title: N. V. Ramana

text: He was born in a Telugu-speaking agrarian family on 27 August 1957 in Ponnavaram village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: From 1979 to 1980, Ramana was a journalist for the Eenadu newspaper. He enrolled as an advocate on February 10, 1983. He practiced in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Central and Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunals and the Supreme Court of India, handling civil, criminal, labor, service and election matters. He also handled a number of constitutional matters, including federal river disputes in India. Ramana was a counsel for several government organizations during this time, including an appointment as an additional standing counsel for the Central Government and a standing counsel for the Indian Railways in the Central Administrative Tribunal at Hyderabad. He has also functioned as the Additional Advocate General of the state of Andhra Pradesh.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: Ramana became a permanent judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 27 June 2000. On 2 September 2013, he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and on 17 February 2014 he became a judge in the Supreme Court of India. In March 2021, then Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde of the Supreme Court recommended him as his successor to the post of chief justice. Ramana was appointed the 48th Chief Justice by President Ram Nath Kovind on 6 April 2021, taking his oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 24 April 2021. He retired on 26 August 2022. He was succeeded by Justice U.U. Lalit.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: His tenure as chief justice saw an increase in judicial appointments to the Supreme Court and high courts, which brought down vacancies to their lowest since 2016. He allowed exclusive online access to the media to attend court proceedings.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: He also did key judicial interventions in many cases. Some notable ones are: putting sedition law on hold, cancelling the bail granted to Ashish Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, setting up a panel to investigate the Pegasus case in which the bench said that the Union government did not cooperate in the investigation, and his judgement that a woman's household labor is equivalent to an office going man. As Chief Justice he constituted a 3 judge panel presided by him to look into a petition challenging a 2013 Supreme Court verdict which held the practice of political parties distributing private goods like televisions, laptops, etc. as not a corrupt practice and considered them to come under the directive principles, while the petitioners considered them to be "irrational freebies".


title: N. V. Ramana

text: He was criticized for not initiating a judicial review in any of the cases which require a constitutional bench. 53 such cases were pending when he retired. Some of the pending cases of importance include, a challenge to Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, a challenge to Electoral Bonds scheme, the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and Karnataka hijab ban.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: While speaking at a lecture on "Democracy: Role and Responsibilities of Investigative Agencies", he discussed the evolution of the police system in India from the British period. As time passed he noted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has "come under deep public scrutiny". According to Ramana, through "actions and inactions" CBI have often raised "questions on its credibility". He said it was the need of the hour to "reclaim social legitimacy and public trust" and the first step to that "is to break nexus with political and executive".


title: N. V. Ramana

text: He said, "The image of police is tarnished by allegations of corruption etc... often police officers approach us saying they are being harassed with change in power… The political executives will change with time. You are permanent", "There is an immediate requirement for the creation of an independent umbrella institution, so as to bring various agencies like the CBI, SFIO, ED, etc. under one roof. This body is required to be created under a statute, clearly defining its powers, functions and jurisdictions. Such a law will also lead to much needed legislative oversight,".


title: N. V. Ramana

text: He suggested that the proposed independent and impartial authority, should be "appointed by a committee akin to the one which appoints the Director of the CBI. The head of the organisation can be assisted by deputies who are specialists in different domains".


title: N. V. Ramana

text: While speaking at the All India District Legal Services Authorities meet as the Chief Justice he highlighted the fact that only a small percentage of the population could afford to approach the courts while the majority suffered in silence, and considered access to justice a tool of social emancipation. He highlighted the need to strengthen district judiciary, and urged lawyers and the judiciary to actively intervene on behalf of the rights of the undertrial prisoners.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: While speaking at an event at the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly he stated that the opposition space was diminishing, and the lack of mutual respect and increasing hostility between the government and opposition was not a sign of healthy democracy. He stated that India is a parliamentary democracy with representation being the core idea of such a democracy, with minority not being overwhelmed by the majority. He believed that the opposition should be strengthened to strengthen parliamentary democracy but believed that the opposition space was diminishing with the government passing laws without deliberation and scrutiny.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: In October 2020, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote to the then chief justice, S. A. Bobde, alleging that Ramana and his relatives had engaged in corruption in relation to the acquisition of land in the newly established city of Amaravati, and was attempting to destabilize the Andhra Pradesh Government by allegedly influencing hearings and decisions in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Reddy asked the chief justice to investigate the matter and take appropriate action. The letter was widely reported and provoked both, support for an investigation as well as opposition from judges and lawyers' bodies. The Delhi High Court Bar Association condemned the letter, and the All India Lawyers' Union called for an inquiry, with penalties to be imposed on Reddy if the allegations were found to be untrue. Following the release of the letter, Ramana spoke at an event to release a book by former Supreme Court judge R. Banumathi, stating that judges had become "soft targets for criticism" and "victims of juicy gossip and slanderous social media posts."


title: N. V. Ramana

text: Prior to this, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had, in September 2020, gagged the media from reporting on the registration of a case of corruption concerning land deals in Amravati against several persons, including Ramana's daughters. The gag order was later lifted by the Supreme Court, after hearing the advocates on merits; meanwhile, a stay on the investigation continued until November 2020.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: In November 2020, the Attorney General of India, K. K. Venugopal refused to grant permission for proceedings of contempt of court against Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy after he was requested to do so by BJP leader Aswini Kumar Upadhyay. He noted that while Reddy's comments were "contumacious" and that the timing of his letter was "suspect" as the Andhra Pradesh High Court was currently hearing a number of cases concerning allegations of corruption against Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's government, he would nevertheless, not be allowing a contempt case to proceed against Reddy at the Supreme Court for his statements about Ramana. The Attorney General also declined a second request to initiate contempt proceedings, stating that the Court was free to initiate proceedings by itself.


title: N. V. Ramana

text: In November 2020, three petitions were filed at the Supreme Court against Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for the allegations made in his letter, calling for his removal as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in response to the allegations against Ramana. Supreme Court Judge U.U. Lalit recused himself from hearing these petitions. On 24 March 2021, the Supreme Court issued a statement indicating that according to an in-house procedure for investigating complaints, the allegations against Ramana had been found to be "meritless" and closed the investigation. The Court also stated that they would not be releasing their report on the allegations, as it was "...strictly confidential."


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: Alana Kimberly Stewart (born August 20, 1979) is an American socialite, television personality, and model. She is the daughter of singer Rod Stewart and actress and model Alana Stewart.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: Stewart was born on August 20, 1979, in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California. She is the second of Rod Stewart's eight children and second of Alana Stewart's three children. After graduating from Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, California, she spent several years studying acting with coaches Janet Alhanti and Ivana Chubbuck. Stewart studied in London with theatre coaches Barbara Houseman (Central School of Speech and Drama/Royal Shakespeare Company coach) and Penny Dyer (Rada and Central School of Speech & Drama coach) and with singing coach Mark Meylan, who works with The Royal National Theatre.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: She is close with both her parents, and also George Hamilton; the father of her older half-brother Ashley Hamilton. She and her brother Sean both consider George to be their stepfather due to his close friendship with their mother.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: In January 2021, Stewart started The Realm by Kimberly Stewart, a luxury organization company based in Los Angeles, New York, and Palm Beach. Stewart and her team offer organization, declutter, unpacking, and design services for closets, bedrooms, bathrooms, pantries, kitchens, offices, garages, and more.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: Stewart has worked as an actress and brand ambassador. Stewart's American television work includes a leading role in "Going to California", written by Scott Rosenberg and directed by Ted Demme, and appearing in one episode of Judd Apatow's series, "Undeclared." Stewart's first film was James Toback′s "Black and White", which also starred Robert Downey, Jr. and Jared Leto. In 2011 Stewart starred in the movie "Homecoming", written and directed by Sean Hackett.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: Stewart has appeared on the covers for "Tatler" and German "Vanity Fair", which Bryan Adams shot; and she has worked with fashion companies including Tommy Hilfiger, American "Vogue", "L'uomo Vogue", "Elle", Italian "Vogue", "Vanity Fair", MaxMara, Richard Tyler, Catherine Malandrino, underwear line Ultimo, "Tatler", "InStyle", House of Field, and Chrome Hearts.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: She realized an early ambition, at age 19, when she launched her own fashion collection – "Pinky Starfish." Known for its dresses made from French vintage fabrics, the range was sold in Tracey Ross, Lisa Kline and Barney's.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: On September 9, 2008, the Atlanta-based band, "Elevation", released the music video for its single, "Razoreyes", starring Stewart, marking a first in her career.


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: Stewart posed nude in 2008 in the British society magazine "Tatler", along with Peaches Geldof, daughter of the Boomtown Rats′ Bob Geldof, and Leah Wood, daughter of the Rolling Stones′ Ronnie Wood. The photographer was Canadian rocker and photographer Bryan Adams. Stewart had previously posed nude with a crucifix in Italian "Vogue".


title: Kimberly Stewart

text: On April 11, 2011, Benicio del Toro's publicist announced that Stewart was pregnant with their child. Stewart gave birth to a daughter, Delilah Genoveva Stewart on August 21, 2011. Delilah is Rod Stewart's first grandchild.


title: Top Secret!

text: Top Secret! is a 1984 American action comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker (ZAZ). It stars Val Kilmer (in his film debut role) and Lucy Gutteridge alongside a supporting cast featuring Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, and Jeremy Kemp.


title: Top Secret!

text: The film parodies various film styles such as musicals starring Elvis Presley, spy films of the Cold War era and World War II films. The original music score was composed by Maurice Jarre.


title: Top Secret!

text: Nick Rivers, an American rock star ("Skeet Surfin' "), travels to East Germany (which is represented as like Hitler's regime) to perform at a cultural festival, which secretly serves the East German government as a diversion for a military operation with the intent of reuniting Germany under their rule. At a dinner, Nick encounters Hillary Flammond, a member of the local resistance movement who is attempting to avoid the authorities. He pretends to be her date to get to know her, and performs an impromptu song and dance ("Tutti Frutti"), mistakenly thinking he was asked to do so, to the delight of Hillary and the diners but to the annoyance of General Streck, the mastermind of the "reunification" plot.


title: Top Secret!

text: Nick later sees Hillary at a ballet, where she expects to rendezvous with the resistance leader but is met by the police instead. Nick saves her and they try to escape, but Nick turns himself in so that Hillary can get away. He is taken to a prison where he is questioned and tortured, but he knows nothing and does not break. In an escape attempt, he ends up in the secret prison lab of Dr. Paul Flammond, a brilliant scientist developing the "Polaris naval mine", a device that can destroy the entire NATO submarine fleet as part of the government's plot. The East Germans force him to work by threatening to kill his daughter Hillary. Nick is recaptured and scheduled for execution.


title: Top Secret!

text: The East Germans decide that Nick must perform to avoid an international incident, and he does so to the rapturous joy of the local girls ("How Silly Can You Get"/"Spend This Night with Me"). He is rescued by Hillary at the end of his performance, after which they spend the night in the loft of a Swedish bookstore. Nick plays for her ("Are You Lonesome Tonight?") and they make love. The next morning, they are moved to the "Potato Farm" where they meet members of the French Resistance, led by Nigel "The Torch", who was Hillary's lover from when they were stranded on an island as youths. Nick is upset by Hillary's love for Nigel, but accepts that they must work together for the cause. After fighting off an attack by the East Germans (who were tipped off by a mystery traitor) they move to a pizza restaurant, where Nick proves his identity by performing for the locals ("Straighten Out the Rug").


title: Top Secret!

text: The resistance group stages a rescue of Dr. Flammond, where Nigel and Du Quois, a resistance leader, dress up in a fake cow outfit to disable the prison's defenses. While the other members successfully infiltrate the prison, Nigel reveals himself as the traitor. Dr. Flammond is rescued, but Nigel makes off with Hillary, and Nick is forced to rescue her in an underwater bar fight. With their flight about to leave, Hillary chooses to go with Nick and her father to America.


title: Top Secret!

text: After the success of "Airplane!" the team of ZAZ were unsure of what to do next. They made the TV series "Police Squad!" but it was cancelled after six episodes. David Zucker explained:


title: Top Secret!

text: We just needed a subject that we would be excited about. Starting out, we didn’t have a whole genre like the airplane disaster movies. We were just fans of those black and white World War II movies that were made during the war. Somehow, we didn’t think that was enough: we didn’t want to do a period piece, we wanted to make it contemporary. That was the whole concept of ‘Top Secret!’: that it was not necessarily grounded in reality, but it would have kind of this heightened sense of craziness – even to which genres we were picking, which was a split hybrid between Elvis movies and the World War II movies.


title: Top Secret!

text: David Zucker said they had been working on the script since "Airplane!" "but we just couldn't figure out how to do it. We made repeated attempts to combine a rock and roll movie with a World War II movie but it was very difficult to do ... We already had ideas for scenes we wanted to do and we tried to fit in plot around those scenes". A fourth writer, Martyn Burke, was brought in to work on the plot. "If it weren't for Martyn we'd still be sitting in that room", said Jerry Zucker.


title: Top Secret!

text: The film was mostly written at the offices of ZAZ's lawyers. The film's budget was a reported $8.5 million, whereas "Airplane!" was made for $3.2 million. Key portions of "Top Secret!" are parodies of "The Conspirators", including the street scene with the novelty vendor.


title: Top Secret!

text: Kilmer was cast after the directors saw him in a play called "Slab Boys" with Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. He turned up to the audition dressed like Elvis Presley. "I like to think of it as the role Elvis never got but should have", said Abrahams. Lucy Gutteridge, who plays the female lead, had just appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of "Nicholas Nickleby".


title: Top Secret!

text: Unlike "Airplane!", the film does not feature a large number of cameos by famous actors, because, as Zucker explained, "That was one of the jokes in "Airplane!" and we had done it and wanted to move on." Two well-known actors who were cast in the film were Omar Sharif as Agent Cedric and Peter Cushing as a Swedish bookstore proprietor.


title: Top Secret!

text: The film was test screened at various colleges and as a result of audience responses, the length was cut from around two hours to 90 minutes.


title: Top Secret!

text: The film was scheduled for release on June 8, 1984 but Paramount pushed the date back to June 22, angering some exhibitors. The official reason was that Paramount wanted to avoid competing against "Ghostbusters" and "Gremlins" although rumours spread that the studio was dissatisfied with the film's quality. Producer Jon Davison denied this saying "Paramount has a lot of confidence in the picture or they wouldn't have cared. The mere fact that they've bothered to trouble some of their relationships with exhibitors shows their faith in the picture."


title: Top Secret!

text: The film was considered a box-office bomb, though it still earned $20 million. A 1991 article speculated two possible reasons – the performance of "" (although it had different producers from the original), along with "the lack of any clear sense of period, something that may throw viewers who insist on comedic nonessentials like interior logic. It's basically a parody of World War II-French Resistance movies, but along the way it also skewers '50s rock 'n' roll films ... '60s "Beach Party" movies and 'The Blue Lagoon,' among other lampoon-worthy source material."


title: Top Secret!

text: "The lesson we took from "Airplane!" was just fill up 90 minutes with jokes, and you have a movie", reflected David Zucker later. "With "Top Secret", it's very funny, but it really isn't a good movie. It really didn't have a plot or real characters or real structure."


title: Top Secret!

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 76% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Top Secret!" finds the team of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker sending up everything from spy movies to Elvis musicals with reckless, loony abandon."


title: Top Secret!

text: Roger Ebert rated it out of 4 stars and applauded the humor, noting that "to describe the plot would be an exercise in futility" and "This movie will cheerfully go for a laugh wherever one is even remotely likely to be found." "Weird Al" Yankovic considers this his all-time favorite movie. Jay Bauman of Red Letter Media described it as the best ZAZ film and "maybe one of the best comedies of all time." Cinema historian Leonard Maltin's review of the film was mixed, he gave it a score of 2.5 out of 4 and described it as: "Likably silly, with lots of laughs but not much momentum ... and where's the ending?"


title: Antigone

text: In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene. The meaning of the name is, as in the case of the masculine equivalent Antigonus, "worthy of one's parents" or "in place of one's parents". She appears in the three 5th century BC tragic plays written by Sophocles, known as the three Theban plays, and she is the main protagonist of the eponymous tragedy "Antigone".


title: Antigone

text: The story of Antigone was addressed by the fifth-century BC Greek playwright Sophocles in his Theban plays:


title: Antigone

text: Antigone and her sister Ismene are seen at the end of "Oedipus Rex" as Oedipus laments the "shame" and "sorrow" he is leaving his daughters to. He then begs Creon to watch over them, but in his grief reaches to take them with him as he is led away. Creon prevents him from taking the girls out of the city with him. Neither of them is named in the play.


title: Antigone

text: Antigone serves as her father's guide in "Oedipus at Colonus", as she leads him into the city where the play takes place. Antigone resembles her father in her stubbornness and doomed existence. She stays with her father for the majority of the play, until she is taken away by Creon in an attempt to blackmail Oedipus into returning to Thebes. However, Theseus defends Oedipus and rescues both Antigone and her sister who was also taken prisoner.


title: Antigone

text: At the end of the play, both Antigone and her sister mourn the death of their father. Theseus offers them the comfort of knowing that Oedipus has received a proper burial, but by his wishes, they cannot go to the site. Antigone then decides to return to Thebes.


title: Antigone

text: In her own namesake play, Antigone attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother Polynices. Oedipus's sons, Eteocles and Polynices, had shared rule jointly until they quarreled, and Eteocles expelled his brother. In Sophocles' account, the two brothers agreed to alternate rule each year, but Eteocles decided not to share power with his brother after his tenure expired. Polynices left the kingdom, gathered an army and attacked the city of Thebes in the war of the Seven against Thebes. Both brothers were killed in the battle.


title: Antigone

text: King Creon, who has ascended to the throne of Thebes after the death of the brothers, decrees that Polynices is not to be buried or even mourned, on pain of death by stoning. Antigone, Polynices' sister, defies the king's order and is caught.


title: Antigone

text: Antigone is brought before Creon, and admits that she knew of Creon's law forbidding mourning for Polynices but chose to break it, claiming the superiority of divine over human law, and she defies Creon's cruelty with courage, passion, and determination. Creon orders Antigone buried alive in a tomb. Although Creon has a change of heart and tries to release Antigone, he finds she has hanged herself. Creon's son Haemon, who was in love with Antigone, commits suicide with a knife, and his mother Queen Eurydice also kills herself in despair over her son's death. She had been forced to weave throughout the entire story, and her death alludes to The Fates. By her death Antigone ends up destroying the household of her adversary, Creon.


title: Antigone

text: In the oldest version of the story, the burial of Polynices takes place during Oedipus' reign in Thebes, before Oedipus marries his mother, Jocasta. However, in other versions such as Sophocles' tragedies "Oedipus at Colonus" and "Antigone", it occurs in the years after the banishment and death of Oedipus and Antigone's struggles against Creon.


title: Antigone

text: The dramatist Euripides also wrote a play called "Antigone", which is lost, but some of the text was preserved by later writers and in passages in his "Phoenissae". In Euripides, the calamity is averted by the intercession of Dionysus and is followed by the marriage of Antigone and Hæmon. Antigone also plays a role in the Phoenissae.


title: Antigone

text: Different elements of the legend appear in other places. A description of an ancient painting by Philostratus ("Imagines" ii. 29) refers to Antigone placing the body of Polynices on the funeral pyre, and this is also depicted on a sarcophagus in the Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome. And in Hyginus' version of the legend, founded apparently on a tragedy by some follower of Euripides, Antigone, on being handed over by Creon to her lover Hæmon to be slain, is secretly carried off by him and concealed in a shepherd's hut, where she bears him a son, Maeon. When the boy grows up, he attends some funeral games at Thebes, and is recognized by the mark of a dragon on his body. This leads to the discovery that Antigone is still alive. The demi-god Heracles then intercedes and pleads with Creon to forgive Hæmon, but in vain. Hæmon then kills Antigone and himself. The intercession by Heracles is also represented on a painted vase (circa 380–300 BC).


title: Antigone

text: In the works of Hegel, in particular in his discussion of Sittlichkeit in his "Phenomenology of Spirit" and his "Elements of the Philosophy of Right", Antigone is figured as exposing a tragic rift between the so-called feminine "Divine Law," which Antigone represents, and the "Human Law," represented by Creon.


title: Antigone

text: The psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan writes about the ethical dimension of Antigone in his Seminar VII, "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis." Others who have written on Antigone include theorist Judith Butler, in her book "Antigone's Claim", as well as philosopher Slavoj Žižek, in various works, including "Interrogating the Real" (Bloomsbury: London, 2005) and "The Metastases of Enjoyment" (Verso: London, 1994).


title: Antigone

text: A new translation of "Antigone" into English by the Canadian poet Anne Carson has been used in a production of the play (March 2015) at the Barbican directed by Ivo van Hove and featuring Juliette Binoche as Antigone. This production was broadcast as a TV movie on April 26, 2015. The play was transferred to the BAM Harvey Theatre at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, running from September 24 to October 4, 2015.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Honor of Kings (, unofficially translated as "King of Glory," or alternatively transliterated as Wangzhe Rongyao) is a multiplayer online battle arena developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Tencent Games for the iOS and Android mobile platforms in Mainland China.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Released in 2015, it has become one of the most relevant MOBA games in mainland China. An international adaptation, titled "Arena of Valor", was released in October 2016; it utilizes the same game engine and UI design but with greatly altered heroes to accommodate the Western market. As of November 2020, "Honor of Kings" had over 100 million daily active players, making it one of the most popular games in the world, as well as the highest-grossing mobile game of all time with over $13.4 billion in revenue generated. Additionally, it is one of the most downloaded apps globally.


title: Honor of Kings

text: In June 2022, Level Infinite, the publisher of "Arena of Valor," announced that "Honor of Kings" would be released globally by the end of 2022.


title: Honor of Kings

text: "Honor of Kings" (HoK) is a quick-match (15-20 mins) mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, one of the first of its kind inspired by "League of Legends", a video game for PC of the same genre by Riot Games, a subsidiary classified under Tencent Games.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Either a Tencent QQ account or a WeChat account is required to play the game. If two players use the same account type on different mobile platforms (for example both have WeChat accounts, but one player uses an iOS device and the other uses an Android device), cross-platform multiplayer is possible and with the latest update on September 24, 2020, a player can add friends and invite people from different platforms to guilds. Different account types—QQ and/or WeChat—cannot access the other's matchmaking queue, and their online status, even when using the same platform.


title: Honor of Kings

text: In February 2021, Honor of Kings was the second highest-earning mobile game worldwide for February 2021 with $218.5 million in gross revenue, which represented 57.2 percent year-over-year growth from February 2020. About 95.6 percent of Honor of Kings' revenue was from China, followed by 1.6 percent from Thailand.


title: Honor of Kings

text: The basic gameplay across all game modes involve controlling a character with unique abilities to kill non-player characters and opponents to gain experience and gold, with experience used to unlock their character's abilities or further augment the ability's power, and gold used to purchase items at the shop (which change specific attributes depending on the item bought). Players then coordinate to knock down enemy's defensive structures called turrets, and victory is achieved by destroying the core building, located within the enemy team's base. Specific gameplay mechanics vary depending on the game mode chosen.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Experience and gold are also earned across matches, which are applied to player accounts. Accounts start at level 1, with level 15 being the maximum level. Upon leveling up, users receive bonus in-game awards. Leveling up also unlocks certain summoners' abilities that can be applied to every hero the summoner uses. Gold can be used for a variety of purposes, such as purchasing new heros.


title: Honor of Kings

text: It is the most popular damage in the game, it appears with red-colour damage numbers. Physical damage can be decreased by armor.


title: Honor of Kings

text: It is the most powerful damage. This damage cannot be reduced by armor, it can be only decreased by damage-decrease buffs or skills.


title: Honor of Kings

text: "Honor of Kings" has a variety of game modes, with a majority of them focused on competitive matchmaking. When there is no network connection, players can choose stand-alone mode. When there is a network, players can choose a variety of battle modes. Players can either face off against each other in player versus player matches (including 1v1, 3v3, 5v5) or participate in various player versus environment adventure modes.


title: Honor of Kings

text: In each of the player vs player modes, there are options to battle AI players, otherwise known as computers. The AI could be set on easy, normal, or hard modes. Also, players can open 'rooms' where they can invite a friend or someone that they had recently battled with or against to battle with them. There is also an option to open a 'draft room' to do a 5v5 where everybody was invited by someone else in the room.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Rift of Kings is the most commonly played game mode, this mode is used in KPL competitions the Ranked game mode using the same game map (see Ranked below). Ten players, each controlling a hero, are split into two opposing teams of 5. The teams start on opposing ends of the map, with the victory conditions either being to destroy the enemy's defense turrets in order to reach and destroy the enemy nexus base. To destroy the enemy nexus base, teams must destroy defense turrets, which are situated on the 3 main routes/lanes (top(rival lane[对抗路])middle(middle lane[中路]), and bottom(growing lane[发育路])used to reach the enemy's nexus base, nexus base can restore healthpoints slowly but defense turrets cannot.


title: Honor of Kings

text: As the turrets deal damage to heroes without the protection of minions which are periodically sent from the team's base, players must attack the turrets with minions by their side. Turrets prioritize enemy minions within their vicinity, but will immediately target enemy heroes if they attack allied heroes within the turret's range. Each player can increase their hero's level and gain coins by killing enemy minions, heroes, or wild creatures situated between lanes (also known as the 'jungle'(野区)).


title: Honor of Kings

text: Some creatures in the wild area also have certain status effects benefits (also known as 'buffs') which increase their hero's attributes. There are 5 kinds of buffs, blue, red, tyrant, juggernaut, and dragon(the strongest). For example, the blue buff is used to regenerate mana(MP), which many mages and assassins use to decrease the waste of mana and the cooling time of their abilities. The red buff is used to decrease the moving speed of the enemies, it also deals a few ‘real damage’(cannot be blocked by shield and defense points) this is must be given to the warrior or the archer. Both types of buffs last for 80 seconds.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Once a player's account reaches level 6 and owns at least 5 heroes, they are able to participate in ranked matchmaking. Players are able to join matchmaking either solo, in groups of 1,2, 3, or 5. Groups of 5 will only be matched with other groups of 5, and the same applies for groups of 3. The game's matchmaking system will match appropriate teammates and opponents according to the player's rank and win rate.


title: Honor of Kings

text: There are a total of 7 large matchmaking tiers, namely Tough Bronze, Order of Silver, Glory of Gold, Noble Platinum, Eternal Diamond, Master Star, Super King, and King of Glory in ascending order. Each large tier is further subdivided into several smaller tiers, denoted by their respective Roman numerals in descending order. In the Bronze and Silver tiers, there are 3 smaller tiers each (called Bronze III - I and Silver III - I); the Gold and Platinum tiers have 4 smaller tiers each (called Gold IV - I and Platinum IV - I); the Diamond and Master tiers have 5 smaller tiers each (called Diamond V - I and Master V - I); and the King tier uses a star system to determine rankings. If King players reach 50 stars, they are automatically up to King of Glory, where these players’ heroes mostly have a ‘National Rank’(国服）.


title: Honor of Kings

text: In each ranked game, stars can be gained or lost depending on the outcome of the match. Winning the match grants the player 1 star, while losing deducts 1 star. There are 3 stars in Bronze and Silver, 4 Stars in Gold and Platinum, and 5 stars in Diamond and Master in each smaller tier. If a player wins a match and max out their stars, they will be promoted to the next smaller/larger tier; losing with no stars in a small tier will deduct more stars.


title: Honor of Kings

text: This mode is full of expert and high-technical players as they need to increase their rank to above ‘Super King’ star one to participate in the game. Top Match is not allowed to group with other players in the whole game, the nickname of players will be disabled and replaced by ‘Top Player’ 1 to 10.


title: Honor of Kings

text: The Honor-point system introduces a secondary system to stars: Points may be earned in every match for ratings not disconnecting in the middle of matches and others. If the point is earned full, points will automatically be used to prevent the deduction of a star once, the point will return 0 after star protection. In other cases, the player could be promoted to an ‘Eagle-Eye Player’(Check for other players' in-game performance and give punishment) by maxing out points in the Honor system and doing a few tasks.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Matchmaking rankings are reset periodically, with every reset being known as a competitive 'season'. Each season lasts approximately 3–4 months, with season awards being awarded to players according to the highest tier achieved. Each season has 2 out-of-print skins that need to pay for the VIP award. Season points in the season portal will grant players season tokens(buy chests or skin chips, only usable in single-season), free skin chest, diamonds, and other special effects are in-game. The rank achieved at the end of a season is also used to calculate the starting rank for the next season. The rank will drop depending on how many stars they have.


title: Honor of Kings

text: The basic rules are similar to other game modes, with a total of 6 players (3 on each team). However, unlike other 5v5 game modes, the nexus base is unavalible to restore health points and there is only 1 lane/route to the enemy's base, with two wild areas to either side. Each team has two defense turrets, different from three in normal 5v5 mode with the victory conditions being the same as normal 5v5 game modes.


title: Honor of Kings

text: This is a single combat mode with only 2 players facing against each other. In this mode, there is only one defense turret, players only need to destroy the turret to win.


title: Honor of Kings

text: The basic rules are similar to Valley of Kings, however, this game mode has a faster pace. The defense turret has lower health, and the minions move faster. Every hero starts at level 2, and can gain gold and levels faster. The average game time is ten minutes. There are several buffs that are created randomly every two minutes, including cooling down time of abilities shorten by 40%, damage of abilities increased by 30%, movement of heroes increased by 150 points, attack speed of turret decreased by 50%. Additional ability of a hook that could drag the opponent to one's side, and invisibility which is removed when the player fights or goes near an opponent. This game mode requires players to adjust playing methods according to buffs to achieve victory.


title: Honor of Kings

text: In this mode, the game randomizes heroes. Players can spend diamonds to reroll a new random hero, putting the unchosen one into a selection pool from which their teammates can choose. If the player leaves the spawn area, they will not allowed to buy weapons until respawn. The arena only has one middle lane and a path that can generate healing or buffs. As time goes, the path will collapse and there will be one main lane to fight on. The minions are slightly different as well. Some minions has a healing sign. If it killed by a hero, it would drop a healing prop. when a player destroys their opponents' second turret, special minions will be generated with more attacking damage.


title: Honor of Kings

text: In this mode, there are eight players in total. Each turn, players are presented with five random cards representing different heroes, for which players can pay gold to purchase the heroes and place them on their own chess board. More powerful heroes cost more gold. Each hero starts with one star, and three same heroes would grant this hero two stars. The maximum star level is three. After each player places their heroes on the board, there will be fights of heroes between two players, with the defeated player losing health points. The fights take turns until the last player stands. The ranking system is similar to Ranked Matching (5v5).


title: Honor of Kings

text: This arena is circular and divided into 3 main lanes (top, middle, and bottom). Each player will spawn in either location A or B randomly. Each player starts with 800 initial gold, level 2, and an additional ability of fireball. Location 1, 2 and 3 will spawn jungle creatures. The outside of each lane is filled with lava which will make players lose health points and decrease movement speed. Each game has a time limit of ten minutes while the first team that reaches thirty kills will win immediately.


title: Honor of Kings

text: The additional ability of fireball causes no damage, but a knockback effect. This game mode has three kinds of random buffs, including 30 seconds of control-free effect, increasing movement speed, and increasing cooldown speed by 40%. The respawn time for each player is 15 seconds and the respawned player will be placed randomly within the arena.


title: Honor of Kings

text: The clone fight opens from Friday to Sunday. A few heroes will be banned to make the game fair. The basic rules are similar to Rifft of Kings, however, the hero selection stage is different. In each game, the five players will vote for heroes, with the hero with the most votes being the one that the whole team uses for the entire game. If there is a tie, the system will choose one hero randomly. The two parties could use the same hero as well.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Some modes are rarely appear in arcade modes such as awakening brawl, snow race track. These modes are only playable in special days, 55 Gaming Day or 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Players may choose between a wide variety of heroes, each with special abilities, cosmetic skins and backstories. There are a total of 111 heroes and they are generally classified as: Tank (close/long range[depends on what you use, for example: Zhuang Zhou, is long range but Arthur is close range], very high defense and high attack), Warrior (close combat, high defense and attack), Assassin (For example: Jing Ke. close or long range combat, medium defense but very high physical damage, except Sima Yi), Mage (For example: Daji. low defense but very high long-range magic damage), Archer (For example: Hou Yi. very low defense but extremely high long-range physical damage) and Support (high defense and have great ability to protect Archers). Some heroes are originated from mythical story of from China (Pan Gu) while others are famous people from Chinese history (Guan Yu). The game even has its own heroes() based off its original story.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Timi L1 Studio collaborated with Japanese gaming company SNK to feature Mai Shiranui from the "Fatal Fury" and "The King of Fighters" series, and Charlotte, Ukyo Tachibana, Nakoruru, and Haohmaru from the "Samurai Shodown" series as guest characters in "Honor of Kings". Similarly, Gongsun Li, a character made from "Honor of Kings", also appeared as a playable guest character in SNK's 2019 fighting game "Samurai Shodown", shows that two companies share their game characters.


title: Honor of Kings

text: The studio also got the prove of Lionel Messi to add a new Messi skin for a hero "Pei QinHu" in the day of the opening of 2018 FIFA World Cup. This rare (王者荣耀裴擒虎梅西皮肤) skin only sold in a few days in a year. As Messi’s popularity and the skin has brilliant football gaming effects, it is highly appreciated by HoK players in China.


title: Honor of Kings

text: After Tencent fully acquired Riot Games in 2015, Tencent asked them to make a mobile version of "League of Legends", as multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games were very rare on mobile at the time, with "Vainglory" by Super Evil Megacorp (formed by ex-Riot Games employees) being the only notable title. Tencent wanted to seize the opportunity to dominate the mobile market because there aren't any strong competitor aside from "Vainglory".


title: Honor of Kings

text: However, Riot Games declined due to mobile game was not commonly seen as the platform for competitive games, and claimed that the gameplay of "League of Legends" could not be replicated on smartphones. Be that as it may, Tencent was still determined to launch a MOBA game on mobile. After having heard the refusal from Riot Games, Lightspeed & Quantum Studios and TiMi Studios (as both are also Tencent's video game development studio) raced to develop a MOBA game that fit the bill, resulting an internal competition.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Lightspeed & Quantum's "We MOBA" and TiMi's "League of Kings" (rough translation from 王者联盟/"Wángzhě Liánméng") were launched on the same day, on August 18, 2015. A month later, "We MOBA" was already the third most-downloaded mobile game on Apple's iOS worldwide, according to app analytics firm App Annie, while "League of Kings" was nowhere near "We MOBA". "League of Kings" was then taken down for an overhaul, and was relaunched on October, 2015. TiMi Studios also used "League of Legends" as a base model to overhaul "League of Kings", resulting both game having a lot of similarity. "League of Kings" also implemented 5v5 game mode due to the game previously having poor reception with 3v3 concept. This time, "League of Kings" overtook "We MOBA" and won the internal competition. Tencent relishes and invested additional resources into "League of Kings" to ensure its success.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Nevertheless, Riot Games deemed that the design of characters and abilities in "League of Kings" were "blatantly ripping off the intellectual property of "League of Legends"" after they discovered how the game was produced, and reportedly brought these concerns to Tencent. Tencent responded that they would change its own game enough to sell as a standalone product with no relation to "League of Legends". Despite this, "League of Kings" had already gained massive popularity in China at this point due to the game was advertised as "mobile version of "League of Legends"" through social media and word-of-mouth marketing.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Tencent felt that it was too late to make huge changes to the game, so they renamed "League of Kings" (王者联盟/"Wángzhě Liánméng") to "Honor of Kings" (王者荣耀/"Wángzhě Róngyào") on November 26, 2015 (in which the date was marked as the official release date), and it only went through necessary changes. The international release of "Honor of Kings" was cancelled, and the game would have a western twin for markets outside mainland China which is rebranded and featured different contents, leading to the creation of "Arena of Valor", which also served as a response to Riot Games's complaints of "potential intellectual property infringement".


title: Honor of Kings

text: Even so, "Arena of Valor" was reported to have caused a gradually straining business relationship between Riot Games and Tencent, and the relationship between the two firms became further strained when Tencent used notable "League of Legends" players to promote "Arena of Valor" and its esports tournaments. Riot Games's complaints initiated a two-month marketing freeze for "Arena of Valor" and demands that Riot Games would be given the option to review all marketing plans, including a veto for use of select celebrity gamers. Nonetheless, Riot Games implied that their relationship with Tencent is still strong, and the conflict between them and their games is only "a bump in the road".


title: Honor of Kings

text: Riot Games eventually acknowledged the potential of the mobile market for the MOBA genre, and agreed to develop a mobile title for "League of Legends". Tencent then temporarily pulled marketing plans for "Arena of Valor" in Europe and North America in 2019, clearing room for Riot Games's announcement a few months later. Riot Games announced their own mobile MOBA game, "" on October 16, 2019, which is the 10th anniversary of "League of Legends".


title: Honor of Kings

text: In addition, the success of the MOBA genre on mobile inspired the creation of "Pokémon Unite", a "Pokémon" spin-off game, developed by TiMi Studio as well in a partnership with The Pokémon Company.


title: Honor of Kings

text: In 2016, the game had more than 50 million daily active users and more than 200 million registered users. The game grossed ¥10.4billion () in the last quarter of 2016. In November 2016, "Honor of Kings" topped the 2016 China pan entertainment festival "China IP index value list - game list top 10". In May 2017, it became the highest-grossing mobile game in the world. It had 160 million monthly active users. In May 2017, entertainer Lu Han was named ambassador of the game. In the month of February 2019, the game generated $1 billion. In 2020, the game grossed over $2.45 billion becoming the highest earning game of the year.


title: Honor of Kings

text: "Honor of Kings" contributed about 50% of the Tencent's mobile gaming revenues in 2017 and it made about ¥3 billion in gross revenue in April 2017 (). In June 2017, the analysis company APP Annie reported that "Honor of Kings" was the number 1 mobile game (excluding Android games) in the world in terms of income generated, with first quarter revenue of the game reaching . A cosmetic hero skin of Zhao Yun also had sold for $22 million in one day. At the time, Tencent reported 200 million registered users with 50 million daily active users. The game grossed in the second quarter of 2017. Between the last quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017, the game grossed .


title: Honor of Kings

text: In response to the national day of mourning designated on April 4, 2020 by China for those who had given up their lives or had passed away from the COVID-19 pandemic, all of Tencent's games announced a 24-hour suspension of service, which included "Honor of Kings."


title: Honor of Kings

text: The game's original soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer, Jeff Broadbent, Lorne Balfe and Duncan Watt, and was performed and recorded by The Chamber Orchestra of London at Abbey Road Studios in London.


title: Honor of Kings

text: A soundtrack album was released on 28 October 2015. The extended soundtrack released in year two includes every special event soundtrack since the game's release. Multiple score composers collaborated on the album, including Howard Shore, Thomas Parisch and Marcin Przybylowicz.


title: Honor of Kings

text: Year III-IV theme music was composed by Neal Acree. Additional music was provided by Matthew Carl Earl, Obadiah Brown-Beach, and Angela Little.


title: Honor of Kings

text: On January 25, 2020, Unisonar released the game's score digitally for the first time internationally. The score's executive producers are Sam Yang and Cheney Wu, with coordination by Channel Chen, production by Vivita Zheng and Thomas Parisch, and Hongfei Zhao serving as music director. The album, Honor of Kings Original Game Soundtrack, Vol. 1, consists of 16 original tracks and was produced by TiMi Audio.


title: Honor of Kings

text: On July 4, 2017, it was reported that the game owner's Tencent had suffered a loss of $14 billion, or 4.1%, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after the "People's Daily" criticized "Honor of Kings" ("Wangzhe Rongyao") as a "poison" for young people, calling the content "a twist of values and historical views" and addictive. "Variety" dubbed the two critical articles a "demonstration of the power of China's state-run media and propaganda machine." "Honor of Kings" producer Lin Min afterwards noted online that the game's design "fully complied with government requirements" and argued that "just like other forms of entertainment, games can be [a non-addictive] part of our normal daily lives."


title: Honor of Kings

text: In July 2017, "Honor of Kings" started limiting children under the age of 12 to one hour of play time per day, with an additional restriction from playing after 9pm. Children aged from 12 to 17 will be limited to two hours per day. It is believed that rising concerns over excessive gaming habits in children led Tencent to self-impose these restrictions.


title: Honor of Kings

text: On October 31, 2021, "Honor of Kings" updated it juvenile addiction prevention system following the requirement from National Press and Publication Administration. Juveniles only can log in to the game from 20:00 to 21:00 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays.


title: Harissa

text: Harissa ( "harīsa", from Maghrebi Arabic) is a hot chili pepper paste, native to the Maghreb. The main ingredients are roasted red peppers, Baklouti peppers (), spices and herbs such as garlic paste, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, cumin and olive oil to carry the oil-soluble flavors. Rose harissa, made with rose petals, is also made.


title: Harissa

text: Tunisia is the biggest exporter of prepared harissa and UNESCO lists it as part of Tunisia's Intangible Cultural Heritage. The origin of harissa goes back to the importation of chili peppers into Maghrebian cuisine by the Columbian exchange, presumably during the Spanish occupation of Ottoman Tunisia between 1535 and 1574.


title: Harissa

text: The word derives from the Arabic root 'harasa' () 'to pound, to break into pieces', referring to pounding chilis.


title: Harissa

text: In Algeria, harissa is commonly added to soups, stews, and couscous. Harissa paste can also be used as a rub for meat or eggplants. Another significant producer is Algeria's Annaba Province, which is also a significant consumer. According to cookbook author Martha Rose Shulman, premade harissa tastes rather different from that which is served in Tunisian and expatriate restaurants.


title: Harissa

text: Filfel chuma (), also spelled pilpelshuma, literally "pepper garlic", is the typical chili sauce of Libyan Jewish cuisine which is very similar to the harissa. It comes from Libyan cuisine, where it is known as ( or ). It is also known by other names such as "filfil mukhalal" () and (). It is made from powdered sweet and hot peppers and crushed garlic. Other ingredients, such as ground caraway seeds, cumin, lemon juice, and salt are sometimes added. It serves as a condiment and as an ingredient in dishes such as salads, meat, fish, legumes and rice, and egg dishes such as "shakshouka".


title: Harissa

text: Moroccan cuisine has also adopted harissa, using it as a side condiment for tagines, or sometimes mixed into dishes.


title: Harissa

text: Recipes for harissa vary according to the household and region. Variations can include the addition of fermented onions or lemon juice. Prepared harissa is sold in jars, cans, bottles and tubes. Harissa is sometimes described as "Tunisia's main condiment", even "the national condiment of Tunisia", or at least as "the hallmark of Tunisia's fish and meat dishes". In Tunisia, harissa is used as an ingredient in a meat (poultry, beef, goat, or lamb) or fish stew with vegetables, and as a flavoring for couscous. It is also used for "lablabi", a chickpea soup, and fricasse.


title: Harissa

text: Tunisia is the biggest exporter of prepared harissa. In 2006, the Tunisian production of harissa was 22,000 tonnes, incorporating about 40,000 tonnes of peppers. Tunisian harissa is often made with Baklouti peppers and chilis grown around Nabeul and Gabès, which are relatively mild, scoring 4,000–5,000 on the Scoville scale. On December 1 2022, UNESCO added "Harissa, knowledge, skills and culinary and social practices" as part of Tunisia's Intangible Cultural Heritage.


title: Brick (film)

text: Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by Rian Johnson in his directorial debut, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "Brick" was distributed by Focus Features, and opened in New York and Los Angeles on April 7, 2006.


title: Brick (film)

text: The film's narrative centers on a hardboiled detective story set in a California suburb. Most of the main characters are high school students. The film draws heavily in plot, characterization, and dialogue from hardboiled classics, especially those by Dashiell Hammett. The title refers to a block of heroin, compressed roughly to the size and shape of a brick.


title: Brick (film)

text: The film won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and received positive reviews from critics. It has come to be regarded as a cult classic.


title: Brick (film)

text: High school student Brendan Frye discovers a note directing him to a pay phone, where he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend Emily Kostich, begging him for help. She mentions a "bad brick", "the Pin", and "Tug" before abruptly hanging up, apparently afraid of a passing black Ford Mustang, from which a distinctively-branded cigarette is thrown. Unable to locate Emily, Brendan enlists his friend Brain for help. An encounter with another ex-girlfriend, Kara, leads him to a party held by flirtatious upper-class girl Laura Dannon and her boyfriend, Brad Bramish. Laura points Brendan to Dode, Emily's drug-addicted new boyfriend, who arranges a meeting with Emily.


title: Brick (film)

text: Emily dismisses the phone call as a mistake and tells Brendan to let her go. Brendan steals her notepad and finds a note that leads him to her dead body in a tunnel the following morning. Distraught, Brendan decides to investigate her murder, hiding the body to avoid police involvement. Brendan discovers that "the Pin" refers to a secretive local drug baron. As Brad is a known drug user, Brendan picks a fight with him, hoping to attract the Pin's attention. Later, a man wearing a beanie attacks Brendan.


title: Brick (film)

text: On his way home, Brendan sees the black Mustang in a parking lot and tries to break into it, but is caught by the beanie-wearing thug, who turns out to be the car owner. The man attacks Brendan, who repeatedly demands to meet the Pin instead of fighting back. The man is Tug, the Pin's main enforcer, who reluctantly takes Brendan to the Pin's house. Brendan asks the Pin for a job, and the Pin says he will investigate Brendan and either hire him or have him hurt; Brendan will find out which by the next day. Laura reveals that she was at the Pin's house the entire time and drives Brendan back to school. She explains that Emily stole a "brick" of heroin after being rejected by the Pin's operation. Laura offers to help Brendan, but he distrusts her.


title: Brick (film)

text: The next day, Brendan learns that the Pin has hired him. Dode calls Brendan and says he saw Brendan hide Emily's body. Believing Brendan is the murderer, he threatens to ruin him. Brendan meets the Pin, who suspects that Tug is planning to betray him. At the Pin's house, Tug tells Brendan that the Pin recently bought ten bricks of heroin. Eight were quickly sold off wholesale. The ninth was stolen and later returned contaminated, and the final brick remains to be sold. The Pin arrives and says that someone wants to meet to discuss Emily, revealing that Tug was also romantically involved with her.


title: Brick (film)

text: Brendan intercepts Dode on the way to the meeting and discovers Emily was pregnant when she died; Dode believes the baby was his. Brendan passes out from his accumulated injuries and arrives at the meeting late to find Dode demanding money to reveal who killed Emily. Tug goes berserk and shoots Dode in the head, then threatens the Pin, who walks away as Brendan faints again. Brendan awakens in Tug's bedroom, and Tug tells him they are at war with the Pin.


title: Brick (film)

text: Brendan arranges a meeting between the two and waits in Tug's bedroom. Laura comforts him as he grieves for Emily, and they kiss. Brendan recognizes her cigarette as the same brand that was dropped from the Mustang during the call with Emily. At the meeting, chaos erupts when it is discovered that the tenth brick is missing. Tug beats the Pin to death while Brendan flees, escaping just as police arrive. As he goes, he passes the partly-open trunk of Tug's car, where he has placed Emily's body to ensure that police blame her murder on Tug.


title: Brick (film)

text: The next day, Brendan meets Laura at the school. She reveals that Tug died after a shootout with the police. Brendan explains that he knows Laura set Emily up to take the fall for Laura's theft of the ninth brick, then manipulated Emily into meeting Tug, who panicked and killed her after she told him he was the father of her unborn child. Brendan has written a note to the school administration stating that the tenth brick is in Laura's locker. Laura vindictively tells Brendan that Emily did not want to keep the baby because she did not love the father, and that Emily was three months pregnant when she died, meaning the unborn child was his.


title: Brick (film)

text: The origins of "Brick" were Rian Johnson's obsessions with Dashiell Hammett's novels. Hammett was known for hardboiled detective novels, and Johnson wanted to make a straightforward American detective story. He had discovered Hammett's work through an interview of the Coen brothers about their 1990 gangster film, "Miller's Crossing". He read "Red Harvest" (1929) and then moved on to "The Maltese Falcon" (1930) and "The Glass Key" (1931), the latter of which had been the main influence for the Coens' film. Johnson had grown up watching detective films and film noir. Reading Hammett's novels inspired him to make his own contribution. He realized that this would result in a mere imitation and set his piece in high school to keep things fresh. Of the initial writing process he remarked "it was really amazing how all the archetypes from that detective world slid perfectly over the high school types". He also wanted to disrupt the visual traditions that came from the genre. Once he started making "Brick", he found it "very much about the experience of being a teenager to me". Johnson maintained that the film was not autobiographical.


title: Brick (film)

text: Johnson wrote the first draft in 1997 after graduating from USC School of Cinematic Arts a year earlier. He spent the next seven years pitching his script, but no one was interested, because the material was too unusual to make with a first-time director. Johnson estimated the minimal amount of money for which he could make the film, and asked friends and family for backing. His family were in the construction industry, and contributed enough to encourage others to contribute. After Johnson had acquired about $450,000 for the film's budget, "Brick" began production in 2003.


title: Brick (film)

text: Although the film was shot in 20 days, Johnson spent a great deal of time beforehand refining the script and three months rehearsing with the cast. He had seen Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a film called "Manic" (2001), met with him, and knew that he wanted to cast the young actor. He encouraged the cast to read Hammett but not to watch any noir films, because he did not want them influencing their performances. Instead, he had them watch Billy Wilder comedies like "The Apartment" (1960) and other comedies like "His Girl Friday" (1940). He was initially nervous working with a professional cast and crew for the first time but as soon as he started filming, this feeling went away and he had a good experience.


title: Brick (film)

text: Johnson shot the film in his hometown of San Clemente, California on 35 mm film stock. Much of the film takes place at San Clemente High School, which he attended. He enlisted current students to work on the film, shooting on weekends. The cinematographer was Steve Yedlin, a film school friend who had been involved with the project since the script was written.


title: Brick (film)

text: For the telephone booth scenes, Johnson and crew filmed deep in the San Clemente suburbia. The same sign for the cross streets of Sarmentoso and Camino del Rio still stands. However, the phone booth itself was a prop the production department added in for the film.


title: Brick (film)

text: The drain tunnel from the film is located just down the street from the San Clemente High School football field and goes under the freeway by the Pico exit off-ramp.


title: Brick (film)

text: Johnson had difficulty finding a run-down house for the Pin's base of operations. The production found an appropriate house, but only had a week until it was demolished to rebuild on its lot. The basement was a set that they built, but the Pin's kitchen and living room still exists at the Blarney Castle bed and breakfast. Johnson also had difficulty finding a mansion for the party scene until, with one day left to find the location, a former Telecom executive and eccentric millionaire allowed them to shoot in his place which was still under construction. The big mansion was packed from floor to ceiling with pay phones dating back to the 1950s.


title: Brick (film)

text: Johnson cited Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns and Shinichiro Watanabe's "Cowboy Bebop" (1998) as influences on his visualization of the film. He used shoes as a design element for his characters and saw them as an "instant snapshot of the essence" of the characters. He has also stated that many of the film's visual cues were taken from the neo-noir "Chinatown" (1974) with its wide-open flat spaces.


title: Brick (film)

text: The majority of the film's special effects were cheaply and efficiently produced using practical and in-camera effects. Early in the film, for example, de Ravin walks toward the camera out of a tunnel as a garbage bag floats downstream and engulfs the camera, transitioning to Joseph Gordon-Levitt back in his character's bedroom. To achieve this, the desired effect was filmed in reverse order. The garbage bag began over the camera and was pulled away during filming, as de Ravin walked backwards into the tunnel. This footage was then cut into a scene in which a garbage bag was simply pulled over Gordon-Levitt's head.


title: Brick (film)

text: Filming a car driving slowly in reverse, then playing the footage backwards at a higher speed gives the illusion of a car quickly approaching as the camera darts in front of it stylishly. Clever fades give the impression of time changes while smash cuts add tension to a scene in which the protagonist wakes up after passing out. Certain edits were also introduced to the film to time footage to different dialogue, adding certain information and leaving other information out. These edits are noticeable, as the actors' mouths are not always moving in sync with their dialogue. One particular scene, in which de Ravin's character floated toward the camera, used a green screen, but it was edited out of the film before its completion.


title: Brick (film)

text: The original cut of the film ran over two hours, although it was edited down to 117 minutes for the Sundance Film Festival. An additional 7 minutes were cut before the theatrical release, including a shot of Zehetner's naked back as she put her shirt back on after she and Gordon-Levitt's character had sex. According to a post by Johnson on his own forums, he felt that the nudity felt wrong in the context of the film, and that he preferred to leave the degree of intimacy ambiguous, although he occasionally finds himself second-guessing that decision.


title: Brick (film)

text: The score to "Brick" was composed by Johnson's cousin, Nathan Johnson, with additional support and music from The Cinematic Underground. The score harkens back to the style, feel and overall texture of noir films. It features traditional instruments such as the piano, trumpet and violin, and also contains unique and invented instruments such as the wine-o-phone, metallophone, tack pianos, filing cabinets, and kitchen utensils, all recorded with one microphone on an Apple PowerBook. Since Nathan Johnson was in England during most of the production process, the score was composed almost entirely over Apple iChat, with Rian playing clips of the movie for Nathan, who would then score them. The two met in New York City to mix the soundtrack. The soundtrack CD of the movie was released on March 12, 2006 by Lakeshore Records. In addition to Johnson's score, it contains songs by The Velvet Underground, Anton Karas and Kay Armen as well as the big band version of "Frankie and Johnny" performed by Bunny Berigan and a full unedited performance of "" by Nora Zehetner. Johnson has confirmed that various elements in the film were influenced by "Twin Peaks" creator David Lynch.


title: Brick (film)

text: The Region 1 DVD release of "Brick" was released on August 8, 2006 as part of the Focus Features Spotlight Series. Special features include: selection of deleted and extended scenes with introductions by Johnson; audition footage featuring Nora Zehetner and Noah Segan; and feature audio commentary with Rian Johnson, Nora Zehetner, Noah Segen, producer Ram Bergman, production designer Jodie Tillen, and costume designer Michele Posch.


title: Brick (film)

text: The Blu-ray for "Brick" was released on January 7, 2020 by Kino Lorber, which was supervised by Johnson and Yedlin. It was previously scheduled to be released on May 7, 2019.


title: Brick (film)

text: "Brick" premiered in the United States on April 7, 2006, in two theaters. It opened to United Kingdom audiences on May 12, 2006 on a limited number of screens. According to the DVD commentary track, the film was made for $450,000. The film grossed US$2.07 million in North America and a total of $3.9 million worldwide.


title: Brick (film)

text: "Brick" has an approval rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 142 reviews and an average score of 7.03/10. The consensus states: "This entertaining homage to noirs past has been slickly and compellingly updated to a contemporary high school setting." and ranked #35 on "Entertainment Weekly"s list of the "50 Best High School Movies". Based on 34 critic reviews, Metacritic gave it an average score of 72 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Brick (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three out of four stars, stating "[It works] in the sense that the classic Hollywood noirs worked: The story is never clear while it unfolds, but it provides a rich source of dialogue, behavior and incidents." The film's only serious flaw, thought Ebert, was that the characters were not entirely believable and thus it was difficult to care about the outcome of events for the characters. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" also gave the film a positive review, explaining "A spoof would have been easy. Instead, Johnson plunges off the deep end, risking ridicule by shaping this spellbinder with grit and gravitas."


title: Brick (film)

text: Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" commented, "Mr. Haas and Mr. Gordon-Levitt at least succeed in evoking the outlines of their characters. But the film's ham-handed reliance on period argot not only wears thin; it keeps the characters, such as they are, at a chilly distance."


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The Afghan mujahideen were various armed Islamist rebel groups that fought against the government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent First Afghan Civil War. The term "mujahideen" () is used in a religious context by Muslims to refer to those engaged in a struggle of any nature for the sake of Islam, commonly referred to as "jihad" (). The Afghan mujahideen consisted of numerous groups that differed from each other across ethnic and/or ideological lines, but were united by their anti-communist and pro-Islamic goals. The union was also widely referred to by their Western backers as the Afghan resistance, while Western press often referred to them as Muslim rebels, guerrillas, or "Mountain Men". They were popularly referred to by Soviet troops as "dukhi" (, ) as derivation from Dari word دشمان "dushman", which turned into short "dukh" and also was suitable due to their guerrilla tactics; Afghan civilians often referred to them as the "tanzim" (, ), while the Afghan government called them "dushman" (, ), a term also employed by the Soviets ().


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The militants of the Afghan mujahideen were recruited and organized immediately after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, initially from the regular Afghan population and defectors from the Afghan military, with the aim of waging an armed struggle against both the communist government of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which had taken power in the 1978 Saur Revolution, and the Soviet Union, which had invaded the country in support of the former. There were many ideologically different factions among the mujahideen, with the most influential being the Jamiat-e Islami and Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin parties. The Afghan mujahideen were generally divided into two distinct alliances: the larger and more significant Sunni Islamic union collectively referred to as the "Peshawar Seven", based in Pakistan, and the smaller Shia Islamic union collectively referred to as the "Tehran Eight", based in Iran; as well as independent units that referred to themselves as "mujahideen". The "Peshawar Seven" alliance received heavy assistance from the United States (Operation Cyclone), the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, as well as other countries and private international donors.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The basic units of the mujahideen continued to reflect the highly decentralized nature of Afghan society and strong loci of competing Pashtun tribal groups, which had formed a union with other Afghan groups under intense American, Saudi Arabian and Pakistani pressure. The alliance sought to function as a united diplomatic front towards the international community, and sought representation in the United Nations and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. The Afghan mujahideen also saw thousands of volunteers from various Muslim countries come to Afghanistan to aid the resistance. The majority of the international fighters came from the Arab world, and later became known as Afghan Arabs; the most well-known Arab financier and militant of the group during this period was Osama bin Laden, who would later mastermind the September 11 attacks on the United States. Other international fighters from the Indian subcontinent became involved in terrorist activities in Kashmir and against the states of Bangladesh and Myanmar during the 1990s.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The mujahideen guerrillas fought a long and costly war against the Soviet military, which suffered heavy losses and withdrew from the country in 1989, after which the rebels' war against the communist Afghan government continued. The loosely-aligned mujahideen took the capital city of Kabul in 1992 following the collapse of the Moscow-backed government. However, the new mujahideen government that was formed by the Peshawar Accords following these events was quickly fractured by rival factions and became severely dysfunctional. This unrest quickly escalated into a second civil war, which saw the large-scale collapse of the united Afghan mujahideen and the victorious emergence of the Taliban, which established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan shortly after taking most of the country in 1996. The Taliban groups were then ousted in 2001, but regrouped and retook the country in 2021.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Small groups of resistance formed in parts of eastern Afghanistan by the fall of 1978, but it was in early 1979 that the situation rapidly escalated to open rebellion. As early as February 2, 1979, it was reported that Afghan dissidents were receiving guerilla training across the border in Pakistan. The conflict reached a height during the Herat mutiny in March, in which a non-organized group of army mutineers and the civilians rebelled and briefly overthrew the city garrison. The incident and subsequent air bombardment gave indications of looming civil war. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, a leader of Islamic mysticism and a hazrat, was one of the original leaders of an organized anti-government armed group. He created an organization named Afghan National Liberation Front ("Jabha-i Nejat-i Milli") and on May 25, 1979, appealed for support in New York City. Sayyed Ahmad Gailani, a spiritual leader ("pir"), also created a resistance organization during this time, called National Islamic Front ("Mahaz-e-Millie-Islami"). Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, a religious scholar and former member of parliament in the Kingdom, formed the Revolutionary Islamic Movement (Harakat-e-Inqilab-e-Islami); he was well known for assaulting prominent leftist Babrak Karmal inside the House of Representatives in 1966. On August 11, 1979, the Afghan National Liberation Front along with three others groups (Jamiat-i Islami, Hezb-i Islami Khalis, and Revolutionary Islamic Movement) formed a new organization based in Peshawar, Pakistan, aiming to establish an Islamic Republic. Other rebel movements were also active throughout the country, including Hazara tribes that had some 5,000 men as of August 1979.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: A broad mujahideen had existed as a "de facto" political bloc since May 1979, when the Pakistani government decided to limit the flow of financial aid to the said seven organizations, thus cutting off monetary supply to nationalist and left-wing resistance groups.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The Soviet operation of December 1979 turned the civil war into a war of liberation, and the "jihad" (holy war) was more forceful than previous Afghan empires had fought against the British and the Sikhs. Except for pockets of supporters of the DRA regime, almost every social, religious and ethnic group protested the Soviet action (despite their removal of the tyrannical Khalq regime), and even religious minorities of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus covertly assisted the mujahideen. Following the exodus of Afghans to Pakistan in 1980, as many as 84 different resistance groups were formed in Peshawar. A coalition of the resistance with a united front for military activities was demanded by Afghan refugees during meetings in Peshawar in 1980. They, including tribal and community elders, former members of parliament and mujahideen commanders, met in several "loya jirgas" (traditional grand assembly) to solidify the resistance, liberate Afghanistan from the Soviet Union, topple the Kabul regime, and create a single political bloc. Mojaddedi took part in these, and the first jirga passed a resolution on February 21, 1980. The last round of the jirga in May 1980 set up the Islamic National Revolutionary Council, headed by Mohammad Omar Babrakzay as acting president. It advocated for a national, Islamic, and democratic republic. The pressure persuaded leaders of the Islamic groups to make attempts to unite. A coalition of the three Islamist and three moderate organizations, the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan, was formed, headed by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. However, it did not last, as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's group ("Hizb-i Islami Gulbuddin") and later the three moderate groups seceded from it. These three set up the Union of the Three. The Islamic Union later called the tribal Revolutionary Council an "enemy".


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Because of disunity, elders from western Afghanistan attempted to hold a loya jirga, citing that party politics disunited the resisting Afghans. Fundamentalists warned against people attending the jirga, but it was held safely in September 1981 in Pishin, Pakistan, consisting of tribal elders, the Ulama, and military officers. Elders native from Nangarhar proposed that the former Afghan king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, would be an ideal "National Leader" in any coalition. However, Pakistan, which preferred a divided Afghan resistance, was against the return of the former king to Afghanistan, seeing it as a symbol of Afghan nationalism.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: There were seven major mujahideen groups as recognized by Pakistan and its allies, based in Peshawar and sometimes called the "Peshawar Seven". They were often categorized into the fundamentalist and traditional; the fundamentalist factions were militarily stronger in the war.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Some of the group leaders also acted as commanders, such as Khalis and Hekmatyar. The other notable mujahideen commanders were Ahmad Shah Massoud (Jamiat-i Islami), Abdul Haq (Hizb-i Islami Khalis), Ismail Khan (Jamiat-i Islami), Jalaluddin Haqqani (Hizb-i Islami Khalis), Amin Wardak (Mahaz-e Melli) and Mohammad Zabihullah (Jamiat-i Islami).


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The Afghan mujahideen were not a united movement. The resistance parties remained deeply divided along ethnic, ideological and personal lines, despite internal and external pressures to unite. Dutch journalist Jere Van Dyk reported in 1981 that the guerillas were effectively fighting two civil wars: one against the regime and the Soviets, and another among themselves. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-i Islami was most cited as the initiator of cross-mujahideen clashes. Through the years, there were various efforts to create a united front, but all were either non-effective or failed in a short time. At least three different iterations of an "Islamic Unity of Afghan Mujahedin" (IUAM) were tried, none of which lasted. The formation of the Afghanistan Interim Government (AIG) in 1988 also failed to promote unity. Additionally, it only included the select Sunni Muslim groups approved by Pakistan; Shi'ite groups backed by Iran and pro-Chinese (anti-Soviet) leftist groups were excluded.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Mujahideen leader Mohammad Yunus Khalis thought that the lack of trust among the various leaders was a factor for the many disunited organizations.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The issue of the exiled king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, also caused divisions. Zahir Shah enjoyed considerable popularity among the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Both Hekmatyar and Khalis were strongly against the king, while Gailani, Mojaddedi and Mohammadi supported an interim coalition with him. Rabbani and Sayyaf were initially against a role for the king, later changing their minds.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Although the Afghan mujahideen were praised for bravery in resisting a superpower, the lack of unity showed weaknesses in the guerillas, such as the lack of a clear political strategy.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: In an attempt to dissuade infighting and develop a "de facto" functioning proto state, Ahmad Shah Massoud created the Shura-e Nazar in 1984, an offshoot of the Jamiat faction. Shura-e Nazar was created as a military–political combination and consisted of an organized structure dealing with health and education in the areas it operated in (northern and north-eastern Afghanistan).


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: In 1981 the Islamist groups formed a broader alliance, the Union of the Seven, made up of the three Islamist groups, the newly formed organization led by Sayyaf, and three splinter groups. But many differences remained between them. In 1985, under pressure from the king of Saudi Arabia – which was a major donor to the mujahideen – a more broad coalition was created, named Islamic Unity of Afghan Mujahideen (IUAM), comprising the four main Islamist and three moderate groups. It was also nicknamed the Seven Party Mujahideen Alliance, the Peshawar Seven, and the Seven Dwarves.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: In 1989 under the patronage of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the Afghan Interim Government (AIG) was formed in Pakistan to coincide with the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Headed by traditionalist Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, with orthodox Abdul Rasul Sayyaf as prime minister, the AIG represented itself as a government in exile and a legitimate incoming state following the Soviet withdrawal. The two individuals proved popular, despite not being leaders of major groups, with Sayyaf said to have had exceptional ability in solving issues. However, the AIG was weak, as it only included the Peshawar Seven and not nationalists or tribal elders. After the Soviet withdrawal, the AIG attempted to establish itself within Afghan territory – the mujahideen attacked the city of Jalalabad in March 1989, visioning a final victory towards Kabul, but were disastrously defeated by the Afghan Army. The rivalry between Hekmatyar and the Jamiat-i Islami only increased, leading to Hekmatyar's resignation from the AIG. He eventually decided to go at the Kabul regime in a very different way: a coalition with Khalq communists of General Shahnawaz Tanai, which caused many resignations in his party in protest. Together, they launched a coup attempt in 1990 to oust the Parchamite Mohammed Najibullah, but failed.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: A number of Shia militia groups also operated, mainly in central Afghanistan populated by ethnic Hazaras. These groups were also, similarly, divided between themselves. Sayyid Ali Beheshti's Shura-i Inqilab-i Ittifaq, a traditionalist group, controlled the Hazarajat at first, but pro-Iran Khomeinist groups challenged them and took control of the region from them. By the mid-1980s the strongest of these was Sazman-i Nasr, while Shura-i Inqilab-i Ittifaq was prominent only in Maidan Wardak. They united as the "Tehran Eight" in 1987 (so-called due to Iranian support). In 1989, most of these merged into one group, Hezb-e Wahdat.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: There were also Maoist militias that fought against the Soviets and the Afghan regime, as well as the Mujahideen. They were initially well organized and carried out attacks in Kabul; the KGB then had a policy of clearing Kabul of any pro-Chinese elements. A mild suspicion from the KHAD was enough to put someone in prison by accusing them of being a pro-Chinese communist. The People's Republic of China, which was a backer of the main Pakistan-based Mujahideen, was either unable or unwilling to help the Afghan Maoists. Majid Kalakani, a prominent figure and leader of the Liberation Organization of the People of Afghanistan (SAMA), was executed by the Afghan regime in June 1980. Members of Shola-e Javid ("Eternal Flame") were involved in fighting the government and mujahideen (particularly Hezb-i Islami). The Babrak Karmal government arrested many of its members in June 1981.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Smaller mujahideen groups not connected to the main seven parties include the Sharafat Kuh Front in Farah Province and Harakat-e-Mulavi. Additionally a Baloch nationalist group operated called the Nimruz Front.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The Settam-e-Melli was a small long-time splinter faction of the PDPA based in Badakhshan Province that fought against the regime and other Mujahideen. They were driven out of Panjshir Valley by Massoud's mujahideen forces in 1981. By 1983 its resistance seemed to have ceased as it appeared to join the Karmal government.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The moderate Afghan Social Democratic Party (Afghan Millat), formed in the 1960s, also resisted in the early days of the war. It was treated as a pariah by the recognized Peshawar-based mujahideen groups. Its guerilla band was heavily damaged in September 1980 following an attack by Hekmatyar's mujahideen forces. The regime in Kabul neutralized an Afghan Millat unit in the city in 1983.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Most of the Mujahideen's weapons were of Soviet design; this includes mostly those that were supplied by their funders and smaller numbers that were captured from the Soviet or Afghan militaries. It was disclosed in 1981 that recoilless rifles (Chinese 83mm, Blo, 70mm) were being used by the resistance. Also in use were Soviet 82 mm mortars, British mortars and Chinese Type 63 mortars. Twin barrelled Chinese-built Type 58s has been seen in smaller numbers. Lee–Enfield rifles, Egyptian made AKMs, and Chinese made SKSs have also been used by them.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Beginning in 1985, they began to receive heavy equipment like bazookas and heavy machine guns, while also receiving better equipment for the cold winters, such as snow boots and ski tents. The raised fundings or assistance from the United States, China and Saudi Arabia all contributed to strengthening the Mujahideen movement by 1987.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The portable surface-to-air "Stinger" missile was first used by Mujahedin in September 1986 and is considered by some to have been a turning point in the war. Some military analysts considered it a "game changer" coined the term "Stinger effect" to describe it. However, these statistics are based on Mujahedin self-reporting, which is of unknown reliability. A Russian general however claimed the United States "greatly exaggerated" Soviet and Afghan aircraft losses during the war.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The mujahideen were heavily backed by Pakistan (through the Inter-Services Intelligence) and the United States (through the Central Intelligence Agency), also receiving backing primarily from Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China, while more covert support came from the United Kingdom, Egypt, and West Germany (through the Federal Intelligence Service). The Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin faction received the lion's share of weapons from the ISI and CIA. While Ahmad Shah Massoud's group was supported by Britain's MI6 and trained and supplied by the SAS. Britain's support to the Afghan resistance turned out to be Whitehall's most extensive covert operation since the Second World War. The CIA's Operation Cyclone was said to be its "largest and 'most successful' covert operation ever." Pakistan controlled which rebels received assistance: the four "fundamentalist" factions received most of the funding. A large amount of funding also came from private donors and charities from the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: By May 1980, mujahideen controlled virtually all of rural Afghanistan, and these regions were cleared of Khalqists and Parchamites. With the exception of parts of the north near the Soviet border (under Abdul Rashid Dostum's command), along with several cities, mujahideen guerillas were in control of most of the country as of 1987.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: As of 1985, the Jamiat-i Islami held some of the most territory, stretching from Herat in the west through the north to Badakhshan in the north-east. Harakat-i Inqilab also held a large amount of territory in the southern provinces, stretching from Nimroz to Logar. Hizb-i Islami Khalis had its stronghold around Nangarhar and Paktia, while Hizb-i Islami Gulbuddin held many pockets of territory throughout the country. The Mahaz-i-Milli was prominent in Loya Paktia but also had territory in other parts of the country.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: As Soviet forces withdrew in 1988–89, the Mujahideen captured several key districts, towns and provincial capitals, such as Taloqan, Mahmud Raqi, Asadabad, Bamyan, Spin Boldak, Dara-i-Suf and Imam Sahib. The cities of Kunduz, Qalat, and Maidan Shahr also fell to the Mujahideen in the summer of 1988, but were retaken by the government with Soviet bombardment and logistical support.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: By the time Soviet forces completed their withdrawal, the Afghan government held only sixty urban centers and the Mujahideen controlled six entire provinces. However, the Mujahideen were unable to seize the country's major cities for several years, due to the lack of coordination between the various groups and the lack of heavy firepower necessary for such actions. The Afghan Army beat back the Mujahideen's attempts to take the city of Jalalabad in March 1989, and the civil war settled into a stalemate for three years.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Women also played a part in the Afghan mujahideen, often traveling with them to cook food or wash their clothes, but also taking part in weapons smuggling. There were many female sympathizers who encouraged their husbands, sons or other male family members to take part in the war against the invaders. However, women in Afghanistan were split between the two sides, with many also supporting the Democratic Republic where they enjoyed social privileges. Female refugees also created and recited Landays (traditional Afghan poems) about the war.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: There is one recorded female mujahideen warlord, Bibi Ayesha (nicknamed "Kaftar", meaning "dove"), who operated in Baghlan Province.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: On 14 April 1988, the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan signed the Geneva Accords, guaranteed by the United States and Soviet Union. This committed the Soviet Union to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by 15 February 1989. The withdrawal was conducted in two phases. The first half of the contingent was removed between 15 May and 16 August 1988, and the second half after 15 November 1988. As the Soviets withdrew, they left the Afghan army in fortified positions and even helped them conduct counteroffensives, in order to leave them in as strong a position as possible. The withdrawal was completed on schedule, with commander Boris Gromov of the 40th Army being the last Soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan. After the Soviet withdrawal, most of the Afghan mujahideen continued its fight against the government of Mohammad Najibullah, which continued to receive funding from Moscow, while similarly the Mujahideen was also still receiving funding from Washington and Islamabad.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Despite initial estimates, the Mujahideen proved unable to topple Najibullah's regime immediately after the Soviet withdrawal. The government concentrated its forces in defense of key cities, while relying on vast amounts of military and humanitarian aid from the Soviet Union to stay afloat. Soviet military advisors were still present in Afghanistan, helping advise the war effort and even coordinate air strikes. Soviet volunteers operated the Scud missiles which gave the government an advantage in firepower. The Afghan Air Force, supplied and maintained with Soviet support, proved to be a crucial asset in keeping the government in power. As late as December 1991, Soviet pilots were recorded flying bombing missions against the Mujahideen.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The Mujahideen's divisions and factionalism hindered their war effort, and skirmishes between rival groups became common. Massoud was one of the most active elements in this time. In both 1990 and 1991 he staged spring offensives, capturing several cities and steadily expanding the territory under his influence. The government meanwhile came to rely heavily on tribal militias to stay in power, primarily the Jowzjani militia of Abdul Rashid Dostum. After 1989, these were the only forces capable of offensives against the Mujahideen.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: By the summer of 1990, the Afghan government forces were on the defensive again, and by the beginning of 1991 the government controlled only 10 percent of Afghanistan. In March 1991, Mujahideen forces captured the city of Khost ending an eleven-year siege. After the failed coup d'état attempt by hardliners in the Soviet Union in August 1991, Soviet support to Najibullah's government dried up. This effectively doomed it, as the Afghan Air Force could no longer fly due to fuel shortages. Consequently, the Army's desertion rate skyrocketed. In March 1992, Dostum's militiamen defected to Massoud after negotiations, and Najibullah's regime fell shortly afterwards.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: In 1991, some factions of the Mujahideen were deployed in Kuwait to fight Iraq. After Hekmatyar and Sayyaf publicly denounced the U.S. and the Saudi royal family for their role in the Gulf War, U.S. and Saudi officials indicated that they would stop funding both commanders, but this did not happen. However, the CIA and Saudi intelligence pressured the ISI to send captured Iraqi tanks to Haqqani instead of Hekmatyar. In 1993, it was reported that some Mujahideen were deployed in the Caucusus to fight the forces of Armenia in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Afghan mujahideen fighters have also been reportedly involved in the civil war in Tajikistan during 1992–1993.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: After Najibullah's government collapsed, the Mujahideen factions (apart from "Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin") signed a power sharing agreement (the Peshawar Accord) and captured Kabul on April 28, 1992, celebrating their "Victory Day". However, the divisions between the various factions were still there and it was a catalyst that led to another civil war between the new government and Mujahideen factions that rebelled against it. This meant that after 1992, various Mujahideen factions including the Shi'ite Hezb-i Wahdat continued to exist as militias rather than merely political parties, with many fighters being loyal to specific leaders.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: The Taliban is a puritanical movement that was formed in 1994, five years after the end of the Soviet–Afghan War and in the midst of anarchy in Afghanistan. Supported by Pakistan and recruited from religious students from madrasas across the border, it won a highly effective military campaign against former Mujahideen factions in the civil war, gaining control and establishing the Islamic Emirate in 1996. Nearly all of the Taliban's original leadership fought in the Soviet–Afghan War for either the Hezb-i Islami Khalis or Harakat-i Inqilab-e Islami factions of the Mujahideen.


title: Afghan mujahideen

text: Veteran mujahideen leaders who fought against the Soviets were divided regarding the Taliban. Yunus Khalis was a strong supporter of the Taliban and Nabi Mohammadi also supported them, even dissolving his own organization in doing so. However, Rabbani and Sayyaf were against the Taliban and formed a new united opposition force called the Northern Alliance, which also recruited Abdul Qadeer (a commander who defected from Khalis's faction), prominent Shi'ite leaders such as Muhammad Mohaqiq, and former DRA commander Abdul Rashid Dostum. This group was supported following the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 that successfully drove out the Taliban and led to the rise of Hamid Karzai.


title: Springfield, Illinois

text: Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest outside of the Chicago metropolitan area (after Rockford), and the largest in central Illinois. Approximately 208,000 residents live in the Springfield metropolitan area.


title: Springfield, Illinois

text: Springfield was settled by European-Americans in the late 1810s, around the time Illinois became a state. The most famous historic resident was Abraham Lincoln, who lived in Springfield from 1837 until 1861, when he went to the White House as President of the United States. Major tourist attractions include multiple sites connected with Lincoln including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site, and the Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery.


title: Springfield, Illinois

text: Springfield lies in a valley and plain near the Sangamon River. Lake Springfield, a large artificial lake owned by the City Water, Light & Power company (CWLP), supplies the city with recreation and drinking water. Weather is fairly typical for middle latitude locations, with four distinct seasons including hot summers and cold winters. Spring and summer weather is like that of most Midwestern cities; thunderstorms may occur in late spring. Lying in Downstate Illinois, a part of Tornado Alley, tornadoes have hit the region on a few occasions.