title: Helium

text: Helium leaks through cracks should not be confused with gas permeation through a bulk material. While helium has documented permeation constants (thus a calculable permeation rate) through glasses, ceramics, and synthetic materials, inert gases such as helium will not permeate most bulk metals.


title: Helium

text: Because it is lighter than air, airships and balloons are inflated with helium for lift. While hydrogen gas is more buoyant, and escapes permeating through a membrane at a lower rate, helium has the advantage of being non-flammable, and indeed fire-retardant. Another minor use is in rocketry, where helium is used as an ullage medium to displace fuel and oxidizers in storage tanks and to condense hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel. It is also used to purge fuel and oxidizer from ground support equipment prior to launch and to pre-cool liquid hydrogen in space vehicles. For example, the Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo program needed about 370,000 m (13 million cubic feet) of helium to launch.


title: Helium

text: Helium as a breathing gas has no narcotic properties, so helium mixtures such as trimix, heliox and heliair are used for deep diving to reduce the effects of narcosis, which worsen with increasing depth. As pressure increases with depth, the density of the breathing gas also increases, and the low molecular weight of helium is found to considerably reduce the effort of breathing by lowering the density of the mixture. This reduces the Reynolds number of flow, leading to a reduction of turbulent flow and an increase in laminar flow, which requires less work of breathing. At depths below divers breathing helium–oxygen mixtures begin to experience tremors and a decrease in psychomotor function, symptoms of high-pressure nervous syndrome. This effect may be countered to some extent by adding an amount of narcotic gas such as hydrogen or nitrogen to a helium–oxygen mixture.


title: Helium

text: Helium–neon lasers, a type of low-powered gas laser producing a red beam, had various practical applications which included barcode readers and laser pointers, before they were almost universally replaced by cheaper diode lasers.


title: Helium

text: For its inertness and high thermal conductivity, neutron transparency, and because it does not form radioactive isotopes under reactor conditions, helium is used as a heat-transfer medium in some gas-cooled nuclear reactors.


title: Helium

text: Helium, mixed with a heavier gas such as xenon, is useful for thermoacoustic refrigeration due to the resulting high heat capacity ratio and low Prandtl number. The inertness of helium has environmental advantages over conventional refrigeration systems which contribute to ozone depletion or global warming.


title: Helium

text: The use of helium reduces the distorting effects of temperature variations in the space between lenses in some telescopes, due to its extremely low index of refraction. This method is especially used in solar telescopes where a vacuum tight telescope tube would be too heavy.


title: Helium

text: The age of rocks and minerals that contain uranium and thorium can be estimated by measuring the level of helium with a process known as helium dating.


title: Helium

text: Helium at low temperatures is used in cryogenics, and in certain cryogenics applications. As examples of applications, liquid helium is used to cool certain metals to the extremely low temperatures required for superconductivity, such as in superconducting magnets for magnetic resonance imaging. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN uses 96 metric tons of liquid helium to maintain the temperature at .


title: Helium

text: While chemically inert, helium contamination impairs the operation of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) such that iPhones may fail.


title: Helium

text: Neutral helium at standard conditions is non-toxic, plays no biological role and is found in trace amounts in human blood.


title: Helium

text: The speed of sound in helium is nearly three times the speed of sound in air. Because the natural resonance frequency of a gas-filled cavity is proportional to the speed of sound in the gas, when helium is inhaled, a corresponding increase occurs in the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract, which is the amplifier of vocal sound. This increase in the resonant frequency of the amplifier (the vocal tract) gives an increased amplification to the high-frequency components of the sound wave produced by the direct vibration of the vocal folds, compared to the case when the voice box is filled with air. When a person speaks after inhaling helium gas, the muscles that control the voice box still move in the same way as when the voice box is filled with air, therefore the fundamental frequency (sometimes called pitch) produced by direct vibration of the vocal folds does not change. However, the high-frequency-preferred amplification causes a change in timbre of the amplified sound, resulting in a reedy, duck-like vocal quality. The opposite effect, lowering resonant frequencies, can be obtained by inhaling a dense gas such as sulfur hexafluoride or xenon.


title: Helium

text: Inhaling helium can be dangerous if done to excess, since helium is a simple asphyxiant and so displaces oxygen needed for normal respiration. Fatalities have been recorded, including a youth who suffocated in Vancouver in 2003 and two adults who suffocated in South Florida in 2006. In 1998, an Australian girl from Victoria fell unconscious and temporarily turned blue after inhaling the entire contents of a party balloon.


title: Helium

text: Inhaling helium directly from pressurized cylinders or even balloon filling valves is extremely dangerous, as high flow rate and pressure can result in barotrauma, fatally rupturing lung tissue.


title: Helium

text: Death caused by helium is rare. The first media-recorded case was that of a 15-year-old girl from Texas who died in 1998 from helium inhalation at a friend's party; the exact type of helium death is unidentified.


title: Helium

text: In the United States only two fatalities were reported between 2000 and 2004, including a man who died in North Carolina of barotrauma in 2002. A youth asphyxiated in Vancouver during 2003, and a 27-year-old man in Australia had an embolism after breathing from a cylinder in 2000. Since then two adults asphyxiated in South Florida in 2006, and there were cases in 2009 and 2010, one a Californian youth who was found with a bag over his head, attached to a helium tank, and another teenager in Northern Ireland died of asphyxiation. At Eagle Point, Oregon a teenage girl died in 2012 from barotrauma at a party. A girl from Michigan died from hypoxia later in the year.


title: Helium

text: On February 4, 2015, it was revealed that, during the recording of their main TV show on January 28, a 12-year-old member (name withheld) of Japanese all-girl singing group 3B Junior suffered from air embolism, losing consciousness and falling into a coma as a result of air bubbles blocking the flow of blood to the brain, after inhaling huge quantities of helium as part of a game. The incident was not made public until a week later. The staff of TV Asahi held an emergency press conference to communicate that the member had been taken to the hospital and is showing signs of rehabilitation such as moving eyes and limbs, but her consciousness has not yet been sufficiently recovered. Police have launched an investigation due to a neglect of safety measures.


title: Helium

text: The safety issues for cryogenic helium are similar to those of liquid nitrogen; its extremely low temperatures can result in cold burns, and the liquid-to-gas expansion ratio can cause explosions if no pressure-relief devices are installed. Containers of helium gas at 5 to 10 K should be handled as if they contain liquid helium due to the rapid and significant thermal expansion that occurs when helium gas at less than 10 K is warmed to room temperature.


title: Helium

text: At high pressures (more than about 20 atm or two MPa), a mixture of helium and oxygen (heliox) can lead to high-pressure nervous syndrome, a sort of reverse-anesthetic effect; adding a small amount of nitrogen to the mixture can alleviate the problem.


title: Ouija

text: The ouija ( , ), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood or plastic) as a movable indicator to spell out messages during a séance. Participants place their fingers on the planchette, and it is moved about the board to spell out words. "Ouija" is a trademark of Hasbro, but is often used generically to refer to any talking board.


title: Ouija

text: Spiritualists in the United States believed that the dead were able to contact the living and reportedly used a talking board very similar to a modern Ouija board at their camps in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1886 to ostensibly enable faster communication with spirits. Following its commercial introduction by businessman Elijah Bond on 1 July 1890, the Ouija board was regarded as an innocent parlor game unrelated to the occult until American spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.


title: Ouija

text: Paranormal and supernatural beliefs associated with Ouija have been criticized by the scientific community and are characterized as pseudoscience. The action of the board can be most easily explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer, a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect.


title: Ouija

text: Mainstream Christian denominations, including Catholicism, have warned against the use of Ouija boards, holding that they can lead to demonic possession. Occultists, on the other hand, are divided on the issue, with some claiming it can be a tool for positive transformation, while others reiterate the warnings of many Christians and caution "inexperienced users" against it.


title: Ouija

text: The popular belief that the word "Ouija" comes from the French and German words for "yes" is a misconception. The name is taken from a word spelled out on the board when its inventor asked a supposed ghost to name it.


title: Ouija

text: One of the first mentions of the automatic writing method used in the ouija board is found in China around 1100 AD, in historical documents of the Song dynasty. The method was known as "fuji" "planchette writing". The use of planchette writing as an ostensible means of necromancy and communion with the spirit-world continued, and, albeit under special rituals and supervisions, was a central practice of the Quanzhen School, until it was forbidden by the Qing dynasty.


title: Ouija

text: As a part of the spiritualist movement, mediums began to employ various means for communication with the dead. Following the American Civil War in the United States, mediums did significant business in allegedly allowing survivors to contact lost relatives. The ouija itself was created and named in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1890, but the use of talking boards was so common by 1886 that news reported the phenomenon taking over the spiritualists' camps in Ohio.


title: Ouija

text: An employee of Elijah Bond, William Fuld, took over the talking board production. In 1901, Fuld started production of his own boards under the name "Ouija". Charles Kennard, the founder of Kennard Novelty Company which manufactured Fuld's talking boards and where Fuld had worked as a varnisher, claimed he learned the name "Ouija" from using the board and that it was an Ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck". When Fuld took over production of the boards, he popularized the more widely accepted etymology: that the name came from a combination of the French and German words for "yes".


title: Ouija

text: The ouija phenomenon is considered by the scientific community to be the result of the ideomotor response. Michael Faraday first described this effect in 1853, while investigating table-turning.


title: Ouija

text: Various studies have been conducted, recreating the effects of the ouija board in the lab and showing that, under laboratory conditions, the subjects were moving the planchette involuntarily. A 2012 study found that when answering yes or no questions, ouija use was significantly more accurate than guesswork, suggesting that it might draw on the unconscious mind. Skeptics have described ouija board users as 'operators'. Some critics have noted that the messages ostensibly spelled out by spirits were similar to whatever was going through the minds of the subjects. According to professor of neurology Terence Hines in his book "Pseudoscience and the Paranormal" (2003):


title: Ouija

text: The planchette is guided by unconscious muscular exertions like those responsible for table movement. Nonetheless, in both cases, the illusion that the object (table or planchette) is moving under its own control is often extremely powerful and sufficient to convince many people that spirits are truly at work ... The unconscious muscle movements responsible for the moving tables and Ouija board phenomena seen at seances are examples of a class of phenomena due to what psychologists call a dissociative state. A dissociative state is one in which consciousness is somehow divided or cut off from some aspects of the individual's normal cognitive, motor, or sensory functions.


title: Ouija

text: This correlates with the ideomotor phenomenon because both rely on unconscious movement. The difference is that the ideomotor phenomenon is based on the idea that just the idea that something can happen tricks the brain into doing it. For example, thinking about not moving the planchette leads to the possibility of the planchette moving, which then makes someone unconsciously move the planchette.


title: Ouija

text: Ouija boards were already criticized by scholars early on, being described in a 1927 journal as vestigial remains' of primitive belief-systems" and a con to part fools from their money. Another 1921 journal described reports of ouija board findings as 'half truths' and suggested that their inclusion in national newspapers at the time lowered the national discourse overall.


title: Ouija

text: In the 1970s ouija board users were also described as "cult members" by sociologists, though this was severely scrutinised in the field.


title: Ouija

text: Since early in the Ouija board's history, it has been criticized by several Christian denominations. The Catholic Church in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 2116 explicitly forbids any practice of divination which includes the usage of Ouija boards. Also, "Catholic Answers", a Roman Catholic Christian apologetics organization, states that "The Ouija board is far from harmless, as it is a form of divination (seeking information from supernatural sources)." Moreover, Catholic bishops in Micronesia called for the boards to be banned and warned congregations that they were talking to demons when using Ouija boards. In a pastoral letter, The Dutch Reformed Churches encouraged its communicants to avoid Ouija boards, as it is a practice "related to the occult". The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod also forbids its faithful from using Ouija boards as it teaches that such would be a violation of the Ten Commandments.


title: Ouija

text: In 2001, Ouija boards were burned in Alamogordo, New Mexico, by fundamentalist groups as "symbols of witchcraft". Religious criticism has also expressed beliefs that the Ouija board reveals information which should only be in God's hands, and thus it is a tool of Satan. A spokesperson for Human Life International described the boards as a portal to talk to spirits and called for Hasbro to be prohibited from marketing them.


title: Ouija

text: These religious objections to use of the Ouija board have in turn given rise to ostension type folklore in the communities where they circulate. Cautionary tales that the board opens a door to evil spirits turn the game into the subject of a supernatural dare, especially for young people.


title: Ouija

text: Ouija boards have been the source of inspiration for literary works, used as guidance in writing or as a form of channeling literary works. As a result of Ouija boards' becoming popular in the early 20th century, by the 1920s many "psychic" books were written of varying quality often initiated by ouija board use.


title: Ouija

text: Aleister Crowley had great admiration for the use of the ouija board and it played a passing role in his magical workings. Jane Wolfe, who lived with Crowley at Abbey of Thelema, also used the Ouija board. She credits some of her greatest spiritual communications to use of this implement. Crowley also discussed the Ouija board with another of his students, and the most ardent of them, Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones): it is frequently mentioned in their unpublished letters. In 1917 Achad experimented with the board as a means of summoning Angels, as opposed to Elementals. In one letter Crowley told Jones:


title: Ouija

text: Your Ouija board experiment is rather fun. You see how very satisfactory it is, but I believe things improve greatly with practice. I think you should keep to one angel, and make the magical preparations more elaborate.


title: Ouija

text: Over the years, both became so fascinated by the board that they discussed marketing their own design. Their discourse culminated in a letter, dated 21 February 1919, in which Crowley tells Jones,


title: Ouija

text: Re: Ouija Board. I offer you the basis of ten percent of my net profit. You are, if you accept this, responsible for the legal protection of the ideas, and the marketing of the copyright designs. I trust that this may be satisfactory to you. I hope to let you have the material in the course of a week.


title: Ouija

text: In March, Crowley wrote to Achad to inform him, "I'll think up another name for Ouija." But their business venture never came to fruition and Crowley's new design, along with his name for the board, has not survived. Crowley has stated, of the Ouija Board that,


title: Ouija

text: There is, however, a good way of using this instrument to get what you want, and that is to perform the whole operation in a consecrated circle, so that undesirable aliens cannot interfere with it. You should then employ the proper magical invocation in order to get into your circle just the one spirit you want. It is comparatively easy to do this. A few simple instructions are all that is necessary, and I shall be pleased to give these, free of charge, to any one who cares to apply.


title: Ouija

text: Ouija boards have figured prominently in horror tales in various media as devices enabling malevolent spirits to spook their users. Most often, they make brief appearances, relying heavily on the atmosphere of mystery the board already holds in the mind of the viewer, in order to add credence to the paranormal presence in the story being told.


title: Ouija

text: In the 1960 supernatural horror film 13 Ghosts the family Zorba plays the game "Ouija, the mystifying oracle."


title: Ouija

text: A Ouija board is an early part of the plot of the 1973 horror film "The Exorcist". Using a Ouija board the young girl Regan makes what first appears to be harmless contact with an entity named "Captain Howdy". She later becomes possessed by a demon.


title: Ouija

text: The 1986 film "Witchboard" and its sequels center on the use of Ouija. The 1991 film "And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird" features use of a Ouija board in an important early scene. "What Lies Beneath" (2000) includes a séance scene with a board. "Paranormal Activity" (2007) involves a violent entity haunting a couple that becomes more powerful when the Ouija board is used. Another 2007 film, "Ouija", depicted a group of adolescents whose use of the board causes a murderous spirit to follow them, while four years later, "The Ouija Experiment" portrayed a group of friends whose use of the board opens, and fails to close, a portal between the worlds of the living and the dead. The 2012 film "I Am Zozo" follows a group of people that run afoul of a demon (based on Pazuzu) after using a Ouija board. The 2014 film "Ouija" features a group of friends whose use of the board prompts a series of deaths. That film was followed by a 2016 prequel, "", which also features the device.


title: Ouija

text: The British singer Morrissey released a controversial single titled "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" in 1989. The lyrics and the video of the song mockingly play with the idea of supernaturally contacting dead persons.


title: Ouija

text: Jeremy Gans' nonfiction book, "The Ouija Board Jurors: Mystery, Mischief and Misery in the Jury System", based on an article he wrote for the University of Melbourne, recounts an incident in which four jurors sought the help of a Ouija board during a double murder trial, both for guidance and to relieve the stress precipitated by the brutal images of evidence.


title: Ouija

text: The National Geographic show "Brain Games" Season 5 episode "Paranormal" clearly showed the board did not work when all participants were blindfolded.


title: Ouija

text: The sitcom Steptoe and Son in Series 8 Episode 6, includes a scene with a Ouija board where Harold briefly fools Albert into believing that they are in contact with the ghost of Adolf Hitler.


title: Melissa Roxburgh

text: Melissa Roxburgh (born December 10, 1992) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her roles in "" (2011) and "" (2012), as Ensign Syl in the 2016 film "Star Trek Beyond", as Olivia Tanis in ".", and as Michaela Stone in the NBC/Netflix science fiction drama series "Manifest".


title: Melissa Roxburgh

text: Roxburgh is the second oldest of four children; she has two sisters (Kristie and Ashley) and one younger brother (Matt). Her father, Cam, is a Canadian pastor, and her mother, Shelley Walpole, is a British retired professional tennis player. Her parents, after moving to Canada from the United States, founded a church in Vancouver. After graduating from high school, Roxburgh began pursuing acting in Vancouver. Roxburgh is an alumna of the William Esper Studio.


title: Melissa Roxburgh

text: She landed her first major role in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" as Rachel. She went on to also appear in the second sequel of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", "Dog Days", but as a different character, Heather Hills. Her other work in films has included "Big Time Movie", Jeni in "", and Ensign Syl in "Star Trek Beyond". Her television work has included the "Supernatural" spinoff, "", and Thea in The CW's drama series, "Valor".


title: Melissa Roxburgh

text: Roxburgh portrays Michaela Stone in the NBC series "Manifest", which premiered on September 24, 2018. On August 28, 2021 it was announced that Manifest will return for a fourth and final season on Netflix.


title: Melissa Roxburgh

text: Roxburgh has a passion for travel. Growing up, her family visited Africa, Europe and South America, which began Roxburgh's interest in social justice issues. She currently serves as a GenR Leader for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which assists people in extreme humanitarian crises. Prior to her work on "Manifest", Roxburgh studied Communications at Simon Fraser University in hopes of becoming a journalist.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Shriya Saran Bhatnagar (; (born 11 September 1982) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi-language films. Although Saran aspired to become a well-known dancer, she became an actress with her film debut in 2001 with the Telugu film "Ishtam", and had her first commercial success with "Nuvve Nuvve" (2002).


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran subsequently appeared in several more Telugu films alongside Hindi and Tamil films. In 2007, she starred in "Sivaji", the highest-grossing Tamil film at that time. She also gained critical acclaim for her role in the Hindi film "Awarapan" (2007). In 2008, Saran played the lead role in her first English film, the American–Indian co-production "The Other End of the Line". Her following projects included popular films such as "Kanthaswamy" (2009) in Tamil and "Pokkiri Raja" (2010) in Malayalam—roles that established her as one of the leading actresses in the South Indian film industries . In 2012, Saran starred in Deepa Mehta's "Midnight's Children", an English adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel of the same name, for which she received international critical acclaim. She achieved further commercial success by starring in films such as "Pavitra" (2013) and "Chandra" (2013). In 2014, Saran starred in the critically acclaimed Telugu film "Manam", which brought her accolades for her performance.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In addition to her work in films, Saran has been the brand ambassador for brands across India, endorsing beauty and health products. Among other philanthropic activities, she has volunteered for charity organizations. In 2011 she opened a spa employing exclusively visually challenged people. She was also the brand ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League for its first two seasons.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Shriya Saran Bhatnagar was born on 11 September 1982 in Haridwar in Northern India, to Pushpendra Saran Bhatnagar and Neeraja Saran Bhatnagar. Her father worked for Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and her mother was a chemistry teacher in Delhi Public School, Ranipur in Haridwar and Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi. Saran completed her schooling from both schools where her mother had taught. She has an elder brother named Abhiroop who lives in Mumbai. Saran's mother tongue is Hindi.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Her family lived in the small town of BHEL colony in Haridwar when she was growing up. She later studied at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran is an accomplished dancer. She was first trained as a child by her mother in Kathak and Rajasthani folk dance, and later trained in the Kathak style by Shovana Narayan. She was involved with many dance teams in college and with her teacher. They would incorporate social issues into their dance routines.


title: Shriya Saran

text: While in her second year at the LSR College in Delhi, Saran got her first opportunity to appear in front of the camera for a video shoot. Following her dance teacher's recommendation, she was invited to appear in the music video of Renoo Nathan's "Thirakti Kyun Hawa". Shot in Banaras, the video was seen by Ramoji Films who offered her the lead role of Neha in their film "Ishtam". Saran accepted the part and, even before it was released she was signed to four more films, including "Nuvve Nuvve", in which she played a millionaire's daughter who falls for a middle-class man. In 2002, she starred in "Santosham", co-starring Nagarjuna, Prabhu Deva and Gracy Singh, which was her first commercial success. The film took the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film and Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu). Saran played a woman who lets someone she loves go with another, but wins him back later in life. For her performance, she earned a nomination for the CineMAA Award for Best Actor- Female, giving her a good foothold in the Telugu industry in the early part of her career.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2003, Saran acted in a supporting role in her first Hindi film, "Tujhe Meri Kasam", starring debutants Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza in leading roles. She performed as one of the lead female roles in Telugu film "Tagore", along with Jyothika and Chiranjeevi which was screened at the International Indian Film Academy Awards, and was a commercial success. She followed it with her Tamil film debut in "Enakku 20 Unakku 18", alongside Tarun and Trisha Krishnan, which was simultaneously shot in Telugu as "Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu", in which she played a football coach. Though she acted in films in three languages that year, eight of the first ten films of her career were in Telugu.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2004, Saran acted in two Telugu and two Hindi films, including ""Arjun"" and "Nenunnanu", where she played a student in classical singing. She had ten 2005 releases, nine of which were Telugu films, the most notable for her being "Chatrapathi". There she appeared opposite Prabhas and earned her first nomination for the Filmfare Best Telugu Actress Award. Meanwhile, she tried to make her comeback in Tamil with "Mazhai",a remake of the Telugu film "Varsham", where she reprised the role done by Trisha in the original. Neither the movie nor her performance were received well. Also in 2005, she appeared as one of only three characters in the film "Mogudu Pellam O Dongodu", which was about a married couple's first night together, and made a guest appearance in a children's film called "Bommalata", which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. Saran's only lead role in 2006, excluding three special appearances, was in the Tamil film "Thiruvilayadal Arambam".


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2007, she was chosen to play the lead female role opposite Rajinikanth in S. Shankar's "Sivaji: The Boss" after Aishwarya Rai rejected the role due to busy schedules. which was the most expensive Indian film at that time. R.G. Vijayasarathy wrote in his review for Rediff that, aside from her beauty, Saran "proves that she can act too". Her performance earned her a "South Scope" Style Award for Best Tamil Actress, her first award win, and a nomination at the Vijay Awards. The role made her a star in the south Indian film industry. During this phase of her career, she made several special appearances in item numbers, including in the films "Devadasu", "Munna", and "Tulasi."


title: Shriya Saran

text: Also in 2007, Saran made her comeback in Hindi cinema with "Awarapan", which was a joint production between India and Pakistan. She played a Muslim woman and had to learn Urdu. This was her fourth Hindi film, but the others had failed to make any impact. Sanjay Ram, writing for Business of Cinema, gave the film 2.5 of 5 stars and said that Saran provided a brief, compelling performance. Saran later said that the film strengthened her conviction that all religions are equal. Later that year she appeared in one more Tamil film, "Azhagiya Tamil Magan", opposite Vijay. Though critics exalted her looks, her performance received mixed reviews, with one reviewer, Nandhu Sundharam of Rediff, going so far as to say that her "acting is as bad as her looks are good". That same year Saran made a special appearance in a scene in the Kannada film "Arasu". She appeared in six films in 2007 in four languages.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2008, Saran made her American cinema debut in Ashok Amritraj's "The Other End of the Line". She played the role of Priya Sethi, who works as a telephone operator in an Indian call centre, while acting alongside Jesse Metcalfe, Anupam Kher and Tara Sharma. Shriya's performance was praised by critics, particularly her on-screen chemistry with Jesse Metcalfe. John Anderson, writing for "Variety" magazine, said it was "a winning Stateside debut for beautiful Indian actress Shriya Saran."


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran acted in the Hindi film "Mission Istaanbul" with Zayed Khan, and Shabbir Ahluwalia in 2008. She played the character of Anjali Sagar which was inspired by the character of Romila Dutta played by Preity Zinta in the film "Lakshya", a journalist who desires to have a child with her husband, which leads to their separation, since he is reluctant. Bollywood Hungama critics said that her character was wasted, as again she gets very little screen time. However, she did pick up the Stardust Exciting New Face Award.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Her most important 2009 release was the commercially successful Tamil film "Kanthaswamy", alongside Vikram. She earned a nomination at the Vijay Awards. Vikram said in an interview that her role was on par with his, and she easily stole the show on most occasions. Of her character in the film, Saran said that it was the best she has done so far. Also that year she appeared as the female lead in "Thoranai". A reviewer said that her glamour and the songs were the only high points of the film. For "Thoranai" and "Kanthaswamy" together, she received her third award win, the Amrita Mathrubhumi Award for Best Actress. She then appeared in another English film, "Cooking with Stella", which is a comedy that takes a look at the serious nature of relationships between servants and employers. It was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival, which Saran attended.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2010, Saran made her Malayalam debut with "Pokkiri Raja", in which she appeared opposite Mammootty and Prithviraj. The film broke the record in Malayalam cinema for opening week gross income, though it was not received well critically. It was said of Saran that all she had to do was look pretty. She then enacted her first lead role in a Telugu film after five years, in the commercially successful action-comedy "Don Seenu" opposite Ravi Teja, where she plays the sister of a mobster. In the opinion of some critics, she stole the show with her dances and romantic scenes.


title: Shriya Saran

text: The year 2010 was her second busiest after 2005, having appeared in eight films, this time in four languages.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2011, Saran appeared in "Rowthiram", where she worked with Tamil actor Jiiva for the first time. The film received fairly low reviews. Although some reviews said that Saran was not given much opportunity to show her acting skills, mainly just adding a romantic touch to a mostly violent film, she was referred to by another as the pivot around which the film revolves. Her performance earned her Best Actress Award at the International Tamil Film Awards. Her only other film in 2011 was a special appearance in a song for the Tamil film "Rajapattai".


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran's first release of 2012 was her second Malayalam project, "Casanovva", co-starring Mohanlal and directed by Rosshan Andrrews. The movie was delayed many times, and it was rumored that Saran would leave the project, but in October 2010, the producer of the film announced that shooting would commence in Dubai with Shriya Saran among the cast. It was released on 26 January. Her next release was in "Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai", from director Rumy Jafry, which began shooting in September 2011, and released on 3 February. She then was seen in the critically average comedic Telugu film "Nuvva Nena", with actors Allari Naresh and Sharwanand, followed by Sekhar Kammula's much delayed "Life is Beautiful".


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran has starred in Deepa Mehta's long delayed English project "Midnight's Children", which is based on Salman Rushdie's highly acclaimed "novel of the same name". It was filmed under the working title of "Winds of Change". It was screened at several film festivals in late 2012 in Canada and finally made its general release in India on 1 February 2013.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In early 2013, Saran appeared in an item number in the film "Zila Ghaziabad". This was her first item number in a Hindi film. On 7 June, Saran's "Pavitra" was released, in which she played a prostitute. At a press conference in Hyderabad, she said that the film is very special for her, and that she was touched by the sensitivity that director/writer Janardhana Maharshi gave to the topic. Her bi-lingual film "Chandra", directed by Roopa Iyer, was simultaneously made in Kannada and Tamil languages. She played the role of a princess in the film opposite Kannada actor Prem Kumar. The film released in Kannada on 27 June 2013, and in Tamil on 14 February 2014. It became a moderate success at the Kannada box office. The film marked Saran's return to Tamil cinema after more than five years.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran's first film of 2014, released 23 May, was the Telugu family drama "Manam", which was a success in India and America. Saran's first film of 2015 was "Gopala Gopala", a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster "OMG – Oh My God!", released in the January festive season. She will next appear in director Karan Bhutani's Hindi film "Valmiki Ki Bandook", which is currently under production. She appeared opposite Ajay Devgan in "Drishyam", a remake of the Malayalam film of the same name, which turned out to be a box office success. In mid-January 2016, she made a special appearance in Nagarjuna's "Oopiri", while also signing for her next Hindi film "Tadka", opposite Nana Patekar. In May 2016, she was cast as a female lead in the Telugu-language epic historical action film "Gautamiputra Satakarni".


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2003, Saran hosted the 50th Filmfare South Award with actor R. Madhavan. She was a part of Tamil director Mani Ratnam's stage show, "Netru, Indru, Naalai", an event which sought to raise funds for "The Banyan", a voluntary organisation which rehabilitates homeless women with mental illness in Chennai. She was one of the guests alongside actor Surya Sivakumar at the season 3 finale of TV dance show "Maanada Mayilada".


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran was the first actress, and the third celebrity after Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan to deliver a lecture to students at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on 12 February 2010. She said that "The Indian media and entertainment industry is the fastest growing sector at present, so considering this IIM Ahmedabad had started a new program CFI – Contemporary Film Industry – A Business Perspective. I was there to give a lecture to 2nd year students of CFI and did a lot of research for the lecture for nearly five days." She held a lecture on the marketing and branding of a film. In 2011, she gave a lecture to students at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Madras on the history of films, and films as a medium of cultural exchange.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran started her modelling career by acting in a Pond's Creams advertisement. She then did a Coca-Cola advertisement alongside Tamil actor Vijay, which was directed by prominent director Rajiv Menon. She also starred in a Fair & Lovely creams advertisement during her early career. Shriya Saran is also appointed as brand ambassador for Pantene Shampoo. In 2007, she became the brand ambassador of Saravana Stores. She is now the brand ambassador of the Lux and Head & Shoulders. Saran was also signed as brand ambassador along with actor Saif Ali Khan for Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea. Saran says no to soft drinks advertisements because she feels that soft drinks may harm children's health. In 2011, Saran was appointed as the promotional model for McVitie's by United Biscuits along with actress Bipasha Basu. In 2013, Saran was appointed as brand ambassador for Colgate Active Salt Healthy White toothpaste, along with Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor. In 2014, she was signed as brand ambassador for Karnataka Milk Federation(KMF).


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2007, Saran launched the first issue of "Galatta Cinema" and has been featured on its cover many times. In 2008, she was featured in, and appeared on the cover of the June issue of "Maxim India". Editor Anup Kutty said: "We had been thinking of getting someone who bridges this strange divide we have between the North, South and the West ... Shreya fit the bill perfectly." She has appeared on various other magazine covers over the years, including "Jade" and "South Scope". In 2012, she again did a photo shoot for "Maxim India".


title: Shriya Saran

text: On the sports front, Saran is brand ambassador of Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), a concept that mixes two passions in India, film and cricket. In April 2010, she danced with Shah Rukh Khan at the fourth season opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League (IPL), another cricket league.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran has always been very reluctant to talk about her private life, and usually denied that reported linkups are romantic in nature.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran is well known for her charity work. She describes herself as someone used to "sharing time and resources with the underprivileged since childhood." She says that "celebrities can show the way by sensitising people to social issues, campaigning for causes or being part of fund-raisers." Her family has always encouraged her to think of the needy.


title: Shriya Saran

text: Saran is a brand ambassador for the Naandi Foundation, and for the Save A Child's Heart Foundation (SACH), which works for the benefit of poor children and people affected by natural calamities. She helps finance a Prevention of Aids foundation. In 2009, Saran joined with other eminent personalities to promote 'The Joy of Giving Week', to encourage people from all walks of life to engage in acts of giving. She regularly participates in carnivals and campaigns that associate with children benefits. She is associated with animal welfare and the Blue Cross of India. She is also associated with an NGO called World Vision that finds parents for deprived kids, and works for Apollo's RDF to raise funds for underprivileged children.


title: Shriya Saran

text: In 2011, she opened a Spa which exclusively employs the visually challenged. It is called Shree Spa, and is located in Mumbai. Saran has said "When I studied in DPS Mathura Road in Delhi, there was a school for blind exactly opposite to our school. I used to go there every week and spend time seeing how these students played cricket and did other things normally. That is what inspired me to do something for these people". In an interview to TOI, the actress said: "We feel sympathetic towards them, but we never employ them. We are scared because we have not grown up with them. While these people might be visually impaired, their other senses are very strong. So they can effectively give foot and back massages and treatments like reflexology. It's important to understand that you are not doing a favour on them but they are doing a favour on you".


title: Shriya Saran

text: On working in regional film industries in India she has stated: "I don’t consider Kollywood or Bollywood as separate entities. For me, there's only a single category, the Indian film industry, which is extremely rich owing to its diverse genres and languages." She is fluent in Hindi, English, and can understand Telugu and Tamil well. On 19 January 2013, she quit Twitter due to derogatory comments from her followers. However, she rejoined Twitter with a new account on 27 January 2015.


title: Shriya Saran

text: On 19 March 2018, she married her Russian boyfriend Andrei Koscheev at her Lokhandwala residence. On 12 October 2021, Shriya Saran announced on her social media platform that she and her husband had a daughter, born on 10 January 2021.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant is an American multinational information technology services and consulting company. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. Cognizant is part of the NASDAQ-100 and trades under CTSH. It was founded as an in-house technology unit of Dun & Bradstreet in 1994, and started serving external clients in 1996.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant had a period of fast growth during the 2000s and became a "Fortune" 500 company in 2011; as of 2021, it is ranked 185.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant was established in 1994 in Chennai, India, as Dun & Bradstreet Satyam Software (DBSS), a 76:24 joint venture between Dun & Bradstreet and Satyam Computer Services, with Srini Raju as the founding CEO and MD. It began with 50 employees in Chennai as Dun & Bradstreet's in-house technology unit focused on implementing large-scale IT projects for Dun & Bradstreet businesses. In 1996, the company started pursuing customers beyond Dun & Bradstreet.


title: Cognizant

text: In 1996, Dun & Bradstreet spun off several of its subsidiaries including Erisco, IMS International, Nielsen Media Research, Pilot Software, Strategic Technologies and DBSS, to form a new company called Cognizant Corporation, headquartered in Chennai, India. Three months later, in 1997, DBSS renamed itself to Cognizant Technology Solutions. In July 1997, Dun & Bradstreet bought Satyam's 24% stake in DBSS for $3.4 million. Headquarters were moved to the United States, and in March 1998, Kumar Mahadeva was named CEO. Operating as a division of the Cognizant Corporation, the company focused on Y2K-related projects and web development.


title: Cognizant

text: In 1998, the parent company, Cognizant Corporation, split into two companies: IMS Health and Nielsen Media Research. After this restructuring, Cognizant Technology Solutions became a public subsidiary of IMS Health. In June 1998, IMS Health partially spun off the company, conducting an initial public offering of the Cognizant stock. The company raised $34 million, less than what the IMS Health underwriters had hoped. They earmarked the money for debt payments and upgrading company offices.


title: Cognizant

text: Kumar Mahadeva decided to reduce the company's dependence on Y2K projects: by Q1 1999, 26% of company's revenues came from Y2K projects, compared with 49% in early 1998. Believing that the $16.6 billion enterprise resource planning software market was saturated, Kumar Mahadeva decided to refrain from large-scale ERP implementation projects. Instead, he focused on applications management, which accounted for 37% of Cognizant's revenue in Q1 1999. Cognizant's revenues in 2002 were $229 million, and the company had zero debt with $100 million in the bank. During the dotcom bust, the company grew by taking on the maintenance projects that larger IT services companies did not want.


title: Cognizant

text: In 2003, IMS Health sold its entire 56% stake in Cognizant, which instituted a poison pill provision to prevent hostile takeover attempts. Kumar Mahadeva resigned as the CEO in 2003, and was replaced by Lakshmi Narayanan. Gradually, the company's services portfolio expanded across the IT services landscape and into business process outsourcing (BPO) and business consulting. Lakshmi Narayanan was succeeded by Francisco D'Souza in 2006. Cognizant experienced a period of fast growth during the 2000s, as reflected by its appearance in "Fortune" magazine's "100 Fastest-Growing Companies" list for ten consecutive years from 2003 to 2012.


title: Cognizant

text: In September 2014, Cognizant struck its biggest deal, acquiring healthcare IT services provider TriZetto Corp for $2.7 billion. Cognizant Shares, rose nearly 3 percent in pre-market trading.


title: Cognizant

text: On 24 June 2015, the company signed a multimillion-dollar agreement with Escorts Group in India to help Escorts' businesses in digital transformation and modernizing its operations across all business segments.


title: Cognizant

text: On 30 June 2015, it partnered with Singapore-based supermarket retailer NTUC FairPrice to perform digital transformation in NTUC's business to improve personalized and consistent customer service across multiple channels.


title: Cognizant

text: Like many other IT services firms, Cognizant follows a global delivery model based on offshore software R&D and offshore outsourcing. The company has a number of offshore development centers outside the United States and near-shore centers in the U.S., Europe and South America.


title: Cognizant

text: In its early years, Cognizant gained business from a number of American and European companies with the help of the Dun & Bradstreet brand. The company's senior executives envisaged the firm as a provider of high-end customer services on-par with the six contemporary major system integrators (Accenture, BearingPoint, Capgemini, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and IBM), but at lower prices.


title: Cognizant

text: The company has 318,400 employees globally, of which over 200,000 are in India across 10 locations with a plurality in Chennai. On 20 Jan, 1994 Cognizant registered its branch in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India with the legal name Cognizant Technology Solutions India Private Limited. The other centers of the company are in Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore, Mumbai, and Pune. The company has local, regional, and global delivery centers in the UK, Australia, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, China, Philippines, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico etc.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant is organized into several verticals and horizontal units. The vertical units focus on specific industries such as Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Retail. The horizontals focus on specific technologies or process areas such as Analytics, mobile computing, BPO and Testing. Both horizontal and vertical units have business consultants, who together form the organization-wide Cognizant Consulting team. Cognizant is among the largest recruiters of MBAs in the industry; they are involved in business development and business analysis for IT services projects.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant is led by Brian Humphries (CEO), Jan Siegmund (CFO) and Rajesh Nambiar (President, Digital Business & Technology).


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant was listed on NASDAQ in 1998, and added to the NASDAQ-100 Index in 2004. After the close of trading on 16 November 2006, Cognizant moved from the mid cap S&P 400 to the S&P 500. Cognizant became a "Fortune" 500 company in 2011.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant's philanthropic and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are conducted through the Cognizant employees for the financial and administrative support of the Cognizant Foundation. Registered in March 2005 as a "Charitable Company" under the Indian Companies Act, the Cognizant Foundation aims to help "unprivileged members of society gain access to quality education and healthcare by providing financial and technical support; designing and implementing educational and healthcare improvement programs; and partnering with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), educational institutions, healthcare institutions, government agencies and corporations".


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant has a grassroots corporate social responsibility project called "Outreach", through which the volunteer employees lend their expertise for devising skill-building and workforce programs to improve the operations of NGOs.


title: Cognizant

text: In 2015, the "Fortune" named it as the world's fourth most admired IT services company. In 2017, Cognizant was named in "Fortune"s Future 50 list.


title: Cognizant

text: Over the year 2021, Cognizant signed multiple sponsorship agreements with sports, sailing and racing teams.


title: Cognizant

text: In January 2021, the newly rebranded Aston Martin Formula One team announced Cognizant as their title sponsor for the 2021 Formula One World Championship and beyond. In February 2021, Cognizant signed a sponsorship deal with the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour to become a Global Partner of the Presidents Cup and a title partner of the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup.


title: Cognizant

text: Later in the year, in April, Cognizant signed an agreement to be SailGP's digital transformation partner. In June the same year, Cognizant became the Presenting Partner of THE JOHN SHIPPEN Shoot-Out Inaugural Golf Event.


title: Cognizant

text: Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) paid million in bribes to Indian government officials on behalf of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. to secure permits, ranging from environmental clearance to power. L&T has made illicit payments and Cognizant reimbursed the money by disguising it as compensation for cost overruns.


title: Cognizant

text: In March 2019, significant publicity was raised because Cognizant repetitively violated the directives of the Registrar of Companies. The Company "has moved [sic] the Madras High Court fearing possibility of criminal prosecution being launched against it by [the] Registrar of Companies for alleged violation of the provisions of the Companies Act of 2013 and the Companies (Appointment and Disqualification of Directors) Rules of 2014." One of those questions was as to why the company had not disclosed complete information on stock options of its parent holding company — CTS Corporation in the United States — having been given to the employees, including its directors, and the payments running to several hundred crores of rupees (approx US $40 million) having been paid to the parent company in the US towards stock compensating recharge.


title: Cognizant

text: In 2018 a race discrimination suit was brought: "Three hundred former employees claim they were forced out of their jobs and replaced with 'less qualified' Indians after being poorly treated by their Indian supervisors and colleagues, given unjustifiably low performance ratings and denied promotions." Cognizant said it was "national origin" and not race.


title: Cognizant

text: 200 senior executives, above the Director's Level were dismissed because they were not able to catch up with the latest technologies. The number of the executives that were dismissed is unusually high and questions the ability of the company to catch up with the latest technologies.


title: Cognizant

text: In 2017, eight employees filed petitions with the labor department, complaining Cognizant forced them to resign as part of a performance-based review. The labor department closed the case in favor of employees and advised company management to give one more opportunity for the petitioners to prove themselves. At the time Cognizant had also rolled out a ‘voluntary separation program’ for directors, associate vice-presidents and senior VP's which offed them 6–9 months of their salary.


title: Cognizant

text: In 2017, approximately 6000 Cognizant employees in Hyderabad/Bangalore/Chennai lost their job as a part of company's annual performance review process.


title: Cognizant

text: The Income Tax department has frozen Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp's bank accounts and deposits in Chennai and Mumbai for allegedly evading a dividend distribution tax (DDT). A Cognizant spokesman confirmed the report and said in a statement that a court has instructed the tax department not to take further action pending further hearings. Cognizant failed to pay the tax of more than 25 billion rupees ($385 million) in the 2016-17 financial year, according to "The Hindu", citing officials from the tax department.


title: Cognizant

text: The court asked the company to deposit 15 percent of the disputed tax, amounting to 4.9 billion rupees ($75 million) as security deposit till it decides on the case.


title: Cognizant

text: In February 2018 the UK and Irish press expressed concerns about contractors employed by Cognizant in Dublin as part of the outsourcing contract with Google about the conditions of employment in relationship to compensation and basic employment allowances like sick leave.


title: Cognizant

text: In 2016, Cognizant announced that it was cooperating with US authorities in an investigation related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and carrying out its own probe to determine whether some payments made in India breached the law. The company also said President Gordon Coburn had resigned and would be replaced by Rajeev Mehta.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant has been sued by Crawford & Company, the US-based independent providers of insurance claims-handling services, for alleged breach of contract. Cognizant had been mandated by Crawford to implement PeopleSoft Financials software as part of an ERP project called Project Atlas that it was critical to Crawford's operations. Project Atlas included components for both internal operations and client-facing services.


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant leads the ranks of companies receiving H-1B visas from the United States. The company has been steadily increasing its U.S. work force. In January 2011, the company announced plans to expand its U.S. delivery centers, including a new 1,000-person (0.4% of worldwide workforce) facility in Phoenix, Arizona. In February 2011, Cognizant said it had 60 full-time recruiters actively hiring in the U.S.


title: Cognizant

text: In 2009, an investigation by the US Department of Labor (DoL) found Cognizant in violation of the H-1B provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Administrative Act. The DoL discovered that the company had stolen wages and benefits from 67 of its workers, for which they demanded they repay $509,607 in back wages. Joseph Petrecca, the director of the Wage and Hour Division's Northern New Jersey District Office noted that the company took immediate steps to correct the violations, saying the "level of cooperation sets a standard for others in the industry."


title: Cognizant

text: In 2016, the company was the subject of a lawsuit by workers for Walt Disney World who said workers from India were brought into the United States on H-1B visas in order to replace them. However, in October 2016, federal Judge Gregory A. Presnel of the United States District Court in Orlando dismissed the lawsuits, stating "none of the allegedly false statements put at issue in the complaint are adequate."


title: Cognizant

text: Cognizant was also required to pay $5.7 million in back pay and fines in a U.S. District Court ruling for a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit claimed that Cognizant did not provide quality assurance analysts the full value of their overtime pay.


title: Cognizant

text: In February 2019, an investigative report by "The Verge" described poor working conditions in Cognizant's Phoenix, Arizona, office. Cognizant employees tasked with content moderation for Facebook developed mental health issues, including posttraumatic stress disorder, as a result of exposure to graphic violence, hate speech, and conspiracy theories in the videos they were instructed to evaluate. Moderators at the Phoenix office reported drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and sexual intercourse in the workplace, and feared retaliation from terminated workers who threatened to harm them. In response, a Cognizant representative stated the company would examine the issues in the report.


title: Cognizant

text: "The Verge" published a follow-up investigation of Cognizant's Tampa, Florida, office in June 2019. Employees in the Tampa location described working conditions that were worse than the conditions in the Phoenix office. Content moderator Keith Utley suffered a heart attack while working for Cognizant in March 2018 and died in a hospital; the Tampa office lacked an on-site defibrillator. Moderators were required to sign non-disclosure agreements with Cognizant to obtain the job, although three former workers broke the agreements to provide information to "The Verge". In the Tampa office, workers reported bed bugs, unsanitary work conditions, inadequate mental health resources, sexual harassment, workplace violence, and theft. As a result of exposure to videos depicting graphic violence, animal abuse, and child sexual abuse, some employees developed psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder. Cognizant sanitized the office before "The Verge"s visit, a practice the publication described as a "dog-and-pony-show phenomenon". In response to negative coverage related to its content moderation contracts, a Facebook director indicated that Facebook is in the process of developing a "global resiliency team" that would assist its contractors.


title: Cognizant

text: On October 30, 2019, Cognizant announced that it would phase out a portion of its content moderation contracts in 2020.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, "Dr. No" (1962). She later starred as Vesper Lynd in the 1967 Bond parody "Casino Royale". Other credits include "Fun in Acapulco" (1963), "4 for Texas" (1963), "She" (1965), "The 10th Victim" (1965), "The Blue Max" (1966), "The Southern Star" (1969), "Perfect Friday" (1970), "Red Sun" (1971), "The Sensuous Nurse" (1975), "Slave of the Cannibal God" (1978), "The Fifth Musketeer" (1979), "Clash of the Titans" (1981) and "Peter the Great" (1986).


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress, the third of six children, was born in Ostermundigen, Canton of Bern, to a Swiss mother, Anna, and Rolf Andress, a German diplomat. Her father was expelled from Switzerland for political reasons and her grandfather, a garden designer, took the role of being her guardian. She has a brother, Heinz and four sisters, Erika, Charlotte, Gisela and Kàtey.


title: Ursula Andress

text: She went to school in Bern until she was 16 and speaks several languages including English, French, German and Italian. She studied art in Paris for a year, then went to Rome, where she did jobs such as nannying children.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress was at a party when she met a producer who offered her a screen test for a role in an Italian film. She was successful and got walk-on parts in "An American in Rome" (1954) (starring Alberto Sordi), "The Sins of Casanova" (1955) (starring later Bond ally Gabriele Ferzetti) and "La catena dell'odio" (1955). She was seen by a Hollywood executive who persuaded her to try her luck in Hollywood.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress arrived in Hollywood in late 1955. That spring she was signed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures starting at $287 a week.


title: Ursula Andress

text: The contract resulted in no acting roles, owing to her reluctance to learn English at the time. "I spent most of my time watching old Marlene Dietrich movies," she said. Andress did receive some publicity for dating James Dean shortly before the actor's death. She bought herself out of her contract. In 1956 it was announced she signed to Columbia Pictures. She made no films for them either. She stayed in Hollywood because she married John Derek in 1957. In 1959 it was announced she and Derek would star in a film, "High Variety", but no movie resulted.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress returned to screens in 1962 in an episode of "Thriller", "La Strega" (1962), with Alejandro Rey. She became internationally famous as Honey Ryder, a shell diver and James Bond's object of desire in "Dr. No" (1962), the first Bond film, even though her dialogue had to be dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl. In what became an iconic moment in cinematic and fashion history, she rose out of the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini sporting a large diving knife on her hip. The calypso was sung by Diana Coupland. The scene made Andress a "quintessential" Bond girl. Andress later said that she owed her career to that white bikini: "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in "Dr. No" as the first Bond girl, I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent." The bikini she wore in the film sold at auction in 2001 for £41,125. In 2003, in a UK Survey by Channel 4, her entrance in "Dr. No" was voted #1 in "the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments". Andress won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year in 1964 for her appearance in the film.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress followed it playing the female lead in an Elvis Presley musical, "Fun in Acapulco" (1963). She was billed after Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Anita Ekberg in "4 for Texas" (1963); her casting in the latter led to the title being changed from "Two for Texas". Both films were widely seen. Less so was a film Andress starred in alongside Derek, "Nightmare in the Sun" (1965).


title: Ursula Andress

text: In 1965 nude photographs of her from "Nightmare in the Sun" were published in "Playboy"; it was the first of seven times she was pictured in the magazine over the next fifteen years. When asked why she had agreed to do the "Playboy" shoot, Andress replied coolly, "Because I'm beautiful."


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress was cast in the title role of "She" (1965) playing an immortal queen, for Hammer Films and Seven Arts Productions, shot in England and Israel. Andress agreed to make it as part of a two-picture deal with Seven Arts; it was a financial success at the box office. Andress did not appear in the sequel, "The Vengeance of She", as her contract expired before the film was produced.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress had a supporting role in the comedy "What's New Pussycat?" (1965) for producer Charles K. Feldman which was a huge hit. She went to France to play Jean-Paul Belmondo's love interest in "Up to His Ears" (1965), which was popular in France; she and Belmondo became romantically involved, leading to her and Derek divorcing (although they had already been separated for a year). Andress moved to Paris to live with Belmondo and it was her home for the next seven years.


title: Ursula Andress

text: In Italy, she starred opposite Marcello Mastroianni in the science fiction movie "The 10th Victim" (1965). She returned to Hollywood to play George Peppard's love interest in the World War One film, "The Blue Max" (1966), another success at the box office.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress made her second film for Seven Arts: another with Derek, who again starred and directed, "Once Before I Die" (1966), shot in the Philippines. More widely seen was the Bond satire "Casino Royale" (1967), also produced by Feldman, where Andress played Vesper Lynd, an occasional spy who persuades Evelyn Tremble, played by Peter Sellers, to carry out a mission. It was a big box office hit. Her fee was a reported £200,000. Val Guest directed Andress in "Casino Royale" and said "I don't think I have ever met someone who was so universally loved by everyone in a studio. They'd all do anything for her and this is really quite something. One day someone is going to get the real Ursula on the screen in a comedy and she's going to astound everybody. The trouble is that she's so tense."


title: Ursula Andress

text: In Italy she appeared alongside fellow former Bond girl Claudine Auger in "Anyone Can Play" (1968) for director Luigi Zampa. She then went to Africa to make "The Southern Star" (1969) with George Segal, which was a hit in England. She appeared nude or semi-nude in nearly all of her film roles between 1969 and 1979, earning her the nickname "Ursula Undress".


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress went to England to appear in "Perfect Friday" (1970), a heist film starring Stanley Baker and David Warner. In Spain she appeared in "Red Sun" (1971), a Western with an international cast, including Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Alain Delon. In a 1972 interview, she said "I think my image, especially to Americans, is that of a femme fatale, a man-eating woman. I'm not empty-headed or calculating and cool. But maybe my looks give that impression. I'm disciplined in my doings and undisciplined in my emotions. I can't control the things I feel or hide my feelings."


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress did some action films, "Stateline Motel" (1973), "Loaded Guns" (1975), and "Africa Express" (1975). She played the title role in "The Sensuous Nurse" (1975) and did a comedy with another former Bond girl, Barbara Bouchet, "Spogliamoci così, senza pudor..." (1976).


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress played Joséphine de Beauharnais in the swashbuckling spoof "The Loves and Times of Scaramouche" (1976) with Michael Sarrazin. She made a sequel to "Africa Express", "Safari Express" (1976), then did another with Mastroianni, "Double Murder" (1978).


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress was in the cult favorite "Slave of the Cannibal God" (1978) with Stacy Keach; the anthology sex comedy "Tigers in Lipstick" (1979) for Luigi Zampa; and the swashbuckler period piece "The Fifth Musketeer" (1979), playing Louise de La Vallière opposite Beau Bridges.


title: Ursula Andress

text: She played Aphrodite in 1981's "Clash of the Titans", alongside Laurence Olivier. During the making of the film, Andress started a romantic relationship with leading man Harry Hamlin, with whom she had a son.


title: Ursula Andress

text: In 1982 she portrayed Mabel Dodge in the adventure-drama film "Red Bells" and guest starred on shows like "Manimal" and "The Love Boat". In France she was in "Liberté, égalité, choucroute" (1985).


title: Ursula Andress

text: On television, she participated in the 1986 Emmy-winning miniseries "Peter the Great", and joined the cast of the primetime soap opera "Falcon Crest" for a three-episode arc in 1988 as an exotic foreigner who assists David Selby in retrieving Dana Sparks from a white slave ring. Andress was also in "Big Man – The Diva" (1988) with Bud Spencer and "Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders" (1989).


title: Ursula Andress

text: Since the beginning of the 1990s, her acting appearances have been rare. She was in "Klassäzämekunft" (1990) (English title: "Broken Silence"), "The Cave of the Golden Rose 3" (1993), "The Cave of the Golden Rose 4" (1994) and "Cremaster 5" (1995). In 1995 Andress was chosen by "Empire" magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in film history." Her last role to date was playing "Madonna" in the low-budget 2005 Swiss feature "" (English title: "The Bird Preachers"). She appeared in the documentary "Masterpiece or Forgery? The Story of Elmyr De Hory" (2008).


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress has stated that she lost her virginity to married French actor Daniel Gelin in 1953, when she was 17 and he was 32. She dated Dennis Hopper and James Dean after moving to the US in 1955, and that same year began an affair with actor/director John Derek, a married father-of-two who walked out on his wife, Pati Behrs, and their family to be with 19-year-old Andress. Derek and Andress wed in 1957 in Las Vegas, but separated in 1964 over her affair with "Once Before I Die" co-star Ron Ely, officially divorcing in 1966. During the interim, the separated but still married Andress publicly dated John Richardson, her co-star from "She", and Marcello Mastroianni, her co-star from "The 10th Victim".


title: Ursula Andress

text: From 1965 to 1972, Andress lived with her "Up to His Ears" co-star Jean-Paul Belmondo. He was, she says, the love of her life. Her next live-in relationship was with another co-star, "Stateline Motel"'s Fabio Testi, from 1973 to 1977 (except for one year when they broke up). She also dated Ryan O'Neal, John Delorean, Helmut Berger, Paolo Pazzaglia, Johnny Dorelli, Franco Nero, with whom she later starred in "Red Bells", Nels Van Patten and Ricci Martin.


title: Ursula Andress

text: When Andress broke her arm in late summer 1978, the official story had it that she'd been struck by Hurricane Norman while bodysurfing in Malibu, but rumors flew that she actually suffered the injury during a fight with her on-again/off-again boyfriend O'Neal. O'Neal and Andress were in a relationship twice, first from 1972 to 1973 then again from 1977 to 1978.


title: Ursula Andress

text: Andress was in a relationship with actor Harry Hamlin, who is 15 years her junior, after meeting on the set of "Clash of the Titans" in 1979. At the age of 44 she gave birth to their son, Dimitri Alexander Hamlin, on 19 May 1980. The night of her delivery, Linda Evans drove Andress to the hospital while Evans' assistant Bunky Young retrieved Hamlin from the set of "King of the Mountain". Although she was engaged to Hamlin, the couple never married. In 1983, Hamlin broke up with her.


title: Ursula Andress

text: In the mid-1980s, Andress was romantically involved with Brazilian football player Paulo Roberto Falcão, actor Gerardo Amato, singer Julio Iglesias, real estate developer Stan Herman and Greek bodybuilder Mario Natokis. In 1986 she began dating future Sicilian Regional Assembly member Fausto Fagone, then an economics student at university; he was 20 and she was 50. The relationship, which infuriated Fagone's parents, lasted until 1991. Later that year Andress briefly dated martial arts expert Jeff Speakman, but has not been publicly linked with anyone since then.


title: Ursula Andress

text: In 2017, Andress sold her home in Beverly Hills at a considerable profit. As of 2022, Andress splits her time between an apartment in Rome and a house in Gstaad, near to her siblings. Her preferred language is Italian.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing Conservative Party remained the largest single party in the House of Commons but lost its small overall majority, resulting in the formation of a Conservative minority government with a Confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The Conservative Party, which had governed as a senior coalition partner from 2010 and as a single-party majority government from 2015, was defending a working majority of 17 seats against the Labour Party, the official opposition led by Jeremy Corbyn. It was the first general election to be contested by either May or Corbyn; May had succeeded David Cameron following his resignation as prime minister the previous summer, Corbyn had succeeded Ed Miliband who resigned following Labour's failure to win the general election two years earlier.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 an election had not been due until May 2020, but Prime Minister Theresa May's call for a snap election was ratified by the necessary two-thirds vote in the House of Commons on 19 April 2017. May said that she hoped to secure a larger majority to "strengthen [her] hand" in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Opinion polls had consistently shown strong leads for the Conservatives over Labour. From a 21-point lead, the Conservatives' lead began to diminish in the final weeks of the campaign. The Conservative Party made a net loss of 13 seats despite winning 42.4% of the vote (its highest share of the vote since 1983), whereas the Labour Party made a net gain of 30 seats with 40.0% (its highest vote share since 2001, representing its highest increase in vote share between two general elections since 1945). It was the first election since 1997 in which the Tories made a net loss of seats or Labour a net gain of seats. The election had the closest result between the two major parties since February 1974 and resulted in their highest combined vote share since 1970. The Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats, the third- and fourth-largest parties, both lost vote share; media coverage characterised the result as a return to two-party politics. The SNP, which had won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at the previous general election in 2015, lost 21. The Liberal Democrats made a net gain of four seats. UKIP, the third-largest party in 2015 by number of votes, saw its share of the vote reduced from 12.6% to 1.8% and lost its only seat.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In Wales, Plaid Cymru gained one seat, giving it a total of four seats. The Green Party retained its sole seat, but saw its share of the vote reduced. In Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) won 10 seats, Sinn Féin won seven, and Independent Unionist Sylvia Hermon retained her seat. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) lost all their seats.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Negotiation positions following the UK's invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in March 2017 to leave the EU were expected to feature significantly in the campaign, but did not as domestic issues took precedence instead. The campaign was interrupted by two major terrorist attacks: Manchester and London Bridge; thus, national security became a prominent issue in its final weeks.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The outcome of the election would have significant implications for the Brexit negotiations and led the UK Parliament into a period of protracted deadlock which would eventually bring about another general election two and a half years later.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the "first past the post" system. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government, with its leader as Prime Minister. If the election results in no single party having a majority, there is a hung parliament. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was not due to report until 2018, and therefore this general election took place under existing boundaries, enabling direct comparisons with the results by constituency in 2015.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Individuals had to be registered to vote by midnight twelve working days before polling day (22 May). Anyone who qualified as an anonymous elector had until midnight on 31 May to register. A person who has two homes (such as a university student with a term-time address but lives at home during holidays) may be registered to vote at both addresses, as long as they are not in the same electoral area, but can vote in only one constituency at the general election.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 18 May, "The Independent" reported that more than 1.1 million people between 18 and 35 had registered to vote since the election was announced on 18 April. Of those, 591,730 were under the age of 25.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 introduced fixed-term Parliaments to the United Kingdom, with elections scheduled every five years since the general election on 7 May 2015. This removed the power of the Prime Minister, using the royal prerogative, to dissolve Parliament before its five-year maximum length. The Act permits early dissolution if the House of Commons votes by a supermajority of two-thirds of the entire membership of the House.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 18 April 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would seek an election on 8 June, despite previously ruling out an early election. A House of Commons motion to allow this was passed on 19 April, with 522 votes for and 13 against, a majority of 509. The motion was supported by the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, while the SNP abstained. Nine Labour MPs, one SDLP MP and three independents (Sylvia Hermon and two former SNP MPs, Natalie McGarry and Michelle Thomson) voted against the motion.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn supported the early election, as did Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Green Party. The SNP stated that it was in favour of fixed-term parliaments, and would abstain in the House of Commons vote. UKIP leader Paul Nuttall and First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones criticised May for being opportunistic in the timing of the election, motivated by the then strong position of the Conservative Party in the opinion polls.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 25 April, the election date was confirmed as 8 June, with dissolution on 3 May. The government announced that it intended for the next parliament to assemble on 13 June, with the state opening on 19 June.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The cost of organising the election was around £140 million – slightly less than the EU referendum, of which £98 million was spent on administrative costs, and £42.5 million was spent on campaign costs.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Most candidates were representatives of a political party registered with the Electoral Commission. Candidates not belonging to a registered party could use an "independent" label, or no label at all.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The leader of the party commanding a majority of support in the House of Commons is the person who is called on by the monarch to form a government as Prime Minister, while the leader of the largest party not in government becomes the Leader of the Opposition. Other parties also form shadow ministerial teams. The leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the DUP are not MPs; hence, they appoint separate leaders in the House of Commons.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The Conservative Party and the Labour Party have been the two biggest parties since 1922, and have supplied all Prime Ministers since 1935. Both parties changed their leader after the 2015 election. David Cameron, who had been the leader of the Conservative Party since 2005 and Prime Minister since 2010, was replaced in July 2016 by Theresa May following the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. Jeremy Corbyn replaced Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in September 2015, and was re-elected leader in September 2016.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: While the Liberal Democrats and their predecessors had long been the third-largest party in British politics, they returned only 8 MPs in 2015 (having been part of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition from 2010 until 2015)—49 fewer than at the previous election and the fewest in their modern history. Tim Farron became the Liberal Democrat leader in July 2015, following the resignation of Nick Clegg. Led by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP stands only in Scotland; it won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats in 2015. UKIP, then led by Nigel Farage, who was later replaced by Diane James and then by Paul Nuttall in 2016, won 12.7% of the vote in 2015 but gained only one MP, Douglas Carswell, who left the party in March 2017 to sit as an independent. After securing 3.8% of the vote and one MP in the previous general election, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett was succeeded by joint leaders Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley in September 2016. Smaller parties that contested the 2015 election and chose not to put forward candidates in 2017 included Mebyon Kernow, the Communist Party of Britain, the Scottish Socialist Party, and the National Front. The Respect Party, which had previously held seats, was dissolved in 2016; its former MP George Galloway stood and lost in the 2017 election as an independent in Manchester Gorton.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the Green Party of Northern Ireland and the Alliance Party contested the 2017 election. Sinn Féin maintained its abstentionist policy. The DUP, Sinn Féin, SDLP, UUP and APNI were all led by new party leaders, changed since the 2015 election. The Conservatives, Greens, and four other minor parties also stood. Despite contesting 10 seats last time, UKIP did not stand in Northern Ireland.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: 3,304 candidates stood for election, down from 3,631 in the previous general election. The Conservatives stood in 637 seats, Labour in 631 (including jointly with the Co-operative Party in 50) and the Liberal Democrats in 629. UKIP stood in 377 constituencies, down from 624 in 2015, while the Greens stood in 468, down from 573. The SNP contested all 59 Scottish seats and Plaid Cymru stood in all 40 Welsh seats. In Great Britain, 183 candidates stood as independents; minor parties included the Christian Peoples Alliance which contested 31 seats, the Yorkshire Party which stood in 21, the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 12, the British National Party in 10, the Pirate Party in 10, the English Democrats in 7, the Women's Equality Party in 7, the Social Democratic Party in 6, the National Health Action Party in 5 and the Workers Revolutionary Party in 5, while an additional 79 candidates stood for 46 other registered political parties.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In Wales, 213 candidates stood for election. Labour, Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, and Liberal Democrats contested all forty seats and there were 32 UKIP and 10 Green candidates. In Scotland, the SNP, the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats stood in all 59 seats while UKIP contested 10 seats and the Greens only 3.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Of the 109 candidates in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance contested all 18 seats; the DUP stood in 17, the UUP in 14 and the Conservatives and Greens stood in 7 each. People Before Profit and the Workers' Party contested two seats while Traditional Unionist Voice and the new Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance stood in one each; four independents including incumbent Sylvia Hermon also stood.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Unlike in previous elections, the timetable of the snap election required parties to select candidates in just under three weeks, to meet the 11 May deadline.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: For the Conservatives, local associations in target seats were offered a choice of three candidates by the party's headquarters from an existing list of candidates, without inviting applications; candidates in non-target seats were to be appointed directly by central party offices; and successful MPs were to be confirmed by a meeting of their local parties. This was controversial with local associations. The Labour Party required sitting MPs to express their intention to stand, automatically re-selecting those who did; and it advertised for applications from party members for all remaining seats by 23 April. Having devolved selections to its Scottish and Welsh parties, Labour's National Executive Committee endorsed all parliamentary candidates on 3 May except for Rochdale, the seat of suspended MP Simon Danczuk. On 7 May, Steve Rotheram announced he was standing down as MP for Liverpool Walton following his election as Liverpool City Region mayor, leaving five days to appoint a candidate by close of nominations.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The SNP confirmed on 22 April that its 54 sitting MPs would be re-selected and that its suspended members Natalie McGarry and Michelle Thomson would not be nominated as SNP candidates; the party subsequently selected candidates for McGarry's and Thomson's former seats, as well as for the three Scottish constituencies it did not win in 2015. The Liberal Democrats had already selected 326 candidates in 2016 and over 70 in 2017 before the election was called. Meetings of local party members from UKIP, the Greens and Plaid Cymru selected their candidates. Parties in Northern Ireland were not believed to have already selected candidates due to the Assembly elections in March.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Former employment minister Esther McVey was selected to contest Tatton. Zac Goldsmith was adopted as the candidate for Richmond Park, having lost the 2016 by-election as an independent in protest against the form of the Government's chosen expert's recommended Heathrow expansion. He had served as the seat's Conservative MP between 2010 and 2016. Kenneth Clarke, the Father of the House of Commons, had said he would retire in 2020 and so stood again in the 2017 election, leaving it open for him to retire possibly in 2022 (he eventually retired in 2019 when that year's national election was called).


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Tony Lloyd, a former Labour MP for Manchester Central who served as Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012 and interim Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2015 stood in Rochdale.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Eli Aldridge was just 18 years old when he challenged then Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron in his Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency. News coverage showed Aldridge balancing campaigning with revision for his A-level examinations, even missing the start of his end-of-year ball to speak at a hustings in Kendal.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Those ministers defeated in 2015 who stood for election in their former seats included Vince Cable in Twickenham, Ed Davey in Kingston and Surbiton, Jo Swinson in East Dunbartonshire, and Simon Hughes in Bermondsey and Old Southwark.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: After coming second in the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election earlier in 2017, UKIP leader Paul Nuttall contested Boston and Skegness.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Former Labour MP Simon Danczuk stood as an independent candidate, after being rejected from standing with that party and then withdrawing his party membership. After the Liberal Democrats rejected David Ward, the former MP for Bradford East, for anti-semitism, he contested that seat as an independent.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Ahead of the general election, crowdfunding groups such as More United and Open Britain were formed to promote candidates of similar views standing for election, and a "progressive alliance" was proposed. Former UKIP donor Arron Banks suggested a "patriotic alliance" movement. A Tactical voting spreadsheet to keep the Conservatives out of government went viral on social media. Gina Miller, who took the government to court over Article 50, set out plans to tour marginal constituencies in support of pro-EU candidates.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Within a few days of the election being announced, the Green Party of England and Wales and the SNP each proposed to collaborate with Labour and the Liberal Democrats to prevent a Conservative majority government. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron quickly reaffirmed his party's opposition to an electoral pact or coalition with Labour, citing "electorally toxic" Corbyn and concerns over Labour's position on Brexit. On 22 April the Liberal Democrats also ruled out a coalition deal with the Conservatives and SNP. Labour ruled out an electoral pact with the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Greens.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Notwithstanding national arrangements, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and UKIP indicated they might not stand in every constituency. The Green Party of England and Wales chose not to contest 22 seats explicitly "to increase the chance of a progressive candidate beating the Conservatives", including South West Surrey, the seat of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in favour of the National Health Action Party candidate. The Scottish Green Party contested just three constituencies. The Liberal Democrats agreed to stand down in Brighton Pavilion. After indicating it might not nominate candidates in seats held by strongly pro-Brexit Conservative MPs, UKIP nominated 377 candidates; it was suggested this would help the Conservatives in marginal seats.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In Northern Ireland, there were talks between the DUP and UUP. Rather than engaging in a formal pact, the DUP agreed not to contest Fermanagh and South Tyrone, while the UUP chose not to stand in four constituencies. Talks took place between Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Green Party in Northern Ireland about an anti-Brexit agreement (the Alliance Party were approached but declined to be involved) but no agreement was reached; the Greens said there was "too much distance" between the parties, Sinn Féin's abstentionist policy was criticised, and the SDLP admitted an agreement was unlikely. On 8 May, the SDLP rejected Sinn Féin's call for them to stand aside in some seats.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Prior to the calling of the general election, the Liberal Democrats gained Richmond Park from the Conservatives in a by-election, a seat characterised by its high Remain vote in the 2016 EU referendum. The Conservatives held the safe seat of Sleaford and North Hykeham in December 2016. In by-elections on 23 February 2017, Labour held Stoke-on-Trent Central but lost Copeland to the Conservatives, the first time a governing party had gained a seat in a by-election since the Tories took Mitcham and Morden in 1982.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The general election came soon after the Northern Ireland Assembly election on 2 March. Talks on power-sharing between the DUP and Sinn Féin had failed to reach a conclusion, with Northern Ireland thus facing either another Assembly election, or the imposition of direct rule. The deadline was subsequently extended to 29 June.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Local elections in England, Scotland and Wales took place on 4 May. These saw large gains by the Conservatives, and large losses by Labour and UKIP. Notably, the Conservatives won metro mayor elections in Tees Valley and the West Midlands, areas traditionally seen as Labour heartlands. Initially scheduled for 4 May, a by-election in Manchester Gorton was cancelled; the seat was contested on 8 June along with all the other seats.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 6 May, a letter from Church of England Archbishops Justin Welby and John Sentamu stressed the importance of education, housing, communities and health.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: All parties suspended campaigning for a time in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing on 22 May. The SNP had been scheduled to release their manifesto for the election but this was delayed. Campaigning resumed on 25 May.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Major political parties also suspended campaigning for a second time on 4 June, following the London Bridge attack. UKIP chose to continue campaigning. There were unsuccessful calls for polling day to be postponed.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The UK's withdrawal from the European Union was expected to be a key issue in the campaign, but featured less than expected. May said she called the snap election to secure a majority for her Brexit negotiations. UKIP supported a "clean, quick and efficient Brexit" and, launching his party's election campaign, Nuttall stated that Brexit was a "job half done" and UKIP MPs were needed to "see this through to the end".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Labour had supported Brexit in the previous parliament - Corbyn did not vote against the triggering of Article 50. Corbyn's actions in the previous parliament therefore dispelled the doubts of Labour voters who had voted to leave the EU. However, his vision for Brexit prioritised different plans for the UK outside the EU. He wanted to Britain to still maintain the benefits of the single market and the custom union. The Liberal Democrats and Greens called for a deal to keep the UK in the single market and a second referendum on any deal proposed between the EU and the UK.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The Conservative manifesto committed the party to leaving the single market and customs union, but sought a "deep and special partnership" through a comprehensive free trade and customs agreement. It proposed seeking to remain part of some EU programmes where it would "be reasonable that we make a contribution", staying as a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights over the next parliament, and maintaining the Human Rights Act during Brexit negotiations. Parliament would be able to amend or repeal EU legislation once converted into UK law, and have a vote on the final agreement.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Two major terrorist attacks took place during the election campaign, with parties arguing about the best way to prevent such events. May, after the second attack, focused on global co-operation to tackle Islamist ideology and tackling the use of the internet by terrorist groups. After the first attack, Labour criticised cuts in police numbers under the Conservative government. Corbyn also linked the Manchester attack to British foreign policy. The Conservatives stated that spending on counter-terrorism for both the police and other agencies had risen.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Former Conservative strategist Steve Hilton said Theresa May should be "resigning not seeking re-election", because her police cuts and security failures had led to the attacks. Corbyn backed calls for May to resign, but said she should be removed by voters. May said that police budgets for counter-terrorism had been maintained and that Corbyn had voted against counter-terrorism legislation.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The Conservative manifesto proposed more government control and regulation of the Internet, including forcing Internet companies to restrict access to extremist and adult content. Following the London attack, Theresa May called for international agreements to regulate the internet. The Conservative stance on regulation of the internet and social media was criticised by Farron and the Open Rights Group.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 6 June, May promised longer prison sentences for people convicted of terrorism and restrictions on the freedom of movement or deportation of militant suspects when it is thought they present a threat but there is not enough evidence to prosecute them, stating that she would change human rights laws to do so if necessary.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The UK's nuclear weapons, including the renewal of the Trident system, also featured in the campaign. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats favoured Trident renewal. Labour's manifesto committed to Trident renewal; Corbyn confirmed renewal would take place under Labour, but declined to explicitly speak in favour. He also declined to answer whether as prime minister he would use nuclear weapons if the UK was under imminent nuclear threat.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Social care became a major election issue after the Conservative Party's manifesto included new proposals, which were subsequently altered after criticism. The previous coalition government had commissioned a review by Andrew Dilnot into how to fund social care. Measures that were seen to disadvantage pensioners were also in the Conservative manifesto: eliminating the pension triple lock and Winter Fuel Payments for all pensioners. After the election, journalist Tim Shipman argued that social care was the single issue that cost May her majority.