title: Bangsamoro

text: The regional government is headed by a chief minister. Murad Ebrahim is the current chief minister, who was appointed by the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, on an interim basis. The interim chief minister is also the head of the BTA, which also serves the function of serving as the transitional Bangsamoro Parliament.


title: Bangsamoro

text: Once the first regular session of the Bangsamoro Parliament is organized in 2022, the chief minister will be elected by the members of the Bangsamoro Parliament. The chief minister of the Bangsamoro is the chief executive of the regional government, and is assisted by a cabinet not exceeding 10 members. The holder of this position appoints the members of the cabinet, subject to confirmation by the Parliament. The chief minister has control of all the regional executive commissions, agencies, boards, bureaus, and offices.


title: Bangsamoro

text: The Bangsamoro Cabinet is composed of two deputy chief minister and ministers from the members of the parliament. The deputy chief ministers are selected through nomination of the chief minister and are elected by the members of the Parliament. The ministers in the cabinet on their part are appointed by the chief minister.


title: Bangsamoro

text: The Council of Leaders advises the chief minister on matters of governance of the autonomous region. It is roughly an equivalent of an unelected Senate, though only advisory, without legislative powers, and not part of the Parliament.


title: Bangsamoro

text: Under the BOL, the Bangsamoro Parliament serves as the legislature of the autonomous region, mandated to have 80 members and is led by the speaker. The "wa'lī", a ceremonial head, could dissolve the parliament.


title: Bangsamoro

text: Regional ordinances are created by the Bangsamoro Parliament, composed of members of Parliament. Members are meant to be elected by direct vote. Regional elections are planned to be held one year after general elections (national and local) depending on legislation from Congress. The first Bangsamoro regional elections are to be held in 2025. Regional officials have a fixed term of three years, which can be extended by an act of Congress.


title: Bangsamoro

text: Under the BOL, the BTA was organized as a transitional body pending the election of the new region's government officials in 2025, with the first regular session of the parliament to be held in 2025.


title: Bangsamoro

text: The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region has its own regional justice system which applies Shari'ah to its residents like its predecessor, the ARMM. Unlike its predecessor though, the BOL, which became effective as of August 10, 2018, has a provision for the creation of a Shari'ah High Court, which, if and when realized, would consist of five justices including a presiding justice and would oversee appellate courts, district courts, and circuit courts. Non-Muslims could also volunteer to submit themselves under the jurisdiction of Shari'ah law. The Bangsamoro justice system also recognizes traditional or tribal laws but these would only apply to disputes of indigenous peoples within the region.


title: Bangsamoro

text: The BOL provides that BARMM "shall remain an integral and inseparable part of the national territory of the Republic." The Philippine president exercises general supervision over the regional chief minister. The regional government has fiscal autonomy or the power to create its own sources of revenues and to levy taxes, fees, and charges, subject to Constitutional provisions and the provisions of No. 11054. The regional government has to gain approval from the central government's Department of Finance to receive donations and grants from foreign entities.


title: Bangsamoro

text: The International Community has long been supportive of the Bangsamoro Peace Process, with the United Nations and the development agencies of various countries contributing to the success of the Framework Agreement and Comprehansive Agreement on the Bangramoro, and the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.


title: Bangsamoro

text: Significant support for the Bangsamoro Peace Process has been provided by the various United Nations agencies operating in the Philippines, the World Bank, the Government of Japan both through its Embassy and through JICA, the European Union, USAID, the Australian Government, the New Zealand Government, the government of the United Kingdom, the government of Canada, the government of Sweden, and various other international organizations such as The Asia Foundation.


title: Bangsamoro

text: The people of the Bangsamoro region, including Muslims, Lumads, and Christians, have a culture that revolves around kulintang music, a specific type of gong music, found among both Muslim and non-Muslim groups of the Southern Philippines. Each ethnic group in BARMM also has their own distinct architectures, intangible heritage, and craft arts. A fine example of a distinct architectural style in the region is the Royal Sulu architecture which was used to make the Daru Jambangan (Palace of Flowers) in Maimbung, Sulu. The palace was demolished during the American period after being heavily damaged by a typhoon in 1932, and was never rebuilt. It used to be the largest royal palace built in the Philippines. A campaign to faithfully re-establish it in Maimbung town has been ongoing since 1933. A very small replica of the palace was made in a nearby town in the 2010s, but it was noted that the replica does not mean that the campaign to reconstruct the palace in Maimbung has stopped as the replica does not manifest the true essence of a Sulu royal palace. In 2013, Maimbung was designated as the royal capital of the former Sultanate of Sulu by one of the family claimants to the Sulu Sultanate throne where the pretenders are buried there.


title: Bangsamoro

text: The region possesses a vast array of natural landscapes and seascapes with different types of environs. The mainland area includes the Liguasan Marsh, a proposed UNESCO tentative site, and Lake Lanao, one of the 17 most ancient lakes in the world. The Sulu archipelago region includes the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary (a UNESCO tentative site), Bongao Peak, and the Basilan Rainforest.


title: Book of Tobit

text: The Book of Tobit (), also known as the Book of Tobias or the Book of Tobi, is a 3rd or early 2nd century BC Jewish work describing how God tests the faithful, responds to prayers, and protects the covenant community (i.e., the Israelites). It tells the story of two Israelite families, that of the blind Tobit in Nineveh and of the abandoned Sarah in Ecbatana. Tobit's son Tobias is sent to retrieve ten silver talents that Tobit once left in Rages, a town in Media; guided and aided by the angel Raphael he arrives in Ecbatana, where he meets Sarah. A demon named Asmodeus has fallen in love with her and kills anyone she intends to marry, but with the aid of Raphael the demon is exorcised and Tobias and Sarah marry, after which they return to Nineveh where Tobit is cured of his blindness.


title: Book of Tobit

text: The book is included in the Catholic and Orthodox canons but not in the Jewish; the Protestant tradition places it in the Apocrypha, with Anabaptists, Lutherans, Anglicans and Methodists recognising it as useful for purposes of edification and liturgy, albeit non-canonical in status. The vast majority of scholars recognize it as a work of fiction with some historical references.


title: Book of Tobit

text: The prologue tells the reader that this is the story of Tobit of the tribe of Naphtali, deported from Tishbe in Galilee to Nineveh by the Assyrians. He has always kept the laws of Moses, and brought offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem before the catastrophe of the Assyrian conquest. The narrative highlights his marriage to Anna, and they have a son named Tobias.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Tobit, a pious man, buries dead Israelites, but one evening while he sleeps he is blinded by a bird which defecates in his eyes. He becomes dependent on his wife, but accuses her of stealing and prays for death. Meanwhile, his relative Sarah, living in far-off Ecbatana, also prays for death, for the demon Asmodeus has killed her suitors on their wedding nights and she is accused of having caused their deaths.


title: Book of Tobit

text: God hears their prayers and the archangel Raphael is sent to help them. Tobias is sent to recover money from a relative, and Raphael, in human disguise, offers to accompany him. On the way they catch a fish in the Tigris, and Raphael tells Tobias that the burnt heart and liver can drive out demons and the gall can cure blindness. They arrive in Ecbatana and meet Sarah, and as Raphael has predicted the demon is driven out.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Tobias and Sarah are married, Tobias grows wealthy, and they return to Nineveh (Assyria) where Tobit and Anna await them. Tobit's blindness is cured, and Raphael departs after admonishing Tobit and Tobias to bless God and declare his deeds to the people (the Israelites), to pray and fast, and to give alms. Tobit praises God, who has punished his people with exile but will show them mercy and rebuild the Temple if they turn to him.


title: Book of Tobit

text: In the epilogue Tobit tells Tobias that Nineveh will be destroyed as an example of wickedness; likewise Israel will be rendered desolate and the Temple will be destroyed, but Israel and the Temple will be restored; therefore Tobias should leave Nineveh, and he and his children should live in righteousness.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Tobit is a work of fiction with some historical references, combining prayers, ethical exhortation, humour and adventure with elements drawn from folklore, wisdom tale, travel story, romance and comedy. It offered the diaspora (the Jews in exile) guidance on how to retain Jewish identity, and its message was that God tests his people's faith, hears their prayers, and redeems the covenant community (i.e., the Jews).


title: Book of Tobit

text: Readings from the book are used in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Because of the book's praise for the purity of marriage, it is often read during weddings in many rites. Doctrinally, the book is cited for its teaching on the intercession of angels, filial piety, tithing and almsgiving, and reverence for the dead. Tobit is also made reference to in chapter 5 of 1 Meqabyan, a book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.


title: Book of Tobit

text: The story in the Book of Tobit is set in the 8th century BC, but the book itself dates from between 225 and 175 BC. No scholarly consensus exists on the place of composition ("almost every region of the ancient world seems to be a candidate"); a Mesopotamian origin seems logical given that the story takes place in Assyria and Persia and it mentions the Persian demon "aeshma daeva", rendered "Asmodeus", but it contains significant errors in geographical detail (such as the distance from Ecbatana to Rhages and their topography), and arguments against and in favor of Judean or Egyptian composition also exist.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Tobit exists in two Greek versions, one (Sinaiticus) longer than the other (Vaticanus and Alexandrinus). Aramaic and Hebrew fragments of Tobit (four Aramaic, one Hebrew – it is not clear which was the original language) found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran tend to align more closely with the longer or Sinaiticus version, which has formed the basis of most English translations in recent times.


title: Book of Tobit

text: The Vulgate places Tobit, Judith and Esther after the historical books (after Nehemiah). Some manuscripts of the Greek version place them after the wisdom writings.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Those Jewish books found in the Septuagint but not in the standard Masoretic canon of the Jewish Bible are called the deuterocanon, meaning "second canon". Catholic and Orthodox Christianity include it in the Biblical canon. As Protestants follow the Masoretic canon, they therefore do not include Tobit in their standard canon, but do recognise it in the category of deuterocanonical books called the apocrypha.


title: Book of Tobit

text: The Book of Tobit is listed as a canonical book by the Council of Rome (AD 382), the Council of Hippo (AD 393), the Council of Carthage (397) and (AD 419), the Council of Florence (1442) and finally the Council of Trent (1546), and is part of the canon of both the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Catholics refer to it as deuterocanonical.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Augustine (c. AD 397) and Pope Innocent I (AD 405) affirmed Tobit as part of the Old Testament Canon. Athanasius (AD 367) mentioned that certain other books, including the book of Tobit, while not being part of the Canon, "were appointed by the Fathers to be read".


title: Book of Tobit

text: According to Rufinus of Aquileia (c. AD 400) the book of Tobit and other deuterocanonical books were not called Canonical but Ecclesiastical books.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Protestant traditions place the book of Tobit in an intertestamental section called Apocrypha. In Anabaptism, the book of Tobit is quoted liturgically during Amish weddings, with "the book of Tobit as the basis for the wedding sermon." The Luther Bible holds Tobit as part of the "Apocrypha, that is, books which are not held equal to the sacred Scriptures, and nevertheless are useful to read". Luther's personal view was that even if it were "all made up, then it is indeed a very beautiful, wholesome and useful fiction or drama by a gifted poet" and that "this book is useful and good for us Christians to read." Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England lists it as a book of the "Apocrypha". The first Methodist liturgical book, "The Sunday Service of the Methodists", employs verses from Tobit in the Eucharistic liturgy. Scripture readings from the Apocrypha are included in the lectionaries of the Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Churches, among other denominations using the Revised Common Lectionary, though alternate Old Testament readings are provided. Liturgically, the Catholic and Anglican churches may use a scripture reading from the Book of Tobit in services of Holy Matrimony.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Tobit contains some interesting evidence of the early evolution of the Jewish canon, referring to two rather than three divisions, the Law of Moses (i.e. the torah) and the prophets. For unknown reasons it is not included in the Hebrew Bible, although four Aramaic and one Hebrew fragment were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls indicating an authoritative status among at least some Jewish sects. Proposed explanations have included its age (this is now considered unlikely), literary quality, a supposed Samaritan origin, or an infringement of ritual law, in that it depicts the marriage contract between Tobias and his bride as written by her father rather than her groom. Alternatively, allusions to fallen angels and its thematic connections with works such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees may have disqualified it from canonicity. It is, however, found in the Greek Jewish writings (the Septuagint), from which it was adopted into the Christian canon by the end of the 4th century.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Tobit's place in the Christian canon allowed it to influence theology, art and culture in Europe. It was often dealt with by the early Church fathers, and the motif of Tobias and the fish (the fish being a symbol of Christ) was extremely popular in both art and theology. Particularly noteworthy in this connection are the works of Rembrandt, who, despite belonging to the Dutch Reformed Church, was responsible for a series of paintings and drawings illustrating episodes from the book.


title: Book of Tobit

text: Scholarship on folkloristics (for instance, Stith Thompson, Dov Noy, Heda Jason and Gédeon Huet) recognizes the Book of Tobit as containing an early incarnation of the story of "The Grateful Dead", albeit with an angel as the hero's helper, instead of the spirit of a dead man.


title: Solar mass

text: The solar mass () is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. It is approximately equal to the mass of the Sun. This equates to about two nonillion (short scale), two quintillion (long scale) kilograms or 2000 quettagrams:


title: Solar mass

text: The value of the gravitational constant was first derived from measurements that were made by Henry Cavendish in 1798 with a torsion balance. The value he obtained differs by only 1% from the modern value, but was not as precise. The diurnal parallax of the Sun was accurately measured during the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769, yielding a value of (9 arcseconds, compared to the present value of ). From the value of the diurnal parallax, one can determine the distance to the Sun from the geometry of Earth.


title: Solar mass

text: The first known estimate of the solar mass was by Isaac Newton. In his work "Principia" (1687), he estimated that the ratio of the mass of Earth to the Sun was about . Later he determined that his value was based upon a faulty value for the solar parallax, which he had used to estimate the distance to the Sun. He corrected his estimated ratio to in the third edition of the "Principia". The current value for the solar parallax is smaller still, yielding an estimated mass ratio of .


title: Solar mass

text: As a unit of measurement, the solar mass came into use before the AU and the gravitational constant were precisely measured. This is because the relative mass of another planet in the Solar System or the combined mass of two binary stars can be calculated in units of Solar mass directly from the orbital radius and orbital period of the planet or stars using Kepler's third law.


title: Solar mass

text: The mass of the Sun cannot be measured directly, and is instead calculated from other measurable factors, using the equation for the orbital period of a small body orbiting a central mass. Based on the length of the year, the distance from Earth to the Sun (an astronomical unit or AU), and the gravitational constant (), the mass of the Sun is given by solving Kepler's third law:


title: Solar mass

text: The value of "G" is difficult to measure and is only known with limited accuracy ("see" Cavendish experiment). The value of "G" times the mass of an object, called the standard gravitational parameter, is known for the Sun and several planets to a much higher accuracy than "G" alone. As a result, the solar mass is used as the standard mass in the astronomical system of units.


title: Solar mass

text: The Sun is losing mass because of fusion reactions occurring within its core, leading to the emission of electromagnetic energy, neutrinos and by the ejection of matter with the solar wind. It is expelling about /year. The mass loss rate will increase when the Sun enters the red giant stage, climbing to /year when it reaches the tip of the red-giant branch. This will rise to /year on the asymptotic giant branch, before peaking at a rate of 10 to 10 /year as the Sun generates a planetary nebula. By the time the Sun becomes a degenerate white dwarf, it will have lost 46% of its starting mass.


title: Solar mass

text: The mass of the Sun has been decreasing since the time it formed. This occurs through two processes in nearly equal amounts. First, in the Sun's core, hydrogen is converted into helium through nuclear fusion, in particular the p–p chain, and this reaction converts some mass into energy in the form of gamma ray photons. Most of this energy eventually radiates away from the Sun. Second, high-energy protons and electrons in the atmosphere of the Sun are ejected directly into outer space as the solar wind and coronal mass ejections.


title: Solar mass

text: The original mass of the Sun at the time it reached the main sequence remains uncertain. The early Sun had much higher mass-loss rates than at present, and it may have lost anywhere from 1–7% of its natal mass over the course of its main-sequence lifetime. The Sun gains a very small amount of mass through the impact of asteroids and comets. However, as the Sun already contains 99.86% of the Solar System's total mass, these impacts cannot offset the mass lost by radiation and ejection.


title: Solar mass

text: The solar mass parameter ("G"·), as listed by the IAU Division I Working Group, has the following estimates:


title: FC Midtjylland

text: FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they have won three times, most recently in 2020.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: FC Midtjylland was founded by Johnny Rune, a carpenter and owner of a private business in the wood-supply industry, and Steen Hessel, an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: The two men wanted to unite the football clubs Ikast FS (founded 1935) and Herning Fremad (founded 1918) – clubs that for decades had been strong rivals, but had never played any significant role in Danish football. Ikast FS had some success in the late 1970s and '80s and made three Danish Cup final appearances, but had never been a top team in the Danish league. At least ten years had passed with the two clubs being unable to agree on a merger, but on 6 April 1999, a deal was finalised and announced at a press conference the next day.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: In 2000, Midtjylland were promoted to the top-flight Danish Superliga after a season in which the team had gathered more points than any other team in the history of the first division.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: In July 2014, Matthew Benham (owner of English club Brentford) became the majority shareholder of Midtjylland's parent company FCM Holding. In the 2014–15 season, they won the Danish football championship for the first time. Later on, they won two league titles in 2017–18 and 2019–20, then qualified to the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in their history.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: Midtjylland have built a reputation of finding and developing promising talents, and have a highly regarded youth academy.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: In July 2004, Midtjylland was the first Danish club to establish their own football academy, similar to that of French side Nantes. The academy attracts players from throughout Denmark, as well as players from FC Ebedei, a partnering club in Nigeria. The club has developed a network of over 100 clubs located in the western part of Jutland.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: In 2008, Danish centre-back Simon Kjær, a talent of the academy, was sold to Palermo for a transfer fee of approximately DKK30 million (€4 million). In 2010, Sune Kiilerich, another talent of the academy, was sold to Sampdoria, while Winston Reid, an academy product and New Zealand international, was sold to West Ham United for DKK32 million (€4.26 million). In 2016, vice-captain Erik Sviatchenko was sold for £1.5 million to Celtic.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: Other notable sales of academy products include Pione Sisto to Celta Vigo, Rasmus Nissen to Ajax, Andreas Poulsen to Borussia Mönchengladbach and Mikkel Duelund to Dynamo Kyiv.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: In 2004, the team moved to a new stadium in Herning with a capacity of 11,432 spectators. Midtjylland was the first Danish club to sell the stadium naming rights to a sponsor, resulting in the name "SAS Arena" which has since been changed to MCH Arena. The stadium's opening match was on 27 March; it proved to be a success, with Midtjylland beating AB 6–0. Five of the goals were scored by Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: On 22 June 2022, the club started an expansion of MCH Arena that will add a new hospitality lounge and 11 new VIP boxes. The expansion will increase the total capacity by 720 seats, taking the capacity from 11,432 to a total of 12,152. The expansion is believed to be finished in December 2023.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: Black Wolves is the official fanclub of FC Midtjylland. It was founded in the beginning of August 1999, as the official fanclub of Ikast FS 1993 "Yellow Flames" changed their name at an extraordinary general meeting. Ultra Boys Midtjylland is the first unofficial faction in Midtjylland, established in 2007 and later renamed Ultras Midtjylland. In 2014, Midtjylland got its second unofficial faction, a youth faction called Midtjylland Ungdom. As of today, there are three unofficial factions: Zartow, Chaos Crew, and Midtjylland Ungdom. Collectively, all FC Midtjylland supporters go under the name of Hedens Drenge.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: Hedens Drenge is currently Midtjylland’s largest fan-based social media account, with a following of around 11,000 on Instagram and Facebook combined.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: The club's main rival is Viborg FF. This rivalry is often referred to as The Battle of the Heath, The Battle of Hatred, and The Derby of Midtjylland. The derby is claimed to be the second biggest in Denmark behind that of FC København and Brøndby IF.


title: FC Midtjylland

text: FC Midtjylland's first competitive European match was on 9 August 2001 in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup, playing Northern Ireland's Glentoran to a 1–1 draw in the first leg of the Qualifying Round before ultimately advancing to the First Round where they were eliminated by Sporting CP. In 2016 Midtjylland reached the Round of 32 of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, where they achieved a 2–1 home victory over Manchester United but would end up losing 6–3 on aggregate following the second leg.


title: Celeriac

text: Celeriac ("Apium graveolens" var. "rapaceum"), also called celery root, knob celery, and turnip-rooted celery (although it is not a close relative of the turnip), is a variety of celery cultivated for its edible stem or hypocotyl, and shoots. Celeriac is like a root vegetable except it has a bulbous hypocotyl with many small roots attached.


title: Celeriac

text: In the Mediterranean Basin and in Northern Europe, celeriac is widely cultivated. It is also cultivated in North Africa, Siberia, Southwest Asia, and North America. In North America, the 'Diamant' cultivar predominates.


title: Celeriac

text: as "selinon". Celeriac was grown as a medicinal crop in some early civilizations. Celery contains a plant compound called apigenin, which was used in traditional Chinese medicine as an anti-inflammatory agent.


title: Celeriac

text: Typically, celeriac is harvested when its hypocotyl is in diameter. However, a growing trend (specifically in South American cuisine, particularly Peruvian) is to use the immature vegetable, valued for its intensity of flavour and tenderness overall. It is edible raw or cooked, and tastes similar to the leaf stalks of common celery cultivars. Celeriac may be roasted, stewed, or blanched, and may be mashed. Sliced celeriac is used as an ingredient in soups, casseroles, and other savory dishes. The leaves (both the stalks and the blades) of the vegetable are quite flavoursome, and aesthetically delicate and vibrant, which has led to their use as a garnish in contemporary fine dining.


title: Celeriac

text: The shelf life of celeriac is approximately six to eight months if stored between , and not allowed to dry out. However, the vegetable will tend to rot through the centre if the finer stems surrounding the base are left attached. If celeriac is not fresh its centre becomes hollow, though even when freshly harvested there can be a small medial hollow. The freshness will also be obvious from the taste; the older it is, the weaker the celery flavour.


title: Shirataki noodles

text: Shirataki (, often written with the "hiragana" ) are translucent, gelatinous Japanese noodles made from the corm of the konjac yam. They are part of traditional Japanese cuisine, but they are also appreciated by people with allergies or intolerances to wheat, gluten or eggs, or by people on a diet because of their low caloric value.


title: Shirataki noodles

text: The konjac yam, whose corm (a thick underground stem) yields the yam-cake ("konnyaku") from which the noodles are made, is also called devil's tongue yam or elephant yam. The word "shirataki" means "white waterfall", referring to the appearance of these noodles. Shirataki noodles are made from 97% water and 3% konjac, which contains glucomannan, a water-soluble dietary fiber. They are very low in digestible carbohydrates and food energy, and have little flavor of their own.


title: Shirataki noodles

text: There used to be a difference in manufacturing methods. Producers in the Kansai region of Japan prepared "shirataki" (called "ito konnyaku" there) by cutting "konnyaku" jelly into threads, while producers in the Kantō region made the noodles by extruding "konnyaku sol" through small holes into a hot, concentrated lime solution. Modern producers make both types using the latter method.


title: Shirataki noodles

text: "Shirataki" noodles come in dry and soft "wet" forms in Asian markets and some supermarkets. When purchased wet, they are packaged in liquid. They normally have a shelf life of up to one year. Some brands require rinsing and sautéing or parboiling, as the water in the packaging has an odor some find unpleasant.


title: Shirataki noodles

text: The noodles can also be drained and dry-roasted, which diminishes bitterness and gives the noodles a more pasta-like consistency. Dry-roasted noodles can be served in soup stock, sauce, or noodle soup.


title: Shirataki noodles

text: "Shirataki" also goes by the names ito-konnyaku (), yam noodles, and devil's tongue noodles. The form called "ito konnyaku" is generally thicker than "shirataki", with a square cross section and a darker color. It is preferred in the Kansai region.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: Big Fat Liar is a 2002 American comedy film, directed by Shawn Levy, adapted by Dan Schneider from a story by Schneider and Brian Robbins, and starring Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Detmer, Donald Faison, Lee Majors, and Russell Hornsby.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: The film is about a 14-year-old compulsive liar, Jason Shepherd (Muniz), whose creative writing assignment "Big Fat Liar" is stolen by an arrogant Hollywood screenwriter and producer, Marty Wolf (Giamatti), who later plans to use it to make the fictional film of the same name. The film is an allusion to the Aesop's Fable, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", with Jason Shepherd being analogous to the shepherd boy in the story and Marty Wolf, analogous to the wolf. It was released in the United States on February 8, 2002.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: Jason Shepherd, a 14-year-old compulsive liar living in Greenbury, Michigan, tries to lie his way out of a creative writing assignment but gets caught by his English teacher, who alerts his parents. He is given three hours to submit his essay and avoid repeating English in summer school. Inspired by his talent for lying, Jason writes a story titled "Big Fat Liar". While riding his sister's old bike to turn in the essay, Jason is run over by the limousine of an arrogant Hollywood screenwriter and producer, Marty Wolf, and he convinces Marty to give him a ride. Marty, also a compulsive liar, is in town shooting his film "Whitaker and Fowl". In a rush, Jason accidentally leaves his essay in the limo when it falls out of his backpack. Inspired, Marty keeps the story for himself. Realizing his essay is missing, Jason tries to explain what happened, but he is sent to summer school.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: Jason and his best friend, Kaylee, discover Marty has plagiarized Jason's essay into a film when they see a theatrical trailer. They fly to Los Angeles while their parents are out of town for the weekend and sneak into Marty's studio office to request that Marty confess to his parents, but he purposefully burns Jason's essay and calls security to remove them. Angered, the two plot to inconvenience him until he confesses. Marty's former limo driver and struggling actor Frank Jackson agrees to help. They sabotage Marty through pranks such as dying his skin blue via his swimming pool and his hair orange via his shampoo. They also superglue his headset to his ear; trick him into going to a child's birthday party, where the children mistake him for the hired clown and attack him; and tamper with his car's controls. Marty's car is also rear-ended by a cranky elderly woman into a monster truck owned by the Masher, a wrestler, who destroys it.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: Marty plans to produce "Big Fat Liar" with Universal Pictures, but new president Marcus Duncan, seeing the commercial and critical failure of "Whitaker and Fowl", declines to approve the budget, so Jason agrees to help Marty in exchange for his confession to his parents. With Jason's advice, Marty makes a successful presentation and gets the film approved by Universal, but Marty subsequently betrays Jason and calls security to remove him and Kaylee again. Marty's abused assistant, Monty Kirkham, offers to help Jason and Kaylee expose him. They rally Marty's other tormented employees, while Jason calls his parents to tell them the truth about the weekend.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: The next morning, Marty heads to the studio to begin filming "Big Fat Liar", but his employees delay him through a number of mishaps. As Marty finally arrives, he encounters Jason, who kidnaps his stuffed monkey toy, Mr. Funnybones. Jason flees across the studio, luring Marty to a rooftop where he retrieves his toy and mocks Jason. Marty boastfully admits his actions, unaware the entire conversation is being witnessed by Jason's parents, the media, and Marcus, who immediately fires him. Jason thanks Marty for teaching him an important lesson about the truth. Marty furiously tries to attack him, but Jason leaps off the building and safely lands on a stunt cushion, where he finally regains his parents' trust.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: Universal produces "Big Fat Liar" after Marty's firing while using the skills of people he had abused. The film becomes a critical success, and Jason receives full credit for his original story. Meanwhile, Marty declares bankruptcy and begins a new job as a birthday clown. At a party, the Masher orders the birthday boy, his son Darren, to kick Marty in his crotch.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: Kenan Thompson, Dustin Diamond and the film's director Shawn Levy appear as guests at the after party of the premiere of Wolf's action comedy "Whitaker and Fowl", which they criticize. Jaleel White also appears uncredited as himself, starring as Officer Fowl in "Whitaker and Fowl". White is annoyed that Wolf often calls him "Urkel".


title: Big Fat Liar

text: The film was filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood, the Flash Flood set, and Los Angeles International Airport, as well as in Glendale, Monrovia, Pasadena, and Whittier, California.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: The exotic Intermec 6651 Handheld PC appears as the computer used by Lester Golub to help Jason by releasing a stream of water into Marty's path.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: The film was released in cinemas on February 8, 2002 by Universal Pictures and was released on VHS and DVD on September 24, 2002 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The DVD release contains an unlockable cheat code for "" that turns Spyro the Dragon blue, as seen in one of Jason's pranks on Marty. It was released on Blu-ray on March 4, 2014.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: The film grossed $48.4 million in the United States and Canada and $4.6 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $53 million, against a budget of $15 million.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: The film grossed $11.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing in second at the box office behind "Collateral Damage" ($15.1 million).


title: Big Fat Liar

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 45% based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus read, "Though there's nothing that offensive about "Big Fat Liar", it is filled with Hollywood cliches and cartoonish slapstick, making it strictly for kids." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score 36 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: Some critics called the film energetic and witty, but others called it dull and formulaic. Ebert and Roeper gave it "Two Thumbs Up". In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times Ebert gave it 3 out of 4, and called it "A surprisingly entertaining movie [...] ideal for younger kids, and not painful for their parents." Michael O'Sullivan of "The Washington Post" called the film "an innocent comedic revenge fantasy that somehow manages to be sweet and wickedly satisfying at the same time."


title: Big Fat Liar

text: In August 2016, it was announced that a standalone sequel had begun principal photography. "Bigger Fatter Liar" starred Ricky Garcia as Kevin Shepherd, Jodelle Ferland as Becca, and Barry Bostwick as Larry Wolf. The plot though unrelated to the first film, was similar in many ways to "Big Fat Liar". Released directly to DVD in April 2017, the film was met with critical and commercial failure. It was later released on Blu-ray in July 2018.


title: Big Fat Liar

text: In March 2022, Shawn Levy revealed that he has always wanted to make a direct-sequel to "Big Fat Liar", stating that the plot would include a Marty Wolf revenge story. The filmmaker referenced the revitalized "Real Steel" franchise in the form of the upcoming television series, as hope for a future "Big Fat Liar" sequel to be made.


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: Specials is a short Unicode block of characters allocated at the very end of the Basic Multilingual Plane, at U+FFF0–FFFF. Of these 16 code points, five have been assigned since Unicode 3.0:


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: FFFE and FFFF are not unassigned in the usual sense, but guaranteed not to be Unicode characters at all. They can be used to guess a text's encoding scheme, since any text containing these is by definition not a correctly encoded Unicode text. Unicode's character can be inserted at the beginning of a Unicode text to signal its endianness: a program reading such a text and encountering 0xFFFE would then know that it should switch the byte order for all the following characters.


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: The replacement character � (often displayed as a black rhombus with a white question mark) is a symbol found in the Unicode standard at code point U+FFFD in the "Specials" table. It is used to indicate problems when a system is unable to render a stream of data to a correct symbol. It is usually seen when the data is invalid and does not match any character:


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: Consider a text file containing the German word (meaning 'for') in the ISO-8859-1 encoding (codice_1). This file is now opened with a text editor that assumes the input is UTF-8. The first and last byte are valid UTF-8 encodings of ASCII, but the middle byte (codice_2) is not a valid byte in UTF-8. Therefore, a text editor could replace this byte with the replacement character symbol to produce a valid string of Unicode code points. The whole string now displays like this: "f�r".


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: A poorly implemented text editor might save the replacement in UTF-8 form; the text file data will then look like this: codice_3, which will be displayed in ISO-8859-1 as "fï¿½r" (this is called mojibake). Since the replacement is the same for all errors this makes it impossible to recover the original character. A better (but harder to implement) design is to preserve the original bytes, including the error, and only convert to the replacement when "displaying" the text. This will allow the text editor to save the original byte sequence, while still showing the error indicator to the user.


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: At one time the replacement character was often used when there was no glyph available in a font for that character. However, most modern text rendering systems instead use a font's character, which in most cases is an empty box (or "?" or "X" in a box), sometimes called a 'tofu' (this browser displays ). There is no Unicode code point for this symbol.


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: Thus the replacement character is now only seen for encoding errors, such as invalid UTF-8. Some software attempts to hide this by translating the bytes of invalid UTF-8 to matching characters in Windows-1252 (since that is the most likely source of these errors), so that the replacement character is never seen.


title: Specials (Unicode block)

text: The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Specials block:


title: Diablo II

text: Diablo II is an action role-playing hack-and-slash video game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2000 for Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and macOS. The game, with its dark fantasy and horror themes, was conceptualized and designed by David Brevik and Erich Schaefer, who, with Max Schaefer, acted as project leads on the game. The producers were Matthew Householder and Bill Roper. The game was developed over a three-year period, with a crunch time of a year and a half.


title: Diablo II

text: Set shortly after the events of "Diablo", the player controls a new hero, attempting to stop the destruction unleashed by Diablo's return. The game's five acts feature a variety of locations and settings to explore and battle in, as well as an increased cast of characters to play as and interact with.


title: Diablo II

text: Building on the success of its predecessor, "Diablo" (1997), and improving the gameplay, both in terms of updated character progression and a better developed story, "Diablo II" was one of the most popular games of 2000 and has been cited as one of the greatest games of all time. Major factors that contributed to the game's success include its continuation of popular fantasy themes from the previous game and its access to Blizzard's free online play service, Battle.net. An expansion to the game, "", was released in 2001.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo III", the sequel of "Diablo II" was released on May 15, 2012. "", a remastered version of "Diablo II" which also includes the "Lord of Destruction" expansion, was released on September 23, 2021.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II"s storyline progresses through four chapters or "acts". Each act follows a predetermined path, but the wilderness and dungeons between key areas are randomly generated. The player progresses through the story by completing a series of quests within each act, while there are also optional side dungeons for extra monsters and experience. In contrast to the first "Diablo", whose levels consisted of descending deeper and deeper into a Gothic-themed dungeon and Hell, "Diablo II"s environments are much more varied. Act I is similar to the original "Diablo"; the Rogue Encampment is a simple palisade fort, with plains and boreal forests making up the wilderness area, and the Monastery resembles the typical medieval fortress. Act II mimics Ancient Egypt's desert and tombs; Lut Gholein resembles a Middle Eastern city and palace during the Crusades. Act III is supposedly based on the Central American jungles; Kurast is inspired by the lost Mayan civilization. Act IV takes place in Hell and is the shortest, with just three quests compared to the other Acts that have six.


title: Diablo II

text: The "Lord of Destruction" expansion adds the fifth chapter Act V which continues the story where Act IV left off. Act V's style is mainly mountainous as the player ascends Mount Arreat, with alpine plateaus and icy tunnels and caverns. Occasional portals can take the player to dungeons in Hell (seen in Act IV) for extra monsters and experience. After reaching the summit of Arreat, the player gains access to the Worldstone Keep (whose architecture may be reminiscent of Angkor Wat and other Hindu temples).


title: Diablo II

text: In addition to the acts, there are three sequential difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell; completing the game (four Acts in the original or five Acts in the expansion) on a difficulty setting will open up the next level. On higher difficulties, monsters are more varied, stronger and may be resistant or immune to an element or physical damage; experience is penalized on dying, and the player's resistances are handicapped. However, better items are rewarded to players as they go through higher difficulties. A character retains all abilities and items between difficulties, and may return to a lower difficulty at any time, albeit it is not possible to re-play the quests that are already completed.


title: Diablo II

text: Players can create a hardcore character. In normal mode, the player can resurrect their character if killed and resume playing, while a hardcore character has only one life. If killed, the character is permanently dead and unplayable. In addition, all items and equipment on that character will be lost unless another friendly character has the "loot" icon checked. Standard and hardcore characters play on separate online channels; as such a hardcore player can never appear in the same game session as a standard player.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" uses a system of randomly generated equipment similar to the original "Diablo", but more complicated. Weapons and armor are divided into several quality levels: normal, magical, set, rare and unique. Normal quality items are base items with a fixed set of basic properties, such as attribute requirements, maximum durability, armor rating (on armor), block chance (on shields), damage and attack speed (on weapons). Magical quality items have blue names and one or two randomly selected bonuses, such as bonuses attributes, skills or damage, indicated by a prefix or suffix. Rare quality items have randomly generated yellow names and 2 to 6 random properties. Unique items have fixed names in gold text, and instead of randomized properties, they have a set of 3 to 8 preselected properties. Green-named set items have fixed names and preselected properties like unique items, and belong to specific named sets of 2 to 6 items. Additional properties known as set bonuses are activated by equipping multiple or all items from the same set. These are themed on individuals, like Civerb's cudgel, shield and amulet each provide individual bonuses which are enhanced if two or more of the items are used to equip a character. It is unusual to encounter more than one item from a set in a single playthrough of the game, so collectors need to play the game many times to accumulate all items from a set, or purchase them online from other players who possess them but do not need them. Additionally, items can possess sockets, which can be used to upgrade items by adding gems for various bonuses.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" includes an item crafting system. An item known as the Horadric Cube is used to combine two or more items to create a new item. For example, three identical lower quality gems can be combined to create a single higher quality gem, and three small rejuvenation potions can be combined to create a single, more powerful rejuvenation potion.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" allows the player to choose between five different character classes: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress, and Paladin. Each character has different strengths, weaknesses and sets of skills to choose from, as well as varying beginning attributes. The maximum level that any character can obtain is level 99.


title: Diablo II

text: The player can enlist the help of one hireling (computer-controlled mercenaries) from a mercenary captain in the town; Rogue Scouts (archers with Amazon abilities), Desert Mercenaries or Town Guards (melee fighters with Paladin auras), Iron Wolves (elemental spellcasters with occasional melee capability), and Barbarians (melee fighters with many hitpoints), from Acts I, II, III, and V, respectively. In the original release of the game, hirelings would not follow the player through different Acts, nor be revived if killed. The expansion allows players to retain their mercenary throughout the entire game as well as equipping them with armor and weapons, plus hirelings gain experience and attributes like the player although their level cannot surpass that of their master character. Typically, players choose a hireling that provides something missing from their character class; for instance, the melee-focused Paladin may choose an Iron Wolf for ranged magical support.


title: Diablo II

text: In "Heroes of the Storm" (2015), playable characters Cassia and Xul represent the Amazon and the Necromancer classes, respectively.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" can be played multiplayer on a local area network (LAN) or the Blizzard's Battle.net online service. Unlike the original "Diablo", "Diablo II" was made specifically with online gaming in mind. Several spells (such as auras or war cries) multiply their effectiveness if they are cast within a party, and although dungeons still exist, they were largely replaced by open spaces.


title: Diablo II

text: Battle.net is divided into "Open" and "Closed" realms. Single-player characters may be played on open realms; only Battle.net characters that are stored on Blizzard's servers may be played on closed realms as a measure against cheating, where they must be played at least once every 90 days to avoid expiration. Open games are subject to many abuses as the characters are stored on the players' own hard drives. Many cheats that were used on closed realms do not exist or work any longer. Hacks, bots, and programs which allow the player to run multiple instances of the game at the same time are not allowed by Blizzard. They are rarely used anymore. Blizzard cracked down on spambots which advertise sites selling Diablo II's virtual items for real-world currency.


title: Diablo II

text: As the game can be played cooperatively (Players vs. Environment, PvE), groups of players with specific sets of complementary skills can finish some of the game's climactic battles in a matter of seconds, providing strong incentives for party-oriented character builds. Up to eight players can be in one game; they can either unite as a single party, play as individuals, or form multiple opposing parties. Experience gained, monsters' hit points and damage, and the number of items dropped are all increased as more players join a game, though not in a strictly proportional manner. Players are allowed to duel each other with all damage being reduced in player vs player (PvP). The bounty for a successful kill in PvP is a portion of the gold and the "ear" of the defeated player (with the previous owner's name and level at the time of the kill).


title: Diablo II

text: The Ladder System is reset at various intervals by Blizzard to allow for all players to start fresh with new characters on an equal footing. Ladder seasons have lasted from as short as six months to over a year. When a ladder season ends, all ladder characters are transferred to the non-ladder population. Certain rare items are available only within ladder games, although they can be traded for and exchanged on non-ladder after the season has ended.


title: Diablo II

text: The game has been patched extensively; the precise number of patches is impossible to determine as Battle.net has the capability of making minor server-side patches to address urgent bugs. , the game is in version 1.14d. Through the patch history, several exploits and bugs such as item duplication have been addressed, as well as major revamps to the game's balance (such as the ability to redo skills and attributes). Not all patches have affected "Diablo II" directly, as several were designed to address aspects of the expansion to the game and had minimal effects on "Diablo II".


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" takes place after the end of the previous game, "Diablo", in the world of Sanctuary. In "Diablo", an unnamed warrior defeated Diablo and attempted to contain the Lord of Terror's essence within his own body. Since then, the hero has become corrupted by the demon's spirit, causing demons to enter the world around him and wreak havoc.


title: Diablo II

text: A band of adventurers who pass through the Rogue Encampment hear these stories of destruction and attempt to find out the cause of the evil, starting with this corrupted "Dark Wanderer." As the story develops, the truth behind this corruption is revealed: the soulstones were originally intended to imprison the Prime Evils after they were banished to the mortal realm by the Lesser Evils. With the corruption of Diablo's soulstone, the demon is able to control the Dark Wanderer and is attempting to free his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal. Baal, united with the mage Tal-Rasha, is imprisoned in a tomb near Lut Gholein. Mephisto is imprisoned in the eastern temple city of Kurast.


title: Diablo II

text: As the story progresses, cut scenes show the Dark Wanderer's journey as a drifter named Marius follows him. Marius, now in asylum, narrates the events to a hooded visitor, whom he initially believes to be the Archangel Tyrael. The player realizes that the Dark Wanderer's mission is to reunite with the other prime evils, Baal and Mephisto. The story is divided up into four acts:


title: Diablo II

text: In the epilogue, Marius indicates he was too weak to enter Hell, and that he fears the stone's effects on him. He gives the soulstone to his visitor. The visitor reveals himself to actually be Baal, the last surviving Prime Evil now in possession of his own soulstone. He then kills Marius and sets the asylum on fire.


title: Diablo II

text: The story continues with Act V, in the expansion "" where Baal attempts to corrupt the mythical Worldstone on Mount Arreat. Upon returning to the Pandemonium Fortress after defeating Diablo, Tyrael opens a portal to send the adventurers to Arreat.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" was announced by Blizzard in 1997, with a planned launch in the first quarter of 1998. According to designer and project lead Erich Schaefer, "Diablo II never had an official, complete design document... for the most part we just started making up new stuff." The game was slated to have two years of development work, but it took Blizzard North over three years to finish. "Diablo II", despite having less than one percent of the original code from "Diablo" and having much of its content and internal coding done from scratch, was seen by the testers as "more of the same." The game was meant to be released simultaneously both in North America and internationally. This allowed the marketing and PR department for Blizzard North to focus their efforts in building up excitement in players worldwide for the first week of sales, contributing to the game's success. The cover art designed by Gerald Brom originally had a hole in the forehead of the character but the hole was hidden after Columbine High School massacre happened.


title: Diablo II

text: A second expansion beyond "Lord of Destruction" had been in the design stages of development at Blizzard, according to David Brevik, but never reached the production stage. In addition to adding new classes, areas, monsters, and items, the expansion would have brought in more elements of a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game featuring elements like guild halls, what Brevik considered an "ARPG+MMO". Brevik said the expansion was shelved when most of the Blizzard North staff left the company around June 2003.


title: Diablo II

text: The score was composed by Matt Uelmen and integrates creepy ambience with melodic pieces. The style of the score is ambient industrial and experimental. It was recorded in Redwood City, Oakland, and San Mateo, California, from April 1997 to March 2000.


title: Diablo II

text: Some tracks were created by reusing the tracks from the original game, while others by rearranging tracks that were out-takes. Other scores are combinations of parts that were created more than a year after the first game's release. A single track usually integrates recorded samples from sound libraries, live recorded instrument interpretation samples specially meant for the game (guitar, flute, oriental percussion), and electronic instruments also, making the tracks difficult for later live interpretations.


title: Diablo II

text: While the player visits the town, the game recreates the peaceful atmosphere from the first "Diablo" game, so for that the theme from Act I called "Rogue" comes back with the same chords of the original piece, reproducing only a part of the original "Diablo" town theme. For Act II Mustafa Waiz, a percussionist, and Scott Petersen, the game's sound designer, worked on the drum samples. Waiz played on the dumbek, djembe, and finger cymbals which gave Matt Uelmen a base upon which to build tracks around.


title: Diablo II

text: The town theme from Act II, "Toru", makes strong statement of departure from the world of Act I while also maintaining a thematic connection to what had come before. It is the first time in the series to be used some radically different elements than the guitars and choral sounds that dominate both the original Diablo and the opening quarter of "Diablo II". The foundation of the "Toru" piece is found in exciting dynamics of a Chinese wind gong. The instrument radically changes color from a steady mysterious drone to a harsh, fearsome noise, which gives exotic feeling and at the same time the pacing of the second town. In all sequences of Act II with deserts and valleys, Arabic percussion sounds dominate.


title: Diablo II

text: The composer was impressed by two of the Spectrasonics music libraries, "Symphony of Voices" and "Heart of Asia". He used samples from "Heart of Asia" in the "Harem" piece from Act II. The "Crypt" track uses a sample from "Symphony of Voices"; the choral phrase "Miserere". Voice samples from "Heart of Asia", "Heart of Africa", and "Symphony of Voices" by Spectrasonics.


title: Diablo II

text: The game was released in "Collector's Edition" format, containing bonus collector's material, a copy of the "Diablo" "Dungeons & Dragons" pen-and-paper campaign setting, and promotional movies for other Blizzard games. In 2000, the "Diablo II: Exclusive Gift Set" similarly contained exclusive collector's material and promotional videos, as well as a copy of the official strategy guide. The 2000 released "Diablo Gift Pack" contained copies of "Diablo" and "Diablo II", but no expansions. The 2001 "Diablo: Battle Chest" version contained copies of "Diablo II", "Diablo II: Lord of Destruction", the official strategy guide, and the original "Diablo". Recently however , the "Battle Chest" edition no longer contains the original "Diablo".


title: Diablo II

text: Blizzard continues to provide limited support for "Diablo II", including occasional patches. Although the original CD retail release worked on Windows 95/98/Me/NT4SP5, the current version downloadable from Battle.net requires at least Windows 2000/XP.


title: Diablo II

text: Around 2008, the announcement of "Diablo III" renewed the interest in its predecessor and brought more attention to the many mods available for the game.


title: Diablo II

text: In 2015, an unofficial port for the ARM architecture-based Pandora handheld became available by static recompilation and reverse engineering of the original x86 version.


title: Diablo II

text: On March 11, 2016 Blizzard released the 1.14a Patch, which added support for Windows 7 and newer, a macOS installer and support for OS X 10.10 and 10.11. Diablo II is not supported on macOS 10.15, due to Apple completely dropping compatibility with 32-bit binaries in this version.


title: Diablo II

text: A remaster of the original and expansion, entitled "Diablo II: Resurrected", was released in 2021 for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch. The remaster includes updated graphics and re-rendering of the game's cutscenes, and supports cross-progression between the different platforms. The remastered version supports online features for players within the same console family, but not local co-op. Cross-platform play was not available upon release, although there is a possibility of it being included in a future update. The game also features quality-of-life improvements that Blizzard can implement by taking advantage of modern computers and consoles, including support for controllers on all systems, easier means of item identification, and shared stashes of items between all of a player's characters. But the designers also forego elements such as quest markers that are common in modern games, preserving as much of the original experience as possible, and making the re-master almost completely unchanged from the original "Diablo II".


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" has a positive reception. The PC version of the game achieves an overall score of 88/100 on Metacritic and 89% at GameRankings. GameSpy awarded the game an 86 out of 100, "IGN" awarded the game an 8.3 out of 10, and "GameSpot" awarded the game an 8.5 out of 10.


title: Diablo II

text: Greg Vederman reviewed the PC version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it five stars out of five, and stated that ""Diablo II" is a must-have PC title. That's all there is to it."


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" earned GameSpot's 2000 runner-up Reader's Choice Award for role-playing game of the year. The game has received the "Computer Game of the Year", "Computer Role Playing Game of the Year", and "Game of the Year" awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at the 2001 Interactive Achievement Awards. In August 2016, "Diablo II" placed 21st on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. It was placed at No. 8 on "Game Informer"'s "Top 100 RPGs Of All Time" list.


title: Diablo II

text: On its debut day, "Diablo II" sold 184,000 units. The game's global sales reached 1 million copies after two weeks, and 2 million after one and a half months. It was awarded a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records 2000 edition for being the fastest selling computer game ever sold, with more than 1 million units sold in the first two weeks of availability. Its sales during 2000 alone reached 2.75 million globally; 33% of these copies were sold outside the United States, with South Korea making up the largest international market. "", "", "", "" and "Diablo III" have since surpassed "Diablo II"s record to become fastest-selling computer games ever at their times of release, according to Blizzard.


title: Diablo II

text: In the United States, PC Data tracked 308,923 sales for "Diablo II" during the June 25–July 1 period, including sales of its Collector's Edition. This drew revenues of $17.2 million. Domestic sales reached 790,285 units ($41.05 million) by the end of October 2000, according to PC Data. Another $4.47 million were earned in the region by that date via sales of the "Collector's Edition". "Diablo II" finished 2000 with 970,131 sales in the United States, for a gross of $48.2 million.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II"s success continued in 2001: from February to the first week of November, it totaled sales of 306,422 units in the United States. It was ultimately the country's eighth best-selling computer title of 2001, with sales of 517,037 units and revenues of $19.3 million. Its lifetime domestic sales climbed to 1.7 million units, for $67.1 million in revenue, by August 2006. At this time, this led "Edge" to declare it the United States' second-largest computer game hit released since January 2000. It received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


title: Diablo II

text: "Diablo II" became a major hit in the German market and debuted at #1 on Media Control's computer game sales chart for June 2000. Speaking with Havas Interactive's public relations director, "PC Player"s Udo Hoffman noted that the representative "had to make an effort on the phone to avoid singing and jubilating" over the game's commercial performance. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) presented "Diablo II" with a "Gold" award after three weeks of availability, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It maintained first place for July and rose to "Platinum" status (200,000 sales) by the end of the month. The game proceeded to place in Media Control's top 10 through October, peaking at #2 in August, and in the top 30 through December. By the end of 2000, roughly 350,000 units had been sold in the German market. "Diablo II" continued to chart in January 2001, with a placement of 24th, and its "Limited Edition" debuted in second place for February. That April, the VUD presented the game with a "Double-Platinum" certification, for 400,000 sales. This made it one of the region's best-selling computer games ever at that time.


title: Diablo II

text: As of June 29, 2001, "Diablo II" has sold 4 million copies worldwide. Copies of "Diablo: Battle Chest" continue to be sold in retail stores, appearing on the NPD Group's top 10 PC games sales list as recently as 2010. Even more remarkably, the "Diablo: Battle Chest" was the 19th best-selling PC game of 2008 – a full eight years after the game's initial release – and 11 million users still played "Diablo II" and "StarCraft" over Battle.net in 2010.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands is the southernmost archipelago of the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge, a long submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. In its north are the Salomon Islands, Nelson's Island and Peros Banhos; towards its south-west are the Three Brothers, Eagle, Egmont and Danger Island(s); southeast of these is Diego Garcia, by far the largest island. All are low-lying atolls, save for a few extremely small instances, set around lagoons.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Chagos Islands had been home to the native Chagossians, a Bourbonnais Creole-speaking people, until the United Kingdom expelled them from the archipelago at the request of the United States between 1967 and 1973 to allow the United States to build a military base on Diego Garcia. Since 1971, only the atoll of Diego Garcia has been inhabited, and only by employees of the US military, including American civilian contracted personnel. Since being expelled, Chagossians, like all others not permitted by the UK or US governments, have been prevented from entering the islands.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: When Mauritius was a French colony, the islands were a dependency of the French administration in Mauritius (Île Maurice). By the Treaty of Paris of 1814, France ceded Mauritius and its dependencies to the United Kingdom.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In 1965, while planning for Mauritian independence the UK constituted the Chagos as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Mauritius gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1968, and has since claimed the Chagos Archipelago as Mauritian territory.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a non-binding advisory opinion stating that the UK "...has an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible, and that all Member States must co-operate with the United Nations to complete the decolonization of Mauritius". In December of that year, the Sega tambour Chagos genre was recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage from Mauritius. In January 2021, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution proclaiming this. In 2021, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea confirmed for its jurisdiction that the UK has "no sovereignty over the Chagos Islands" thus the islands should be handed back to Mauritius.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In August 2021, the Universal Postal Union banned British stamps from being used in BIOT, a move Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth called a "big step in favour of the recognition of the sovereignty of Mauritius over the Chago".


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The archipelago is about south of the Maldives, east of the Seychelles, north-east of Rodrigues island, west of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and north of Amsterdam Island.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The land area of the islands is 56.13 km (21.7 sq. miles), the largest island, Diego Garcia, having an area of 32.5 km. The total area, including lagoons within atolls, is more than 15 000 km, of which 12 642 km are accounted by the Great Chagos Bank, the largest acknowledged atoll structure of the world (the completely submerged Saya de Malha Bank is larger, but its status as an atoll is uncertain). The shelf area is 20 607 km, and the Exclusive Economic Zone, which borders the corresponding zone of the Maldive Islands in the north, has an area of 639 611 km (including territorial waters).


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Chagos group is a combination of different coralline rock structures topping a submarine ridge running southwards across the centre of the Indian Ocean, formed by volcanoes above the Réunion hotspot. Unlike the Maldives, there is no clearly discernible pattern in the atoll arrangement, which makes the whole archipelago look somewhat chaotic. Most of the coralline structures of the Chagos are submerged reefs.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Chagos contain the world's largest coral atoll, The Great Chagos Bank, which supports half the total area of good quality reefs in the Indian Ocean. As a result, the ecosystems of the Chagos have so far proven resilient to climate change and environmental disruptions.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The largest individual islands are Diego Garcia (32.5 km), Eagle (Great Chagos Bank, 3.1 km), Île Pierre (Peros Banhos, 1.40 km), Eastern Egmont (Egmont Islands, 2.17 km), Île du Coin (Peros Banhos, 1.32 km) and Île Boddam (Salomon Islands, 1.27 km).


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In addition to the seven atolls with dry land reaching at least the high-water mark, there are nine reefs and banks, most of which can be considered permanently submerged atoll structures. The number of atolls in the Chagos Archipelago is given as four or five in most sources, plus two island groups and two single islands, mainly because it is not recognised that the Great Chagos Bank is a huge atoll structure (including those two island groups and two single islands), and because Blenheim Reef, which has islets or cays above or just reaching the high-water mark, is not included. Features are listed in the table from north to south:


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The main natural resources of the area are coconuts and fish. The licensing of commercial fishing used to provide an annual income of about US$2 million for the British Indian Ocean Territory authorities. However, licenses have not been given since October 2010; the last expired after the creation of the no-take marine reserve.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK–US military facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are currently no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. All the water, food and other essentials of daily life are shipped to the island. An independent feasibility study led to the conclusion that resettlement would be "costly and precarious". Another feasibility study, commissioned by organisations supporting resettlement, found that resettlement would be possible at a cost to the British taxpayer of £25 million. If the Chagossians return, they plan to re-establish copra production and fishing, and to begin the commercial development of the islands for tourism.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Until October 2010, Skipjack ("Euthynnus pelamis") and yellowfin tuna ("Thunnus albacares") were fished for about two months of the year as their year-long migratory route takes them through Chagos waters. While the remoteness of the Chagos offers some protection from extractive activities, legal and illegal fishing have had an impact. There is considerable poaching of turtles and other marine life. Sharks, which play a vital role in balancing the food web of tropical reefs, have suffered sharp declines from illegal fishing for their fins and as bycatch in legal fisheries. Sea cucumbers, which cleanse sand, are poached to feed Asian markets.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: December through February is considered the rainy season (summer monsoon); typical weather conditions include light west-northwesterly winds and warmer temperatures with more rainfall. June to September is considered the drier season (winter), characterised by moderate south-easterly winds, slightly cooler temperatures and less rainfall. The annual mean rainfall is 2 600 mm (100 inches), varying from 105 mm (4 inches) during August to 350 mm (14 inches) during January.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: According to Southern Maldivian oral tradition, local traders and fishermen were occasionally lost at sea and became stranded in one of the islands of the Chagos. Eventually they were rescued and brought back home. However, these islands were judged to be too far away from the Maldives to be settled permanently by Maldivians. Thus for many centuries the Chagos were ignored by their northern neighbours.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In Maldivian lore the whole group is known as "Fōlhavahi" or "Hollhavai" (the latter name in the Southern Maldives Adduan dialect of Dhivehi). There are no separate names for the different atolls of the Chagos in the Maldivian oral tradition.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to discover the archipelago. Although Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas (1470 – 23 June 1555) is credited with having discovered the islands during his voyage of 1512–13, there is little corroborative evidence for this; cartographic analysis points to 1532 or later. Portuguese seafarers named the group as Bassas de Chagas, (wounds) referring to the Holy Wounds of the crucifixion of Jesus. They named as well some of the atolls, such as Diego Garcia and Peros Banhos Atoll, mentioned as "Pedro dos Banhos" in 1513 by Afonso de Albuquerque. Neglected by the Portuguese, this lonely and isolated group, economically and politically uninteresting, was never made part of the Portuguese Empire.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The earliest and most interesting description of the Chagos, before coconut trees grew widely on the islands, was written by Manoel Rangel, a castaway from the Portuguese ship "Conceição" which ran aground on the Peros Banhos reefs in 1556.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The French were the first to lay a claim on the Chagos after they settled Île Bourbon (now Réunion, in 1665) and Isle de France (now Mauritius, in 1715). The French began issuing permits for companies to establish coconut oil plantations on the Chagos in the 1770s.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 27 April 1786 the Chagos Islands and Diego Garcia were claimed for Great Britain. However, the territory was ceded to Britain by treaty only after Napoleon's defeat, in 1814. The Chagos were governed from Mauritius, which was by that time also a British colony.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In 1793, when the first successful colony was founded on Diego Garcia, the largest island, coconut plantations were established on many of the atolls and isolated islands of the archipelago. Initially the workers were slaves, but after 1840 they were freemen, many of whom were descended from those earlier slaves. They formed an inter-island culture called "Ilois" (a French Creole word meaning Islanders).


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Commander Robert Moresby made a survey of the Chagos on behalf of the British Admiralty in 1838. After Moresby took measurements of most of the atolls and reefs, the archipelago was charted with relative accuracy for the first time.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 31 August 1903 the Chagos Archipelago was administratively separated from the Seychelles and attached to Mauritius.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In November 1965, the UK purchased the entire Chagos Archipelago from the then self-governing colony of Mauritius for £3 million to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), with the intent of ultimately closing the plantations to provide the British territory from which the United States would conduct its military activities in the region. On 30 December 1966, the United States and the United Kingdom executed an agreement through an Exchange of Notes which permit the United States Armed Forces to use any island of the BIOT for defence purposes for 50 years, until December 2016, followed by a 20-year optional extension (to 2036) to which both parties must agree by December 2014. , only the atoll of Diego Garcia has been transformed into a military facility.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In 1967 the British Government bought the entire assets and real property of the Seychellois Chagos Agalega Company, which owned all the islands of the BIOT, for £660,000 and administered them as a government enterprise while awaiting US funding of its proposed facilities, with an interim objective of paying for the administrative expenses of the new territory. The plantations, under their previous private ownership and under government administration, proved consistently unprofitable due to the introduction of new oils and lubricants in the international marketplace and the establishment of vast coconut plantations in the East Indies and the Philippines.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Between 1967 and 1973, the population was cleansed from the islands and moved to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for a joint United States–United Kingdom military base on Diego Garcia. In March 1971, Seabees, United States naval construction battalions, arrived on Diego Garcia to begin the construction of the Communications Station and an airfield. To satisfy the terms of an agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States for an uninhabited island, the plantation on Diego Garcia was closed in October of that year.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The plantation workers and their families were initially deported to the plantations on Peros Banhos and Salomon atolls in the group; those who requested were transported to the Seychelles or Mauritius. In 1972, the UK closed the remaining plantations (all being now uneconomic) of the Chagos, and deported the Ilois who would have faced economic hardship to the Seychelles or Mauritius. The independent Mauritian government refused to accept these further displaced islanders without payment and in 1973, the United Kingdom agreed and gave them an additional £650,000 as reparation payments to resettle the people. Some in many of their reasonable views were less than ideally rehoused and employed by Mauritius, compared to others. The islands were becoming costly to live in due to industrial moves away from coconut oils and copra fibre markets and the success of larger plantations in the far east.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 1 April 2010, the British government announced the establishment the Chagos Marine Protected Area as the world's largest marine reserve. At 640,000 km, it is larger than France or the U.S. state of California. It doubled the total area of environmental no-take zones worldwide. On 18 March 2015, the Permanent Court of Arbitration unanimously held that the marine protected area (MPA) which the United Kingdom declared around the Chagos Archipelago in April 2010 violates international law. Anerood Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Mauritius, pointed out that it is the first time that the United Kingdom's conduct with regard to the Chagos Archipelago has been considered and condemned by any international court or tribunal.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Mauritius initiated on 20 December 2010 proceedings against the United Kingdom under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to challenge the legality of the Chagos Archipelago MPA.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The issue of compensation and repatriation of the former inhabitants of several of the archipelago's atolls, exiled since 1973, continues in litigation and has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights by a group of former residents.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Litigation continues regarding the right of return for the displaced islanders and Mauritian sovereignty claims. In addition, advocacy on the Chagossians' behalf continues both in the United States and in Europe. , Mauritius has taken the matter to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion, against British objections.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In November 2016, the United Kingdom restated it would not permit Chagossians to return to the islands.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: In July 2021, the Chagos Refugees Group UK submitted a complaint to the Irish government against domain-name speculators Paul Kane and Ethos Capital subsidiary Afilias, seeking repatriation of the .IO ("Indian Ocean") country-code top-level domain and payment of back royalties from the $7m/year in revenue generated by the domain. While attempts to repatriate top-level domains are not uncommon, this one is notable in that it cites consumer and human rights violations of the OECD's 2011 Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises rather than multistakeholder representation under ICANN policy, and because the .IO domain has enjoyed commercial success, particularly among cryptocurrency companies, with more than 270,000 domains registered.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Chagos had been administered from imperial offices in Mauritius since the 18th century when the French first named the islands (see map of 18th century, right). All of the islands forming part of the French colonial territory of Isle de France (as Mauritius was often then known) were ceded to the British in 1810 under the Act of Capitulation. In 1965, in planning before Mauritian independence, the UK split the archipelago from the territory of Mauritius to form the British Indian Ocean Territory, looking to provide the US with an uninhabited island base, the country's main creditor after the turmoil of World War II.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: United Nations' resolutions on self-determination deprecated the parcelling up of imperial territories before independence, without its endorsement and local support, mindful of the Partition of India which provided the strong governments sought by the separate factions but failed to ensure a relatively peaceful transfer of power in many places. Mauritius has repeatedly stated that the British claim that the Chagos Archipelago is one of its territories thwarted its claim to what would be widely considered part of the Mauritian colony and also breached UN resolutions. The UK has stated that the Chagos will be assigned to Mauritius once the islands are no longer required for defence purposes.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The island nation of Mauritius claims the Chagos Archipelago (which is coterminous with the BIOT), including Diego Garcia. Maldives states that the UK's claim to a 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone around the Chagos Archipelago is invalid as the islands are considered uninhabited. A subsidiary issue is the Mauritian opposition to the 1 April 2010 UK Government's declaration that the BIOT is a Marine Protected Area with fishing and extractive industry (including oil and gas exploration) prohibited.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 16 November 2016, the UK Foreign Office maintained their ban on resettlement of the islands. In response to this decision, the Prime Minister of Mauritius expressed his country's plan to advance the sovereignty dispute to the International Court of Justice. The British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson sought Indian assistance for resolving the dispute involving the UK, the US and Mauritius. India has maintained considerable influence in Mauritius through deep cultural and economic ties. India has maintained that the matter of whether or not to proceed with the UN General Assembly move is a decision for the Mauritian government to make.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 22 June 2017, the UN General Assembly requested the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius. On 25 February 2019, the International Court of Justice advised that in its opinion:


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 23 June 2017, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted in favour of referring the territorial dispute between Mauritius and the United Kingdom to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in order to clarify the legal status of the Chagos Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The motion was approved by a majority vote with 94 voting for and 15 against.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 22 May 2019, the United Nations General Assembly debated and adopted a resolution that affirmed that the Chagos archipelago “forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius.” The resolution demanded that the UK “withdraw its colonial administration … unconditionally within a period of no more than six months.” 116 states voted in favour of the resolution, 55 abstained and only 5 countries supported the United Kingdom. During the debate, the Mauritian Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, described the expulsion of Chagossians as "akin to a crime against humanity." The resolution's immediate consequence is that the UN and other international organisations are now bound by UN law to support the decolonisation of the Chagos Islands. The United Kingdom continues to assert that it has no doubt about its sovereignty over the archipelago. The Maldives were one of the countries which supported the UK in the General Assembly vote. It stated that, if the Chagos Archipelago became inhabited, the Maldives claim to an extension of its Exclusive Economic Zone would be affected.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 25 February 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered an advisory opinion that placing the Archipelago under British administration in 1965 was not based upon the free expression of the inhabitants and that it thus advised that the United Kingdom should relinquish the archipelago, including the strategic United States military base, for the establishment of which approximately 1,500 inhabitants had been deported. The British government rejected any jurisdiction of the court to deliberate these matters.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted in favor of setting a six-month deadline for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the Chagos Archipelago, which would then be reunified with Mauritius. The motion was approved by a majority vote with 116 voting for and 6 against. Fifty-six states, including France and Germany, abstained.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 28 January 2021, the United Nation's International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) confirmed the International Court of Justice ruling and ordered Britain to hand over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. The ITLOS Special Chamber affirmed that: “it is inconceivable that the United Kingdom, whose administration over the Chagos Archipelago constitutes a wrongful act of a continuing character and thus must be brought to an end as rapidly as possible, and yet who has failed to do so, can have any legal interests in permanently disposing of maritime zones around the Chagos Archipelago by delimitation”.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 14 February 2022, a delegation from Mauritius, including the Mauritian ambassador to the UN, raised the Mauritian flag on the Chagossian atoll of Peros Banhos. The move was done in the context of a scientific survey of Blenheim Reef but was regarded as a formal challenge to British sovereignty over Chagos.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: On 3 November 2022, the British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced that the UK and Mauritius had decided to begin negotiations on sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory, taking into account the recent international legal proceedings. Both states had agreed to ensure the continued operation of the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Structures on the islands are located in the joint defence and Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, although the Plantation house and other structures left behind by the Ilois are still standing, however left abandoned and decaying. Other uninhabited islands, especially in the Salomon Atoll, are common stopping points for long-distance yachtsmen travelling from Southeast Asia to the Red Sea or the coast of Africa, although a permit is required to visit the outer islands.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The islanders were known as the Ilois (one French Creole word for "islanders") and they numbered about 1,000. They were of mixed African, South Indian, Portuguese, English, French and Malay descent and lived very simple, spartan lives in their isolated archipelago working in the coconut and sugar plantations, or in the fishing and small textile industries. Few remains of their culture have been left, although their language is still spoken by some of their descendants in Mauritius.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The inhabitants of Chagos were speaking Chagossian Creole, also known as Ilois creole, a French Creole which has not been properly researched from the linguistic point of view.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The tribes that inhabited the islands were forcibly removed by the US and British governments during the late 1960s and early 1970s—effectively turning the islands into a military base. While a number of islanders had petitioned for the return of their former homes, their efforts have not been accepted by the US and UK legal systems.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Diego Garcia is currently the only inhabited island in the Chagos, all of which comprise the British Indian Ocean Territory, usually abbreviated as "BIOT". It is an Overseas territory of the United Kingdom, and the Government of the BIOT consists of Commissioner appointed by the King on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Commissioner is assisted by an Administrator and small staff, and is based in London and resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This administration is represented in the Territory by the Officer commanding British Forces on Diego Garcia, the "Brit Rep". Laws and regulations are promulgated by the Commissioner and enforced in the BIOT by Brit Rep.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: There are no indigenous peoples living on the island, and the UK represents the Territory internationally. A local government as normally envisioned does not exist. Around 1,700 armed services personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors, mostly American, are stationed on Diego Garcia.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: , the islands have a transitory population of about 3,000 (300 British government personnel and 2,700 United States Army, Navy and Air Force personnel).


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Catholics are pastorally served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Port-Louis, which includes the BIOT.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Chagos, together with the Maldives and Lakshadweep, forms the Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests terrestrial ecoregion. The islands and their surrounding waters are a vast oceanic Environment Preservation and Protection Zone (EPPZ) (Fisheries Conservation and Management Zone (FCMZ) of ), an area twice the size of the UK's land surface.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The deep oceanic waters around the Chagos Islands, out to the 200 nautical mile limit, include an exceptional diversity of undersea geological features (such as 6000 m deep trenches, oceanic ridges, and sea mounts). These areas almost certainly harbour many undiscovered and specially adapted species. Although the deepwater habitats surrounding the islands have not been explored or mapped in any detail, work elsewhere in the world has shown that high physical diversity of the sea floor is closely linked to a high diversity of species.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The biodiversity of the Chagos archipelago and its surrounding waters is one of the main reasons it is so special. As of 2010, 76 species that call Chagos home were listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The reefs host at least 371 species of coral including the endemic brain coral "Ctenella chagius". Historically, the coral cover was dense and healthy even in deep water on the steep outer reef slopes. Thick stands of branching staghorn coral ("Acropora" sp) previously protected the low-lying islands from wave erosion. Despite the loss of much of the coral in a bleaching event in 1998 the recovery in the Chagos was remarkable and overall coral cover increased year on year to 2014. High water temperatures, however, caused coral bleaching in both 2015 and 2016 which resulted in the death of more than two thirds of corals.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The reefs are also home to at least 784 species of fish that stay near to the shores of the islands including the endemic Chagos clownfish ("Amphiprion chagosensis") and many of the larger wrasse and grouper that have already been lost from over-fishing in other reefs in the region.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: As well as the healthy communities of reef fish there are significant populations of pelagic fish such as manta rays ("Manta birostris"), whale sharks, normal sharks, and tuna. Shark numbers have dramatically declined as a result of illegal fishing boats that seek to remove their fins and also as accidental by-catch in the two tuna fisheries that used to operate seasonally in the Chagos.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Seventeen species of breeding seabird can be found nesting in huge colonies on many of the islands in the archipelago, and 10 of the islands have been designated Important Bird Areas by BirdLife International. This means that Chagos has the most diverse breeding seabird community in this tropical region. Of particular interest are the large colonies of sooty terns ("Sterna fuscata"), brown and lesser noddies ("Anous stolidus" and "Anous tenuirostris"), wedge-tailed shearwaters ("Puffinus pacificus") and red-footed boobies ("Sula sula"). Land bird fauna is poor and consists of introduced species and recent natural colonisers. Red fody has been introduced and is now widespread.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Environments in the Chagos Archipelago provide rich biodiversity and support varieties of cetacean species, such as three populations of blue whales and toothed whales (sperm, pilot, orca, pseudo-orca, risso's and other dolphins such as spinners). Dugongs are now locally extinct but once thrived in the archipelago and Sea Cow Island was named after the presence of the species. Donkeys left behind when the Ilois were relocated also roam free.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The remote islands make perfect undisturbed sites for nests of green ("Chelonia mydas") and hawksbill ("Eretmochelys imbricata") turtles. The populations of both species in Chagos are of global significance given the critically endangered status of hawksbills and the endangered status of green turtles on the IUCN Red List. Chagos turtles had been heavily exploited for two centuries but they and their habitats are now well protected by the government of the British Indian Ocean Territory and are recovering well.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The coconut crab ("Birgus latro") is the world's largest terrestrial arthropod, reaching more than a metre in leg span and 3.5-4 kilos in weight. As a juvenile it behaves like a hermit crab and uses empty coconut shells as protection, but as an adult this giant crab climbs trees and can crack through a coconut with its massive claws. Despite its wide global distribution it is rare in most of the areas in which it is found. The coconut crabs on Chagos constitute one of the most undisturbed populations in the world. An important part of their biology is the long distances their young can travel as larvae. This means the Chagos coconut crabs are a vital source for replenishing other over-exploited populations in the Indian Ocean region.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: The Chagos Islands were colonised by plants once there was sufficient soil to support them—probably less than 4,000 years. Seeds and spores arrived on the emerging islands by wind and sea anc from passing seabirds. The native flora of the Chagos Islands is thought to consist of forty-one species of flowering plant and four ferns as well as a wide variety of mosses, liverworts, fungi and cyanobacteria.


title: Chagos Archipelago

text: Today the status of the Chagos Islands’ native flora depends very much on past exploitation of particular islands. About 280 species of flowering plant and fern have now been recorded on the islands, but this increase reflects the introduction of non-native plants by humans, either accidentally or deliberately. As some of these non-native species have become invasive and pose a threat to the native ecosystems, plans are being developed to control them. On some islands native forests were felled to plant coconut palms for the production of copra oil. Other islands remain unspoiled and support a wide range of habitats, including unique "Pisonia" forests and large clumps of the gigantic fish poison tree ("Barringtonia asiatica"). Unspoiled islands provide us with the biological information that we need to re-establish the native plant communities on heavily altered islands. These efforts will ultimately help to improve the biodiversity of the Chagos Islands.