title: Barak 8

text: Parallel to the Barak-8, IAI has completed development and is manufacturing the Barak MX system that broadens the Barak into a multi-layered air defense system employing unified smart launchers carrying Short, Medium, and Extended-Range interceptors. The Smart Launcher supports flexible deployment architecture for land and naval applications. Unlike the Barak-8 system, the interceptors, and sensors were developed exclusively by IAI to meet specific requirements from domestic and foreign customers.


title: Barak 8

text: The missile is expected to equip the Indian Navy's future "Visakhapatnam"-class destroyers and "Nilgiri"-class frigate.


title: Barak 8

text: The Barak 8 has a length of about 4.5 meters, a diameter of 0.225 meters at missile body, and 0.54 meters at the booster stage, a wingspan of 0.94 meters and weighs 275 kg including a 60 kg warhead which detonates at proximity. The missile has maximum speed of Mach 2 with a maximum operational range of 70 km, which was later increased to ~90km, which was later further increased to 100 km. Barak 8 features a dual pulse rocket motor as well as thrust vector control, and possesses high degrees of maneuverability at target interception range. A second motor is fired during the terminal phase, at which stage the active radar seeker is activated to home in on to the enemy track. Barak 8 has been designed to counter a wide variety of airborne threats, such as anti-ship missiles, aircraft, UAVs drones and supersonic missiles. When coupled with a modern air-defence system and multi-function surveillance track and guidance radars, such as the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR AESA on board "Kolkata"-class destroyers, Barak 8 enables the capability to simultaneously engage multiple targets during saturation attacks.


title: Barak 8

text: Israel Aerospace Industries describe Barak 8 as "an advanced, long-range missile defense and air defense system" with its main features being:


title: Barak 8

text: MRSAM is the land based configuration of the missile. It consists of a command and control system, tracking radar, missile and mobile launcher systems. Each launcher will have eight such missiles in two stacks and are launched in a canister configuration. The system is also fitted with an advanced radio frequency (RF) Seeker. It has a range of 70Kms.


title: Barak 8

text: In a 1 July 2010 report, replying to a query on the Indo-Israeli joint venture to develop a medium range surface-to-air missile, DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat told "The Economic Times" "More than 70 per cent of the content in the missile being developed with Israel would be indigenous."


title: Barak 8

text: The Indian Army ordered five regiments (40 launchers) of this version, which consists of 8 launcher vehicles each, and 200 missiles for .


title: Barak 8

text: In July 2019, the Indian Army and Air Force awarded a $100 million contract to produce 1,000 MRSAM to Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS), a joint venture between the Kalyani Group and Rafael. The missiles are manufactured at Kalyani Rafael's plant in Hyderabad, Telangana, and then sent to Bharat Dynamics Limited for further integration. KRAS announced that it had begun delivery of the first batch of MRSAM on 16 March 2021 to the Indian Air Force. The Air Force has placed order for 18 squadrons with 3 launcher vehicles, carrying 8 missiles each.


title: Barak 8

text: On 23 November 2020, the missile was successfully tested when a Banshee unmanned air vehicle (UAV) was hit mid-air. The entire mission trajectory from the launch to plunging into the sea was monitored by various radars and electro-optico instruments.


title: Barak 8

text: On 27 March 2022, DRDO carried out two test of MRSAM at ITR Balasore. The test was against the high speed aerial target at long range. The missile destroyed the target in a direct hit. The first test was of medium altitude at long range target and second launch was for the capability of a low altitude at short range target. The test was the user trial for the Indian Army.


title: Barak 8

text: An ER (extended range) variant of the Barak 8 is under development, which will see the missiles maximum range increased to 150 km. Designed to engage multiple beyond visual range threats, the low launch signature Barak-8ER is understood to retain the same autopilot/inertial navigation system and active radar seeker guidance as the Barak-8, although some modifications to the software and to the missile control surfaces are likely. The booster increases the length of the missile at launch from its current 4.5 m to nearly 6 m, although the length in flight after the booster has been jettisoned may be slightly less than the base Barak-8 missile, if a TVC is not present. The missile diameter and fin spans are thought to be the same as the base Barak-8. The booster weight is currently unknown, although the missile's weight after the booster has been jettisoned is the same as that for the current Barak-8 configuration. Levy said that initial operational capability (IOC) for Barak-8ER will first be declared for the naval variant, followed by IOC for the land variant. He declined to comment on a launch customer for Barak-8ER, but noted "existing Barak-8 customers will be interested in this configuration because it offers additional capability to their current system".


title: Barak 8

text: The Israeli Navy has commenced equipping its Sa'ar 5 corvettes with the system, the first re-fitted vessel being the INS "Lahav". The Sa'ar 4.5 flotilla will be next for the upgrade. The Indian Navy has already deployed the missiles on "Kolkata class"-class destroyer, "Visakhapatnam"-class destroyers, and aircraft carrier INS "Vikramaditya".


title: Barak 8

text: "Middle East Eye" quoted an unnamed official from an unnamed country stating that a Barak 8 operated by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces intercepted an Iskander missile shot by Armenia towards Baku towards the end of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, adding that the firing of the Iskander convinced the Azerbaijan government to accept a ceasefire. Whether Armenia used any Iskanders during the war is disputed: there were reports on social media of Armenia using the Iskander, but Russia's defense ministry said Armenia didn't fire any Iskanders, and Azerbaijan stated it didn't detect any Iskander launches during the war.


title: Barak 8

text: The Indian Air Force got the first MRSAM system on 9 September 2021 which guards the Jaisalmer Air Force Station.


title: Barak 8

text: On 2 July 2022, Barak 8 missiles launched from the Sa'ar 5-class corvette INS "Eilat" shot down two reconnaissance UAVs operated by Hezbollah over the Israeli off-shore Karish gas field in the Mediterranean sea.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Eugene Bondurant Sledge (November 4, 1923 – March 3, 2001) was a United States Marine, university professor, and author. His 1981 memoir "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" chronicled his combat experiences during World War II and was used as source material for the Ken Burns PBS documentary "The War" (2007), as well as the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" (2010), in which he is portrayed by Joseph Mazzello.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Eugene Bondurant Sledge was born on November 4, 1923, in Mobile, Alabama, to Edward Simmons Sledge, a physician, and Mary Frank "Sturdivant" Sledge, dean of women students at Huntingdon College. He graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile in the spring of 1942. His older brother, Edward Simmons Sledge II, was born on September 10, 1920, and enlisted in the United States Army. He went on to serve in the Western European theater, left the Army with the rank of Major and died on September 23, 1985. Eugene was a sickly child and lost two years of schooling due to rheumatic fever and this condition left him with a heart murmur. However once the condition subsided, his family encouraged him to enroll in college rather than join the military. His close childhood friend Sidney Phillips also wrote to Sledge from Guadalcanal and urged him to not join anything.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: In the fall of 1942, Sledge enrolled in the Marion Military Institute, in Marion, Alabama, but then he chose to volunteer for the U.S. Marine Corps in December 1942. He was placed in the V-12 officer training program and was sent to the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he and half of his detachment "flunked out" so they would be allowed to serve their time as enlistees and not "miss the war".


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Once he was out of school, he was assigned duty as an enlisted man in K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (K/3/5), where he served with Corporal R.V. Burgin and Private First Class Merriell "Snafu" Shelton. He rose to the rank of corporal in the Pacific Theater and saw combat as a 60 mm mortarman at Peleliu and Okinawa. When fighting grew too close for effective use of the mortar, he served in other duties such as stretcher bearer and as a rifleman.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: During his service, Sledge kept notes of what happened in his pocket-sized New Testament. When the war ended, he compiled these notes which would, many years later, become the memoir "With the Old Breed". After being posted to Beijing after the war, he was discharged from the Marine Corps in February 1946 with the rank of corporal.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: After the war ended, Sledge attended Auburn University (then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute), where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in the summer of 1949.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: As I strolled the streets of Mobile, civilian life seemed so strange. People rushed around in a hurry about seemingly insignificant things. Few seemed to realize how blessed they were to be free and untouched by the horrors of war. To them, a veteran was a veteran—all were the same, whether one man had survived the deadliest combat or another had pounded a typewriter while in uniform.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Once an avid hunter, Sledge gave up his hobby. He found that he could not endure the thought of wounding a bird and said that killing a deer felt like shooting a cow in a pasture. His father found him weeping after a dove hunt in which Sledge had to kill a wounded dove, and in the ensuing conversations he told his father he could no longer tolerate seeing any suffering. A key turning point in his life and career followed when his father advised him that he could substitute bird watching as a hobby. Sledge started to assist the conservation department in its banding study efforts, the origin of his well-known passion for the science of ornithology.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: When he enrolled at Auburn University, the clerk at the Registrar's office asked him if the Marine Corps had taught him anything useful. Sledge replied:


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Lady, there was a killing war. The Marine Corps taught me how to kill Japs and try to survive. Now, if that don't fit into any academic course, I'm sorry. But some of us had to do the killing—and most of my buddies got killed or wounded.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Sledge married Jeanne Arceneaux in 1952 and the couple had two sons, John (born 1957) and Henry (born 1965). He returned to Auburn in 1953, where he worked as a research assistant until 1955. That same year he graduated from API with a Master of Science degree in botany.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: From 1956 to 1960, Sledge attended the University of Florida and worked as a research assistant. He published numerous papers on helminthology and in 1956 joined the Helminthological Society of Washington. He received his doctorate in biology from the University of Florida in 1960. He was employed by the Division of Plant Industry for the Florida State Department of Agriculture from 1959 to 1962.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: In the summer of 1962, Sledge was appointed assistant professor of biology at Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo). In 1970, he became a professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. He taught zoology, ornithology, comparative vertebrate anatomy, and other courses during his long tenure there. Sledge was popular with his students, and organized field trips and collections around town. In 1989, he received an honorary degree and rank of colonel from Marion Military Institute.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Sledge died after a long battle with stomach cancer on March 3, 2001. He is buried near his parents and brother in Pine Crest Cemetery located in Mobile, Alabama.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: At the urging of his wife, Sledge began to compile a memoir of his war experiences as a way to better help him cope. In 1981, he published "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa", a memoir of his World War II service with the United States Marine Corps. "With the Old Breed" was reprinted in 1990 (with an introduction by Paul Fussell) and again in 2007 (with an introduction by Victor Davis Hanson). In 1992, Sledge was featured in the documentary film "Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific". In April 2007, it was announced that "With the Old Breed", along with Robert Leckie's "Helmet for My Pillow", would form the basis for the HBO series "The Pacific".


title: Eugene Sledge

text: A second memoir, "China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II", was published posthumously. Its initial hardbound edition, with a foreword by Stephen E. Ambrose, was published without a subtitle on May 10, 2002, by the University of Alabama Press. In 2003, Oxford University Press republished it as a paperback edition with the subtitle "China Marine". The book discussed his postwar service in Peking (now known as Beijing), his return to Mobile, and his recovery from the psychological trauma of warfare.


title: Eugene Sledge

text: Sledge was entitled to campaign participation credit ("battle stars") for Capture and Occupation of the Southern Palau Islands (Peleliu), and Assault and Occupation of Okinawa Gunto.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Māui (Maui) is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Tales of Māui's exploits and adventures are told throughout most of Polynesia; they can be traced back as far west as islands off New Guinea. Some exploits common to most Polynesian traditions are stealing fire for humans from the underworld, fishing up islands with his magical hook, and capturing the Sun to lengthen the days. There is a great deal of variation in the representations of Māui from nation to nation, from being a handsome young man, to being an old wise wandering priest. Although Māui was said to be very rascally or "kolohe", many of his deeds were to better the lives of his fellow people. He was respected throughout most cultures of the Pacific and still is famous to this day.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: In Māori mythology, as in other Polynesian traditions, Māui is a culture hero and a trickster, famous for his exploits and cleverness. Māori names of Māui include "Māui-tikitiki" ("Māui the top-knot"), "Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga" ("Māui the top-knot of Taranga"), "Māui-pōtiki" ("Māui the last born"), and "Māui te whare kino" ("Māui the house of trouble").


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Māui's older brothers always refused to let him come fishing with them. One night, he wove for himself a flax fishing line and enchanted it with a karakia to give it strength; to this he attached the magic fish-hook made from the jawbone that his grandmother Murirangawhenua had given him. Then he stowed away in the hull of his brothers' waka (canoe). The next morning, when the waka was too far from land to return, he emerged from his hiding place. His brothers would not lend him any bait, so he struck himself on the nose and baited the hook with his blood. He pulled up a giant fish which would become the North Island of New Zealand, known as "Te Ika-a-Māui"; the valleys and mountains of the island were made by his brothers chopping up the fish for themselves. In some traditions his waka became the South Island, known as "Te Waka a Māui". (Other traditions make the South Island the waka of Aoraki.)


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Māui wanted to know where fire came from, so one night he went among the villages of his people and put all the fires out. Māui's mother Taranga, who was their rangatira, said that someone would have to ask Mahuika, the goddess of fire, for more. So Māui (a grandson of Mahuika) offered to go and find her. Mahuika lived in a cave in a burning mountain at the end of the earth. She gave Māui one of her burning fingernails to relight the fires, but Māui extinguished fingernail after fingernail until Mahuika became angry and sent fire to pursue Māui, who survived only by calling upon Tāwhirimātea, the god of weather, to put it out with his rain. Mahuika threw her last nail at Māui, but it missed him and flew into some trees including the māhoe and the kaikōmako. Māui brought back dry sticks of these trees to his village and showed his people how to rub the sticks together and make fire.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: In former days, the sun used to travel quickly across the sky, leaving not enough daylight time for working and eating. Māui proposed to catch the sun and slow it down. Armed with Murirangawhenua's magic jawbone and a large amount of rope, Māui and his brothers journeyed to the east and found the pit where the sun-god Tama-nui-te-rā slept during the night-time. There they tied the ropes into a noose around the pit and built a wall of clay to shelter behind. Tama-nui-te-rā was caught in the noose and Māui struck him with the jawbone until he surrendered and agreed to travel slowly across the sky.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: His last trick, which led to his death, involved the Goddess Hine-nui-te-pō. In an attempt to make mankind immortal, he changed into a worm and Māui entered her vagina, intending to leave through her mouth while she slept; but was crushed by the obsidian teeth in her vagina.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: In Hawaiian religion, Māui is a culture hero and ancient chief who appears in several different genealogies. In the Kumulipo he is the son of ʻAkalana and his wife Hina-a-ke-ahi (Hina). This couple has four sons, Māui-mua, Māui-waena, Māui-kiʻikiʻi and Māui-a-kalana. Māui-a-kalana's wife is named Hinakealohaila; his son is Nanamaoa. Māui is one of the Kupua. His name is the same as that of the Hawaiian island Maui, although native tradition holds that it is not named for him directly, but instead named after the son of the "Hawaiʻiloa" ("discoverer of Hawaiʻi", who was named after Māui himself).


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Some of Māui's most renowned feats included causing birds (which were invisible to mortal eyes) to become visible. In this long ago, forgotten time, the music of the birds delighted Māui. He observed them with keen interest, their varied and beautiful plumage which adorned the foliage of fragrant trees, and their melodious music, however, no one else could join him in enjoying what was apparent to his vision. For, although Māui's friends could hear their wonderful bird songs, none perceived the true source of the sounds. Māui felt compassion for his friends, for humanity, and their inability to behold with their eyes the colorful, musical creatures as they flitted from tree to tree, so, Māui caused the creatures to become visible to the naked eye.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Māui also is credited with the creation of the Hawaiian islands, when he went on a fishing expedition with his friends, and, using a magic fish hook, pulled up various island groups from the oceanic depths. In some versions of the Hawaiian fisherman story, Māui is said to be a bad fisherman. His brothers would mock him for not catching any fish and he would retaliate with mischievous tricks against them. Māui and all his brothers were sons to a divine father and mother but only Māui was granted miraculous powers, which is why Māui was able to possess this magical hook made from the bones of his divine ancestors. One day, his brothers went fishing but would not permit Māui to join them on the canoe, and this irritated Māui. When they returned, Māui told them that, had he gone with them, they would have caught many more fish rather than just a single shark. His brothers considered his remark and then took him out on their next trip. They asked him where all the "good" fish were. Māui then threw in his magical hook baited with Alae birds, sacred to his mother Hina. The ocean floor began to move and generate huge waves while Māui asked his brothers to paddle fast to accommodate for the oncoming fish. They paddled with great power and were getting tired but Māui told them not to look back because if they did the fish would run away. One of the brothers disobeyed and the fishing line snapped, revealing new islands. Had nobody looked back, there would have been more islands.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: As men had not yet discovered fire, during Māui's tenure in a land of perpetual volcanic eruptions and fire in the mountaintops, Māui decided that rather than periodically hike for dozens of miles across corals just to obtain glowing embers of the extinguished fires put out the previous night by cold winds, he decided upon a simpler solution. He would bring the fire to him. Māui knew of a tribe of intelligent birds that mastered the art of fire-making. His plan was to capture their leader, and coerce from him the secret of fire. The bird taught him that he should rub certain sticks together in order to produce fire, and this is how the secret of fire was brought to humanity.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Before Māui's involvement in the matter, the Sun (Lā) notoriously traveled on irregular paths in the sky, coming and going unexpectedly at times, which made activities such as farming very difficult for man. To this end, Māui crafted snares made of his hair in order to trap the sun and compel it to travel more slowly and adhere to regular courses of travel. In this manner, Māui regulated the sun's activities for the benefit of mankind.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Similar to Atlas and Heracles of Greek mythology, Māui lifted up the heavens, which, for a long time, had lain heavily upon the plants of the Earth, leaving insufficient room for growth and for humanity to move about with ease.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: In the Tongan version of his tales, Māui drew up the Tongan Islands from the deep: first appeared Lofanga and the other Haʻapai Islands, and finally Vavau. Māui then dwelt in Tonga. Māui had two sons: the eldest, Māui-Atalanga, and the younger Māui-Kisikisi. The latter discovered the secret of fire, and taught people the art of cooking food: he made fire dwell in certain kinds of wood. Māui-Motu'a bears the earth on his shoulders, and when he nods in sleep it causes earthquakes, therefore the people have to stamp on the ground to waken him. Hikule'o, the deity presiding over Pulotu, the underworld, is the youngest son of Māui-Motu'a. Houma is pointed out as the spot where Māui's fish-hook caught.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Other sources say that in Tonga there were three Māui brothers: Māui-motua (old Māui), Māui-atalanga, and Māui-kisikisi (dragonfly Māui), the last one being the trickster. He also got the name Māui-fusi-fonua (Māui land puller) when he begged the magic fishhook from the old fisherman Tongafusifonua, who lived in Manuka (located to the east on the island of Tonga). Tongafusifonua allowed him to take the fishhook, under the condition that he could find it in his collection of countless hooks. But his wife, Tavatava betrayed the secret, allowing Māui to pick the right hook. And so he was able to fish up the coral islands from the bottom of the ocean (Volcanic islands are supposed to have fallen down from heavens).


title: Māui (mythology)

text: In the mythology of Tahiti, Māui was a wise man, or prophet. He was a priest, but was afterwards deified. Being at one time engaged at the marae (sacred place), and the sun getting low while Māui's work was unfinished, he laid hold of the hihi, or sun-rays, and stopped his course for some time. As the discoverer of fire, Māui was named "Ao-ao-ma-ra'i-a" because he taught the art of obtaining fire by friction of wood. Before this time people ate their food raw. See also Mahui'e, Tahitian guardian of fire.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: In Samoan mythology, Māui or Tiʻitiʻi gave fire to his people. Being the curious and "kolohe" demigod that he is, Tiʻitiʻi concealed himself closely to a wall that allowed his father, Talaga, to get to work in the underworld. The underworld is home to Mafuiʻe, the earthquake god. When Tiʻitiʻi got the chance, he went up to the wall and imitated the voice of his father, saying "O rock! Divide, I am Talaga, I come to work on my land given by Mafuiʻe". As Tiʻitiʻi passed through to the underworld, his father was surprised and told his son to help quietly so he doesn't anger Mafui‘e. While working, Tiʻitiʻi noticed smoke and asked his father where it was coming from. Talaga explained that the smoke was from Mafuiʻes fire. Tiʻitiʻi went to see the god and ask for fire. Mafuiʻe gave him a little bit of the fire; then he quickly built a stone oven, or "umu", to put it in. His idea was to cook the taro that they had been harvesting. The god came and blew the fire up scattering the rocks and angered Tiʻitiʻi. As he goes to talk to the god, Mafui‘e was determined to punish Tiʻitiʻi severely for daring to rebel against the power of fire. Their great duel ultimately ended with Tiʻitiʻi triumphant. The young demigod broke off Mafuiʻe's right arm and caught the left arm right after. Scared that Tiʻitiʻi was going to break off that arm, Mafuiʻe pleaded with him to spare the left arm so he could still fulfill his duty of keeping Samoa flat with earthquakes. The god offered him one hundred wives should he spare his left arm. The hero declined; the god offered the secrets of fire that he can take to the upper world. Tiʻitiʻi accepted this offer and learned that the gods had hidden eternal fire in trees, to be extracted by rubbing sticks from the trees together.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: In the mythology of Mangareva, Māui hauls the land up from the sea, and ties the sun with tresses of hair. His father was Ataraga; his mother, Uaega.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: There were eight Māui: Māui-mua, Māui-muri, Māui-toere-mataroa, Tumei-hauhia, Māui-tikitiki-toga, Māui-matavaru, Māui-taha, Māui-roto. Māui the eight-eyed (matavaru) is the hero. He is born from his mother's navel, and is raised by his grandfather, Te Rupe, who gives him a magic staff named "Atua-tane" and a hatchet named "Iraiapatapata".


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Maui appears as a main character in the 2016 Disney 3D computer-animated musical film "Moana", in which he is voiced by Dwayne Johnson. Abandoned by his human parents as a baby, the gods took pity on him and made him a demigod and gave him a magic fish hook that gives him the ability to shape-shift. He went on to perform miracles to win back the love of humanity, each of which earned him an animated tattoo. He is fabled to have stolen the heart of Te Fiti, a powerful island goddess who creates life. The protagonist of the film, Moana, persuades him to help her return it. In his song "You're Welcome," composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Maui mentions and takes credit for several of the deeds he is credited with in folklore. This version of Māui incorporates elements from various Polynesian narratives.


title: Māui (mythology)

text: Māui was also the subject of Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's song "Maui Hawaiian Sup'pa Man" in his most well-known album, "Facing Future", which is the highest selling Hawaiian album of all time.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk is common throughout Western Europe, where deposits underlie parts of France, and steep cliffs are often seen where they meet the sea in places such as the Dover cliffs on the Kent coast of the English Channel.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk is mined for use in industry, such as for quicklime, bricks and builder's putty, and in agriculture, for raising pH in soils with high acidity. It is also used for "blackboard chalk" for writing and drawing on various types of surfaces, although these can also be manufactured from other carbonate-based minerals, or gypsum.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk is a fine-textured, earthy type of limestone distinguished by its light color, softness, and high porosity. It is composed mostly of tiny fragments of the calcite shells or skeletons of plankton, such as foraminifera or coccolithophores. These fragments mostly take the form of calcite plates ranging from 0.5 to 4 microns in size, though about 10% to 25% of a typical chalk is composed of fragments that are 10 to 100 microns in size. The larger fragments include intact plankton skeletons and skeletal fragments of larger organisms, such as molluscs, echinoderms, or bryozoans.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk is typically almost pure calcite, , with just 2% to 4% of other minerals. These are usually quartz and clay minerals, though collophane (cryptocrystalline apatite, a phosphate mineral) is also sometimes present, as nodules or as small pellets interpreted as fecal pellets. In some chalk beds, the calcite has been converted to dolomite, , and in a few cases the dolomitized chalk has been dedolomitized back to calcite.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk is highly porous, with typical values of porosity ranging from 35 to 47 per cent. While it is similar in appearance to both gypsum and diatomite, chalk is identifiable by its hardness, fossil content, and its reaction to acid (it produces effervescence on contact).


title: Chalk

text: Chalk was formed in the Cretaceous Period, between 99 and 65 million years ago. It was deposited on extensive continental shelves at depths between , during a time of nonseasonal (likely arid) climate that reduced the amount of erosion from nearby exposed rock. The lack of nearby erosion explains the high purity of chalk. The coccolithophores, foraminifera, and other microscopic organisms from which the chalk came mostly form low-magnesium calcite skeletons, so the sediments were already in the form of highly stable low-magnesium calcite when deposited. This is in contrast with most other limestones, which formed from high-magnesium calcite or aragonite that rapidly converted to the more stable low-magnesium calcite after deposition. Because this conversion process is responsible for the early cementing of limestone, chalk lacked early cementing, which partially accounts for its high porosity. Chalk is also the only form of limestone that commonly shows signs of compaction.


title: Chalk

text: Flint (a type of chert) is very common as bands parallel to the bedding or as nodules in seams, or linings to fractures, embedded in chalk. It is probably derived from sponge spicules or other siliceous organisms as water is expelled upwards during compaction. Flint is often deposited around larger fossils such as Echinoidea which may be silicified (i.e. replaced molecule by molecule by flint).


title: Chalk

text: Chalk is so common in Cretaceous marine beds that the Cretaceous Period was named for these deposits. The name Cretaceous was derived from Latin "creta", meaning "chalk".


title: Chalk

text: The Chalk Group is a European stratigraphic unit deposited during the late Cretaceous Period. It forms the famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent, England, as well as their counterparts of the Cap Blanc Nez on the other side of the Dover Strait. The Champagne region of France is mostly underlain by chalk deposits, which contain artificial caves used for wine storage. Some of the highest chalk cliffs in the world occur at Jasmund National Park in Germany and at Møns Klint in Denmark.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk deposits are also found in Cretaceous beds on other continents, such as the Austin Chalk, Selma Group, and Niobrara Formations of the North American interior. Chalk is also found in western Egypt (Khoman Formation) and western Australia (Miria Formation).


title: Chalk

text: Chalk is mined from chalk deposits both above ground and underground. Chalk mining boomed during the Industrial Revolution, due to the need for chalk products such as quicklime and bricks.


title: Chalk

text: Most people first encounter chalk in school where it refers to blackboard chalk, which was originally made of mineral chalk, since it readily crumbles and leaves particles that stick loosely to rough surfaces, allowing it to make writing that can be readily erased. Blackboard chalk manufacturers now may use mineral chalk, other mineral sources of calcium carbonate, or the mineral gypsum (calcium sulfate). While gypsum-based blackboard chalk is the lowest cost to produce, and thus widely used in the developing world, use of carbonate-based chalk produces larger particles and thus less dust, and it is marketed as "dustless chalk".


title: Chalk

text: Coloured chalks, pastel chalks, and sidewalk chalk (shaped into larger sticks and often coloured), used to draw on sidewalks, streets, and driveways, are primarily made of gypsum rather than calcium carbonate chalk.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk and other forms of limestone may be used for their properties as a base. Chalk is a source of quicklime by thermal decomposition, or slaked lime following quenching of quicklime with water. In agriculture, chalk is used for raising pH in soils with high acidity. Small doses of chalk can also be used as an antacid. Additionally, the small particles of chalk make it a substance ideal for cleaning and polishing. For example, toothpaste commonly contains small amounts of chalk, which serves as a mild abrasive. Polishing chalk is chalk prepared with a carefully controlled grain size, for very fine polishing of metals.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk beds form important petroleum reservoirs in the North Sea and along the Gulf Coast of North America.


title: Chalk

text: In southeast England, deneholes are a notable example of ancient chalk pits. Such bell pits may also mark the sites of ancient flint mines, where the prime object was to remove flint nodules for stone tool manufacture. The surface remains at Cissbury are one such example, but perhaps the most famous is the extensive complex at Grimes Graves in Norfolk.


title: Chalk

text: Several traditional uses of chalk have been replaced by other substances, although the word "chalk" is often still applied to the usual replacements. Tailor's chalk (also known as French chalk) is traditionally a hard chalk used to make temporary markings on cloth, mainly by tailors. It is now usually made of talc (magnesium silicate).


title: Chalk

text: Chalk was traditionally used in recreation. In field sports, such as tennis played on grass, powdered chalk was used to mark the boundary lines of the playing field or court. If a ball hits the line, a cloud of chalk or pigment dust will be visible. In recent years, powdered chalk has been replaced with titanium dioxide. In gymnastics, rock-climbing, weightlifting and tug of war, chalk — now usually magnesium carbonate — is applied to the hands and feet to remove perspiration and reduce slipping.


title: Chalk

text: Chalk may also be used as a house construction material instead of brick or wattle and daub: quarried chalk was cut into blocks and used as ashlar, or loose chalk was rammed into blocks and laid in mortar. There are still houses standing which have been constructed using chalk as the main building material. Most are pre-Victorian though a few are more recent.


title: Chalk

text: A mixture of chalk and mercury can be used as fingerprint powder. However, because of the toxicity of the mercury, the use of such mixtures for fingerprinting was abandoned in 1967.


title: Red Right Hand

text: "Red Right Hand" is a song by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was released as a single from their eighth studio album, "Let Love In" (1994), on 24 October 1994. A condensed version was included in the single, while the longer version was included with the album. The title comes from John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost", in which it refers to the vengeful hand of God.


title: Red Right Hand

text: The song has become one of Nick Cave's signature songs, being performed at most of his concerts; only "The Mercy Seat" has appeared in more of his live sets since 1984. It has since become best known for its use in the "Scream" film series and later as the theme song to the British crime drama series "Peaky Blinders", which resulted in the song receiving a re-release single in 2014. It has been covered by Arctic Monkeys, PJ Harvey, Iggy Pop, Jarvis Cocker and Snoop Dogg, among others.


title: Red Right Hand

text: The liner notes for "Murder Ballads" state that the phrase "red right hand" is from a line in John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" that refers to divine vengeance. The opening song on the album, "Song of Joy," states of a murderer: "It seems he has done many, many more, / quotes John Milton on the walls in the victim's blood. / The police are investigating at tremendous cost. / In my house he wrote 'his red right hand'. / That, I'm told, is from "Paradise Lost"."


title: Red Right Hand

text: The aforementioned appearance in "Paradise Lost" () is: "What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, / Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage, / And plunge us in the flames; or from above / Should intermitted vengeance arm again / His red right hand to plague us?". The term itself appears to be Milton's translation of the term "rubente dextera" in Horace's "Ode I.2,2-3"


title: Red Right Hand

text: Co-writer Mick Harvey recalled that the song originated during the songwriting process for the band's 1994 album "Let Love In". The lyrics describe "a shadowy, alluring, and manipulative figure, stalking the land and striking a combination of fear and awe everywhere he goes" who is "seemingly part deity, part demon". While writing the lyrics, Cave "filled an entire notebook" with descriptions of the town the song is set in, "including maps and sketches of prominent buildings, virtually none of which made it into the lyrics." Cave later said that the town and landscape depicted in the song is a "reconstructed" version of Wangaratta, his hometown. Biographer Mark Mordue notes that it is "still somewhere real enough for those lyrics to serve as a map that could guide you from one point to another with an eerie familiarity."


title: Red Right Hand

text: In 2004 researcher Kim Beissel claimed that "Red Right Hand" was loosely based on the 1987 Tom Waits song "Way Down in the Hole".


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: Genius is an American anthology period drama television series developed by Noah Pink and Kenneth Biller which premiered on National Geographic. The first season, which aired between April and June 2017, followed the life of Albert Einstein, from his early years, through his time as a patent clerk, and into his later years as a physicist who developed the theory of relativity; the season is based on the 2007 book "" by Walter Isaacson. The second season, which aired between April and June 2018, followed the life and artistry of Pablo Picasso.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: In April 2018, National Geographic renewed the series for a third season. The season was originally supposed to focus on Mary Shelley but this was moved to development to instead focus on Aretha Franklin. It aired in March 2021. In December 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which is set to be released on Disney+. The series will follow the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: The first season chronicles two periods in the life of Albert Einstein: the first as a patent clerk struggling to gain a teaching position and doctorate, the second as a scientist respected for his development of the theory of relativity.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: The second season chronicles two periods in the life of Pablo Picasso: the first as a young man first discovering his talent, the second as a celebrated artist struggling with the rise of fascism and the price of fame.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: The third season chronicles two periods in the life of Aretha Franklin: as a young gospel singer impregnated at the age of twelve, and as a rising star who was crowned the "Queen of Soul".


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: On April 28, 2016, it was announced that National Geographic had given the production a straight-to-series order, its first ever scripted series. The series was set to be based on the biography "" by Walter Isaacson and adapted by Noah Pink, who was also expected to co-executive produce. Executive producers were announced to include Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Francie Calfo, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Sam Sokolow, and Jeffrey Cooney. Anna Culp was set to co-produce alongside Melissa Rucker. Ron Howard was expected to direct the first episode of the series. Production companies involved with the series were set to include Imagine TV, Fox 21 TV Studios, OddLot Entertainment and EUE/Sokolow.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: On April 19, 2017, National Geographic renewed the series for a second season. The subject of the second season was to have been announced during the finale of the first season, but was instead revealed to be Pablo Picasso the day after the finale, when the network and producers did not want to divert attention away from the season finale. The second season premiered on April 24, 2018.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: On April 18, 2018, National Geographic renewed the series for a third season. The season was initially set to follow the life of writer Mary Shelley. Ken Biller is expected to return as showrunner, executive producer and writer. Also returning are executive producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Francie Calfo, Jeff Cooney, Sam Sokolow, Gigi Pritzker, and Rachel Shane. Anna Culp will return as producer. Returning production companies include Imagine TV, MWM Studios, and EUE/Sokolow. On February 10, 2019, it was announced that the subject of the third season would instead be American singer Aretha Franklin, known as "The Queen of Soul". The third season was slated to premiere on May 25, 2020 and air over four consecutive nights, but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and began airing on March 21, 2021.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: On December 10, 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which is set to follow the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and will be moving to Disney+.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: In August 2016, it was announced that Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn would star in the series as Albert Einstein both as an old man and as a young adult, respectively. Additionally, it was reported that Emily Watson would also star in the series and that Michael McElhatton, Seth Gabel, Samantha Colley, Richard Topol, and Vincent Kartheiser had joined the cast. In November 2016, it was announced that Shannon Tarbet, Claire Rushbrook, and Robert Lindsay had been cast in recurring roles. On February 2, 2017, it was reported that T. R. Knight had been cast in the recurring role of J. Edgar Hoover.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: On September 6, 2017, it was announced that Antonio Banderas would star in the second season as Pablo Picasso. On November 2, 2017, it was reported that Alex Rich would co-star in the series sharing the lead role of Picasso. It was further reported that Clémence Poésy, Robert Sheehan, Poppy Delevingne, Aisling Franciosi, and Sebastian Roché also joined the cast and that Samantha Colley, T. R. Knight, Seth Gabel, and Johnny Flynn were returning from season one in new roles.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: In September 2022, the cast was announced, with Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre set to star as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X respectively, while Weruche Opia was cast as Coretta Scott King and Jayme Lawson as Betty Shabazz. In November, Ron Cephas Jones, Gary Carr and Hubert Point-Du Jour were added to the main cast for the season, with Lennie James, LisaGay Hamilton, Ashley Romans, Donal Logue and Griffin Matthews joining in recurring roles. Jalyn Hall was cast as a younger Martin Luther King Jr. in December.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: Principal photography for season one took place in mid-2016 in Prague. Filming for season two began in November 2017 in Málaga and was expected to take place for over five months in various cities around the world, including Barcelona, Paris, and Budapest. Filming for the third season was set to commence in November 2019, for an early-2020 release. In March 2020, the production was shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series resumed production on October 1, 2020.


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: Most of Franklin's music in season three was recorded by Erivo. The producers, however, were unable to obtain the rights to use Franklin's biggest songs, "Respect" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman".


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: The first season received mostly positive reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 83%, based on 29 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Buoyed by a superb performance from Geoffrey Rush, "Genius" is a compelling origin story of one of history's most renowned scientists." On Metacritic, the season had a score of 65 out of 100, based on 20 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: Science columnist Dennis Overbye of "The New York Times" described the series as a "tense binge-worthy psychological thriller full of political and romantic melodrama." Overbye further noted that Einstein himself, writing to his sister, wrote, "If everybody lived a life like mine, there would be no need for novels." According to Hillary Busis of "Vanity Fair", the film shows, "... Einstein at work ... peers into the über-genius's tumultuous love life (monogamy, he believes, is "not natural") ... his fraught emigration to the United States ...". Busis quotes producer Ron Howard: "When you move past his scientific contributions, Albert's life story—what his youth was like, who his friends were, who his enemies were, his tumultuous love life—is a story people don't know ... I think audiences are going to be riveted as we tell this ambitious and revealing human story behind Einstein's scientific brilliance."


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: The second season received mixed reviews, but garnered praise for its star, Antonio Banderas. Rotten Tomatoes gave an approval rating of 59%, based on 17 reviews. Its critical consensus reads: "An impressive performance from Antonio Banderas rescues "Genius: Picasso" from condensed melodrama." On Metacritic, the season had a score of 52 out of 100, based on 10 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: The third season received mainly positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave an approval rating of 73% based on 26 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Cynthia Erivo captures the spirit of the singular singer with poise and passion - if only "Aretha"s writing were as strong as her performance." On Metacritic, the season had a score of 67 out of 100, based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Genius (American TV series)

text: The family of Aretha Franklin did not react kindly to the season. They claim they were not consulted in any part of the production, despite the crew's insistence that they worked with Franklin's estate.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: On September 16, 1994, there was a UFO sighting outside Ruwa, Zimbabwe. 62 pupils at the Ariel School aged between six and twelve claimed that they saw one or more silver craft descend from the sky and land on a field near their school. One or more creatures dressed all in black then approached the children and telepathically communicated to them a message with an environmental theme.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: The Fortean writer Jerome Clark has called the incident the “most remarkable close encounter of the third kind of the 1990s”. Skeptics have described the incident as one of mass hysteria. Not all the children at the school that day claimed that they saw something. Several of those that did maintain that their account of the incident is true.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: Ruwa is a small agricultural centre located 22 km south-east of the capital Harare. At the time of the incident, it was not a town but only a local place-name, "little more than a crossroads in an agricultural region".


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: Ariel School was an expensive private school. Most of the pupils were from wealthy white families in Harare.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: Two days prior to the incident at Ariel there had been a number of UFO sightings throughout southern Africa. There had been numerous reports of a bright fireball passing through the sky at night. Many people answered ZBC Radio's request to call-in and describe what they had seen. Although some witnesses interpreted the fireball as a comet or meteor, it resulted in a wave of UFO mania in Zimbabwe at the time.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: According to skeptic Brian Dunning, the fireball "had been the re-entry of the Zenit-2 rocket from the Cosmos 2290 satellite launch. The booster broke up into burning streaks as it moved silently across the sky, giving an impressive light show to millions of Africans." Local UFO researcher Cynthia Hind recorded other alien sightings at this time, including a daylight sighting by a young boy and his mother and a report of alien beings on a road by a trucker.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: The sightings at Ariel occurred at 10am on September 16, 1994, when pupils were outside on mid-morning break. The adult faculty at the school were inside having a meeting at the time. The entire incident lasted about fifteen minutes. When the children returned to class they told the teachers what they had seen but were dismissed.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: When they returned home they told their parents. Many of those parents came to the school the next day to discuss what had happened with the faculty. The sighting was reported on ZBC Radio, from where Cynthia Hind learned about it.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: The BBC's correspondent in Zimbabwe, Tim Leach, visited the school on September 19 to film interviews with pupils and staff. After investigating this incident, Leach claimed "I could handle war zones, but I could not handle this". Hind visited the school on September 20 1994. She interviewed some of the children and asked them to draw pictures of what they had seen. She reported that the children all told her the same story.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: That November Harvard University professor of psychiatry John Mack visited the Ariel school to interview witnesses. Throughout the 1990s Mack had investigated UFO sightings and had a particular interest in the alien abduction phenomenon. In May 1994 the Dean of Harvard Medical School, Daniel C. Tosteson, appointed a committee of peers to confidentially review Mack's clinical care and clinical investigation of the people who had shared their alien encounters with him (some of their cases were written of in Mack's 1994 book "Abduction"). The issue was that Mack had communicated to these people that their experience may have been real. After fourteen months, Harvard issued a statement stating that the Dean had "reaffirmed Dr. Mack's academic freedom to study what he wishes and to state his opinions without impediment."


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: According to the interviews of Hind, Leach and Mack, 62 children between the ages of six and twelve claimed to have seen at least one UFO. Dozens more children who were present stated they had not seen any UFO or anything unusual. The basic details of the sightings were quite consistent although not all the details were. One or more silver objects, usually described as discs, appeared in the sky. They then floated down to a field of brush and small trees just outside school property.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: Between one and four creatures with big eyes and dressed all in black, exited a craft and approached the children. At this point many of the children ran but some, mostly older pupils, stayed and watched the approach. According to Mack's interviews the creature or creatures then telepathically communicated to the children an environmental message, before returning to the craft and flying away. According to Dunning, this telepathic message aspect of the story was not included in Hind or Leach's reports, only Mack's, although Hind reported it later.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: In Mack's interviews one fifth-grader tells how he was warned "about something that's going to happen," and that "pollution mustn't be". An eleven-year-old girl told Mack "I think they want people to know that we're actually making harm on this world and we mustn’t get too techno." One child said that he was told that the world would end because they are not taking care of the planet.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: The children were adamant that they had not seen a plane. Hind noted that the different cultural background of the children gave rise to different interpretations of what they had seen and they did not all believe that they had seen extraterrestrials. She noted that some of the children thought the short little beings were tikoloshes, creatures of Shona and Ndebele folklore.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: The Ariel School UFO incident quickly became one of the most famous UFO cases in Africa. On a June 2021 episode of the BBC's "Witness History", the event was described as "one of the most significant events in UFO history". Ufologists continue to cite the case as providing compelling evidence of extraterrestrial visits to Earth. Skeptics have dismissed the incident as one of mass hysteria or even a prank.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: In December 2020 Brian Dunning devoted an episode of his "Skeptoid" podcast to the incident. In it he noted that some children in the school claimed that they had not seen anything unusual that day. He challenged the often-repeated claim that as rural schoolchildren in Zimbabwe, the witnesses would not have had exposure to modern media and so would not have been familiar with the concept of UFOs and alien visitors. He also criticised the interviewing techniques of Hind and Mack.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: Hind interviewed the children in groups of four to six with every other child allowed to listen and so their stories were cross-contaminated. Mack only interviewed the children two months after the alleged sighting and Dunning says that Mack, a known environmentalist, "prompted and suggested" the telepathic communication angle, which was not present in Hind's previous report.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: Several of the witnesses maintain that what was reported is true. In 2014 the "Mail & Guardian" spoke to one witness who said that she fears that the creatures will return and that she can sense when they are back in the atmosphere. In 2016 witness Emily Trim exhibited paintings that she described as a "manifestation of the messages she received" from the beings that day.


title: Ariel School UFO incident

text: In June 2021 Barstool Sports writer Zah spoke in an interview about being a pupil in Ariel that day. He recounted that he saw a bright light come down from the sky and aliens exit it. Other witnesses were interviewed for the 2020 documentary "The Phenomenon" and spoke about how the experience has affected them.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Vincent Aboubakar (born 22 January 1992) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr and captains the Cameroon national team


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Aboubakar began his career at Coton Sport and moved to Europe in 2010, playing for Ligue 1 clubs Valenciennes and Lorient, totalling 109 appearances and 26 goals in France's top division. In 2014, he signed for Porto, where he played 125 games and scored 58 goals, winning a Primeira Liga title. He won the Turkish Süper Lig while on loan at Beşiktaş in 2017, and again in 2021.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Aboubakar has earned over 90 caps for Cameroon since his international debut in May 2010. He was part of their squads for the 2010, 2014 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, as well as the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, 2017 and 2021. He scored the winning goal in the final of the 2017 tournament, and was the top goalscorer of the 2021 edition.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: On 26 May 2010, Aboubakar signed with Valenciennes in France. He was assigned the number 9 shirt and made his debut in the club's opening league match of the season against Nice appearing as a substitute. He scored his first goal and hat-trick against Boulogne in Coupe de la Ligue.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Aboubakar signed for Lorient on a free transfer on 1 July 2013. He made his debut for the Breton team on 10 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 loss at Lille, and scored his first goal eight days later, equalising in a 2–1 win over Nantes at the Stade du Moustoir. He came joint second top scorer over the season with 16 league goals from 35 appearances, including braces in a 4–0 win at Évian on 23 November and a 4–4 home draw with Montpellier on 20 April 2014.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Aboubakar signed for Porto on 24 August 2014, signing a four-year contract for a fee of €3 million, equivalent to 30% of his economic rights. He had previously been a target for Hull City.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: He made his debut on 14 September in a 1–1 Primeira Liga draw at Vitoria S.C., replacing Héctor Herrera in added time. Three days later in the UEFA Champions League, after coming on for Jackson Martínez, he scored his first Porto goal to conclude a 6–0 home win over BATE Borisov in the UEFA Champions League group stage. On 25 October, again as the Colombian's replacement, he scored a first league goal to wrap up a 5–0 victory at F.C. Arouca. He was used almost exclusively as a substitute over the season, as Porto finished runners-up to S.L. Benfica.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: In his second season in Portugal, following the sale of Martínez, Aboubakar played much more regularly. He opened the season on 15 August 2015 with two goals in a 3–0 win over Vitória at the Estádio do Dragão, and scored twice the following 10 January in a 5–0 win at city rivals Boavista FC. He scored once in five games as the team reached the final of the Taça de Portugal, and scored the only goal of the fifth-round win at C.D. Feirense on 16 December 2015.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: On 27 August 2016, Süper Lig reigning champions Beşiktaş signed Aboubakar on a season-long loan. He made his debut for the Istanbul-based club on 10 September, replacing Olcay Şahan for the last six minutes of a 3–1 home win over Kardemir Karabükspor. He did not score until his eighth match, in which he contributed two goals to a 3–2 Champions League win at Napoli on 19 October 2016 that was his club's first win in the competition since November 2009. Four days later he scored his first league goal, also assisting Talisca in a 3–0 victory over Antalyaspor at Vodafone Park. In March 2017, he scored in each leg of a 5–2 aggregate win over Olympiakos in the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League, although he was sent off in the second game for fighting with Panagiotis Retsos. He finished the season scoring 12 goals in 27 league appearances, as the Black Eagles retained their league title.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: After returning to Portugal, Aboubakar was part of a three-pronged attack made of African players, alongside the Malian Moussa Marega and Algeria's Yacine Brahimi. He scored his first hat-trick for the Dragons on 20 August 2017 in a 3–0 home win over Moreirense FC. On 13 September, as the Champions League campaign began with a 3–1 home loss to Beşiktaş, he celebrated with his former teammates in their changing room. He scored five times in the group as Porto advanced, including two-goal hauls in both wins over French champions AS Monaco. On 10 December, he scored another hat-trick in a 5–0 win at Vitória F.C. that put Porto back on top of the table.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: In September 2018, Aboubakar suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury against C.D. Tondela. He underwent surgery, causing a long-term absence. On 4 May 2019, he made his comeback as a late substitute for Marega in a 4–0 home win over C.D. Aves.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: On 18 August 2019, Aboubakar played the full 90 minutes of FC Porto B's 1–1 home draw with Varzim S.C. in LigaPro.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: After terminating his contract with Porto, Aboubakar returned to Istanbul to meet with Beşiktaş on 25 September 2020. The following day, he signed a contract until 31 May 2021. In his one season back in Istanbul, he was the fifth-highest goalscorer with 15 goals as his team won the league. This included two on 29 November in a 4–3 win at city rivals Fenerbahçe.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: On 8 June 2021, Aboubakar signed with Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr on a three-year deal. His salary was set at €6 million per year.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: On 18 August 2009, Aboubakar was called up to the Cameroon national under-20 football team for the Francophone Games in Beirut.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: In May 2010, aged 18, he was named to the Cameroon 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Aboubakar was the only player in the squad who was based in Cameroon. He made his debut in the friendly match on 29 May 2010 against Slovakia. On 11 August 2010, Aboubakar scored his first goal for the national team, in a friendly against Poland.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: He was called up for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, and subsequently for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. In the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, Aboubakar scored an 88th-minute goal in the final to hand Cameroon a comeback 2–1 victory against Egypt to end his nation's 15-year wait for a continental crown.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Later that year, he was part of the Cameroon squad at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. He scored a consolation goal in their 3–1 loss to world champions Germany in Sochi on 25 June.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Aboubakar was a noted absence from Cameroon's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squad, with manager Clarence Seedorf doubting his fitness after his recent return from long-term injury.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: Aboubakar returned to the national team for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted by his country at the start of the following year. He scored five group stage goals against Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Cape Verde, followed by a sixth in a 2–1 win over Comoros in the last 16. In the third-place match against Burkina Faso, he scored twice in a 3–3 draw, which was eventually won on penalties. With 8 goals in 7 games, he was the top scorer and made the Team of the Tournament.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he scored a goal and provided an assist in a 3–3 draw against Serbia. His goal was described as an "outrageous scoop" by BBC Sport. He scored the winning goal against Brazil in the third match, after which he drew his second yellow card for taking off his shirt and was therefore sent off.


title: Vincent Aboubakar

text: In November 2017, Goal.com's Solace Chukwu wrote that Aboubakar had much in common with his Porto strike partner Moussa Marega in that both are physically imposing but have insufficient technical ability. He added that Yacine Brahimi's skill set made up for this deficit and was a factor in the team's success.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Witold Pilecki (13 May 190125 May 1948; ; codenames "Roman Jezierski, Tomasz Serafiński, Druh, Witold") was a Polish World War II cavalry officer, intelligence agent, and resistance leader.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: As a youth, Pilecki joined Polish underground scouting, and in the aftermath of World War I, Polish militia and later, the Polish Army. He participated in the Polish-Soviet War which ended in 1921. In 1939 he participated in the unsuccessful defense of Poland against the German invasion and shortly afterward, joined the Polish resistance, co-founding the Secret Polish Army resistance movement. In 1940 Pilecki volunteered to allow himself to be captured by the occupying Germans in order to infiltrate the Auschwitz concentration camp. At Auschwitz he organized a resistance movement that eventually included hundreds of inmates, and he secretly drew up reports detailing German atrocities at the camp, which were smuggled out to Home Army headquarters and shared with the Western Allies. After escaping from Auschwitz, Pilecki fought in the Warsaw Uprising of August–October 1944. Following its suppression, he was interned in a German prisoner-of-war camp. After the communist takeover of Poland he remained loyal to the London-based Polish government-in-exile. In 1945 he returned to Poland to report to the government-in-exile on the situation in Poland. Before returning, Pilecki wrote "Witold's Report" about his Auschwitz experiences, anticipating that he might be killed by Poland's new communist authorities. In 1947 he was arrested by the secret police on charges of working for "foreign imperialism" and, after being subjected to torture and a show trial, was executed in 1948.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: His story, inconvenient to the Polish communist authorities, remained mostly unknown for several decades; one of the first accounts of Pilecki's mission to Auschwitz was given by Polish historian Józef Garliński, himself a former Auschwitz inmate who emigrated to Britain after the war, in "Fighting Auschwitz: The Resistance Movement in the Concentration Camp" (1975). Several monographs appeared in subsequent years, particularly after the fall of communism in Poland facilitated research into his life by Polish historians.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Witold Pilecki was born on 13 May 1901 in the town of Olonets, Karelia, in the Russian Empire. He was a descendant of a Polish-speaking noble family (szlachta) of the Leliwa coat of arms. His ancestors had been deported to Russia from their home in Lithuania (former Nowogródek Voivodeship region, now in Belarus) for participating in the January 1863–64 Uprising, for which a major part of their estate was confiscated. Witold was one of five children of forest inspector Julian Pilecki and Ludwika Osiecimska.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: In 1910 Witold moved with his mother and siblings to Wilno, to attend a Polish school there, while his father remained in Olonets. In Wilno, Pilecki attended a local school and joined the underground Polish Scouting and Guiding Association ("Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego", "ZHP").


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Following the outbreak of World War I, in 1916 Pilecki was sent by his mother to a school in the Russian city of Oryol, located safer in the East than Wilno. There he attended a gymnasium (secondary school) and founded a local chapter of the "ZHP".


title: Witold Pilecki

text: In 1918, following the outbreak of the Russian Revolution and the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, Pilecki returned to Wilno (at that time part of the newly independent Polish Second Republic) and joined the ZHP section of the Self-Defence of Lithuania and Belarus, a paramilitary formation under Major General Władysław Wejtko. The militia disarmed the passing German troops and took up positions to defend the city from a looming attack by the Soviet Red Army. After Wilno fell to Bolshevik forces on 5 January 1919, Pilecki and his unit resorted to partisan warfare behind Soviet lines. He and his comrades then retreated to Białystok, where Pilecki enlisted as a "szeregowy" (private) in Poland's newly established Volunteer Army. He took part in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1921, serving under Captain Jerzy Dąbrowski. He fought in the Kiev Offensive (1920) and as part of a cavalry unit defending the then-Polish city of Grodno. On 5 August 1920, Pilecki joined the and fought in the crucial Battle of Warsaw and in the . Pilecki later took part in the Vilna offensive and briefly served in the ongoing Polish–Lithuanian War as a member of the October 1920 Żeligowski's Mutiny.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: By the conclusion of Polish-Soviet War in March 1921, Pilecki was promoted to the rank of "plutonowy" (corporal), becoming a non-commissioned officer. Shortly afterward, Pilecki was transferred to the army reserves, completing courses required for a non-commissioned officer rank at the Cavalry Reserve Officers' Training School in Grudziądz. He went on to complete his secondary education ("matura") later that same year. He briefly enrolled with the Faculty of Fine Arts at Stefan Batory University but was forced to abandon his studies in 1924 due to both financial issues and the declining health of his father. In July 1925 Pilecki was assigned to the 26th Lancer Regiment with the rank of "Chorąży" (ensign). Pilecki would be promoted to "podporucznik" (second lieutenant, with seniority from 1923) the following year.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Also in 1926, in September, Pilecki became the owner of his family's ancestral estate, Sukurcze, in the Lida District of the Nowogródek Voivodeship. In 1931, he married . They had two children, born in Wilno over the next two years: Andrzej and . Pilecki actively supported the local farming community. He was also an amateur poet and painter. He organized the "Krakus" Military Horsemen Training program in 1932 and was appointed to command the 1st Lida Military Training Squadron, which in 1937 was placed under the Polish 19th Infantry Division. In 1938, Pilecki received the Silver Cross of Merit for his activities.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: With Polish-German tensions growing in mid-1939, Pilecki was mobilized as a cavalry platoon commander on 26 August 1939. He was assigned to the 19th Infantry Division under Major General Józef Kwaciszewski, part of the Army Prusy and his unit took part in heavy fighting against the advancing Germans during the invasion of Poland. The 19th Division was almost completely destroyed following a clash with the German forces on the night of 5/6 September at the battle of Piotrków Trybunalski. Its remains were incorporated into the 41st Infantry Division, which was withdrawn to the southeast toward Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) and the Romanian bridgehead. In the 41st Division, Pilecki served as divisional second-in-command of its cavalry detachment, under Major Jan Włodarkiewicz. He and his men destroyed seven German tanks, shot down one aircraft, and destroyed two more on the ground. On 17 September, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland, which worsened the already desperate situation of the Polish forces. On 22 September, the 41st Division suffered a major defeat and capitulated. Włodarkiewicz and Pilecki were among the many soldiers who did not follow the order of Commander-in-Chief General Edward Śmigły-Rydz to retreat through Romania to France, instead opting to stay underground in Poland.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: On 9 November 1939 in Warsaw, Major Włodarkiewicz, Second Lieutenant Pilecki, Second Lieutenant Jerzy Maringe, Jerzy Skoczyński, and brothers Jan and Stanisław Dangel founded the Secret Polish Army ("", "TAP"), one of the first underground organizations in Poland. Włodarkiewicz became its leader, while Pilecki became TAP's organizational head as it expanded to cover Warsaw, Siedlce, Radom, Lublin, and other major cities in central Poland. As cover, Pilecki worked as manager of a cosmetics storehouse. From 25 November 1939 until May 1940, he was TAP's inspector and chief of staff. From August 1940, he headed its 1st branch (organization and mobilization).


title: Witold Pilecki

text: TAP was based on Christian ideological values. While Pilecki wanted to avert a religious mission so as not to alienate potential allies, Włodarkiewicz blamed Poland's defeat on its failure to create a Catholic nation and wanted to remake the country by appealing to right-wing groups. In the spring of 1940, Pilecki saw that Włodarkiewicz's views had become more anti-semitic and that he had put ultranationalist dogma into their newsletter, ""; Włodarkiewicz had also entered into talks about a merger with the far-right underground, including a group that had offered Nazi Germany a Polish puppet government. To stop him, Pilecki went to Colonel Stefan Rowecki, chief of a rival resistance group, the Union of Armed Struggle ("Związek Walki Zbrojnej", "ZWZ"), which called for equal rights for Jews, gathered intelligence on German atrocities, and delivered it by courier to the Western Allies in an attempt to gain their involvement. The ZWZ had alerted the Polish Government-in-Exile that the Germans were inciting Polish hatred against the Jews, and that this might lead to the rise of a Polish Quisling.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Pilecki called for TAP to submit to Rowecki's authority, but Włodarkiewicz refused and issued a manifesto that the future Poland had to be Christian, based on national identity, and that those who opposed the idea should be "removed from our lands". Pilecki refused to swear the proposed oath. In August, Włodarkiewicz announced at a TAP meeting that they would, after all, join the mainstream underground with Rowecki – and that it has been proposed that Pilecki should infiltrate the Auschwitz concentration camp. Little was known about how the Germans ran the then-new camp, which was thought to be an internment camp or large prison rather than a death camp. Włodarkiewicz said it was not an order but an invitation to volunteer, though Pilecki saw it as a punishment for refusing to back Włodarkiewicz's ideology. Nevertheless he agreed, which years later led to him being described in many sources as having volunteered to infiltrate Auschwitz.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Pilecki was one of 2,000 men arrested on 19 September 1940. He used the identity documents of Tomasz Serafiński, who had been mistakenly assumed to be dead. Two backstories exist purporting to explain how Pilecki actually found himself in Auschwitz. In one version, he allowed himself to be captured by the occupying Germans in one of their Warsaw street round-ups, in order to infiltrate the camp. In the second version, he did that in the apartment of Eleonora Ostrowska, at "ulica" Wojska Polskiego (Polish Army Street) during a building search. Afterward, along with 1,705 other prisoners, between 21 and 22 September 1940, Pilecki reached Auschwitz where, under Serafiński's name, he was assigned prisoner number 4859. In autumn of 1941 he learnt that he had been promoted to "porucznik" (first lieutenant) by people "far away in the outside world in Warsaw".


title: Witold Pilecki

text: While in various slave labor "kommandos" and surviving pneumonia at Auschwitz, Pilecki organized an underground Military Organization Union ("Związek Organizacji Wojskowej", "ZOW"). Its tasks were to improve the morale of the inmates, provide news from outside the camp, distribute extra food and clothing to its members, set up intelligence networks, and train detachments to take over the camp in the event of a relief attack. "ZOW" was organized as secret cells, each of five members. Over time, many smaller underground organizations at Auschwitz eventually merged with "ZOW".


title: Witold Pilecki

text: As part of his duties, Pilecki secretly drew up reports and sent them to Home Army headquarters with the help of inmates that have been released or escapees. The first dispatch, delivered in October 1940, described the camp and the ongoing extermination of inmates via starvation and brutal punishments; it was used as the basis of a Home Army report on "The terror and lawlessness of the occupiers". Further dispatches of Pilecki's were likewise smuggled out by individuals who managed to escape from Auschwitz. The reports' purpose may have been to get the Home Army command's permission for "ZOW" to stage an uprising to liberate the camp; however, no such response came from the Home Army. In 1942, Pilecki's resistance movement was also using a home-made radio transmitter to broadcast details on the number of arrivals and deaths in the camp and the conditions of the inmates using a radio transmitter that was built by camp inmates. The secret radio station was built over seven months using smuggled parts. It broadcast from the camp until the autumn of 1942, when it was dismantled by Pilecki's men after concerns that the Germans might discover its location because of "one of our fellows' big mouth". The information provided by Pilecki was a principal source of intelligence on Auschwitz for the Western Allies. Pilecki hoped that either the Allies would drop arms or troops into the camp, or that the Home Army would organize an assault on it from outside.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: The Camp Gestapo under SS-Untersturmführer Maximilian Grabner redoubled its efforts to ferret out "ZOW" members, killing many of them. To avoid the worst outcome, Pilecki decided to break out of the camp with the hope of convincing Home Army leaders that a rescue attempt was a valid option. On the night of 26–27 April 1943 Pilecki was assigned to a night shift at a camp bakery outside the fence, and he and two comrades managed to force open a metal door, overpower a guard, cut the telephone line, and escape outside the camp perimeter. They left the SS guards in the woodshed, barricaded from outside. Before escaping they cut an alarm wire. They headed east, and after several hours crossed into the General Government, taking with them documents stolen from the Germans. The men fled on foot to the village of Alwernia where they were helped by a priest, and then on to Tyniec where locals assisted them. Later, they reached the Polish resistance safe house near Bochnia, owned, coincidentally, by commander Tomasz Serafiński—the very man whose identity Pilecki had adopted for his cover in Auschwitz. At one point during the journey, German soldiers attempted to stop Pilecki, firing at him as he fled; several bullets passed through his clothing, while one wounded him without hitting either bones or vital organs.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: After several days as a fugitive, Pilecki made contact with units of the Home Army. In June 1943, in Nowy Wiśnicz, Pilecki drafted a report on the situation in Auschwitz. It was buried at the farm where he was staying and was only revealed after his death. In August 1943, back in Warsaw, Pilecki started preparing Witold's Report ("Raport W"), which focused on the Auschwitz underground. It covered three main topics: "ZOW" and its members; Pilecki's experiences; and to a lesser extent, the extermination of prisoners, including Jews. Pilecki's intent in writing it was to persuade the Home Army to liberate the camp's prisoners. However, the Home Army command judged such an attack would fail. Even if the initial attack were successful, the resistance lacked sufficient transport capabilities, supplies, and the shelter that would be required for the rescued inmates. The Soviet Red Army, despite being within attacking distance of the camp, showed no interest in a joint effort with the Home Army and the "ZOW" to free it.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Shortly after rejoining the resistance, Pilecki became a member of the "Kedyw" sabotage unit, using the pseudonym "Roman Jezierski". He also joined a secret anti-communist organization, "NIE". On 19 February 1944 he was promoted to cavalry captain ("rotmistrz"). Until becoming involved in the Warsaw Uprising, Pilecki continued coordinating "ZOW" and Home Army activities and providing "ZOW" with what limited support he could.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: In Auschwitz, Pilecki had met the author Igor Newerly, whose Jewish wife, Barbara, was hiding in Warsaw. The Newerlys had been working with Janusz Korczak to try to save Jewish lives. Pilecki gave Barbara Newerly money from the Polish resistance, which she passed on to several Jewish families whom she and her husband protected. He also gave her money to pay off her own "szmalcownik", or blackmailer, who said he was Jewish and threatened to report her to the Gestapo. The blackmailer disappeared, with Jack Fairweather concluding that "it is likely that Witold arranged for his execution".


title: Witold Pilecki

text: When the Warsaw Uprising broke out on 1 August 1944, Pilecki volunteered for service with of Kedyw's Chrobry II Battalion. Initially, he served as a common soldier in the northern city centre, without revealing his rank to his superiors. After many officers were killed in the early days of the uprising, Pilecki revealed his true identity and accepted command of the 1st "Warszawianka" Company deployed in Warsaw's "Śródmieście" (downtown) district.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: After the fall of the uprising, which ended on 2 October that year, he was captured and taken prisoner by the Germans. He was sent to Oflag VII-A, a prison-of-war camp for Polish officers located north of Murnau, Bavaria, where he remained until the prisoners were liberated on 29 April 1945.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: In July 1945 Pilecki joined the military intelligence division of the Polish II Corps under Lieutenant General Władysław Anders in Ancona, Italy. In October 1945, as relations between the government-in-exile and the Soviet-backed regime of Boleslaw Bierut kept deteriorating, Pilecki was ordered by Anders and his intelligence chief, Lieutenant Colonel Stanisław Kijak, to return to Poland and report on the prevailing military and political situation under Soviet occupation. By December 1945 he had arrived in Warsaw and begun organizing an intelligence gathering network. As the NIE organization had been disbanded, Pilecki recruited former "ZOW" and "TAP" members and continued sending information to the government-in-exile.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: To maintain his cover identity, Pilecki lived under various assumed names and changed jobs frequently. He worked as a jewellery salesman, a bottle label painter, and as the night manager of a construction warehouse. However, in July 1946 he was informed that his identity had been uncovered by the Ministry of Public Security. Anders ordered him to leave Poland, but Pilecki refused. In early 1947 his superiors rescinded the order.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Arrested on 8 May 1947 by the communist authorities, Pilecki was tortured, but in order to protect other operatives, he did not reveal any sensitive information. His case was supervised by Colonel Roman Romkowski. A show trial, chaired by Lieutenant Colonel , took place on 3 March 1948. Pilecki was charged with illegal border crossing, use of forged documents, not enlisting with the military, carrying illegal arms, espionage for Anders, espionage for "foreign imperialism" (government-in-exile), and planning to assassinate several officials of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland. Pilecki denied the assassination charges, as well as espionage, although he admitted to passing information to the II Corps, of which he considered himself an officer and thus claimed that he was not breaking any laws. He pleaded guilty to the other charges. He was sentenced to death on 15 May with three of his comrades. Pleas for pardon from a number of Auschwitz survivors were ignored; one of their recipients was Polish Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz, also an Auschwitz survivor. Cyrankiewicz, who had already testified at the trial, instead wrote that Pilecki must be treated harshly as an "enemy of the state". Subsequently, on 25 May 1948, Pilecki was executed by Piotr Śmietański with a shot to the back of the head at the Mokotów Prison in Warsaw. Several of Pilecki's affiliates were also arrested and tried around the same time, with at least three executed as well; a number of others received death sentences that were changed to prison sentences. Pilecki's burial place has never been found, though it is thought to be in Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: Pilecki's life has been a subject of several monographs. The first in English was Józef Garliński's "Fighting Auschwitz: The Resistance Movement in the Concentration Camp" (1975), followed by M.R.D. Foot's "Six Faces of Courage" (1978). The first in Polish was the "Rotmistrz Pilecki" (1995) by Wiesław Jan Wysocki, followed by "Ochotnik do Auschwitz. Witold Pilecki 1901–1948" (2000) by Adam Cyra. In 2010 Italian historian Marco Patricelli wrote a book about Witold Pilecki, "Il volontario" (2010), which received the Acqui Award of History that year. In 2012 Pilecki's Auschwitz diary was translated into English by Garliński and published under the title "". Poland's Chief Rabbi, Michael Schudrich, wrote in the foreword to a 2012 English translation of Pilecki's report: "When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory." Historian Norman Davies wrote in the introduction to the same translation: "If there was an Allied hero who deserved to be remembered and celebrated, this was a person with few peers." More recently Pilecki was the subject of Adam J. Koch's 2018 book "A Captain’s Portrait: Witold Pilecki – Martyr for Truth" and Jack Fairweather's 2019 book "The Volunteer: The True Story of the Resistance Hero Who Infiltrated Auschwitz", the latter a winner of the Costa Book Award"."


title: Witold Pilecki

text: From the 1990s, following the fall of communism in Poland and Pilecki's subsequent rehabilitation, he has been a subject of popular discourse. A number of institutions, monuments, and streets in Poland have been named after him. In 1995 he was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta, and in 2006 the highest Polish decoration, the Order of the White Eagle. On 6 September 2013 the Minister of National Defence announced his promotion to colonel. In 2012 Powązki Cemetery was partly excavated in an unsuccessful effort to find his remains.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: In 2016 "The Pilecki Family House Museum" ("Dom Rodziny Pileckich") was established in Ostrów Mazowiecka; it opened officially in 2019, but its permanent exhibition is still being prepared, with public opening planned for May 2022. The year 2017 saw the founding of the Pilecki Institute, a Polish government institution commemorating persons who helped Polish victims of war crimes and crimes against peace or humanity in the years 1917–1990.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: The 2006 film " ("The Death of Cavalry Captain Pilecki"), directed by Ryszard Bugajski, presents Pilecki as an ethically flawless man facing unfounded accusations. The narrative structure is reminiscent of a saint's martyrology, with belief in God replaced by belief in Country.


title: Witold Pilecki

text: A 2015 film, ", by Marcin Kwaśny portrays Pilecki as an independence-movement saint. The sacralization is achieved by recounting verified historical facts, along with dramatized scenes. The film shows Pilecki performing deeds impossible for an ordinary man, while keeping faith with his country even under the direst torture.


title: Sadak 2

text: Sadak 2 () is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language action thriller road film directed by Mahesh Bhatt and produced by Fox Star Studios and Mukesh Bhatt under their banner Vishesh Films. A sequel to the 1991 film "Sadak", it stars Sanjay Dutt (reprising his role from the original) alongside Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur in the lead roles. Jisshu Sengupta, Gulshan Grover, Makrand Deshpande, Priyanka Bose and others play supporting roles, while Pooja Bhatt makes a special appearance. The film marks Mahesh Bhatt's return as a director after 20 years. The film's story takes place twenty-nine years after the events of its predecessor.


title: Sadak 2

text: The film's trailer was released on 12 August 2020 on YouTube, and within a week, it became the second most-disliked video and the most-disliked film teaser/trailer on the platform due to internet users protesting nepotism in Bollywood after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.


title: Sadak 2

text: "Sadak 2" was released on 28 August 2020 on the streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar in India and in U.S. theaters by Gravitas Ventures. The film was universally panned by critics, with criticism for its performance, script, dialogues and use of clichés.


title: Sadak 2

text: Aarya Desai (Alia Bhatt) vandalises a placard of Guru Gyaan Prakash (Makarand Deshpande). She is stopped by her step-mother Nandini and father Yogesh and Gyaan Prakash's ashram people. Ravi Kishore Verma (Sanjay Dutt), now an elderly man has recently lost his love and wife, Pooja (Pooja Bhatt). He attempts suicide and gets hospitalised. Ravi refuses when the doctor asks him to admit himself in a mental rehab. Aarya runs away, and enters Ravi's home, stating she'd booked Kailash 3 months before.


title: Sadak 2

text: Aarya convinces Ravi to visit Kailash for Pooja's sake and gives a letter with her handwriting. Ravi agrees. Nandini and Yogesh go to Gyaan Prakash with Commissioner Rajesh Puri. Gyaan Prakash says Aarya will die by her own blood.


title: Sadak 2

text: Aarya tells Ravi about her mission to stop Guru Gyaan Prakash and all other fake gurus. In past Nandini killed Aarya's mother Shakuntala, married Yogesh and begun using their wealth to run Gyaan Prakash's ashram.


title: Sadak 2

text: Aarya recounts meeting Vishal and initially fighting with him but reconciling and falling in love over a seminar exposing fake gurus. After her home is vandalised, they go into hiding. They're asked to visit someone who has proof against the gurus. However, it turns out as an ambush, and Vishal kills the hitman in self-defense. Ravi picks him up from jail. Yogesh and Nandini find Vishal and Aarya's reunion in security footage. Aarya and Vishal are cornered by gangster Dilip Hathkaaka.


title: Sadak 2

text: Ravi arrives and saves them. Vishal confesses his real name is Munna Chavan, saying he came to Mumbai to win a reality show but ended up becoming a drug addict. Guru Gyaan Prakash's men helped and sent him to pretend to be in love with and kill Aarya. However, upon attending her seminars, he started questioning his own belief. Ravi takes them to John's house. It is revealed that Yogesh had planned Shakuntala's death, and now he kills Nandini.


title: Sadak 2

text: In the end, Ravi kills Yogesh and Gyaan Prakash, dies and imagines Pooja calling out to him. Aarya performs his last rites, and has also won her battle against fake gurus.


title: Sadak 2

text: In April 2017, media reports surfaced about the sequel of the 1991 film "Sadak", after its lead cast Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt visited Mukesh Bhatt through the office of Vishesh Films. The source further claimed that it will feature a different plot, despite being the continuation of the original and the script will be a remake of the Tamil film "Mahanadhi" (1994), which will be directed by Srijit Mukherji. However, no developments about the film took place, despite its initial announcement.


title: Sadak 2

text: On 20 September 2018, coinciding with Mahesh Bhatt's 70th birthday, Alia Bhatt announced the film officially with the title "Sadak 2", with the original film's cast members, along with Alia and Aditya Roy Kapur was announced being a part of the cast. The film marked Mahesh Bhatt's return to direction after 20 years since his last film "Zakhm" as a director, and also marked the maiden collaboration with Alia and Mahesh working together.


title: Sadak 2

text: On 8 April 2019, it was confirmed that principal photography would commence in the middle of May 2019, which eventually began on 18 May 2019. The following day, Makarand Deshpande was confirmed to play the main antagonist in the film. Alia Bhatt joined the film on 21 May 2019. The first schedule of the film was completed in the third week of May in Mumbai and the second schedule began in Ooty in mid-July 2019. With a few sequences being shot in Mysore and Ooty, the film's principal photography wrapped up on 31 October 2019, except for a few patchwork scenes which were filmed in July 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Sadak 2

text: The music for the film was composed by Jeet Gannguli, Ankit Tiwari, Samidh Mukerjee, Urvi and Suniljeet while the lyrics written by Rashmi Virag, Vijay Vijawatt, Shabbir Ahmed, Suniljeet and Shalu Vaish. The film score is composed by Sandeep Chowta.


title: Sadak 2

text: "Sadak 2"s trailer was released on August 12, 2020, and faced vote brigading owing to the nepotism debate sparked after the death of Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Rajput was initially considered to play the lead role opposite Alia Bhatt, but later he was opted out of this film. Speculating that Rajput had been upset over being shut out of the film industry, due to hiring practises that favoured children of established film personalities, Rajput's fans blamed notable people in Bollywood, including "Sadak 2" director Mahesh Bhatt and his daughter Alia. Within two days of its release, the trailer had received 5.3 million dislikes on YouTube and became the second most disliked video within a week's time. As of 25 December 2021, the trailer has received 13.8 million dislikes.


title: Sadak 2

text: In July 2020, a resident of Bihar filed a complaint against the makers of the film, stating that the film's poster featured an image of Kailash Mansarovar, which "hurt Hindu sentiments". The Vishva Hindu Parishad also criticised the film's trailer for similar reasons.


title: Sadak 2

text: In October 2019, Gravitas Ventures bought the United States distribution rights for the feature. The film was initially scheduled for release on 25 March 2020 in India and in United States on 24 April 2020, but was pushed to 10 July 2020 in India and 31 July 2020 in the United States due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It was again pulled from the release schedule as the shooting was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India.


title: Sadak 2

text: On 29 June 2020, the streaming service Disney+ Hotstar conducted a virtual press conference, where Bhatt announced that the film would be released exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar. The film premiered on 28 August 2020 in India and in theaters in United States.


title: Sadak 2

text: "Sadak 2" was universally panned by critics. Anna M. M. Vetticad of "Firstpost" gave the film 0.25 out of 5, calling it the director's interpretation of a "sleeping pill", and wrote "It is not possible to be angry with "Sadak 2" for its half-baked ideas and quarter-baked script though, because it is too boring to be worthy of even anger." Calling it "One of 2020's worst films", Jyoti Sharma Bawa of "Hindustan Times" wrote that "Sadak 2" is a "jaded and ponderous film that is stuck in the 90's, [which] is best avoided." Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" gave the film 1 out of 5, calling it "terrible" and wondered "why would anyone want to make something so dated, so jaded, in this day and age?" Rahul Desai of Film Companion called the film "dreadful" and "atrocious", and bemoaned that the performances of the actors "sticks out like a sore thumb." Anupama Chopra of "Film Companion" wrote, "The storytelling, performances dialogue, cinematography, songs, background music – all seem to belong to the 90's".


title: Simon Commission

text: The Indian Statutory Commission also known as Simon Commission, was a group of seven Members of Parliament under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. The commission arrived in India in 1928 to study constitutional reform in Britain's largest and most important possession. One of its members was the future leader of the Labour Party Clement Attlee, who became committed to self-government for India.


title: Simon Commission

text: At the time of introducing of Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms in 1919, the British Government declared that a commission would be sent to India after ten years to examine the effects and operations of the constitutional reforms and to suggest more reforms for India.


title: Simon Commission

text: In November 1927, the British government appointed the Simon Commission two years ahead of schedule to report on India's constitutional progress for introducing constitutional reforms, as promised. The Commission was strongly opposed by many Indians. It was opposed by Nehru, Gandhi, Jinnah, the Muslim League and Indian National Congress because it contained seven members of the British Parliament but no Indians. However, it was supported by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and Chaudhary Chhotu Ram.


title: Simon Commission

text: Prominent Indian nationalist Lala Lajpat Rai led a protest in Lahore. He suffered a police beating during the protest and died of his injuries on 17 November 1928.


title: Simon Commission

text: The Government of India Act 1919 had introduced the system of diarchy to govern the provinces of British India. Indian opinion clamored for revision of this form of government, and the Government of India Act 1919 stated that a commission would be appointed after ten years to investigate the progress of the government scheme and suggest new steps for reform. The Secretary of State for India F.E Smith feared that the ruling Conservative government was facing imminent electoral defeat at the hands of the Labour Party, and hence feared that the commission would be filled by its members and sympathizers. Hence, the commission was appointed ahead of time, and seven MPs were selected to constitute the promised commission to examine the state of Indian constitutional affairs. He also ensured that there were no Indians in the commission, as he believed the Labour MPs and Indian members would join together. The Viceroy of India Lord Irwin too supported the decision to exclude Indians as he too thought they would vote together with the Labour MPs but also because he thought the Indian representatives would fight each other.