allegedly thrown. The investigations then determined a triangle in which Montserrat Careta, Santi Laiglesia, a criminal lawyer and Careta's sentimental partner, and Ana Echaguivel Rad who were all connected to the hiking association Unió Excursionista de Sabadell. It was also indicated that the handwritten notes may have been written by Montserrat Careta, and part of the second written note by the other defendant Ana Echaguivel. None of the defendants could justify where they were on the night of the events, nor why they had not gone to work on the morning of 3 December. Both Careta and Laiglesia participated in a trip with the Sabadell Hiking Group on 2 December, although they were not previously registered. Arrest and suicide On 12 February 2002, Montserrat Careta was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of the crime. She was detained on remand at Wad-Ras prison in Barcelona. In her flat two pots of Noctamid, a psychopharmacological drug with hypnotic effects that contains Benzodiapezine, the same substance found in the body of the victim, were found. The national police also located a box of matches such as those found on the roof and which were allegedly used to burn Helena. During her time in prison, Careta always defended her innocence through letters she sent to family and friends. While Careta was in jail, the judge began to indict Santiago Laiglesia and Ana Echaguivel. On 23 March, he arrested Echaguivel, then 32 years old and a neighbour of Sabadell, when a calligraphy test determined that she was the author of the first half of the second anonymous letter that Jubany had received in the weeks before her death. On 7 May 2002, Montserrat Careta was found dead hanging in the bathroom of her cell in Barcelona's Wad-Ras prison, according to her lawyer, Joaquim Escudé. She left a note in which she claimed that she was innocent of the murder attributed to her. She had a nylon cord tied around her neck. Ana Echaguivel, also in pre-trial detention, was released on charges a few days later, in June 2002. The secret of the summary proceedings was lifted in the autumn of 2002, and Helena Jubany's relatives held a press conference on 3 October, where family lawyer Pep Manté reported a possible hypothesis of the murder attributable to a "role playing game". The legal representative of the family argued that under no circumstances did the young woman suspect that she was part of a macabre game that would lead to her death. He claimed that Jubany had commented that she had received anonymous notes, but was not afraid, only intrigued and curious. The investigation remained open to determine the events that occurred between noon on 30 November and 9am on 2 December, when the body was found. He also mentioned that Santi Laiglesia, who could be considered the co-author in the murder of the girl, did not appear in any of the almost 1,000 pages of the investigation. Laiglesia's lawyer, Joaquim Escuder, declared: "See? We will never really know what happened" Closing the case The case was finally closed in October 2005, when the judge considered that the "solidity of the evidence" was not "sufficient" to sustain the accusation, against Careta's sentimental companion, Santiago Laiglesia Pla, or Ana Echaguivel, both members of the UES. In 2017, two journalism students, Anna Prats and Iago García, tried to gather all the information so that the facts could be clarified. Both the families of the victim as well as Montserrat Careta consider that the perpetrator or perpetrators of the murder "remain free". Careta's relatives point out that Laiglesia, a lawyer and criminologist, almost always slept in the same building as the events and, according to the Careta family, had the keys to the flat. In addition, according to the family, the box of matches and Noctamid were perfectly positioned to draw quick and easy conclusions two months after the event. Also the results of the first calligraphy test were discarded after later studies. Request for reopening the case The relatives of Jubany and Careta demanded the reopening of the case, arguing irregularities in the investigation. They wonder why they didn't take fingerprints from Helena's car, the flat or the terrace, and why the police waited for hours before searching Montse Careta's flat when she was arrested. They also argue that the evidence seemed "prepared", because if Montse Careta had actually administered the drugs to Jubany and burned her, she would not have left the incriminating evidence at home for more than two months. Another argument they add is that even if  Careta were guilty, her small stature would not have allowed her to commit the crime alone, since, as detailed in the investigation, she wouldn't have had the strength to carry Helena Jubany's unconscious body up the stairs. She lived on the third floor and would have had to carry the body to the roof, located on the fourth floor of a building without a lift. Nor would she have had the strength, once there, to lift her up and then throw her off the terrace. A language study was published in December 2018, ruling out the fact that the anonymous letters had been written by Montse Careta. In fact, a national police officer strongly believes that the killer is Santiago Laiglesia. The perpetrator and motive of the crime are still to be solved, and in 2025 the crime will become unprosecutable in accordance with the law. Legacy In 2007 the Helena Jubany Cultural Association was created to keep her memory alive. An annual literary prize for short narratives or a collection of stories is held each year in the capital of Maresme. References External Links El Crim de l'Helena Jubany Associació Cultural Helena Jubany - Biografia 2001 in Catalonia 2001 murders in Europe Murder in Catalonia Female murder victims Sabadell Incidents of violence against women Murder committed by adults 2001 crimes in Spain

69711982

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayumi%20Kuboki

Ayumi Kuboki

Ayumi Kuboki (born 1987) is a Japanese spree killer, suspected serial killer and former nurse who was convicted of killing three patients at the Oguchi Hospital in Yokohama using diamitol, all of which occurred September 2016. She is currently serving a life term, and remains under investigation for up to 48 total deaths that occurred at the hospital dating to July of that year. The Kanagawa Prefectural Police have designated this as the Oguchi Hospital Inpatient Murder Case, while the Kanagawa Shimbun named it the Oguchi Hospital Continuous Drip Murder Case. Background Investigation In September 2016, a nurse tending to a patient at the Oguchi Hospital accidentally dropped an infusion bag, causing the solution inside to begin foaming. As it was not supposed to do that, it was examined further, with the doctors discovering that it had been mixed with diamitol. Fearing a possible contamination, all IV bags on the building's premises were checked, leading to the discovery leading to the discovery that one of the bags administered to 88-year-old Nobuo Yamaki, a patient who had died two days prior had been tampered with. Upon inspection, nurses found a hole pierced with a fine needle in the protective filter that seals the rubber stopper, which was the case with about ten other such bags. As it was feared that this might have affected other recent deaths at the hospital, which amounted to an unusually hight amount of 48 since July, staff contacted Kanagawa Prefectural Police for assistance. An investigation concluded that somebody had intentionally inserted foreign substances into the bodies of the patients and deliberately killed them by mixing it in with the IV bags, and so, a special inquiry was started in order to resolve the case. The diamitol used for the crime was used for business purposes and was placed at various places in the hospital, making it extremely difficult to identify the culprit. To resolve this, the police carried out an appraisal of what the hospital's inventory, and an examination of the employees' clothes at the time revealed traces of diamitol in the pockets of Ayumi Kuboki. In addition, during the night shift immediately after the incident was discovered, a security camera installed by the prefectural police showed her walking around the hospital with a drug that she was not assigned to administer. She was zeroed in as the prime suspect after a colleague claimed that he had seen her enter into a patient she was not assigned to, and about five minutes after she left, his condition worsened and he died. Arrest At the end of June 2018, the prefectural police began to interview Kuboki based on the circumstantial evidence they had gathered up until then. During the interview, she readily admitted to infusing the bags of at least 20 patients with diamitol, and as a result, she was arrested and charged with murder on July 7. On July 28, she was charged with an additional murder concerning the death of another patient in September 2016, who died after the antiseptic solution was mixed in with his drip. After her arrest, however, Kuboki, who was repeatedly questioned by and interviewed by various TV stations and newspapers, sent handwritten letters in which she denied responsibility. She later retracted those statements, admitting that her motive for killing the patients was her fear of explaining the deaths to their family members. Kuboki also claimed that on one occasion, after a colleague blamed her for the death of a patient, she constantly thought about killing him outside of working hours. Before the murders occurred, there were reports of vandalism at the ward, with items being stabbed with needles or going missing, robes being torn. Kuboki herself claimed that fellow nurses frequently gossiped and complained about various problems relating to their patients or relatives, which sometimes even led to arguments. Due to multiple accusations relating to verbal abuse and neglect of patients, multiple nurses working at the hospital resigned from their posts. These allegations were corroborated by the family members of some victims, who claimed that they had witnesses them arguing between one another, and that one nurse had yelled at their relative while they were visiting him. In interviews, she claimed, according to psychiatrist Tamami Katada, Kuboki's true motive might have been a way to exact revenge on her colleagues and bosses: by killing patients during the working hours of other nurses, she would cause problems and eventually a scandal that would led to their ruin. Trial On December 7, 2018, Kuboki was charged with 5 counts of premeditated murder relating to the deaths of three patients who died between September 15 and 19, 2016. A sixth charge relating to the death of a fourth patient was dismissed on the grounds that his death might have been caused on accident, as his infusion bag had been accidentally contaminated with diamitol while she was trying to kill another patient. The charges were filed before the Yokohama District Court, with the presiding justice being Majordomo Kazunori. First instance The trial began on October 1, 2021. The prosecutorial side argued for the death penalty, claiming that the defendant was fully aware of her actions, while her attorneys claimed that she was in a state of diminished responsibility due to her schizophrenia. The final judgment was delivered on November 9, with the Yokohama District Court recognizing that Kuboki was autistic, which was recognized as a mitigating factor. However, they rebuked the claims that her schizophrenia affected her judgment, finding that she was legally sane at the time when she committed the murders. As a result, she was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The verdict proved unsatisfying for both the prosecutors and the attorneys, both of whom are currently appealing the sentence to the Tokyo High Court. Response from Oguchi Hospital Prior to the incident, the Yokohama City Council received multiple complaints about issues relating to the hospital, due to which they installed a third-party committee to evaluate conditions at the establishment. The report, titled "Verification Report on Medical Safety Operations in Yokohama City (Regarding Responses to Large Hospitals)", the committee concluded that they had no authority to either inspect or guide the hospital's actions due to statutes of the Medical Care Act, which created a "system gap" between the council and the hospital administration. As a result, they suggested that a request be made to the national government for improvement in regards to this issue. On the hospital's side, in spite of the allegations of misconduct dating back to June, the director said that he initially thought it should be dealt with at the hospital, but as things got out of hand, he had to resort to contacting the prefectural police. Since the incident, the Oguchi Hospital was renamed to the Yokohama Hajime Hospital. See also Hayato Imai, another nurse who killed patients in the same region, on death row External links Court proceedings (in Japanese) References 1987 births Living people 21st-century Japanese criminals Female criminals Suspected serial killers Japanese spree killers Nurses convicted of killing patients Japanese people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Japan Japanese prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Japanese prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Japan Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Japan Japanese nurses People with schizophrenia People from Yokohama

69712230

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky%20Marijuana%20Strike%20Force

Kentucky Marijuana Strike Force

The Kentucky Marijuana Strike Force, also known as the Kentucky Governor's Marijuana Strike/Task Force, is a multi-agency law enforcement task force managed by the Office of the Governor of Kentucky and Kentucky State Police Marijuana Suppression Branch, and composed of local, state and federal agencies organized expressly to eradicate illegal cannabis cultivation and trafficking in Kentucky. The task force was established in 1990, to combat marijuana cultivation on public lands in Kentucky that ranks third in the United States, behind California and Tennessee. An estimated $1 billion worth of marijuana in seized in Kentucky annually. In the wake of the 1989 arrest of the Cornbread Mafia by the Western Kentucky OCDETF, the task force was created in July 1990 by executive order from then Kentucky Governor Wallace Wilkinson. with the backing of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Member agencies include the Kentucky Justice Cabinet, Kentucky State Police, Kentucky National Guard, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, Office of the Attorney General of Kentucky, National Park Service, Civil Air Patrol, Drug Enforcement Administration, US Forest Service, US Marshalls Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky and local sheriff and police departments. The strike force often uses helicopters to fly eradication teams into remote marijuana grow sites in Eastern Kentucky. Much of the enforcement efforts of the Kentucky Marijuana Strike Force, that occur during the eradication season that lasts from April to October, are concentrated in the area of the Daniel Boone National Forest, in the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky historically associated with moonshine production, which often ranks first for most marijuana plants eradicated from a national forest in the United States. The eradication effort in the Daniel Boone National Forest showed the most impacts when just 17,000 plants were eradicated from the forest in 2009, compared to the 250,000 plants seized the year before. In popular culture Lieutenant Brent Roper, Kentucky Marijuana Strike Force Commander, was interviewed in 2010 for CNBC's documentary “Marijuana USA”. See also War on Drugs Office of National Drug Control Policy Tennessee Governor's Task Force on Marijuana Eradication References Cannabis cultivation Kentucky law 1990 in cannabis Organizations established in 1990 1990 establishments in Kentucky Cannabis in Kentucky Anti-cannabis operations Cannabis eradication

69712367

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park%20Myung-sik

Park Myung-sik

Park Myung-sik (Korean: 박명식; 1951 – October 1991), known as The Organ Harvester (Korean: 오르간 수확기), was a North Korean serial killer who was convicted of killing twelve teenagers in Sinpo from April to October 1990, in order to eat their livers to cure his cirrhosis. He was convicted of these crimes, sentenced to death and subsequently executed in 1991. At present, he is the only serial killer whose existence has been officially acknowledged by the North Korean government, which is infamous for its censorship regarding crime in the country. Background Due to heavy censorship in the country, next to nothing concrete is known of Park's background. At the time of the crimes, he worked as a factory worker in Sinpo, where he was described as timid by his colleagues. For some years prior to the murders, Park had been suffering from cirrhosis, for which he had to be treated by a famous doctor at a large hospital in Hamhung. The treatment apparently had no effect, and while continuing to suffer from pains, Park overheard a co-worker say that a fortune teller could help him with his issues. As it religious practises are forbidden in the country, the co-worker agreed to introduce him in secret, and when he met the fortune teller, Park begged him for answers to cure his illness. While he initially rejected his pleas, the fortune teller eventually felt pity on him and told Park that the only way to cure his illness was to consume human livers. Frightened by the prospect of killing another human, he returned home, but as his condition grew worse and worse over time, Park supposedly decided that it would be better to try than to die in agony. Murders Park's modus operandi was to scour communal farms in rural villages, searching for students aged 14 to 17 who were dispatched to work there. After finding the dormitory, Park broke inside and latched himself onto a sleeping 15-year-old, putting his hand over her mouth and then stabbing her with a knife. As he was carrying the bleeding girl out of the building, Park was frightened off by barking dogs and was forced to flee, leaving the dying student behind, whom died from her injuries on the following day. A few days later, a farmer at a nearby farm found the severely mutilated body of another student, whose injuries were so severe that it caused him to faint. The Sinpo City Police Department was alerted to the discovery, but despite investigations, they were unable to identify or catch the criminal - instead, some suggested that it might be the work of a ghost. A few days after his incident, the body of a woman in her 20s was found in downtown Sinpo, bearing the same injuries as the previous victim. Due to police incompetence and lack of the necessary technological advancements, the perpetrator continued to kill in Sinpo and the surrounding areas, claiming an additional nine victims. The killings caused a panic among the residents, who refused to go out at night. Arrest, trial and execution One day in October 1990, Park attempted to abduct his would-be 13th victim, a student travelling for work at the communal farm. He was unsuccessful and fled, but on the way, he was noticed by vigilant citizens who immediately apprehended him and brought him to the police station. Following his confessions, the fortune teller was also arrested and charged with an unknown offence. Park's trial was held in mid-October 1991 before the People's Court in Sinpo. He pleaded guilty to the charges, due to which he was promptly convicted and sentenced to death. Sometime that same month, he was promptly executed by firing squad. As punishment for giving the advice that led Park to start his murder spree, the fortune teller was sentenced to 15 years in a penal colony, which he served out in full and was released in 2006. As per the North Korean criminal code, he was then deported to another province, and his further fate remains unknown. Aftermath Due to the severity of the crimes, Park's murders are one of the few confirmed instances of the North Korean government acknowledging a criminal case on state-controlled media, which was then relayed to South Korean media as well. It has since been used as propaganda against the North Korean regime and its Juche ideology, mainly criticizing the censorship and the denial of harsh conditions in the country. See also List of incidents of cannibalism List of serial killers by country References 1951 births 1991 deaths 20th-century criminals Male serial killers North Korean serial killers North Korean murderers of children North Korean people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by North Korea Incidents of cannibalism 20th-century executions by North Korea Executed serial killers People executed by North Korea by firing squad People executed for murder People from South Hamgyong

69712563

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant%20Stevens%20%28disambiguation%29

Grant Stevens (disambiguation)

Grant Stevens may refer to: Grant Stevens (musician) (born 1953), Australian singer, musician and composer based in Germany Grant Stevens (police commissioner) (born 1963–1964), Australian senior police officer See also Steven Grant Stephen Grant (disambiguation)