title: Betelgeuse

text: The Philip Larkin poem "The North Ship", found in the collection of the same name, references the star in the section titled "Above 80° N", which reads:" 'A woman has ten claws,' /


title: Betelgeuse

text: Sang the drunken boatswain."Humbert Wolfe wrote a poem about Betelgeuse, which was set to music by Gustav Holst.


title: Betelgeuse

text: This table provides a non-exhaustive list of angular measurements conducted since 1920. Also included is a column providing a current range of radii for each study based on Betelgeuse's most recent distance estimate (Harper "et al.") of .


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Ben Anthony Foster (born 3 April 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his professional career in 2001 with Stoke City, having joined from Racing Club Warwick. However, he never made an appearance for Stoke, and spent time on loan with Bristol City, Tiverton Town, Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers and Wrexham. He switched permanently to Manchester United in July 2005, but again struggled to break into the first team, and spent two successive seasons on loan to Watford from August 2005 until the end of the 2006–07 season.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Having played just 23 times for Manchester United (although he also played in the League Cup-winning teams of 2009 and 2010), Foster switched to Birmingham City in May 2010. An ever-present in the league for Birmingham, he was also part of the Birmingham team that won the 2011 League Cup; he made a total of 43 appearances in that season. Following Birmingham's relegation to the Championship at the end of the season, he was loaned to West Bromwich Albion, and moved there permanently in June 2012. He returned to Watford in July 2018. He announced his retirement from football in September 2022, after becoming a free agent that summer and turning down an opportunity to sign for Newcastle United.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Internationally, Foster made his international debut for England in February 2007 against Spain. Although he announced his retirement from international football in May 2011, he returned in February 2013, and was selected in England's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. He started his football career as a youngster at Racing Club Warwick of the Southern League Division One West. He became their first-choice goalkeeper in December 2000, and was also training as an apprentice chef at Café Rouge in Leamington Spa.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: In April 2001 Foster turned professional with Second Division club Stoke City after being spotted by scout Colin Dobson. He signed a one-year contract with an option for a further two years; the "five-figure" fee was undisclosed, and RC Warwick would benefit from the inclusion of a sell-on clause. During his time at Stoke, Foster had loan spells at Bristol City, Tiverton Town, Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers and Wrexham. Foster sustained a cruciate ligament injury in June 2003 while playing tennis with his brother, which sidelined him for a period of six months. After his recovery, Foster was awarded the number 14 shirt and received his maiden call up to the Potters' first team for a First Division match versus Wimbledon on 17 January 2004. He remained on the bench for the 1–0 victory and was an unused substitute on a further six occasions during the remainder of the 2003–04 season. Foster was called into the first team squad for four matches during the 2004–05 season.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: While playing for Wrexham on loan from Stoke, Foster was spotted by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who was watching his son, Darren, in the 2005 Football League Trophy Final. United had been struggling for several years to replace former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, and Ferguson decided to move for the young Foster, making a bid of £1 million for the player. Stoke agreed a deal with United on 15 July 2005, and the transfer was completed on 19 July.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Not ready for first team action, Foster was sent on a season-long loan to Watford on 1 August 2005, with the expectation of a second loan the season after. Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd claimed that "he's better than current Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar" and claimed Foster would be "the best goalkeeper in the world". Manchester United manager Ferguson suggested that Foster would succeed Van der Sar as first-choice keeper at United and eventually replace Paul Robinson as "England's next goalkeeper". Foster helped Watford reach the Premier League by beating Leeds United 3–0 in the Championship play-off final.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: He re-signed for Watford on a second season-long loan on 10 August 2006 after Manchester United secured the services of Poland international goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak on loan from West Bromwich Albion. Foster's performances during Watford's Premier League campaign earnt him the club's Player of the Season award. Aidy Boothroyd expressed his desire to keep Foster at Watford for a third season on a number of occasions during the 2006–07 season, but his hopes were dashed in January 2007 when Alex Ferguson announced his intention to bring Foster back to Old Trafford at the end of the season.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: In June 2007, it was announced that Foster would undergo surgery on a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee, forcing him to miss the start of the 2007–08 season. He returned to light training towards the end of 2007, setting a February 2008 target for his return. He made a comeback in a reserve match against Middlesbrough on 6 March 2008, before making his debut for the Manchester United first team on 15 March 2008. With Edwin van der Sar injured and Tomasz Kuszczak suspended for a red card against Portsmouth in the FA Cup Sixth Round the previous Saturday, Alex Ferguson had to shelve plans to ship Foster out on loan again, and the young goalkeeper was promoted to the No. 1 jersey for the away match against Derby County. United won the match 1–0, with Foster making two crucial saves en route to keeping a clean sheet. Although he was impressed with Foster's performance in the match against Derby, Ferguson did not start him for the following match against Bolton Wanderers, opting for the returning Kuszczak.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: After being selected as a substitute for Manchester United's opening match of the 2008–09 Champions League against Villarreal on 17 September 2008, Foster then played for the reserves against Blackburn Rovers the following day. During the match, he fell awkwardly and suffered a twisted ankle, putting him out of contention for six to eight weeks. Fortunately for Foster, his recovery time was quicker than was first estimated and he returned to reserve team action on 14 October 2008, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 win over Oldham Athletic reserves. Foster then made his first Champions League appearance – his second for the Manchester United first team – on 5 November 2008, in a 1–1 away draw to Celtic.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster was originally selected in Manchester United's squad for the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup, but after suffering a broken finger in training the day before the squad was due to depart for Japan, he was replaced by Ben Amos. On 1 March 2009, Alex Ferguson named Foster in goal for the 2009 League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. After keeping a clean sheet in normal time, Foster then made a save from Tottenham's Jamie O'Hara in the consequent penalty shoot-out. This, combined with a miss from David Bentley, gave United a 4–1 win in the shootout and the 2009 League Cup title. After the match, Foster was given the Alan Hardaker Trophy for his man of the match performance.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: It was revealed after the match that Foster had used an iPod to help with his preparations in the penalty shootout, prompting discussion about the use of technology in the match.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster was rewarded for his performance by being made United's second-choice goalkeeper for the remainder of the season, starting three more matches when Alex Ferguson chose to rest Edwin van der Sar ahead of important matches. However, he had been attempting to play with a ruptured ligament in his right thumb, which became aggravated, necessitating surgery which ruled him out of United's title run-in, the Champions League Final against Barcelona and England's 2010 World Cup qualifiers in June. Following speculation that United were in the market for a new goalkeeper to replace the soon-to-retire Edwin van der Sar, Foster signed a new four-year contract with the club. Alex Ferguson commented that Manchester United "genuinely see him [Foster] as a successor to Edwin van der Sar".


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: With Van der Sar injured for the first two months of the 2009–10 season, Foster was given the opportunity to nail down the number one shirt in the 2009 FA Community Shield defeat to Chelsea, where his mistakes led to two Chelsea goals and made no saves in the penalty shootout. Foster continued to play in the League, starting with the opening day victory over Birmingham City. In wins against Arsenal and Manchester City, Foster received heavy criticism for errors that led to opposition goals. Manager Alex Ferguson stated that he believes in Foster's abilities and potential; however, eight days later, Foster was again criticised for a mistake which led to a Sunderland goal in a 2–2 draw, and left out of the England squad the next day with bruised ribs. However, following Robert Green's red card in the match against Ukraine and consequent suspension, Foster was given the all-clear by doctors and recalled to the England squad for the match against Belarus on 14 October. Foster played only twice more in 2009 for Manchester United after the Sunderland match: a League Cup win against Championship team Barnsley, and a Champions League tie versus Beşiktaş, with Manchester United's progress from the group already secured. He was displaced from the first team in Van der Sar's absence by Tomasz Kuszczak, and on occasion, reserve goalkeeper Ben Amos took Foster's place on the substitutes bench. Foster started his first match for three months against West Ham in February 2010, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 victory.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: After accepting that in order to play regularly he needed to leave Manchester, whether on loan or permanently, Foster signed a three-year contract with Premier League club Birmingham City on 19 May 2010. The fee was not disclosed, though media speculation suggested an initial fee of £4 million, potentially rising to £6 million with add-ons. The club were seeking a replacement for Foster's fellow England international goalkeeper Joe Hart, who had returned to Manchester City after a successful 2009–10 season on loan at Birmingham. Foster made his Birmingham debut on the opening day of the 2010–11 season in a 2–2 draw away to Sunderland. On his home debut the following week against Blackburn Rovers, he saved a penalty from Morten Gamst Pedersen as Birmingham won the match 2–1.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Criticised for an error in England's 2–1 defeat to France, Foster produced a man-of-the-match performance on his return to League duty on 20 November as Birmingham beat reigning champions Chelsea 1–0. Though Chelsea had 32 shots at goal, Foster made a series of excellent saves, including one described by BBC Sport as "staggering" to deny Didier Drogba's "fierce close-range downward header". He made a "horrendous blunder" in the televised League Cup semi-final, allowing a soft shot from Carlton Cole to slip underneath him, which gave West Ham United a 2–1 lead after the first leg. Birmingham still reached the final, and Foster's display earned him the Alan Hardaker Trophy for the second time in three years, as his team defeated Arsenal 2–1 to claim their first major trophy in 48 years. They were relegated to the Championship on the final day of the season. Because of his "series of inspirational performances", Foster was named Birmingham's Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season for 2010–11.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster joined Premier League club West Bromwich Albion on 29 July 2011, changing places with Albion goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, both players signing a loan deal for the whole of the 2011–12 season. Foster played in 37 of their 38 league matches, only missing the final match of the season with a minor groin strain. He kept 10 league clean sheets, equalling West Brom's Premier League clean sheets record, as the club finished in 10th place, their highest league finish in 30 years. At the end of the season, Foster was given the supporters' player of the year and the players' player of the year awards.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: On 29 June 2012, Foster signed permanently with West Brom for an undisclosed fee, widely reported to be £4 million. He signed a three-year contract with an option for a further two years in the club's favour. Foster continued to perform impressively in his second season with the club, keeping 7 clean sheets in 30 league matches, and helping to guide West Brom to their record high Premier League position of 8th for the 2012–13 season. A highlight of that season was saving a Steven Gerrard penalty against Liverpool at Anfield. The score was 0–0 at the time and West Brom went on to win 2–0. Despite missing 4 months of the following season through injury, Foster went on to win both fans player, and player's player of the year awards for the second time in three years after a series of impressive performances throughout the 2013–14 season. Foster's impressive form for the club saw him called up to the 2014 England World Cup squad, becoming the first West Bromwich Albion player to represent England in a world cup squad since Jeff Astle in 1970.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: After an impressive 2016–17 season, Foster was nominated for the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award. He was also the West Brom supporters' club player of the season.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: After West Brom's relegation to the Championship, Foster re-signed for Premier League club Watford on 5 July 2018 on a two-year contract, with the option of an additional year, for an undisclosed fee. He immediately overtook Brazilian teammate Heurelho Gomes to the Watford number one shirt and remained Watford's first-choice goalkeeper after their relegation from the Premier League in 2020. Foster signed a further two year contract with Watford in June 2020. On 16 May 2022, Foster revealed he would be leaving the club at the end of his contract in June.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: On his podcast on 15 September 2022, Foster announced his retirement from football at the age of 39 after turning down a contract offer from Newcastle United. He said that despite Newcastle’s attractive prospect, he not only wanted to stay with his family but also continue to produce content on his various social media platforms.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: On 26 May 2006, Foster was named on the stand-by list for England's 2006 World Cup squad, because of Robert Green's injury in a "B" international against Belarus. After Foster re-signed on loan for Watford, he was called up to Steve McClaren's first England squad as one of three goalkeepers for the friendly against Greece. Since his first call-up but prior to his injury, Foster was named in every England squad, and made his England debut in the 1–0 defeat against Spain on 7 February 2007.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: After not playing for England for two years and never being called to the first team, he was finally selected by Fabio Capello after his performance during the League Cup Final and earned his second cap as a second-half substitute in a 4–0 victory over Slovakia. Inconsistent performances in Manchester United's first fixtures of the 2009–10 season, as well as bruised ribs, meant that Foster was left out of Capello's initial squad for their final two World Cup qualifiers. However, after Robert Green was sent off in the match against Ukraine on 10 October, Foster was recalled in his place for the following match against Belarus. It had been expected that David James would take Green's place in the starting line-up, but James was injured in the warm-up and Foster was given his third England cap instead. England won the match 3–0, with Foster making a one-handed save from Syarhey Amelyanchuk in the 63rd minute. Foster won his fourth cap against Brazil, where he played the whole match in a 1–0 loss on 14 November 2009, the friendly match was played in Qatar, with forward Nilmar scoring the only goal of the match from a header in the 47th minute. He was overlooked for England's 2010 World Cup squad, Joe Hart being preferred for the third goalkeeping spot.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster stated in a 2020 interview that he found Capello difficult to work with, not only as a manager but also as a person. Foster had been training with England for a friendly match when his pregnant wife went into labour. Capello initially refused to allow Foster to leave for his child's birth, before reluctantly allowing it only after Foster pleaded with him. Three hours after his child's birth, Capello called Foster and urged him to return to the training camp immediately, promising Foster that he would play the second half of the upcoming match. Ultimately, Foster was not brought on in the second half and played no role in the match; Capello offered no acknowledgement or explanation to Foster. Shortly after, in May 2011, Foster announced that he would be making himself unavailable for international selection for an indefinite period. He intended to "prolong [his] club career for as long as possible" by allowing his body "a proper rest period between games" to reduce "niggling" injuries. It was not until February 2013 - after Capello had been succeeded by Roy Hodgson - that he made himself available for selection again. In the next international break, he was called up to the England squad for World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro. On 29 May 2013 Foster represented England in a friendly fixture against the Republic of Ireland.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster was selected in the final 23 for England's 2014 World Cup squad, and played in the 2–2 draw with Ecuador in preparation for the tournament. With England unable to advance to the last 16, he played the whole 90 minutes of the last group match against Costa Rica, and kept a clean sheet in the 0–0 draw in Belo Horizonte.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster has a YouTube channel called "The Cycling GK" where he posts cycling videos and Watford matchday vlogs, including GoPro footage of the games in the back of his goal. , the channel has amassed over 1.21 million subscribers and over 101 million views. He also has a podcast called "Fozcast - The Ben Foster Podcast", with an option to watch on YouTube.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: Foster lives with his wife and two children in a house he helped design on a 30-acre farm in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. He is an enthusiastic cyclist.


title: Ben Foster (footballer)

text: In March 2022, Foster was fined £2,250 and banned from driving for six months after he was caught driving at 99mph on the M40, an offence he committed in April 2021.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Red Dragon is a 2002 psychological thriller film based on the 1981 novel by Thomas Harris. It was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Tally. A prequel to "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), it sees FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) enlisting the help of serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to catch another killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes). Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman also star.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: The novel was previously adapted into the film "Manhunter" (1986). Both films feature the same cinematographer, Dante Spinotti. After turning down the "Silence of the Lambs" sequel, "Hannibal" (2001)"," "Silence of the Lambs" screenwriter Ted Tally returned to write "Red Dragon." It was released on October 4, 2002 to mostly positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, earning $209 million worldwide.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: In 1980, FBI agent Will Graham visits forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter to discuss a case. Graham has been working with Lecter on a psychological profile of a serial killer who removes edible body parts from his victims; Graham is certain the killer is a cannibal. Realizing Graham is close to discovering he is the killer, Lecter stabs him, but Graham subdues him before falling unconscious. Lecter is imprisoned in an institution for the criminally insane, and Graham, traumatized, retires to Florida with his family.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Years later, another serial killer nicknamed the Tooth Fairy has killed two familiesthe Jacobis' and The Leeds'during full moons. With another full moon approaching, special agent Jack Crawford persuades Graham to help develop the killer's profile. After visiting the crime scenes in Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, and speaking with Crawford, Graham concludes that he must consult Lecter. Lecter taunts Graham but agrees to help.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: The Tooth Fairy is Francis Dolarhyde, who kills as directed by his alternate personality, which he calls the Great Red Dragon, named after the William Blake painting "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun", which he has tattooed on his back. He believes that each victim brings him closer to becoming the Dragon, as his psychopathology originates from his childhood abuse by his grandmother.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Freddy Lounds, a tabloid reporter for the "National Tattler", pursues Graham for leads on the Tooth Fairy. A letter from the Tooth Fairy is discovered hidden in Lecter's cell, expressing admiration for Lecter and an interest in Graham and suggesting that Lecter reply through the personals section of the "Tattler", which he does with Graham's home address, forcing Graham's wife, Molly, and son, Josh, to relocate. While in hiding, Graham teaches Molly how to fire a handgun.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: To lure out the Tooth Fairy, Graham gives an interview to Lounds, disparaging the killer as an impotent homosexual. Enraged, Dolarhyde kidnaps Lounds, glues him to a wheelchair and reveals himself as the Great Red Dragon. Dolarhyde shows Lounds photos he took of his victims before and after he murdered them. Dolarhyde forces Lounds to recant his allegations on tape, sets him on fire and sends him rolling and crashing into a company sign outside the "Tattler" offices.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: At his job in a St. Louis photo lab, Dolarhyde gives Reba McClane, a blind co-worker, a ride to her home and they begin a relationship. However, his alternate personality demands that he kill her. Desperate to stop the Dragon's control over him, Dolarhyde goes to the Brooklyn Museum, tears apart the Blake painting, and eats it.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Graham realizes that the Tooth Fairy knew the layout of his victims' houses from their home videos. He deduces that he works for the company that edits the home movies and transfers them to video. He visits the company processing plant to ask for information, and is spotted by Dolarhyde as he returns from Brooklyn.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: In a panic, Dolarhyde goes to Reba's house. She has spent the evening with a co-worker, Ralph Mandy. After Reba enters her home, Dolarhyde kills Ralph, kidnaps Reba, takes her to his house, and sets it ablaze. Unable to shoot her, Dolarhyde apparently shoots himself. Reba escapes as the police arrive.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: After an autopsy is performed on the corpse, it is revealed that Dolarhyde used Ralph's body to stage his death. Dolarhyde later infiltrates Graham's home in Florida and takes Josh hostage, threatening to kill him. To save Josh, Graham loudly insults him, reminding Dolarhyde of his grandmother's abuse and provoking him to furiously attack Graham. Both are severely wounded in a shootout, which ends when Molly kills Dolarhyde.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Graham survives and receives a letter from Lecter praising his work and bidding him well. Lecter's jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, tells him that he has a visitor, a young woman from the FBI.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: The 1991 film "The Silence of the Lambs", starring Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, was a critical and commercial success, winning five Academy Awards. Hopkins was the only major member of the "Silence of the Lambs" team to return for the 2001 sequel, "Hannibal"; it was also a commercial success, but received less positive reviews. Both films were adapted from novels by Thomas Harris.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Husband-and-wife producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis decided to produce a film based on the 1981 novel "Red Dragon," the first Hannibal Lecter novel, as a prequel to "The Silence of the Lambs." Dino said that people thought he was "crazy" for adapting the book, as it had been previously adapted as "Manhunter" (1986), with Brian Cox as Lecter. Both "Manhunter" and "Red Dragon" had the same cinematographer, Dante Spinotti.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Hopkins hesitated to sign on, worried that three Lecter films might be too much. Screenwriter Ted Tally, who wrote "The Silence of the Lambs" but not "Hannibal", had turned down many offers to write more serial killer stories. He said he liked the idea of Hopkins' Lecter films forming a trilogy: "If it ends here, it will end gracefully. I would hate to see this become "Hannibal Lecter XIII"." To satisfy expectations, Tally added Lecter scenes not in the novel, describing it as a "commercial reality". He had the support of Harris, who sent Tally dialogue and ideas for scenes. Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes admired "The Silence of the Lambs" but had not enjoyed "Hannibal." The cast were persuaded to join by Tally's screenplay; Fiennes felt it worked "only on suspense", without overt violence.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Norton and Ratner disagreed on the scene in which Graham approaches the incarcerated Lecter for the first time. Ratner wanted Norton to incorporate a gesture or look to indicate Graham's fear, but Norton felt the audience would not need this if it were filmed correctly. They compromised by showing Graham's sweat stains when he removes his jacket in the next scene. Whereas Fiennes wanted to avoid overplaying his serial killer character, Hopkins aimed to play Lecter with more "danger and rage" than before. Fiennes spent 90 minutes of each day for months building his physique, and wore a prosthetic to give him a cleft palate. The tattoo on his back took around eight hours to apply.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Red Dragon: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was composed by Danny Elfman, and produced by Mark Helfrich and Brett Ratner. Decca Records released it on September 24, 2002, in the United States and Canada.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: "Red Dragon" was released on October 4, 2002, and opened in 3,357 theaters in the United States, grossing $13,478,355 on its opening day and $36,540,945 on its opening weekend, ranking #1 with a per theater average of $10,885. It went on to achieve the highest October opening weekend, beating "Meet the Parents". This record was surpassed by "Scary Movie 3" the following year. On its second weekend, it remained #1 and grossed $17,655,750 – $5,250 per theater. By its third weekend it dropped down to #3 and made $8,763,545 – $2,649 per theater.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: "Red Dragon" grossed $93,149,898 in the United States and Canada and $116,046,400 in other territories. In total, the film has grossed $209,196,298 worldwide.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 190 reviews, with an average rating of 6.40/10. The site's consensus said the film is "competently made, but everything is a bit too familiar". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Richard Corliss of "Time" gave the film a positive review, stating: "This darkly seductive, flawlessly acted piece is worlds removed from most horror films. Here monsters have their grandeur, heroes their gravity. And when they collide, a dance of death ensues between two souls doomed to understand each other." Todd McCarthy of "Variety" also gave the film a positive review, saying that the "audiences will be excused for any feelings of déjà vu the new film might inspire. That won't prevent them from watching it in rapt, anxious silence, however, as the gruesome crimes, twisted psychology and deterministic dread that lie at the heart of Harris' work are laid out with care and skill."


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Roger Ebert of "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 3.5 out of four, praising Brett Ratner's directing and the film's atmosphere. He stated: "To my surprise, Ratner does a sure, stylish job, appreciating the droll humor of Lecter's predicament, creating a depraved new villain in the Tooth Fairy (Ralph Fiennes), and using the quiet, intense skills of Norton to create a character whose old fears feed into his new ones. There is also humor, of the uneasy he-can't-get-away-with-this variety, in the character of a nosy scandal-sheet reporter (Philip Seymour Hoffman)." David Sterritt of the "Christian Science Monitor" gave the film a positive review, stated that "the most refreshing aspect of "Red Dragon" is its reliance on old-fashioned acting instead of computer-aided gizmos. Hopkins overdoes his role at times—his vocal tones are almost campy—but his piercing eyes are as menacing as ever, and Ralph Fiennes is scarily good as his fellow lunatic."


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: David Grove of "Film Threat", who gave the film four stars out of five, said: "Is "Red Dragon" a better film than "Manhunter"? I don't know. I think it stands on its own, but I wonder how much people who are intimately familiar with "Manhunter" will be shocked by it, although the ending is altogether different and much more realized, I think". Rick Kisonak, who also wrote for "Film Threat", also gave the film a positive review, but he gave it three stars out of five, saying: "The only downside to this delectable third course? The regrettable likelihood that Lecter fans will have to make do without dessert."


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: Edward Guthmann of "San Francisco Chronicle", gave the film a mixed review, saying that "in Hollywood, where integrity is rapidly consumed and careers defined by market value, there's trash and there's trash with a pedigree." Stephanie Zacharek, for "Salon", also gave the film a mixed review, stating: "If you buy the overprocessed headcheese of the serial killer as refined genius, you'll love "Red Dragon". Or maybe not. Even Hannibal Lecter devotees may lose patience with this picture's grandiose, self-serious ponderousness—that's Lecterese for, 'It's kind of boring in patches, actually.'" William Arnold of "Seattle Post-Intelligencer," who gave the film a mixed review, said that the film "basically lives up to the old adage that the final work in a trilogy is invariably the weakest." Michael Atkinson of "The Village Voice" gave the film a negative review; he stated: ""Red Dragon"s formula is so risible and rote by now that the natural reaction to scenes of peril, torture, and suffering is flippant laughter."


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: The film was released on VHS and DVD on April 1, 2003. It was released in two extras-packed DVD editions, a single-disc package and two-disc "Director's Edition". The single-disc package includes deleted scenes, director's commentary by Brett Ratner, Interview with FBI profiler John E. Douglas, Four featurettes: "The Hannibal Lecter Story," "The Making of Red Dragon," "The Art of Criminal Profiling" and "The Making of a Killer". The Director's Edition includes Ratner's video diary, featurette "The Red Dragon Tattoo", screen and film tests, and storyboard-to-final-feature comparisons.


title: Red Dragon (2002 film)

text: "Red Dragon" was nominated for 13 awards, and won several, including Empire Award for Best British Actress (Emily Watson) and Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actor Age Ten or Younger (Tyler Patrick Jones).


title: Linda Perry

text: Linda Perry (born April 15, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. She was the lead singer and primary songwriter of 4 Non Blondes, and has since founded two record labels and composed and produced hit songs for several other artists. They include: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera; "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani; and "Get the Party Started" by Pink. Perry has also contributed to albums by Adele, Alicia Keys, and Courtney Love, as well as signing and distributing James Blunt in the United States. Perry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 1965, Perry was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Growing up in an artistic and musical household, Perry displayed musical talent and interest from an early age. Despite struggling with kidney disease and then drug addiction, she still focused on music. Her mother is Brazilian (Marluce Martins Perry) and her father was Portuguese-American (Alfred Xavier Perry).


title: Linda Perry

text: In early 1986, at the age of 21, Perry moved to San Francisco. As a teenager in San Diego, she had pursued an interest in music, playing the guitar and auditioning for all-girl cover bands. Her arrival in San Francisco would mark the beginning of a career in music, though not before waiting tables, working coat-check, and working at a pizzeria.


title: Linda Perry

text: In San Francisco, Perry lived in a small, windowless room, and would play her guitar and sing her own songs on city streets. Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins, who at the time was also a struggling musician living in San Francisco, later recalled sitting in a room with Perry, who worked as a waitress down the street, performing their original compositions to one another. The two played each other early versions of "Semi-Charmed Life" and "What's Up?", both of which would become massive hits for their respective bands. It would be decades later that Jenkins realized the songs performed in that private session would sell a combined 17 million records.


title: Linda Perry

text: After some time spent performing solo at Bay Area clubs and coffeehouses, Perry composed her first professional song, called "Down On Your Face," and was recruited into the band 4 Non Blondes by its founder Christa Hillhouse in the middle of 1989. After several years of playing locally and negotiating with various record companies, the band finally signed with Interscope Records and released its debut album, "Bigger, Better, Faster, More!" on October 9, 1992. The album, featuring Perry as lead singer and dominated by her compositions, was an immediate success and spawned a hit single, the Perry-penned "What's Up?" (often erroneously called "What's Going On?" after its prominent chorus lyric).


title: Linda Perry

text: In February 1994, Perry had a solo appearance in Roger Daltrey's production, album and video "". She shared the stage with the Juilliard Orchestra and members of The Who as she sang "Doctor Jimmy", "Acid Queen", "I'm Free" (in a duet with Roger Daltrey), and the encore for "Join Together" with original The Who members John Entwistle and Pete Townshend. In 1994, a CD and a VHS video of the shows were issued with the songs "Doctor Jimmy" and "I'm Free", while in 1998 a DVD was released with the song "I'm Free" only.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 1994, Perry co-wrote with veteran singer/songwriter Janis Ian her song "Berlin", included on the 1995 album "Revenge".


title: Linda Perry

text: In June 1994, 4 Non Blondes guitarist Roger Rocha was replaced by Concrete Blonde member Jim Mankey, who had just played for Van Halen's cover "I'm the One" recorded as the theme from the movie "Airheads". During sessions at Interscope studios in Los Angeles, the band struggled to come up with a followup to "Bigger", and Perry left the band during the attempt to pursue a solo career. The band recorded one last video, for a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Misty Mountain Hop" with Dave Navarro on guitar.


title: Linda Perry

text: In a 2011 "Rolling Stone" interview, while promoting her most recent band, Deep Dark Robot, Perry was quoted saying, "I wasn't really a big fan of my band" due to the "fluffy polished bullshit" sound of "Bigger, Better, Faster, More!"


title: Linda Perry

text: With the band in disarray and the recording contract unfulfilled, Interscope reluctantly allowed Perry to make a solo CD, dropping the rest of the band. Interscope insisted on choosing the album's producer; the production team selected was Bill Bottrell and members of the "Tuesday Night Music Club", who had recently produced Sheryl Crow's debut. Released in 1996, "In Flight" was moody, mellow and, at times, dark, far removed from the 4 Non Blondes sound. The release received positive notices, but was a poor seller. Perry joined Red Fish, Blue Fish for her world tour, supporting such acts as The Who. She promoted her CD with her own funds, including an appearance on "The Howard Stern Show", during which she participated in "lesbian dial-a-date" and performed her former band's only hit single, "What's Up?" Perry also hosted the 1997 and 1998 Bammies (Bay Area Music Awards).


title: Linda Perry

text: In 1997, Perry produced a film, "", featuring cameos by Les Claypool of Primus and comedian Margaret Cho. She also launched her own record label, Rockstar Records, for the primary purpose of releasing a CD of band Stone Fox. In addition, she signed another local San Francisco band, 2 Lane Blacktop. The year 1998 saw Perry appearing and performing on CNN as part of a special on music and the Internet—how independent artists are cutting out the major labels. In 1999, she released her second solo album on Rockstar Records, "After Hours". For the rest of 1999, she opened for Bryan Adams, reuniting with 4 Non Blondes' bassist Christa Hillhouse, then toured behind "After Hours", with Hillhouse and San Francisco-based drummer Claudia Page.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2001, Perry again returned to music and touring. She wrote a handful of songs, two of which, "Beautiful" and "Cruz," appeared on Christina Aguilera's hit album "Stripped". In 2001, she closed most of her shows with "Beautiful," a song she hoped would be her own comeback hit.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2002, Perry made a rare live performance at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles, where she performed a set of original music and a set of Led Zeppelin covers. Also in 2002, she made an appearance on a solo record of Gordon Gano, "Hitting the Ground", performing the song "So It Goes".


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry made a live appearance at a DKNY benefit show in Los Angeles, where she joined Slash on stage for a version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love".


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2005, Perry was a performer at ASCAP's showcase at the Sundance Film Festival. In August 2006, she played piano on Christina Aguilera's performance of "Hurt" at the MTV Video Music Awards.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry has signed with the independent label Kill Rock Stars Records, who re-released her solo album "In Flight" in October 2005. Featuring new artwork, the re-release includes original videos for "Fill Me Up" and "Freeway". In 2008, Perry played guitar in the video for Christina Aguilera's "Save Me from Myself". Perry made a live appearance at "Hope For Haiti Now" playing piano while Aguilera premiered a stripped-down version of their song "Lift Me Up". She also made guest appearances on Hole's "Nobody's Daughter" tour and on a concert of the Perry-signed band Little Fish in London. In May 2010, Perry again hosted the "Evening with Women" at L.A.'s Gay and Lesbian Centre, where she reunited with Pink for a live duet of Perry's song "What's Up?" Christina Aguilera invited Perry to her VH1 Storytellers concert in May 2010. Perry played piano to Aguilera's "Beautiful" and talked about the song.


title: Linda Perry

text: On November 5, 2010, Perry appeared live in San Francisco with 4 Non Blondes guitar player Roger Rocha at TwentyFifty (formerly CELLSpace). The appearance celebrated the release of Rocha's album with his band The Golden Hearts. It was the first time in 20 years the two had appeared together live. Perry performed a solo set of cover tunes, including Radiohead's "Creep" and Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun". Perry and Roger Rocha performed one song together, Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You".


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2000, Perry was contacted by pop rock singer Pink, seeking production and songwriting assistance on her second album. Perry commented on the experience in an interview with HitQuarters: "She was this white girl singing R&B music, and it made absolutely no sense to me why she would call me. So when I got together with her my instinct said, 'Don't go and be an artist again, don't get another record deal, find out what you can do with her.' My manager freaked out when I called her and said, cancel all the showcases!" Perry co-wrote and produced much of Pink's successful album "Missundaztood", which brought Perry back into the spotlight as a music producer. Perry took full writing credits for the songs "Get the Party Started" and "Lonely Girl". Perry next provided Christina Aguilera the hit "Beautiful".


title: Linda Perry

text: Since then, she has gone on to work with many artists, including Jewel, Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys, Celine Dion, Blaque, Sugababes, Lillix, Robbie Williams, Melissa Etheridge, Sierra Swan, Solange Knowles, Gavin Rossdale, Juliette and the Licks, Lisa Marie Presley, Fischerspooner, Unwritten Law, L.P., Kelly Osbourne, James Blunt, Cheap Trick, Ben Jelen, Enrique Iglesias and Giusy Ferreri.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2003, Perry won two American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awards for her songwriting, and a Grammy Awards nomination for her song "Beautiful" as a contender for "Song of the Year"; the song received the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Linda Perry

text: With actress Gina Gershon, she wrote the song "StupidStar" for the movie "Prey for Rock and Roll". With Brooklyn rocker L.P., she co-wrote "The Darkside" for "Suburban Sprawl & Alcohol".


title: Linda Perry

text: For most of 2004, Perry remained behind the scenes, making another appearance with Camp Freddy, this time at Los Angeles' Live 103's Birthday Concert. She joined Lisa Marie Presley on stage for songs they wrote together. The year 2004 also saw the release of Courtney Love's solo "America's Sweetheart", to which Perry heavily contributed.


title: Linda Perry

text: A song called "Girls & Boys", which was originally intended for Pink but later recorded by Britney Spears, was released as a bonus track on Spears' European DVD release. The track marked Perry's foray into more electroclash-inspired tunes.


title: Linda Perry

text: She collaborated with art-dance duo Fischerspooner on a few songs for their upcoming release and ended the year with a few co-writing credits on Gwen Stefani's debut, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.", including the album's first single, "What You Waiting For?" Additionally, her Atlantic-distributed label, Custard Records, was launched to promote two new acts, Sunshine and James Blunt. She produced and played guitar on the recording of Blunt's song "No Bravery". The year ended with Perry co-writing "Save Me" for the southern California punk rock band Unwritten Law.


title: Linda Perry

text: Releases for 2005 included Kelly Osbourne's second album, which was written and produced by Perry. The lead track from Osbourne's second album, "One Word", reached the top of the UK and US dance charts.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry contributed to Christina Aguilera's third studio album, "Back to Basics" (2006). Perry and Aguilera co-wrote every song on the album's second disc.


title: Linda Perry

text: 2007 saw Perry working with Vanessa Carlton on her third studio album, "Heroes and Thieves". She also co-wrote and did session work on many of the songs on Sierra Swan's solo album, "Ladyland". She continued work with Courtney Love, Kelis, Cheap Trick, Ziggy Marley, Ben Jelen, Skin, Enrique Iglesias, The Format on the song "Dead End," and "Darker Side of The Moon" on Bay Area artist Goapele's "Change It All" album.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry won an award from the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy for her contribution to the world of music. The years 2007 and 2008 saw more tunes written or produced by Linda Perry: The Section Quartet, Alicia Keys, Vanessa Carlton, and Gina Gershon.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry signed the group Little Fish to her label in 2008 and began producing its album, titled "Baffled and Beat", which was released in August 2010.


title: Linda Perry

text: She wrote and produced "A Loaded Smile" for the 2009 debut album "For Your Entertainment" by Adam Lambert. Aguilera's sixth studio album, "Bionic", released in 2010, included another track, written and produced solely by Perry, "Lift Me Up".


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2010, Perry worked with KT Tunstall and wrote a few songs with her, some of which would later be featured on Tunstall's third studio album Tiger Suit, released in September of that year.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry announced on her Facebook and Twitter profiles in June that she was "going to make an album" with her new band Deep Dark Robot, which she founded with Tony Tornay. The album, "8 Songs About a Girl", was promoted with the single "Won't You Be My Girl?" Perry imagined the name Deep Dark Robot as part of an ad-libbed song lyric—"deep dark robot falling in love"—and decided to hang onto the name for her next musical project. The band released the album in March 2011 and began touring.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2010 and 2011, Perry, along with Fox Entertainment Group, was the Presenting Sponsor of the Los Angeles talent show STARFEST, benefiting the L.A.C.E.R. Afterschool Programs.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2014, Perry appeared in the VH1 reality television show "Make or Break: The Linda Perry Project", in which she worked with up-and-coming musicians, like VanJess and winner Hemming.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry was scheduled to appear as the house band in a special series of late night editions of "The Talk" airing the week of January 12, 2015 in the 12:34 am time slot of "The Late Late Show".


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2015, Perry wrote the theme song for the film "Freeheld" titled "Hands of Love," performed by Miley Cyrus.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry co-wrote a song with Adele for her 2015 album "25" titled "Can't Let Go" which was included as a bonus track on the Target and Japanese editions. Perry played piano, produced and engineered the track.


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2017 she co-wrote and produced the song "Shine", which was sung and co-written by Pat Benatar. It was written for the Women's March on Washington. Later that year she teamed again with Benatar for the song "Dancing Through the Wreckage" which was featured as the lead single from the documentary "Serve Like a Girl".


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2018 Perry collaborated with Dolly Parton, writing the Golden Globe-nominated "Girl In The Movies" for the Netflix film "Dumplin'". Parton, speaking about working with Perry, said "They said 'Would you be willing to write it with Linda Perry?' She's from I guess a group called 4 Non Blondes years ago; I wasn't that familiar, I didn't know her, I never met her. and if she could produce it, and I said well, sure, I would be a team player. So I met her and we just hit it off and we started writing all these other songs for the movie, and then... we just made a whole little album."


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2020, Linda co-wrote "A Beautiful Noise" with seven other female writers - Alicia Keys, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Hailey Whitters and Ruby Amanfu - and the song was performed by Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile with the purpose of inspiring American voters to vote in the 2020 Presidential Election.


title: Linda Perry

text: In July 2011, Perry started to publish a set of acoustic cover songs that she recorded with her iPhone, including "Mad World" by Tears for Fears, "Just What I Needed" by the Cars, and "Creep" by Radiohead, among many others. On her Facebook account, she wrote: "iPhone sessions are me sitting at my piano an recording song into iPhone voice memo. Then I post it. Very simple enjoy :)"


title: Linda Perry

text: In 2017, Perry partnered with Kerry Brown to launch We Are Hear, a record label, music publisher, and artist management company based in Los Angeles. Under their leadership, the company has signed recording artists Natasha Bedingfield, Imogen Heap, Dorothy, and Willa Amai among others, and collaborated with artist Kii Arens. Perry has also co-curated events with We Are Hear such as One Love Malibu festival in 2018, which raised $1 million in relief funds for damage caused by the Woolsey Fire, and The Art of Elysium fundraiser Heaven Is Rock & Roll in 2020, featuring the surviving members of Nirvana (Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Krist Novoselic) performing alongside Beck and St. Vincent, in addition to performances from Cheap Trick, L7, and Marilyn Manson.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry is a lesbian. In 1995, she told a journalist from "The Advocate", "All my life I've loved women, and that's it. I've never been any other way." Earlier at the 1994 Billboard Music Awards she displayed the slang word "dyke" on her guitar for a performance with 4 Non Blondes.


title: Linda Perry

text: Perry began a relationship with actress Sara Gilbert in 2011. They announced their engagement in April 2013 and married on March 30, 2014. Gilbert gave birth to their son Rhodes Emilio Gilbert Perry, on February 28, 2015. Perry was stepmother to Gilbert's son and daughter from a previous relationship. In December 2019, Gilbert filed for legal separation from Perry.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, a vacuum bomb or a fuel air explosive (FAE), is a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. The fuel–air explosive is one of the best-known types of thermobaric weapons.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Thermobaric weapons are almost 100% fuel and as a result are significantly more energetic than conventional explosives of equal weight. Many types of thermobaric weapons can be fitted to hand-held launchers, and can also be launched from airplanes. The largest Russian bomb contains a charge of approximately 7 tons of a liquid fuel that when detonated creates an explosion of 39.9 tons TNT equivalent.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The term "thermobaric" is derived from the Greek words for 'heat' and 'pressure': "thermobarikos" (θερμοβαρικός), from "thermos" (θερμός) 'hot' + "baros" (βάρος) 'weight, pressure' + suffix "-ikos" (-ικός) '-ic'.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Other terms used for the family of weapons are high-impulse thermobaric weapons, heat and pressure weapons, vacuum bombs, and fuel-air explosives.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Most conventional explosives consist of a fuel–oxidizer premix, but thermobaric weapons consist only of fuel and as a result are significantly more energetic than conventional explosives of equal weight. Their reliance on atmospheric oxygen makes them unsuitable for use under water, at high altitude, and in adverse weather. They are, however, considerably more effective when used in enclosed spaces such as tunnels, buildings and non-hermetically sealed field fortifications (foxholes, covered slit trenches, bunkers).


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The initial explosive charge detonates as it hits its target, opening the container and dispersing the fuel mixture as a cloud. The typical blast wave of a thermobaric weapon lasts significantly longer than that of a conventional explosive.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In contrast to an explosive which uses oxidation in a confined region to produce a blast front emanating from a single source, a thermobaric flame front accelerates to a large volume, which produces pressure fronts within the mixture of fuel and oxidant and then also in the surrounding air.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Thermobaric explosives apply the principles underlying accidental unconfined vapor cloud explosions, which include those from dispersions of flammable dusts and droplets. Such dust explosions happened most often in flour mills and their storage containers, and later in coal mines, prior to the 20th century. Accidental unconfined vapor cloud explosions now happen most often in partially or completely empty oil tankers, refinery tanks, and vessels, such as the Buncefield fire in the United Kingdom in 2005, where the blast wave woke people from its center.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: A typical weapon consists of a container packed with a fuel substance, the center of which has a small conventional-explosive "scatter charge". Fuels are chosen on the basis of the exothermicity of their oxidation, ranging from powdered metals, such as aluminum or magnesium, to organic materials, possibly with a self-contained partial oxidant. The most recent development involves the use of nanofuels.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: A thermobaric bomb's effective yield depends on a combination of a number of factors such as how well the fuel is dispersed, how rapidly it mixes with the surrounding atmosphere and the initiation of the igniter and its position relative to the container of fuel. In some designs, strong munitions cases allow the blast pressure to be contained long enough for the fuel to be heated well above its autoignition temperature so that once the container bursts, the superheated fuel autoignites progressively as it comes into contact with atmospheric oxygen.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Conventional upper and lower limits of flammability apply to such weapons. Close in, blast from the dispersal charge, compressing and heating the surrounding atmosphere, has some influence on the lower limit. The upper limit has been demonstrated to influence the ignition of fogs above pools of oil strongly. That weakness may be eliminated by designs in which the fuel is preheated well above its ignition temperature so that its cooling during its dispersion still results in a minimal ignition delay on mixing. The continual combustion of the outer layer of fuel molecules, as they come into contact with the air, generates added heat which maintains the temperature of the interior of the fireball, and thus sustains the detonation.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In confinement, a series of reflective shock waves is generated, which maintain the fireball and can extend its duration to between 10 and 50 ms as exothermic recombination reactions occur. Further damage can result as the gases cool and pressure drops sharply, leading to a partial vacuum. This rarefaction effect has given rise to the misnomer "vacuum bomb". Piston-type afterburning is also believed to occur in such structures, as flame-fronts accelerate through it.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: A fuel–air explosive (FAE) device consists of a container of fuel and two separate explosive charges. After the munition is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel (and possibly ionizes it, depending on whether a fused quartz dispersal charge container was employed) in a cloud that mixes with atmospheric oxygen (the size of the cloud varies with the size of the munition). The cloud of fuel flows around objects and into structures. The second charge then detonates the cloud and creates a massive blast wave. The blast wave can destroy reinforced buildings, equipment and kill or injure people. The antipersonnel effect of the blast wave is more severe in foxholes and tunnels and in enclosed spaces, such as bunkers and caves.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: A Human Rights Watch report of 1 February 2000 quotes a study made by the US Defense Intelligence Agency:


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: According to a US Central Intelligence Agency study, "the effect of an FAE explosion within confined spaces is immense. Those near the ignition point are obliterated. Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many internal, invisible injuries, including burst eardrums and crushed inner ear organs, severe concussions, ruptured lungs and internal organs, and possibly blindness." Another Defense Intelligence Agency document speculates that, because the "shock and pressure waves cause minimal damage to brain tissue... it is possible that victims of FAEs are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate".


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The first attempts occurred during the First World War when incendiary shells (in German 'Brand Granate') used a slow but intense burning material, such as tar impregnated tissue and gunpowder dust. These shells burned for approximately 2 minutes after the shell exploded and spread the burning elements in every direction.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In World War II, the German Wehrmacht attempted to develop a vacuum bomb under the direction of the Austrian physicist Mario Zippermayr.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: FAEs were developed by the United States for use in the Vietnam War. The CBU-55 FAE fuel – air cluster bomb was mostly developed by the US Naval Weapons Center (NWC) at China Lake, California.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The XM1060 40-mm grenade is a small-arms thermobaric device, which was delivered to US forces in April 2003. Since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, the US Marine Corps has introduced a thermobaric "Novel Explosive" (SMAW-NE) round for the Mk 153 SMAW rocket launcher. One team of Marines reported that they had destroyed a large one-story masonry type building with one round from . The AGM-114N Hellfire II, uses a Metal Augmented Charge (MAC) warhead, which contains a thermobaric explosive fill that uses aluminum powder coated or mixed with PTFE layered between the charge casing and a PBXN-112 explosive mixture. When the PBXN-112 detonates, the aluminum mixture is dispersed and rapidly burns. The result is a sustained high pressure that is extremely effective against people and structures.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Following FAEs developed by the United States for use in the Vietnam War, Soviet Union scientists quickly developed their own FAE weapons. Since Afghanistan, research and development has continued, and Russian forces now field a wide array of third-generation FAE warheads, such as the RPO-A. The Russian armed forces have developed thermobaric ammunition variants for several of their weapons, such as the TBG-7V thermobaric grenade with a lethality radius of , which can be launched from a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) RPG-7. The GM-94 is a pump-action grenade launcher designed mainly to fire thermobaric grenades for close combat. The grenade weighed and contained of explosive, its lethality radius is , but due to the deliberate "fragmentation-free" design of the grenade, a distance of is considered safe.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The RPO-A and upgraded RPO-M are infantry-portable rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), designed to fire thermobaric rockets. The RPO-M, for instance, has a thermobaric warhead with a TNT equivalence of and destructive capabilities similar to a high-explosive fragmentation artillery shell. The RShG-1 and the RShG-2 are thermobaric variants of the RPG-27 and RPG-26 respectively. The RShG-1 is the more powerful variant, with its warhead having a lethality radius and producing about the same effect as of TNT. The RMG is a further derivative of the RPG-26 that uses a tandem-charge warhead, with the precursor high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead blasting an opening for the main thermobaric charge to enter and detonate inside. The RMG's precursor HEAT warhead can penetrate 300 mm of reinforced concrete or over 100 mm of rolled homogeneous armour, thus allowing the -diameter thermobaric warhead to detonate inside.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Other examples include the semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) or millimeter-wave active radar homing guided thermobaric variants of the 9M123 Khrizantema, the 9M133F-1 thermobaric warhead variant of the 9M133 Kornet, and the 9M131F thermobaric warhead variant of the 9K115-2 Metis-M, all of which are anti-tank missiles. The Kornet has since been upgraded to the Kornet-EM, and its thermobaric variant has a maximum range of and has a TNT equivalence of . The 9M55S thermobaric cluster warhead rocket was built to be fired from the BM-30 Smerch MLRS. A dedicated carrier of thermobaric weapons is the purpose-built TOS-1, a 24-tube MLRS designed to fire thermobaric rockets. A full salvo from the TOS-1 will cover a rectangle . The Iskander-M theatre ballistic missile can also carry a thermobaric warhead.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Many Russian Air Force munitions also have thermobaric variants. The S-8 rocket has the S-8DM and S-8DF thermobaric variants. The S-8's brother, the S-13, has the S-13D and S-13DF thermobaric variants. The S-13DF's warhead weighs only , but its power is equivalent to of TNT. The KAB-500-OD variant of the KAB-500KR has a thermobaric warhead. The ODAB-500PM and ODAB-500PMV unguided bombs carry a fuel–air explosive each. The KAB-1500S GLONASS/GPS guided bomb also has a thermobaric variant. Its fireball will cover a radius and its lethal zone is a radius. The 9M120 Ataka-V and the 9K114 Shturm ATGMs both have thermobaric variants.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In September 2007, Russia exploded the largest thermobaric weapon ever made, and claimed that its yield was equivalent to that of a nuclear weapon. Russia named this particular ordnance the "Father of All Bombs" in response to the American-developed Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, which has the backronym "Mother of All Bombs" and once held the title of the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history. The Russian bomb contains a charge of approximately 7 tons of a liquid fuel, such as pressurized ethylene oxide, mixed with energy-rich nanoparticles, such as aluminum, surrounding a high explosive burster that when detonated created an explosion equivalent to 39.9 tons of TNT.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In 1983, a program of military research was launched with collaboration between the Spanish Ministry of Defence (Directorate General of Armament and Material, DGAM), Explosives Alaveses (EXPAL) and Explosives Rio Tinto (ERT) with the goal of developing a Spanish version of a thermobaric bomb, the BEAC ("Bomba Explosiva de Aire-Combustible"). A prototype was tested successfully in a foreign location out of safety and confidentiality concerns. The Spanish Air and Space Force has an undetermined number of BEACs in its inventory.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In 1996, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) began development of the PF-97, a portable thermobaric rocket launcher, based on the Soviet RPO-A Shmel. Introduced in 2000 it is reported to weigh 3.5 kg and contains 2.1 kg of thermobaric filler. An improved version called the PF-97A was introduced in 2008.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: China is reported to have other thermobaric weapons, including bombs, grenades and rockets. Research continues on thermobaric weapons capable of reaching 2,500 degrees.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Based on the high-explosive squash head (HESH) round, a 120 mm thermobaric round was developed by the Indian Ministry of Defence, which packed thermobaric explosives into the tank shells to increase the effectiveness against enemy bunkers and light armoured vehicles.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The design and the development of the round was taken up by Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE). The rounds were designed for the Arjun MBT. The TB rounds contains fuel rich explosive composition called thermobaric explosive. As the name implies, the shells, when they hit a target, produce blast overpressure and heat energy for hundreds of milliseconds. The overpressure and heat causes damage to enemy fortified structures like bunkers and buildings and for soft targets like enemy personnel and light armoured vehicles.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In 2009, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) acknowledged that Army Air Corps (AAC) AgustaWestland Apaches had used AGM-114 Hellfire missiles purchased from the United States against Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The MoD stated that 20 missiles, described as "blast fragmentation warheads", were used in 2008 and a further 20 in 2009. MoD officials told "Guardian" journalist Richard Norton-Taylor that the missiles were "particularly designed to take down structures and kill everyone in the buildings", as AAC AgustaWestland Apaches were previously equipped with weapon systems deemed ineffective to combat the Taliban. The MoD also stated that "British pilots' rules of engagement were strict and everything a pilot sees from the cockpit is recorded."


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: In 2018, the MoD accidentally divulged the details of General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers utilised by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Syrian civil war, which revealed that the drones were equipped with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The MoD had sent a report to a British publication, "Drone Wars", in response to a freedom of information request. In the report, it was stated that AGM-114N Hellfire missiles which contained a thermobaric warhead were used by RAF attack drones in Syria.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: FAEs such as First-generation CBU-55 fuel-air weapons saw extensive use in the Vietnam War. A second generation of FAE weapons were based on those, and were used by the United States in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. A total of 254 CBU-72s were dropped by the United States Marine Corps, mostly from A-6Es. They were targeted against mine fields and personnel in trenches, but were more useful as a psychological weapon.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The US military also used thermobaric weapons in Afghanistan. On 3 March 2002, a single laser guided thermobaric bomb was used by the United States Air Force against cave complexes in which Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters had taken refuge in the Gardez region of Afghanistan. The SMAW-NE was used by the US Marines during the First Battle of Fallujah and the Second Battle of Fallujah.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: FAEs were reportedly used against China in the Sino-Soviet border conflict. Russia used the RPO-A in Chechnya.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The TOS-1 system was test fired in Panjshir Valley during the Soviet–Afghan War in the late 1980s. MiG-27 attack aircraft of the 134th APIB also used ODAB-500S/P fuel-air bombs against Mujahideen forces in Afghanistan, but they were found to be unreliable and dangerous to ground crew.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Unconfirmed reports suggest that Russian military forces used ground-delivered thermobaric weapons in the storming of the Russian parliament during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis and during the Battle for Grozny (first and second Chechen Wars) to attack dug-in Chechen fighters. The use of TOS-1 heavy MLRS and "RPO-A Shmel" shoulder-fired rocket system during the Chechen Wars is reported to have occurred.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: It is thought that a multitude of handheld thermobaric weapons were used by the Russian Armed Forces in their efforts to retake the school during the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis. The RPO-A and either the TGB-7V thermobaric rocket from the RPG-7 or rockets from either the RShG-1 or the RShG-2 is claimed to have been used by the Spetsnaz during the initial storming of the school. At least three and as many as nine RPO-A casings were later found at the positions of the Spetsnaz. The Russian government later admitted to the use of the RPO-A during the crisis.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, CNN reported that Russian forces were moving thermobaric weapons into Ukraine. On 28 February 2022, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States accused Russia of deploying a thermobaric bomb.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: During the War in Afghanistan, British forces, including the Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force, used thermobaric AGM-114N Hellfire missiles against the Taliban. In the Syrian civil war, British military drones also used AGM-114N Hellfire missiles; in the first three months of 2018, British drones fired 92 Hellfire missiles in Syria.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Reports by the rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army claim the Syrian Air Force used such weapons against residential area targets occupied by the rebel fighters, such as during the Battle of Aleppo and in Kafar Batna. A United Nations panel of human rights investigators reported that the Syrian government had used thermobaric bombs against the rebellious town of Al-Qusayr in March 2013.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: The Russia and Syrian governments have used thermobaric bombs and other thermobaric munitions during the Syrian civil war against insurgents and insurgent-held civilian areas.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: Thermobaric and fuel–air explosives have been used in guerrilla warfare since the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing in Lebanon, which used a gas-enhanced explosive mechanism that was probably propane, butane, or acetylene. The explosive used by the bombers in the US 1993 World Trade Center bombing incorporated the FAE principle by using three tanks of bottled hydrogen gas to enhance the blast. Jemaah Islamiyah bombers used a shock-dispersed solid fuel charge, based on the thermobaric principle, to attack the Sari nightclub during the 2002 Bali bombings.


title: Thermobaric weapon

text: International law does not prohibit the use of thermobaric munitions, fuel-air explosive devices, or vacuum bombs against military targets. Their use against civilian populations or infrastructure may be banned by the United Nations (UN) Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). , all past attempts to regulate or restrict thermobaric weapons have failed.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Sara Vicenta Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio (, ; born May 31, 1978), commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president, the third vice president to come from Mindanao, and the youngest vice president in Philippine history. Duterte is also the secretary of education, holding the post in a concurrent capacity. A daughter of 16th president Rodrigo Duterte, she previously served as the mayor of Davao City from 2016 to 2022, and from 2010 to 2013. She was also Davao City's vice mayor from 2007 to 2010.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Born in Davao City, Duterte graduated from San Pedro College, initially aiming to pursue a medical career, before taking up a law degree from San Sebastian College – Recoletos. She was elected as Davao City's vice mayor in 2007, before eventually being elected as the city's mayor from 2010 until 2013, succeeding her father and becoming the youngest and the first female mayor of the city. After her first term ended, she took a brief hiatus, returning to politics in 2016 after being elected again as Davao City mayor and was reelected in 2019. During her second stint as mayor, she initiated the "Byaheng DO30" and Peace 911 programs in the city, as well as overseeing the city government's COVID-19 pandemic response. Duterte was also an influential figure in national politics during her father's presidency, forming alliances with several political parties and playing a key role in the ouster of Pantaleon Alvarez as the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2018.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte ran for the vice presidency in 2022 under Lakas–CMD, becoming the running mate of Bongbong Marcos from the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas under the UniTeam Alliance. Their ticket won in a landslide victory, becoming the first running mate pair to win together since 2004 and the first to be elected by a majority since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1986. Duterte became the vice president on June 30, 2022 and was inaugurated 11 days earlier in Davao City.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Sara Vicenta Zimmerman Duterte was born in Davao City on May 31, 1978, the second child to then-lawyer later president Rodrigo Duterte and flight attendant Elizabeth Zimmerman.


title: Sara Duterte

text: She has spoken of her "love-hate relationship" with her father when she was a student due to her disapproval for his womanizing tendencies and late night habits. Despite this, Rodrigo considered Sara to be his favorite child, and placed high value on the education she and her brothers received.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte attended San Pedro College, majoring in BS Respiratory Therapy, and graduated in 1999; in her inaugural speech as mayor of Davao City, Duterte said she originally wanted to be a pediatrician instead of a politician. She later took up a law degree at the San Sebastian College – Recoletos and graduated in May 2005. In 2005, Duterte passed the Philippine Bar Examination. She then worked for a few months as a court attorney at the office of Supreme Court Associate Justice Romeo Callejo Sr.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Before being elected as mayor of Davao City, Duterte served as vice mayor of Davao City. She was elected in 2007, succeeding Luis Bonguyan. She served under her father, then-mayor Rodrigo Duterte, for one term until 2010. She also concurrently served as a regional officer of the National Movement of Young Legislators from 2007 to 2010.


title: Sara Duterte

text: As vice mayor, her landmark project was ‘Inday Para sa Barangay’, a whole-of-government approach servicing yearly in each of the city's barangays. It was later called the Caravan of Government Services when she transferred it to the Office of the City Mayor.


title: Sara Duterte

text: In 2010, Duterte was elected mayor, becoming the first female mayor of the city, as well as being the youngest to have been elected at 32. She won over House Speaker Prospero Nograles, her father's political rival, in a lead of 200,000 votes in the 2010 elections. Nograles earlier filed a protest at the Commission on Elections in Manila questioning the results, stating that there was a conspiracy of local poll officials. Vowing to be "useful and to serve the country at all times", she assumed the post that her father Rodrigo held for over 20 years. During her first term, she also served as officer in the National Executive Board of the League of Cities Philippines from 2010 to 2013.


title: Sara Duterte

text: On December 2, 2010, President Benigno Aquino III appointed her as Chairperson of the Regional Development Council (RDC) Region XI. She was the first woman to hold the chairpersonship and the first to be appointed from the government sector since the reorganization of the council in 1986. As chairperson, she saw the growth of Davao Region’s Gross Regional Domestic Product from 3.9 percent in 2011 to 7.1 percent in 2012.


title: Sara Duterte

text: On July 1, 2011, Duterte gained national attention when she punched Abe Andres, a Davao City Regional Trial Court sheriff, over the demolition of shanties in Barangay Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr., Agdao, Davao City. She had earlier asked the court and the demolition team to delay the demolition but Andres refused, making her furious. On July 11, Sheriffs Confederation of the Philippines Inc. filed a complaint against Duterte in connection to the incident. On June 28, 2012, almost a year after the incident, she publicly apologized to Andres and his family.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte decided not to seek re-election in 2013 to give way to her father Rodrigo. She also turned down her father's offer to run for representative of Davao City's 1st district.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte ran again for the mayoralty post for Davao City in the 2016 elections and won the position, succeeding her father for the second time. She had her older brother Paolo and later Bernard Al-ag as her vice mayor. She ran for reelection in the 2019 elections and was successful.


title: Sara Duterte

text: After her father won in the 2016 presidential election, Duterte launched the "Tapang at Malasakit" () movement composed of Duterte supporters and allies on October 23, 2017.


title: Sara Duterte

text: On February 23, 2018, she launched a new regional party called Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP). The party was later approved on July 4, 2018, ahead of the 2019 general elections. HNP also stood as an electoral alliance, fielding candidates from different parties for the senatorial election. Nine out of 13 senatorial candidates won in the election.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Following the creation of HNP, a feud began between Duterte and one of her father's allies, then House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, citing its formation as an example of the entrenchment of political dynasties in the country. In response, Duterte publicly berated Alvarez and alleged that he has been calling mayors in the Davao region to tag her as part of the opposition and brag about having the ability to impeach her father, all of which Alvarez denied. Duterte also remarked that "the Philippines will be a better country if he is not Speaker." Months later, Alvarez was unseated as the House Speaker in the 17th Congress, with former president and Pampanga's 2nd district representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo taking his place. According to her father, she was behind the ousting of Alvarez as speaker, stating that "honest to God, it was Inday who maneuvered it."


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte promoted the city as a tourism and investment destination, introducing the "Davao: Life is Here" tagline to market the city in 2011. During her second stint as mayor, Duterte initiated "Byaheng DO30", consisting of 30 projects addressing ten priority sectors which include "education, health, poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, solid waste management and environment, agriculture, investment and tourism, traffic and transport management, disaster risk reduction and management and peace and order".


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte established the Peace 911 program to address the local communist rebellion through a "human-centered" approach, bringing several government services to far-flung areas. The program was first implemented in the Paquibato district before being expanded to other barangays. Her administration also established the Kean Gabriel Hotline for reporting child abuse anonymously.


title: Sara Duterte

text: As Davao City mayor, Duterte garnered an approval rating of 93% according to an independent survey by the RP-Mission and Development Foundation, exceeding her father's highest approval rating when he was mayor at 86% in 2010, and getting the highest rating throughout the country.


title: Sara Duterte

text: In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reached the city. In response, Duterte created a city task force for COVID-19 and other public health emergencies and instituted several measures to limit the spread of the disease and address the crisis. The city government cancelled several citywide events, ordered the closure of several establishments, and restricted travel and movement in the city. To aid residents affected by the restrictions, the local government provided food packs; most of the city's Bayanihan grant was spent on the purchase of food packs distributed to the city's barangays and for medical workers. Travel restrictions were eased as the number of cases lowered. The local government also established COVID-19 testing centers and isolation facilities. Her administration also oversaw the city's COVID-19 vaccination program when the national government began its vaccination program in early 2021.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte was considered by many political commentators as her father's successor after her role as a powerbroker in the 2019 midterm elections. On July 9, 2021, Duterte said she was open to running for president. On September 9, she said she would not, since her father, the sitting president, would run for vice president, and they agreed that only one should run for a national position. However, he did not file his candidacy for vice president by October 2, but she did not file a candidacy for any national position, running instead for reelection as mayor of Davao City. She later withdrew her candidacy for reelection as Davao City mayor on November 9. Her brother Sebastian, incumbent vice mayor of Davao City, ran in her stead. On November 11, she resigned from Hugpong ng Pagbabago and joined Lakas–CMD in Silang, Cavite. There, she sponsored the wedding of Gianna Revilla, the daughter of party chairman and senator Bong Revilla, to Jed Patricio. Six days later, she became the chairperson of Lakas–CMD, succeeding Revilla. On November 19, she rejoined Hugpong ng Pagbabago as its chairperson.


title: Sara Duterte

text: On November 13, she filed her candidacy for Vice President of the Philippines under Lakas–CMD for the 2022 Philippine vice presidential election. She said this was to meet her supporters halfway, who had been previously asking her to run for president. She was then adopted and endorsed by Partido Federal ng Pilipinas as their vice presidential candidate, making her the running mate of its presidential nominee, former senator Bongbong Marcos, and by the People's Reform Party.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte became the vice president-elect, winning the election with 32,208,417 votes with a margin of 22 million over her closest rival, Senator Francis Pangilinan. She became the first vice president to be elected by a majority since the 1986 elections and the largest majority since 1969. She also earned the most votes for any office in a single-winner election in Philippine history. She was also the first vice president from Davao City, the youngest to become vice president at the age of 44, the third woman to hold the post after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Leni Robredo, the third vice president who is a child of a president after Salvador Laurel and Arroyo, the third vice president to come from Mindanao after Emmanuel Pelaez and Teofisto Guingona Jr., and the fourth Cebuano-speaking vice president overall (after Sergio Osmeña, Carlos P. Garcia, and Pelaez). She and Marcos are the first presidential ticket to win together since the 2004 elections.


title: Sara Duterte

text: On May 11, 2022, Marcos announced that Duterte agreed to join his cabinet as Secretary of Education, although she earlier expressed interest in becoming the Secretary of National Defense. According to Duterte, she chose to become the Education secretary instead to avoid "intrigues" about her loyalty to the administration. She was inaugurated in Davao City on June 19, 2022, but only officially started her term on June 30 in accordance with the Constitution. At her request, the oath-taking, which was the first in Mindanao for a vice president, was administered by Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, her former professor at San Beda College of Law.


title: Sara Duterte

text: In her first day as the vice president, Duterte established satellite offices for the Office of the Vice President in Cebu City, Dagupan, Davao City, Tacloban, Tandag, and Zamboanga City. The seat of the Office of the Vice President would then be transferred from Quezon City Reception House to Cybergate Plaza in Mandaluyong, which is closer to the headquarters of the Department of Education in Pasig where she also holds office as its secretary. Duterte plans to establish a permanent office for the position.


title: Sara Duterte

text: As concurrent Education Secretary, Duterte was responsible for planning further the transition to the resumption of mandatory face-to-face classes at all basic education schools in the Philippines, which was put on hold since 2020 due to the risks brought out by the COVID-19 pandemic, for the school year 2022–2023. She issued her first department order, the Department Order No. 034 dated July 11, 2022, wherein schools may either opt for five-day in-person classes or blended modality from the opening of classes on August 22 to October 31 before shifting to mandatory in-person classes observing physical distancing when necessary by November 2 onwards. She also declared that school uniforms and vaccination among students would be optional for the upcoming school year. She also mulled institutionalizing blended learning only in select schools and areas with special circumstances, including schools with possibly unrepaired or unfinished buildings. Earlier, before taking office, Duterte also called the reinstatement of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), which would later gain more support especially from legislators and government officials.


title: Sara Duterte

text: On August 3, 2022, Duterte, alongside the Department of Transportation, launched the Libreng Sakay Program () of the Office of the Vice President, providing free rides as an effort to decongest the roads during peak hours. It initially launched five buses bestowed by the department, deploying two in Metro Manila (plying the EDSA Carousel route) and one each in Bacolod, Cebu (plying Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu City, and Cebu City), and Davao City.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte has been married since October 27, 2007, to fellow lawyer Manases "Mans" R. Carpio, whom she met while she was attending San Beda University. They have three children: an adopted daughter, Mikhaila María, nicknamed "Sharky", and two sons, Mateo Lucas, nicknamed "Stingray", and Marko Digong, nicknamed "Stonefish". Manases, a nephew of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, is a legal counsel for Lapanday Foods Corporation.


title: Sara Duterte

text: Duterte also hosted television programs such as "Una Ka BAI" and "Byaheng DO30" on GMA Davao, the local station of GMA Network. The latter also expanded its airing across Mindanao via GMA Regional TV and internationally via GMA News TV International.


title: Sara Duterte

text: During her political hiatus from 2013 to 2016, Duterte devoted her time as one of the partner lawyers of Carpio & Duterte Lawyers. Planning to join the judiciary, she also passed the Pre-Judicature Program of the Philippine Judicial Academy. Duterte was elected as one of the governors of the Philippine Red Cross in 2014. Duterte is a reserve officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines with the rank of colonel, being confirmed on March 11, 2020.


title: Sara Duterte

text: In October 2015, to convince her father to run for president in the 2016 Philippine presidential elections despite his reticence due to lack of campaign funds and political machinery, she shaved her head. On April 18, 2016, in connection with the rape remark made by her father Rodrigo on one of his presidential candidacy campaigns, Duterte took to her Instagram account to admit that she was once a rape victim. However, Rodrigo Duterte dismissed his daughter's admission and referred to her as a "drama queen".


title: Sara Duterte

text: On March 10, 2022, she told supporters at a meet-and-greet that she was part of the LGBT community, with her gender expression being male and sex being female. Duterte's statement was met with some skepticism by local LGBT activist groups.


title: Psy

text: Park Jae-sang (, ; born December 31, 1977), known professionally as Psy (stylized in all caps as PSY) (; ; ), is a South Korean singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Psy is known domestically for his humorous videos and stage performances, and internationally for his hit single "Gangnam Style". The song's refrain was entered into "The Yale Book of Quotations" as one of the most famous quotations of 2012.


title: Psy

text: On October 23, 2012, Psy met United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Headquarters where Ban expressed his desire to work with the singer because of his "unlimited global reach". On December 21, 2012, his music video for "Gangnam Style" exceeded one billion views on YouTube, becoming the first video to do so in the website's history. Psy was subsequently recognized by the media as the King of YouTube. On May 31, 2014, the video for Psy's "Gangnam Style" hit two billion views. As of March 2022, it is the eleventh most viewed video on YouTube, with over 4 billion views.


title: Psy

text: In December 2012, MTV noted Psy's rise from being little known outside South Korea, to being hailed as the "Viral Star of 2012". On December 31, 2012, Psy performed in a globally televised New Year's Eve celebration with American rapper MC Hammer on-stage in front of a live audience of over a million people in Times Square, New York City. Following his departure from YG Entertainment in 2018, he founded his own company, P Nation, in 2019.


title: Psy

text: Park Jae-sang was born on December 31, 1977, to an affluent family in the Gangnam District of Seoul, South Korea. His father, Park Won-Ho, is the executive chairman of DI Corporation, a manufacturer of semiconductor manufacturing equipment listed on the Korea Exchange. His mother, Kim Young-hee, owns several restaurants in Gangnam.


title: Psy

text: Park attended Banpo (반포) Elementary and Middle Schools and Sehwa (세화) High School. He disliked school and was known as the class clown. In an interview on South Korea's Seoul Broadcasting System, a former teacher of Park said: "I remember Psy making a lot of sexual jokes during class. He had such a big influence that he would drive the entire class to his jokes. I disliked him at the time, but looking back, I see that he added a great energy to the class."


title: Psy

text: Park told CNN's Alina Cho that when he was 15 years old, he watched a Korean TV programme that introduced foreign pop music. One particular episode showed a concert at Wembley Stadium held by the British rock band Queen where they performed their 1975 hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody". Park said it was this concert footage that sparked his love for music.


title: Psy

text: As part of preparations to take over DI Corporation from his father, Park had originally planned to study business administration at Boston University in 1996. However, upon his arrival in the United States, he lost interest in his studies, spending his remaining tuition funds on musical instruments and entertainment equipment, including a computer, an electric keyboard, and a MIDI interface. After attending an English-language summer course and studying for one semester, Park dropped out of Boston University and applied to study at Berklee College of Music instead. During his time at Berklee, Park took core curriculum lessons in ear training, contemporary writing and music synthesis, but he soon dropped out and returned to South Korea to pursue a career as a singer, without having attained a degree from either Boston University or Berklee.


title: Psy

text: Psy was found by South Korean rapper zoPD and featured in the song "카사노바" from his second album "In Stardom Version 2.0" in 1999.


title: Psy

text: In South Korea, Psy made his first appearance on Korean national television in 2000 after his dancing caught the eye of a TV producer.


title: Psy

text: In January 2001, Psy debuted his full-length album "Psy from the Psycho World!", for which he was fined by South Korean government authorities due to his album's "inappropriate content". Psy was a rookie hip hop singer that stirred up the Korean pop music scene with very blunt lyrics, peculiar dance moves and an unconventional appearance that earned him the nickname "The Bizarre Singer(엽기가수)".


title: Psy

text: His second album "Sa 2" also created controversy upon its release in 2002, earning complaints from civil groups due to the potentially negative influence his album would have on children and teenagers. Since then, Psy has been thought of as a controversial artist, and "Sa 2" was banned in 2002 from being sold to the under-19 set. In September of the same year, Psy released his third album "3 Psy". The album's title song, "Champion", saw great success partly due to the hype from the World Cup games held in Seoul. Despite the significant amount of controversy surrounding his music, Psy was awarded songwriting accolades at the annual Seoul Music Awards, marking his breakthrough in the South Korean music industry.


title: Psy

text: In 2003, Psy was conscripted into the South Korean military as part of mandatory military service imposed on all South Korean men aged 18 to 35. Psy was excused from military duty due to working at a software development company (the South Korean government grants exemptions to those with technical expertise work in companies that serve the national interest). He was expected to be released from duties in 2005. In 2006, Psy released his fourth album "Ssajib", which won honors at the 2006 SBS Music Awards and Hong Kong's Mnet Asian Music Awards.


title: Psy

text: In 2007, state prosecutors accused Psy of "neglecting" his work, holding concerts and appearing on local television networks during his period of prior employment. On October 12, 2007, the Seoul Administrative Court decided that Psy must be redrafted, rejecting a lawsuit filed by Psy against the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) in August. Two months later, Psy was re-drafted into the military where he had held the rank of Private First Class and served as a signalman in the 52nd Army Infantry Division, before being released from duties in July 2009.


title: Psy

text: Owing to financial difficulties, Psy could no longer release his own songs. His wife encouraged him to join the South Korean music label YG Entertainment, whose founder and chief executive officer Yang Hyun-suk was an old friend of Psy's. In 2010, Psy joined YG Entertainment. The K-pop singer Kim Hee-chul, from the boyband Super Junior, wished Psy had joined his group's label SM Entertainment instead. Psy released his fifth album "PsyFive" in 2010, and its lead single "Right Now" was banned from under-19 audiences by South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for what it deemed an "obscene" lyric, "Life is like toxic alcohol". Despite the ban, Psy received awards during the 2011 Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. Psy had, up until this point, topped domestic music charts half a dozen times throughout his twelve-year career in South Korea.


title: Psy

text: On January 7, 2012, Psy performed alongside K-pop bands Bigbang and 2NE1 in front of 80,000 Japanese fans during the "YG Family Concert" in Osaka. His performance was broadcast by Mezamashi TV ("mezamashi" meaning "wake-up alarm"), a Japanese news magazine show produced by Fuji Television. This marked his first appearance on a foreign broadcasting network. During the concert, Psy introduced himself to his Japanese fans with a sign that read "I'm a famous singer well known for driving the audience wild in Korea, but here, today, I'm just a little chubby newcomer" and sang five of his hit songs while Japanese TV commentators expressed their approval in their astonishment at his humorous incorporation of the moves of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé.


title: Psy

text: In July 2012, Psy released his sixth album "Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1" and the song "Gangnam Style" appeared in broadcasting networks and newspapers outside Asia. On August 14, "Gangnam Style" ranked first on YouTube's 'Most Viewed Videos' monthly chart; on August 21, 2012, "Gangnam Style" officially charted No. 1 on the iTunes Music Video Charts, overtaking Justin Bieber's "As Long as You Love Me" and Katy Perry's "Wide Awake"; this feat was the first for a South Korean artist. After the video went viral, celebrities quickly jumped on board, with Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Tom Cruise taking to Twitter to share their delight. The Gangnam Style phenomenon has also popularized his older music videos, such as "Right Now". On September 14, 2012, he appeared on "The Today Show" on NBC in New York City, performing the song live and teaching dance moves to the anchors. The following day, he also made a cameo appearance on "Saturday Night Live" during a skit featuring "Gangnam Style". Commenting on his popularity among foreign celebrities, Psy said:


title: Psy

text: Riding high on the success of "Gangnam Style", Psy was signed by Scooter Braun to Braun's Schoolboy Records, a label distributed by Republic Records. In early September, the Gangnam district awarded Psy with a plaque and named him an honorary ambassador. On October 24, 2012, Psy was recognized by the United Nations as an "International sensation". According to Reuters, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon scheduled a meeting with Psy in the belief that music has great power to overcome intolerance. On October 23, 2012, they met at the United Nations Headquarters where Ban expressed his desire to work with Psy. He remarked that Psy has an "unlimited global reach" and said, "I hope that we can work together using your global reach".


title: Psy

text: According to Korean newspaper "The Dong-a Ilbo", Psy was appointed as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).