title: Aquaculture

text: By the 1920s, the American Fish Culture Company of Carolina, Rhode Island, founded in the 1870s was one of the leading producers of trout. During the 1940s, they had perfected the method of manipulating the day and night cycle of fish so that they could be artificially spawned year around.


title: Aquaculture

text: Californians harvested wild kelp and attempted to manage supply around 1900, later labeling it a wartime resource.


title: F. Gary Gray

text: Felix Gary Gray (born July 17, 1969) is an American film director, film producer, and music video director. Gray began his career as a director on numerous critically acclaimed and award-winning music videos, including "It Was a Good Day" by Ice Cube, "Natural Born Killaz" by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" by Dr. Dre, "Waterfalls" by TLC, and "Ms. Jackson" by Outkast.


title: F. Gary Gray

text: Gray made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy "Friday" (1995). He has since directed the films "Set It Off" (1996), "The Negotiator" (1998), "The Italian Job" (2003), "Be Cool" (2005), "Law Abiding Citizen" (2009), and "Straight Outta Compton" (2015). He also directed the eighth installment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, "The Fate of the Furious" (2017), which is the 19th-highest-grossing film of all time.


title: F. Gary Gray

text: Gray was born in New York City and raised primarily in South Los Angeles. He decided at the age of sixteen that he would become a filmmaker, having discovered a natural talent for the video camera with his AV class in high school.


title: F. Gary Gray

text: Seeking out a step-by-step process, he planned to work a number of years in the film industry as an assistant and hoped to work his first feature by the time he had turned 45. As such, he started working as soon as he left high school, working as a camera operator on programs such as "Screen Scene". He also had a bit part in the comedy "Major League" (1989). He got his first chance to direct with music videos, starting with a video for the hip-hop group WC and the Maad Circle (WC was a former classmate of his). In 1993, he directed the music video for Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day". The video is a literal adaptation of the lyrics. He would go on to direct subsequent videos for Ice Cube, as well as artists such as Cypress Hill, Outkast, Dr. Dre, and Queen Latifah. At age 26, Gray directed his first film, the buddy stoner comedy "Friday" with rapper-producer Ice Cube (who co-wrote the film based on his experiences in Los Angeles) and Chris Tucker. Next, he directed the film "Set It Off", with Jada Pinkett and Queen Latifah. He then directed "The Negotiator", which starred Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson while earning Gray both Best Film and Best Director awards at the 1998 Acapulco Film Festival.


title: F. Gary Gray

text: Gray directed "The Italian Job", a 2003 action-thriller starring Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg. Gray garnered the Best Director award at the 2004 Black American Film Festival for his work on the film, which surpassed the $100 million mark in the domestic box office. His next film was "A Man Apart", an action thriller starring Vin Diesel. He would later direct "Be Cool", an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. The John Travolta vehicle was panned by critics but went on to gross over $95 million worldwide.


title: F. Gary Gray

text: He then directed the thriller "Law Abiding Citizen", starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler and written by Kurt Wimmer. The film grossed over $100 million worldwide. Gray received the Ivan Dixon Award of Achievement from the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center and was named one of the "50 Best and Brightest African Americans Under 40" by "Black Enterprise" magazine. He was honored by the African American Film Critics Association with their 2004 Special Achievement Award and was recognized by the Artist Empowerment Coalition with the Artist Empowerment Award that same year. He also received the Pioneer Director award from the Pan-African Film and Arts Festival in 2010.


title: F. Gary Gray

text: Gray directed the 2015 drama "Straight Outta Compton", a biographical film about the rap group N.W.A. In 2017, Gray directed "The Fate of the Furious", the eighth film in the "Fast & Furious" franchise, which was released on April 14, 2017. Upon release, both films set the record for best opening by a film with a black director and "The Fate of the Furious" became the first film directed by an African-American to gross over $1 billion worldwide. In April 2019, it was revealed that Gray would direct an adaptation of the video game franchise "Saints Row", with a screenplay written by Greg Russo. In September 2021, it was announced that he would direct the heist film "Lift" starring Kevin Hart for Netflix


title: Powerslave

text: Powerslave is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 through EMI Records in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in North America. It was re-released by Sanctuary and Columbia Records in the United States in 2002.


title: Powerslave

text: The album's cover artwork is notable for its Ancient Egypt theme. That theme, taken from the title track, was carried over to the album's supporting tour, the World Slavery Tour. This began in Warsaw, Poland, on 9 August 1984; it is widely regarded as being the band's longest and most arduous tour to date, and led to the live album "Live After Death".


title: Powerslave

text: The release contains a musical re-telling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", the lyrics of which include some lines from the poem. At 13 minutes and 45 seconds in length, this was Iron Maiden's longest song for over 30 years until it was surpassed by the 18-minute "Empire of the Clouds" from the 2015 album "The Book of Souls".


title: Powerslave

text: "Powerslave" is notable as the band's first album to feature the same personnel as their previous studio release. This lineup would remain intact for two further studio releases. It is also their last album to date to feature an instrumental piece, and the only one until "Senjutsu" (2021) in which longtime member and guitarist Dave Murray does not have a songwriting credit.


title: Powerslave

text: Following the conclusion of their highly successful World Piece Tour in December 1983, during which Iron Maiden headlined large venues and arenas in the US for the first time in their career, the band took three weeks off in January 1984, before regrouping at Le Chalet Hotel in Jersey where they rehearsed for six weeks. As with "Powerslave"s predecessor "Piece of Mind" (1983), this was where most of the album's writing took place; the band then began recording it at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas.


title: Powerslave

text: Bassist Steve Harris recalled how, under time pressure, the song "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" was written in a relatively short space of time. Influenced by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem of the same name (drawing heavily from his 1815–16 gloss), the song directly quotes two passages from the poem, the former including the famous lines: 'Water, water everywhere – nor any drop to drink'. At over thirteen minutes long, the track contains several distinct sections with differing moods and would become a fan favourite. During the 2008–09 Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, guitarist Dave Murray, vocalist Bruce Dickinson and Harris cited the song as their favourite to play live.


title: Powerslave

text: Once finished, the band undertook another short break while the album was mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York, before reconvening in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to rehearse for the World Slavery Tour. The tour began in Poland in August 1984 and ended in California in July 1985. The stage set echoed the album cover, including monumental pedestals several stories high, atop which the musicians appeared at times during the show. The set amply filled even the gigantic proscenium of Radio City Music Hall. The tour was the first time a heavy metal band had taken a full set behind the Iron Curtain, visiting Poland and Hungary, a landmark achievement at the time. It continued into South America – the first time the band had toured there – where they played to an estimated audience of 350,000 at the inaugural Rock in Rio as special guests of the band Queen. The "Live After Death" album and video, recorded over four nights at Long Beach Arena in LA and Hammersmith Odeon in London, were also released; these respectively peaked at No. 2 and No. 1 in the UK charts.


title: Powerslave

text: In total, the tour was eleven months long and touched 28 countries. "Powerslave" debuted at No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart, as a result of their record company EMI's third "Now That's What I Call Music!" pop compilation. According to both Nicko McBrain and Adrian Smith, "Powerslave" began making Iron Maiden famous "very fast, very quickly", such as in Brazil, where hundreds of fans waited outside hotels and restaurants for the band.


title: Powerslave

text: "Powerslave" was ranked at number 38 on "Rolling Stone"s list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" in 2017.


title: Powerslave

text: The song "Flash of the Blade" was included on the soundtrack of Dario Argento's 1985 horror film "Phenomena", and was covered by the American band Avenged Sevenfold on their double live album/DVD "Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough" (and was later featured on their greatest hits album). Rhapsody of Fire have also recorded a cover of the song that is featured on the deluxe edition of their album "From Chaos to Eternity".


title: Alysson Paradis

text: Alysson Paradis (born 29 May 1984) is a French actress. She is the younger sister of French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis and the aunt of model and actress Lily-Rose Depp.


title: Alysson Paradis

text: Since 2014, Paradis has been in a relationship with French actor Guillaume Gouix. In September 2015, the couple's first child, a son, was born. On 22 April 2022, Paradis announced that she's expecting her second child with Gouix.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian-American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States at the time.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Born in Miami to Italian parents, Caruana grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He played for the United States until 2005, when he transferred his national federation affiliation to Italy. He earned his grandmaster title in 2007, and in the same year won his first Italian Chess Championship, a feat he repeated in 2008, 2010, and 2011. He won the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting in 2012, 2014, and 2015. Caruana also won the Sinquefield Cup 2014, recording a 3098 performance rating, the highest in history at the top level, and improving his rating to 2844, becoming the third-highest rated player in history. He transferred back to the United States in 2015.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Having won the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, Caruana qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2016, where he was runner-up to Sergey Karjakin. He is a 2-time and the current US Chess Champion, winning the 2016 US Chess Championship and 2022 US Chess Championship, and represented the United States on at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, winning team gold and individual bronze. He won the in 2017. Caruana won the Candidates Tournament 2018, becoming the first American challenger for the undisputed World Chess Championship since Bobby Fischer in 1972. In the run-up to the championship match, he won the 5th Grenke Chess Classic, the 6th Norway Chess, and shared first in the 6th Sinquefield Cup. Caruana lost the match to Magnus Carlsen in the rapid tiebreaks after drawing all twelve of the classical games.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In addition to his strength in classical time controls, Caruana is highly ranked in rapid and blitz chess. As of November 2022, Caruana is ranked 11th on the FIDE rapid (with an ELO rating of 2747) and 3rd on the blitz lists (with an ELO rating of 2847).


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana was born on July 30, 1992, in Miami, Florida United States, to Italian parents Lou and Santina Caruana. He is a dual citizen of Italy and the United States. When he was four, his family relocated from Miami to the neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York City. When he was five, his chess talent was discovered in an after-school chess program at Congregation Beth Elohim, a reform Jewish congregation in Park Slope. That year he played his first tournament at the Polgar Chess Center in Queens, New York City.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Until the age of twelve, he lived and played in the United States, occasionally traveling to Europe and South America to participate in tournaments. His first chess coach, from age six to eight, was National Master (NM) Bruce Pandolfini, and from age eight to twelve, he studied with GM Miron Sher. In 2004, he relocated with his family from Brooklyn to Madrid, Spain to pursue a professional chess career, playing for Italy from 2005 to 2015. He trained with International Master (IM) Boris Zlotnik in Madrid, and in 2007 he moved to Budapest to train with grandmaster Alexander Chernin. In 2010, he moved to Lugano, Switzerland, and, at the end of that year, started to train with grandmaster Vladimir Chuchelov. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 2014.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In July, Caruana won the "First Saturday" GM tournament in Budapest with seven points out of nine games. He obtained his final GM norm and at age 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days, became the youngest grandmaster of both the United States and Italy, surpassing the US record set by Hikaru Nakamura. Caruana played the strong Vlissingen chess tournament in the Netherlands in August. His last round opponent was former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Caruana, playing black, drew the game in 82 moves, and won the tournament with a performance of 2715. In November and December, Caruana participated in the Italian Championship. In 2006, he was the co-champion of Italy by tying with Michele Godena but losing the fifth rapid play-off game. In 2007, he won with a score of +8 (9½/11) to become the youngest ever Italian champion.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, Caruana had his first experience at Corus C and throughout much of the tournament he was the clear leader. His last round opponent was Parimarjan Negi, and Caruana needed ½ point to win the tournament. Caruana won the game in 61 moves and the tournament with a final score of +7 (10/13) and performance of 2696.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: April saw him playing in the Ruy Lopez Festival which included a seven-round closed tournament, and a two-day rapid open tournament. In the seven round closed tournament, Caruana had a disappointing result of −2 (2½/7) with performance of 2513. The two-day rapid open tournament that followed was won by Caruana with a score of +6 (7½/9) followed by Michael Adams, Julio Granda Zuniga, and Dzhurabek Khamrakulov all with a score of +5 (7/9). In June Caruana played first board for Italy at the Mitropa Cup, which is a four-board team competition amongst 10 "middle" European nations. He scored +6 (7½/9) winning the first board prize with performance of 2810. In August the NH Chess Tournament "Rising Stars vs. Experienced" was played with Scheveningen format which is a double round team match of five "Rising Stars" against five "Experienced" players. Caruana played against Evgeny Bareev, Viktor Korchnoi, Artur Jussupow, Simen Agdestein, and Ljubomir Ljubojević. He scored +3 (6½/10) with performance of 2706. In October and November: Caruana played at Eighth Cap d'Agde Rapid Chess Tournament, held in Cap d'Agde, a knock-out closed rapid tournament organized into two round robin groups of eight players each, with the top four scorers of each group proceeding to the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and then the finals. The time control was 25 minutes with a 10-second increment. In his group, Caruana placed first with a score of +4 (5½/7) winning against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Xiangzhi Bu, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Marie Sebag, and drawing against Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ivan Cheparinov, and Kateryna Lahno. Caruana's performance was 2866 and he had qualified to enter the quarter-finals. His quarter-final match, which was against Anatoly Karpov, was closely fought. Karpov won the first game, and Caruana won the second. Then tie-break games with time control of 15 minutes were played. The first four games were all drawn. The fifth game Karpov won, and Caruana was knocked out. In November Caruana played at 38th Olympiad, his first Olympiad. On the first board for Italy he played against Levon Aronian in the first round, Viktor Korchnoi in the fourth round, Michael Adams in the fifth round, Emanuel Berg in the seventh round, and Peter Leko in the eighth round. He lost to Aronian and Leko, and won against Adams, Korchnoi, and Berg. His final score was 7½/11 with performance of 2696. When winter rolled around in November and December, Caruana successfully defended his title winning the Italian Championship for the second consecutive year with a score of +5 (8/11).


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In February, Caruana—having won Corus C 2008—received and accepted invitation to Corus B 2009 which was of category 16 with average Elo of 2641. Throughout the tournament his standings ranged from first to third place. Going into the last round he was tied for second and his opponent was Nigel Short who was in clear first. The game lasted 67 moves. Caruana won the game and the tournament with a score of +4 (8½/13) and performance of 2751. Caruana is the first player ever to win both Corus C and Corus B in consecutive years placing clear first in both. In April he played in the Russian Team Championship at Sochi with the "Club 64" of Moscow, scoring 5 points out of 6; his team placed second after Tomsk. In May he played with the Italian team in the "Mitropa Cup" at Rogaska Slatina in Slovenia, scoring 6 points out of 8 and winning the individual gold medal on first board. By November Caruana was entered in and played in the Chess World Cup 2009 at Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia. In the first two rounds he beat the Cuban grandmasters Lázaro Bruzón and Leinier Domínguez (Elo 2719), in the third the Russian Evgeny Alekseev (Elo 2715); in round four he lost, only in the rapid games, to Vugar Gashimov (Elo 2759 and seventh in the world). This performance allowed him to reach 2675 points Elo.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In July, Caruana won the Young Grandmaster Section of Biel 2010 after a playoff with the others two leaders Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn. In December he won the Italian Championship for the third time with a score of 9 points out of 11 games. In the period from December 2010–January 2011 Caruana played in the 53rd Reggio Emilia Tournament. He placed 6th out of 10 and tied 7 out of his 9 games (only winning, again, against Nigel Short).


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, at the Gibraltar Masters, he finished on place 5 behind Ivanchuk, Short, Külaots and Roiz. In July, he won with 7 points out of 10 at the AAI tournament in New Delhi (category 17). In December he won the Italian National Championship for the fourth time with a score of 10 points out of 11 games. He had previously won the 2007 and 2008 national championships, and did not play the 2009 national championship due to a calendar conflict with the FIDE World Cup.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, at the 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament A in Wijk aan Zee (previously known as Corus Chess), he finished on place second together with Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov, behind the winner Levon Aronian. In March at the 27th Reykjavik Open in Reykjavík, Iceland, he finished first with 7½/9. In May he won the 20th Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, an eight-player round-robin tournament, in Malmö, Sweden, with 5½/7, half point ahead of Peter Leko. June saw him at the 7th Tal Memorial where he finished second with a score of 5½/9 after tiebreak with Teimour Radjabov behind Magnus Carlsen. By July, at the 40th Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, he was victorious once again with a score of 6/9 after tiebreak with Sergey Karjakin. In the fall, in the period from September–October, he played in the Grand Slam Chess Final in São Paulo and Bilbao, Caruana won 4 games, drew 5 and lost 1, tying for 1st with Magnus Carlsen, but eventually losing both blitz tiebreak games and thus ending 2nd. In November at the 6th Kings Tournament, organized in Bucharest by the Romanian capital chess club, Caruana tied all the games to get third in a shortlist, yet strong tournament (average Elo 2747) behind Vasyl Ivanchuk, winner, and Veselin Topalov, runner-up.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In February–March, Caruana won with four points out of six games the Zurich Chess Challenge. In April at the third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012–2013 held in Zug, Switzerland, with six points out of 11 games, Caruana shared third place with Ruslan Ponomariov, behind the winner, Veselin Topalov, and the runner-up, Hikaru Nakamura. In May–June at the fourth stage of the "FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012–2013" held in Thessaloniki, Greece, Caruana shared second place with Gata Kamsky, behind the winner, Leinier Domínguez Pérez. In June at the eighth edition of the Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, held in Moscow, Caruana with five points out nine games finished third after tiebreak with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Dmitry Andreikin, behind the winner, Boris Gelfand, and the runner-up, Magnus Carlsen. In September–October he shared first place with Boris Gelfand with 5 points out 9 games at the sixth leg of the FIDE Grand Prix, held in Paris. In the final game against Dominguez Perez, Caruana had to win with the black pieces to hope to win the tournament solo and qualify for the Candidate's Tournament, but he repeated moves early in the opening finishing with a fast draw. In October he won the seventh edition of the Kings Tournament in Bucharest, Romania, with five points out of eight games.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, Caruana finished fourth with 6 points out 11 games. In the end of January into early February, at the Zurich Chess Challenge in Zürich, Switzerland, Caruana won the rapid section with four points out of five games and shared second place with Levon Aronian in combined final results (classical and rapid time controls), behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In April at Shamkir Chess 2014, a six-player double round-robin tournament held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, in memory of Vugar Gashimov, Caruana finished second with 5½ points out of 10 games, behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In June at Norway Chess 2014, a ten-player tournament, Caruana finished fourth with 4½ points out of 9 games. In June at the FIDE World Rapid Championship held in Dubai, Caruana finished second with 10½ points out of 15 games, after tiebreaks with Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian and Alexander Morozevich, half point behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. With this result Caruana in July topped the FIDE rapid ranking with 2858 points. In FIDE World Blitz Championship, also held in Dubai, Caruana finished in the middle of the group, confirming some difficulties with short time control. In July, Caruana won with 5½ points out of 7 games the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, breaking for the first time the 2800 Elo points bar. By August Caruana was playing on the first board for Italy at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway, finishing with 6½ points out of 9 games. In the period from August–September, Caruana won with 8½ points out of 10 games the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, Missouri, one of the strongest tournaments ever held, featuring six of the world's top ten players, including the world champion Magnus Carlsen. With seven consecutive wins from the start (for a FIDE performance rating of almost 3600), 3 draws and 0 losses, Caruana ultimately achieved a performance rating of over 3100, possibly the best tournament result in history, beating out Magnus Carlsen in the 2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament and Anatoly Karpov in the 1994 Linares chess tournament. In October he won along with Boris Gelfand the Baku stage of the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, a 12-player round-robin, with 6½ points out of 11 games. The loss at round 7 against Dmitry Andreikin ended a streak of 22 points out of 27 games and no losses started in August. In the period of late October through early November, Caruana shared fourth place with six points out of 11 games at the Tashkent leg of the FIDE Grand Prix. December saw him at the 6th London Chess Classic, a six-player round-robin; he shared last place with four draws and one loss in five games.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, Caruana played in the 2015 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, a 14-player round-robin, where he finished seventh, with seven points out 13 games, behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In February he was at the 2015 Grenke Chess Classic in Baden-Baden, an eight-player round-robin. He shared third and fourth positions, with four points out seven games, behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In February at 2015 Zurich Chess Challenge, a 6 players tournament, Caruana shared second place in Blitz Section with 3½ points out 5 games, shared the last place with 2 points out of 5 games in Classical Section, finished last with 1½ points out 5 games in Rapid Section and finished fifth in Combined Final Results (Classical & Rapid TC) behind the winner Hikaru Nakamura. In April at the Shamkir Chess 2015, a 10 players tournament, Caruana finished fourth with five points out of nine games behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In May, Caruana won along with Hikaru Nakamura and Dmitry Jakovenko the FIDE Grand Prix Khanty-Mansiysk 2015, a 12-player round-robin, with 6½ points out of 11 games. With this result Caruana won the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15 and qualified for the 2016 Candidates Tournament. In June he played in the Norway Chess 2015, a 10-player tournament, where he finished fifth with 4 points out of 9 games behind the winner Veselin Topalov. In June–July: Caruana won the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, an eight-player single-round robin tournament, with 5½ points out of 7 possible points, ending the tournament with a 5-game win-streak. In August–September he finished 8th at the 2015 Sinquefield Cup with 3½ out of nine possible points. In September, at the Chess World Cup 2015, a 128-player single-elimination tournament, Caruana was eliminated in the fourth round by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In December, Caruana competed in the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour, the London Chess Classic. He achieved the arguably boring result of nine draws out of nine games (+0-0=9).


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, at the 2016 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Caruana shared second (along with Ding Liren) with a score of 8 points out of 13 (+5-2=6), defeating Michael Adams, Wei Yi, Loek Van Wely, Pavel Eljanov, and Ding Liren, and losing to David Navara and Evgeny Tomashevsky. Had he defeated Tomashevsky, he would have at least tied for 1st place with Magnus Carlsen. Through this tournament, he gained 7 rating points and moved to #3 in the world. By March, as part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2016, Caruana participated in the Candidates Tournament 2016, held in Moscow, Russia, from March 10–30 in the Central Telegraph (Центральный телеграф) Building. The lineup of the tournament included Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, Veselin Topalov, Anish Giri, and Levon Aronian. In the final round Caruana had Black against Sergey Karjakin in a winner-takes-all game. A complex position developed in which he made a mistake and was eventually defeated, making Karjakin the official challenger. Caruana eventually finished with a +1 score. On April 25, Caruana became US Chess Champion for the first time, after defeating IM Akshat Chandra in the last round of the US Chess Championship. He finished the tournament with 8.5 points out of 11 games, and went undefeated. The field consisted of world top ten players Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So; top 100 players Ray Robson, Sam Shankland, Gata Kamsky, and Alexander Onischuk; GMs Alexander Shabalov, Varuzhan Akobian, Jeffery Xiong and Aleksandr Lenderman; and IM Akshat Chandra. In September, he played first board of the US Team at the 42nd Chess Olympiad. The US team won the gold medal, while Caruana won the bronze medal for first board.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana began the year rated 2827, ranked No. 2 in the world. However, his rating would slip in the coming months. He played the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in March and finished with a score of 7/10, suffering one loss to Nigel Short in Round 6. At the US Championships, Caruana finished T-3rd with 6/11. He lost two games during the tournament and needed to win his last two games just to finish with a positive score, which he did. At the conclusion, his ranking dropped to No. 4. He finished T-2nd at the Grenke Chess Classic, but was 1½ points behind the winner Levon Aronian. Caruana next played in the Norway Chess event, where he finished in the middle of the standings with 4½/9. His lone win came against Hikaru Nakamura and his lone loss came against Vishwanathan Anand.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana continued to struggle through the middle of the year. He finished the Sinquefield Cup in July towards the bottom of the standings with a score of 4/9 (+1-2=6). His last round loss to Peter Svidler knocked his August rating below 2800 for the first time since April 2016. At the World Cup, Caruana made it to the third round. Evgeniy Najer eliminated him in the rapid tiebreak rounds by winning with the black pieces. The World Cup tightened the race between Caruana, Wesley So, and Vladimir Kramnik for the two ratings qualification spots to the 2018 Candidates Tournament to within a few points. However, Kramnik's loss in a classical game against Ivanchuk during the tournament left him in a distant third with only two months remaining.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: The World Cup set the stage for the next major tournament, the Isle of Man Open, which both Caruana and Kramnik were playing. The first round pairings were decided by the players drawing names out of a raffle tumbler. Kramnik, choosing second because he was the 2nd-highest rated player at the event, chose Caruana as his first round opponent. With the white pieces, Caruana defeated Kramnik to put himself and So in a good position to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Kramnik's surprise loss to James Tarjan, who quit chess for a few decades to become a librarian, further helped solidify Caruana and So as the ratings qualifiers. Furthermore, Kramnik ended up receiving a wild card into the Candidates event, officially clinching the qualifications for Caruana and So.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In December 2017 with the Candidates qualification already decided, Caruana rebounded and won his only tournament of the year at the London Chess Classic in tiebreaks. He won three games and drew the remaining six (+3-0=6). Ian Nepomniachtchi had the sole lead entering the final round after winning three consecutive games in rounds six through eight. However, Caruana was able to come from behind by defeating Mickey Adams in his last game. After drawing the rapid tiebreaks, Caruana won one of the two blitz games to clinch the tournament.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, Caruana finished 11th with a score of 5/13 at the Tata Steel Masters tournament. In March, he won the Candidates Tournament 2018 with a score of 9/14, thus winning the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2018 in London in November 2018.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From 31 March to 9 April, Caruana competed in the 5th Grenke Chess Classic. He won the event with a score of 6½/9 (+4–0=5), a point ahead of runner-up Carlsen. With this result he moved to No. 2 in the live world rankings. From 17 to 30 April, he competed in 2018 U.S. Chess Championship, placing second with 8/11 (+6–1=4), half a point behind champion Sam Shankland.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In June, he won the sixth edition of Norway Chess, finishing clear first with a score of 5/8 (+3–1=4), despite having lost to Carlsen in the first round. In August, he jointly won the 6th Sinquefield Cup with Carlsen and Aronian. He also defeated So in a playoff for a place at the London Chess Classic being held in December.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana faced Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2018 from November 9 to 28. All 12 classical time control games were drawn. Carlsen then won the rapid tiebreak games 3–0.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: During game four of the 2018 World Chess Championships, a video containing Caruana's preparation files was released onto the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel. In an interview much later, Caruana admitted that he had been only made aware of this, by his second Cristian Chirilă, before the Round 4 press conference.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From May to November, Caruana competed in the Grand Chess Tour as one of 12 regular participants. He finished in joint-10th place after the first 7 events, thus failing to qualify for the finals at the .


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In January, he won the Category 20 2020 Tata Steel Masters with a round to spare, scoring 10/13 (+7–0=6), two points ahead of second-placed Magnus Carlsen. As a result, he reached a rating of 2842 on the February FIDE rating list, his highest since October 2014. As the runner-up of the 2018 World Championship, Caruana automatically qualified for the 2020 Candidates Tournament, which began 17 March 2020. The tournament was suspended halfway through due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of the postponement, Caruana was tied for third place out of eight players with a score of 3.5 out of 7. The Candidates resumed on April 19, 2021, and ended on April 28, 2021. Caruana ended with 7½/14 points (3 wins, 9 draws, and 2 losses). Caruana tied for third place but due to tie-breaks placed fourth out of eight.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana played in the continuation of Candidates Tournament 2020–2021 from April 19 to April 28 and finished in fourth place on tiebreaks with a score of 7.5/10 (+3-2=9) His win against MVL in round 8 was considered an impressive show of preparation and play, where he sacrificed 3 pawns and a piece (a novelty) in the Poisoned Pawn variation of the .


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Following the Candidates, from July 12 to July 20, Caruana played in the Chess World Cup, but was eliminated in the third round by Rinat Jumabayev.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From August 9 to August 16, Caruana played in the 2021 St Louis Rapid and Blitz taking second behind Hikaru Nakamura. Following that, from August 16 to August 28, he played in the Sinquefield Cup tying for second behind winner MVL with 5.5/9 points (+3-1=5) and a tournament performance rating of 2824, which earned him $45,000 and 8.3 GCT points. In the Grand Chess Tour, he placed fourth overall behind MVL, Wesley So and Mamedyarov.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From October 5 to October 19, Caruana then participated in the 2021 US Chess Championship held at the Saint Louis Chess Club in Missouri, where he scored 2nd place with a score of 6.5/11 after losing to GM Wesley So in the rapid tiebreaks.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In November, Caruana was runner-up in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 with a score of 7.5/11 (+4-0=7) and a tournament performance rating of 2807, behind Alireza Firouzja, which qualified him for the Candidates Tournament 2022.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Between December 18 and December 23, Caruana also participated in the 2021 Vugar Gashimov Memorial, where he edged out Richard Rapport in an armaggedon playoff to win first place.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Three days later, from December 26 to December 28, 2021, Caruana participated in the 2021 FIDE World Rapid Championship, where he ended up as one of the joint leaders with 9.5/13 points, but ultimately finished 4th place as he could not advance to the playoffs due to controversial tiebreak rules. Subsequently, on the 28th and 29th, he played the FIDE World Blitz Championship, ranking 39th.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In 2021, Caruana split with his long time coach/second, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, with Kasimdzhanov citing that the pandemic affected their relationship and opportunities to work together.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Apart from the events he played, Caruana also participated in the coverage of the World Chess Championship 2021 in November and December 2021, along with Daniel Rensch and Robert Hess, for Chess.com.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From the 14th to the 30th of January, Caruana participated in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022, placing 8th with a score of 6.5/14.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: He has also been participating in the Chess.com RCC and, as of August 2022, is in third place and has progressed to the finals with 62 points, behind Hikaru Nakamura (102 points) and Dmitry Andreikin (73 points).


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: In April 2022, he won the inaugural American Cup, a double-elimination tournament in Missouri, ahead of Levon Aronian, Wesley So, and Lenier Dominguez.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From June 16 to July 5, Caruana participated in the Candidates Tournament held in Madrid, having qualified to play by being the runner-up in the Grand Swiss in 2021 behind Alireza Firouzja. Caruana finished 5th with a score of 6.5/14 (+3-4=7) despite being 2nd behind tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi after the end of the first half of the tournament.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From July 28 to August 9, Caruana played board 1 for the US at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai where his team finished 5th despite being seeded 1st. He finished the event with a score of 5/10 (+3-3=4) and a tournament performance rating of 2645.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From August 26 to August 30, Caruana participated in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament, as part of the Grand Chess Tour and finished in third place, after Alireza Firouzja and Hikaru Nakamura. The next month, Caruana participated in the Sinquefield Cup, finishing tied 3rd alongside compatriot Wesley So with 4.5/8 points and behind runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi and winner Alireza Firouzja. His two consecutive third-place finishes earned him enough points to finish in fourth place in the Grand Chess Tour – just 1 point short of 3rd place. Caruana followed this up with a victory in the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX, a rapid chess 960 tournament held in Saint Louis, after defeating Alireza Firouzja in the playoffs for the title. His first-place finish earned him $31,250.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: From October 5 to October 19, Caruana participated in the 2022 US Chess Championship, winning ahead of Wesley So, Levon Aronian, and Lenier Dominguez, among others.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: As a youth, Caruana had an aggressive style of play. He later said "I preferred to attack all the time and really loved sacrificing pieces to get at the enemy king. I played like that for quite a long time, but when I moved up it turned out that you can far from always win with a direct attack; ... I had to become universal, to learn to manoeuvre and defend and so on." Caruana's playing style is now universal, based on opening preparation and calculation: "I wouldn't assess it in such categories [tactical or strategic]. It seems to me I'm a good fighter. I enjoy playing different types of position, both tactical and strategic. I can't say there's anything I avoid. I can attack on a board full of pieces or manoeuvre in a roughly even position, and I've got nothing against the endgame."


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana has been hailed by Magnus Carlsen as a player who has an edge in calculations and opening preparation over most of his contemporaries (bar Carlsen himself). Carlsen has also described him as "undogmatic", but someone who may not play as well in simpler positions. This sentiment has been echoed largely in the chess world, with Caruana having earned himself a nickname of "The Machine".


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana is known as a hard working player, once saying: "Hundreds of games are played each day all around the world, and a lot of them are important. They're all available online, but you have to put in the time to look at them all. And you need to analyze, find new trends, keep trying to find new ideas to use against specific opponents." Talking about Magnus Carlsen's play, Caruana hinted at his deep knowledge of the opponent's strengths and weaknesses: "In some positions you can't compete with him. Certain pawn structures he just plays like a machine. There are certain openings where I say, 'I just can't do that.' But OK, certain positions he's not as comfortable with. Just like any player, he can also play unconfidently."


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana possesses dual citizenship of both Italy and the United States, so he has the option of FIDE affiliation with either the Italian Chess Federation or the United States Chess Federation.


title: Fabiano Caruana

text: Caruana played for Italy from 2005 to 2015. On May 12, 2015, the USCF announced that he would be changing federations, to play for the United States.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Vladislav Doronin (; born 7 November 1962) is an international real estate developer and art collector. He is the owner and chairman of Aman Resorts, chairman and CEO of OKO Group and is a co-founder of Moscow-based Capital Group.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Vladislav Doronin was born on November 7, 1962 in Leningrad, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) in a Russian family of Yuri Grigoryevich Doronin (b. Sep 15, 1937) and Zinaida Mikhailovna Doronina (b. Oct 2, 1935). He graduated from the Moscow Lomonosov State University.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 1985, he relocated to Geneva and then to Zug, where he worked under Marc Rich. In his twenties, Doronin also worked in Hong Kong trading commodities in the late 80s and early 90s.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 1993, Doronin co-founded Capital Group, which entered the Moscow commercial real estate market with class A offices and retail projects, and later expanded with other premium residential developments. Doronin's equal partners in Capital Group from the early 90-ies were Pavel Tio and Eduard Berman. Capital Group has built up its portfolio to include 71 high-end residential and commercial projects with a total of 7 million square meters of space.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 2009 Doronin’s Capital Group built the City of Capitals mixed-use (office and residential) complex in Moscow City, which consisted of two highrise towers and until 2011 was the highest building in Russia. The complex was designed by Erick van Egeraat.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 2011 Capital Group built the award-winning Legend of Tsvetnoy residential, office and retail complex in Moscow. The complex was designed by NBBJ.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 2013 Doronin’s Capital Group formed a joint venture with Gavriil Yushvaev, a Russian entrepreneur, for the construction of OKO — a mixed-use (commercial and residential) highrise development in the Moscow International Business Center. In 2016 55,000 sq.m. of office space in the OKO development was sold to the Government of Moscow.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In his February 2016 interview to the Forbes magazine Doronin explained that Capital Group is jointly managed by the three partners who take strategic decisions together. The operational responsibilities are divided with Doronin responsible for asset sales and acquisitions, attracting investors, development of architectural concepts and marketing, Tio in charge of relations with the Moscow construction complex, new project and legal work and Berman focusing on fit-out and construction work in Capital Group projects.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin led a group of investors to buy out luxury hospitality company Aman Resorts in 2014. In doing so, Doronin became involved in an ownership dispute with Omar Amanat and Aman's founder, Adrian Zecha. Amanat had partnered with both Zecha and Doronin to buy Aman, and had been expected to contribute $10 million for a jointly-funded deposit. In early January, Doronin received a financial statement showing the money was from Zecha instead. The partnership then fell apart: in April, Zecha announced his resignation as CEO and chairman ahead of a scheduled end-of-July departure, and Doronin took over as CEO. A week later, Zecha was locked out of his office and was also removed from his Aman-owned home, after which he and Amanat claimed ownership of the company. By July, the dispute had escalated into legal matters, with a London High Court temporarily reinstating Zecha, and Doronin suing Amanat in New York City and alleging fraud.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin partnered with Michael Shvo in 2015 to buy floors 4 through 24 of the New York Crown Building in New York for about $500 million as an Aman development project.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In March 2016, the High Court in London confirmed a settlement reached between Doronin and the liquidators of an Amanat-founded company, recognizing Doronin's full acquisition of Aman Resorts.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin's real estate development company OKO Group announced in March 2016 a luxury residential development of a 649-foot, 57-story tower, Missoni Baia, in collaboration with Italian fashion house Missoni.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 2020, with Doronin as chairman and CEO, OKO Group had partnered with Cain International and began construction on a 57-story office tower at 830 Brickell, Miami, the first office skyscraper built there in over a decade. A second partnership between OKO Group and Cain International in Miami took place with the development of a 47-story residential tower called Una on the Brickell Waterfront.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Under Doronin, in March 2022 OKO bought nearly one acre of land on Aspen Mountain’s underdeveloped west side for 76 million dollars from Norway Island LLC, a business entity comprising Jim DeFrancia, Bryan Peterson and Jeff Gorsuch, a former U.S. ski team downhill racer, a proprietor of a small chain of high-end retail ski shops, and cousin of Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch. The deal generated much controversy in Aspen because eight months earlier, Gorsuch and his partners bought the plot from the Aspen Skiing Company for 10 million dollars. According to Doronin, he has a long-term plan, which involves building a luxury hotel property on the site.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin owned the publishing rights in Germany and Russia to "Interview" magazine, the style magazine founded by Andy Warhol.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In March 2019 Nader Tavakoli, an investment banker, filed a lawsuit against Doronin related to the $250 million acquisition of Aman Resorts. Tavakoli claimed that he brokered the acquisition and was promised a carried interest, but was intentionally cut out of the venture by Doronin and his business partner Carl Johan Eliasch. After Doronin’s motion to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction was defeated, the case was quickly resolved out of court.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In October 2021 the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands had dismissed the appeal from Doronin against the 2019 ruling, which ordered him to demolish the works carried out illegally in 2014 at his mansion in a forested area on protected rustic land in Ibiza. The illegal construction was located in Platges de Comte by the Nature Protection Service of Spain's Civil Guard in 2014 but the case dragged on for several years. The High Court's ruling ordered Doronin to pay a fine of 1 million euros to Sant Josep City Council and triggered another legal case evaluating the seriousness of the urban infraction committed by Doronin. It was decided that illegal works are to be demolished by Doronin and, if he fails to do so, by the Sant Josep Town Hall.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In March 2022 Doronin sued Korangy Publishing, the publisher of The Real Deal magazine, for $20 million, claiming that a February 27, 2022 article published on the website, falsely stated that Doronin and Aman Resorts support the Putin regime and the invasion of Ukraine and that Doronin is a Russian citizen and that such statements, repeated in articles on March 1 and 2, 2022, demonstrated a ‘targeted campaign of harassment’ against Doronin. Korangy Publishing responded by retroactively redacting the content of its online articles about Doronin and in July 2022, Doronin discontinued his lawsuit.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In April 2022 Doronin filed a defamation lawsuit Swift Communications, a holding company, which owns The Aspen Times after the newspaper published opinion pieces and a letter to the editor, which implied that Doronin was using his Aspen investment to launder tainted money from Russia. Doronin asked for punitive damages to be imposed on Swift Communications, claiming that ‘The Aspen Times’ ‘...has chosen to … sensationalize a false narrative that targets Mr. Doronin simply because he was born in what is today Russia…’. According to Doronin’s court filings, he earned his wealth legitimately and could not be considered a Russian oligarch, because ‘...oligarchs are not merely wealthy individuals of Russian origin; they are individuals who have amassed their wealth through the exploitation of Russian natural resources, corrupt direction of Russian state-owned enterprises, and close political affiliation with Vladimir Putin.” This description, the suit argued, does not fit Doronin. During the pendency of the suit, coverage of Doronin was suspended by the publisher. Tension over the matter resulted in firing of the editor, Andrew Travers. The legal action was settled by confidential agreement and dismissed on May 27, 2022.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In March 2022 the Moscow Arbitration Court ordered OOO Ballini, a real estate management firm founded by Doronin, into bankruptcy procedures.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin collects not only artworks by avant-garde artists (Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky), but also by contemporary artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anish Kapoor, Ed Ruscha, Richard Prince, Urs Fisher, Frank Stella, Julian Schnabel. In 2009 he started the Capital Group Art Foundation, a foundation to support artists.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin has close ties among the art community: artists, gallerists and dealers. He has become friends with some of them. Doronin’s friends includes Tony Shafrazi, a New York gallery owner and dealer, who taught him about contemporary art and the late actor and photographer Dennis Hopper.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin was in a relationship with English supermodel Naomi Campbell from 2008 until 2013. He has been in a relationship with Kristina Romanova since 2015.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Born in the Soviet Union, he renounced his Soviet citizenship in 1986. He has since become a Swedish citizen. He is also a resident of Switzerland.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In a 2016 interview with "Forbes", Doronin said that he frequently travels to Moscow where he owns a business and to visit friends. In 2018 Doronin finished building Capital Hill Residence, his private residence in Barvikha, a prestigious neighborhood outside of Moscow. The property, designed by Zaha Hadid, has 3,300 sq.m. of space and includes a swimming pool, spa and a library and was estimated to have a market value of $140m. The land lot and the property itself are registered in the name of Doronin’s mother, Zinaida.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: Doronin is a friend of Leonardo DiCaprio. In November 2010 Doronin and his then partner Naomi Campbell were among the organizers of Help the Tiger charity event, which took place at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and which was attended by DiCaprio and Vladimir Putin.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: For his contributions to the Russian Orthodox Church Doronin has been decorated by Patriarch Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 2010 Doronin won "Businessman of the Year" award in Russia. The award ceremony took place on February 25, 2010 in the Moscow Kremlin.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In August 2016, Doronin was included in Surface Magazine’s Power 100 list of prominent individuals, including 15 in real estate and hospitality.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: According to Building.ru, Doronin is one of the top ten most professional developers in Russia. His OKO Tower in central Moscow is 1,160 feet high, making it Europe’s tallest completed skyscraper. Doronin was acknowledged as the head of the list of “Top 1000 Russian Managers Rating 2011,” in the category of Development. Doronin was named one of the “Kings of Russian Real Estate” by Forbes in 2014.


title: Vladislav Doronin

text: In 2015, the New York Post recognized Doronin on their list of "The 20 biggest power players in New York City real estate." In June 2022, he was recognized as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality by the International Hospitality Institute's Global 100.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak takraw, or Sepaktakraw, also called kick volleyball, is a team sport played with a ball made of rattan or synthetic plastic between two teams of two to four players on a court resembling a badminton court. It is similar to volleyball and footvolley in its use of a rattan ball and players using only their feet, knees, shoulders, chest and head to touch the ball. Sepak Takraw is often referred to as a mixture of volleyball, due to its use of a net, and association football, as players use their feet.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The sport's modern version was introduced, developed and standardized in 1960 when officials from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar met in Kuala Lumpur to agree on a name and standard rules for it. It was previously known as Sepak Raga Jaring, and was first exhibited in Penang in 1945. It was introduced in the 1965 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur as a medal event. Sepak Takraw is considered Malaysia's national sport.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak takraw is governed internationally by the International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF), formed in 1988, which is responsible for major international tournaments including the ISTAF SuperSeries (ISS) and ISTAF World Cup (IWC), Malaysia's Khir Johari Cup, and Thailand's King Cup.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak takraw resembles native sports known as "Sepak Raga" in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore; "Rago" and "Raga" in Indonesia; "Sipa" in the Philippines; "Chinlone" in Myanmar; "Takraw" in Thailand; "Kataw" in Laos; and "Sek Dai" in Cambodia. It is also claimed to be related to "Cuju" in China, "Da Cau" in Vietnam, "Jegichagi" in Korea and "Kemari" in Japan.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The word "sepak" is Malay (Jawi: سڨق) for kick while the word "takraw" is of Thai (Thai: ตะกร้อ) origin, translated as muzzle or woven rattan ball. "Sepak Takraw" quite literally means "to kick a rattan ball". The choice of this name for the sport was essentially a compromise between Malaysia and Thailand in Kuala Lumpur in 1960.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In the past, it was called "Sepak Raga Jaring" in Malaysia, after the term "Jaring", meaning net in Malay, was added to the traditional "Sepak Raga" game when it was created by Hamid Mydin in Penang in 1945. In Thailand, it is simply known by its original name of "Takraw". Internationally, only the term "Sepak Takraw" is used to refer to the modern sport.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak Takraw may have been introduced to Southeast Asia by the Chinese, who were inspired by the traditional game "Cuju", an ancient military exercise where soldiers play to keep a leather ball filled with feathers airborne by kicking it back and forth between two or more people. As the game evolved, the feather-stuffed ball was replaced by an air-filled ball with a two-layered hull. "Cuju" is also considered by the International Football Association (FIFA) as the origin of football as a sport.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In Myanmar, Sepak Takraw is known as "chinlone". Chinlone has played a prominent role in Myanmar for about 1,500 years. Its style is performance-based because it was first created as a demonstrative activity to entertain Burmese royalty. Chinlone is heavily influenced by traditional Burmese martial arts and dance.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In Malaysia, the first recorded instance of Sepak Takraw, with balls made of woven strips of rattan, was in the Malacca Sultanate (present-day Malaysia) in the 15th century, according to an ancient Malay manuscript, "Sejarah Melayu" (Malay Annals). The Malay Annals described an incident involving Raja Muhammad, a son of Sultan Mansur Shah, who was accidentally hit with a rattan ball by Tun Besar, the son of Bendahara Tun Perak, in a Sepak Raga game. The ball hit Raja Muhammad's headgear and knocked it to the ground. Angered, Raja Muhammad immediately stabbed and killed Tun Besar, leading to some of Tun Besar's kinsmen wanting to kill Raja Muhammad in retaliation. However, Bendahara Tun Perak managed to restrain them from an act of treason by saying that he would no longer accept Raja Muhammad as the Sultan's heir. Sultan Mansur Shah ordered his son out of Malacca and had him installed as the ruler of neighbouring Pahang.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In Thailand, there is evidence that the Thai played Sepak Takraw during the reign of King Naresuan (1590–1605) of Ayutthaya Kingdom. A French historian, François Henri Turpin, wrote about how the Siamese played the game of Takraw to stay in shape. Murals at Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaeo, built in 1785, depict the Hindu god Hanuman playing Sepak Takraw in a ring with a troop of monkeys. The game was played in a circle for hundreds of years, until modern Sepak Takraw began taking shape in Thailand sometime during the early 1740s. In 1929, the Siam Sports Association drafted the first rules for Takraw competition. Four years later, the association introduced the volleyball-style net and held the first public contest. Within just a few years, Takraw was introduced to the curriculum in Siamese schools. The game became such a cherished local custom that another exhibition of volleyball-style Takraw was held to celebrate the kingdom's first constitution in 1933, the year after Thailand abolished absolute monarchy.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In Indonesia, Sepak Takraw is also known as Sepak Raga. In Sulawesi, the traditional Bugis football game is called "Raga" (the player is called "Pa'Raga"). Men play the "Raga" circle in a group, where the ball is passed from one to the other, and the man who kicks the highest ball is the winner. "Raga" is also played for fun by demonstrating several tricks, such as kicking the ball and placing it on the player's head with the handle of the "tengkolok bugis" (Bugis headgear similar to a Malay "tanjak").


title: Sepak takraw

text: In the Philippines, the sport is related to a native game called ""sipà"" (or ""sipà salama"" among Muslim Filipinos), and along with traditional martial arts, survived Spanish colonization. It is a popular sport played by children in Philippines, and was the Philippine national sport until it was replaced by Arnis in 2009. Sepak Takraw is included in Philippine's elementary and high school curriculum.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In the beginning, Sepak Takraw was not meant to be competitive, but was instead a casual game with emphasis on physical activity. The game acted as an exercise to improve dexterity and loosen the limbs after long periods of sitting, standing or working. However, the modern version of Sepak Takraw began taking shape sometime during the 1940s. In 1935 in Seremban, Sepak Raga was first played on a badminton court over the net with players on two opposing sides, amid celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of George V. The event is the earliest example of modern sport rules being used for Sepak Raga, turning it into a competitive sport. Badminton was a preferred sport for the British, whereas Sepak Raga was mainly played by the Malays. Since the diversion sport was first played amid the Jubilee festivity, it was known as "Sepak Raga Jubilee" (Jubilee Sepak Raga).


title: Sepak takraw

text: It is likely that the sport had gained popularity in Negeri Sembilan, and spread to various states of Malaya (now West Malaysia). In the years following World War II up to the mid-20th century, "Sepak Raga Jubilee" was played in rural villages and towns throughout Malaya. Though Malaysia is a multiracial country, Sepak Takraw is mainly popular among the Malay community. The new sport then spread to Penang. The popularization of present-day Sepak Takraw is, for the most part, attributed to three people from Jalan Patani, Penang. In February 1945, a net and tenets like badminton were presented by Hamid Mydin, accompanied by local Sepak Raga sportsmen, Mohamad Abdul Rahman and Syed Yaacob to demonstrate Mydin's new variation of "Sepak Raga Jaring" (Net Sepak Raga). The new version was preferred due to quicker pace, distinctive styles of kicking and the higher standard of athleticism that it demanded. It is considered the pioneer version of modern Sepak Takraw and remains one of the dominant competitive forms.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The first properly organized Sepak Takraw competition was held at a Swim Club in Penang on May 16, 1945. Three teams from Malay populated localities in Penang were among those that competed for the Nyak Din Nyak Sham Trophy. The sport spread rapidly through the remainder of Malaya. From Penang, "Sepak Raga Jaring" spread to Alor Setar in Kedah, to Kampung Baru in Kuala Lumpur and then to Singapore. By 1960, the variation was well known in many Malayan schools that had badminton courts. The sport was frequently played by football players because of the similarities in skills required for both sports. Several Sepak Raga associations formed in various Malayan states.


title: Sepak takraw

text: About the same time, similar developments occurred in Thailand. In 1929, the Siam Sports Association drafted the first rules for the Takraw competition. Four years later, the association introduced the volleyball-style net and held the first public contest. Within just a few years, Takraw was added to the curriculum in Siamese schools. The game became such a cherished local custom that another exhibition of volleyball-style Takraw was staged to celebrate the kingdom's first constitution in 1933, the year after Thailand abolished its absolute monarchy.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The determination and perseverance of Penang's Sepak Takraw pioneers led to the founding of the "Jawatankuasa Penaja Sepak Raga Pulau Pinang" (Penang Sepak Raga Sponsors' Committee) on 25 March 1956 at Dewan UMNO Pulau Pinang. On 28 January 1960, the committee negotiated with representatives from Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Singapore at Bangunan Persatuan Melayu Pulau Pinang on the founding of "Jawatankuasa Penaja Perseketuan Sepak Raga Jaring Malaya" (Malayan Sepak Raga Jaring Sponsors' Committee), a national organization. The initial rules and regulations of the sport were enacted and compiled in writing on 15 April 1960 at Sultan Sulaiman Club in Kuala Lumpur.


title: Sepak takraw

text: On 25 June 1960, the Malayan Sepak Raga Federation (now renamed Malaysian Sepak Takraw Association (PSM)) was established at a meeting held in Balai Rakyat, Jalan Patani, Penang. The ceremony was officiated by the Chief Minister of Penang, Wong Pow Nee. During the meeting, representatives of Kedah, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang had unanimously appointed Khir Johari as its first President. Hamid Mydin was also recognized as the creator and founder of Sepak Takraw by the federation at that meeting. The Sepak Raga rules compiled on 15 April in Kuala Lumpur were also ratified by the Malayan Sepak Raga Federation on this day.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Later that year, representatives from Malaya, Singapore, Myanmar and Thailand met in Kuala Lumpur to standardize the guidelines for the sport. After intense debate, they came to a consensus that the sport would be officially called "Sepak Takraw". Thus, a game of Sepak Takraw that witnesses acrobatic movements by athletes was officially introduced at the international level. In Malaya, an inter-state competition known as "Khir Johari Gold Cup" was organized at Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur from 27 to 28 December 1962 to further advance the sport. Penang, where Sepak Raga Jaring originated, would become the primary holder of the tournament. By that point, "Sepak Raga Jaring" was quite popular in Malaya, and is now regarded as Malaysia's national sport.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In 1965, the Asian Sepaktakraw Federation (ASTAF) was formed. Its first task was to translate the Sepak Takraw rules into English, facilitating the first worldwide competition, the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP Games) (now Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games)) held in Kuala Lumpur. It was still confusingly known as "Sepak Raga". From the fourth SEAP Games in 1967, the term "Sepak Takraw" become the established name.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In the 1970 Asian Games at Bangkok, Sepak Takraw was introduced as a demonstration sport by Malaysian and Thai teams.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In 1975, the Kedah's Sepak Takraw team visited Germany in conjunction with The Sports Press Feast 1975 to play Sepak Takraw as a demonstration.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In 1979, ASTAF for the first time held a conference in Jakarta in conjunction with the SEA Games and reviewed the Sepak Takraw laws submitted by the Malaysian Sepak Takraw Association. The ASTAF technical committee also held its second meeting in Singapore in the same year for the same purpose.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In 1980, the Malaysian Sepak Takraw team played several Sepak Takraw games in China, South Korea and Hong Kong, an outstanding achievement in the history of Sepak Takraw towards introducing the sport to East Asian countries.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In 1988, the International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) was formed by members of the Asian Sepaktakraw Federation (ASTAF). It was recognised as the international governing body for the sport by the Olympic Movement in 1990.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In 1998, Sepak Takraw was introduced as a demonstration event in the Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur.


title: Sepak takraw

text: In 2011, the inaugural edition of Sepak Takraw's flagship tournament, the ISTAF World Cup, was staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The ISTAF SuperSeries, a new series of elite tournaments was also launched in Bangkok.


title: Sepak takraw

text: There are more than 30 countries with national Sepak Takraw organizations, with representatives in the International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) overseeing the sport.


title: Sepak takraw

text: International play is now governed by ISTAF. Major competitions for the sport such as the ISTAF SuperSeries, the ISTAF World Cup and the King's Cup World Championships are held every year.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak Takraw is now a regular sport event in the Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games, with Thailand having won the most medals for the event.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak Takraw has been a sport at the Asian Games since 1990 with Thailand securing the highest number of gold medals.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The Lao people first brought Sepak Takraw into Canada when they immigrated as refugees in the 1970s. But the game began gaining exposure outside the Laotian communities when a Saskatchewan teacher, Richard (Rick) Engel, who was introduced to Sepak Takraw while living in Asia, included it in Asian Sport, Education & Culture (ASEC) International's School Presentation Program. Sepak Takraw was so well received by schools that it became part of ASEC's mandate to help introduce, promote and organize the sport across the country. In May 1998, after introducing many schools to the sport, and in concert with experienced players, ASEC International organised the first Canadian inter-provincial tournament with men's, boys' and girls' teams. By the end of 1998, Engel was sent to Bangkok, Thailand to film at the 14th King's Cup Sepak Takraw World Championships – the footage of which was used to produce a widely used instructional Sepak Takraw video/DVD, called "Sepak Takraw – Just for Kicks".


title: Sepak takraw

text: On 11 December 1998, the Sepak Takraw Association of Canada (STAC) was incorporated to organise and govern the sport nationally. Its office was set up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where there were experienced players and organizational support, sharing resources and office space of the already established ASEC International, a committee which has now become Sepak Takraw Saskatchewan Inc. The first annual Canadian Open Sepak Takraw Championships (a national and international tournament event) were held in May 1999 in Regina, and have over the years attracted teams from across Canada, the United States, Japan, Malaysia and China. That same year Canada also attended its first International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) Congress and was accepted as member of ISTAF. In 2000, Rick Engel, Perry Senko and Brydon Blacklaws played for Team Canada and earned a silver medal in the entry level division of the King's Cup World Sepak Takraw Championships in Thailand. Another major milestone was achieved on 3 December 2000, when STAC and the sport of Sepak Takraw became an official class E Member of the Canadian Olympic Committee.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Canada has since contributed much to the development of Sepak Takraw worldwide, with Engel authoring three instructional books and helping produce five DVDs about the sport, while STAC did the publishing. The most notable of these books is "Sepak Takraw 101 - The Complete Coaching/Instructional Manual for Sepak Takraw (Kick Volleyball)", the third edition of which has also been translated into Indonesian and published in Indonesia through a government education project. Engel has since introduced the sport and conducted Sepak Takraw skills clinics in schools and sessions at physical education teachers' conferences all over Canada, the US and Europe.


title: Sepak takraw

text: A Japanese team played at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. While as of 2010 there are no professional teams in Japan, university-level teams have been established at Asia University, Chiba University, Keio University, and Waseda University.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak Takraw is also known as "Sipa" in the Philippines. The Philippine Sepak Takraw team competes internationally. Among veteran players still in the lineup are Jason Huerta, Reyjay Ortuste, Mark Joseph Gonzales, Josefina Maat, Des Oltor, Ronsted Cabayeron and Sara Catain.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The earliest accounts of organized Takraw in the United States involve a group of students from Northrop University (Greg St. Pierre, Thomas Gong, Joel "big bird" Nelson, and Mark Kimitsuka) in 1986 in Inglewood, California, learning about and playing the sport in Los Angeles. In the early 80s, Southeast Asians held soccer tournaments with Takraw events in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and California, especially within the Lao, Hmong and Thai communities. Malaysian students attending the university often enjoyed playing the sport on a court atop the dormitory cafeteria. They taught a handful of curious American students how to play, which in turn inspired Malaysia Airlines to sponsor a US team from the university to attend the National Tournament in Kuala Lumpur in November 1987. The Northrop team played in a bracket of international new teams with Korea, Sri Lanka, and Australia. The US team beat Sri Lanka and Australia to bring home the gold.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The Los Angeles Asian community and Northrop's team had already established a Takraw community in and around the city. Kurt Sonderegger moved to Los Angeles, founded the United States Takraw Association, and started a business that sold plastic Takraw balls. In 1989, he was sent an invitation from the International Sepaktakraw Federation, and along with a few of the Northrop group, travelled to represent the United States in the World Championships.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The team was well beaten but the Takraw world celebrated the participation of non-Asian teams in the World Championships.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Measurements of courts and equipment often vary among tournaments and organisations that operate from a recreational to a competitive level; "international competitive rules and regulations are used in this section." There are two types of event categories: the regu and the doubles regu. The regu category is played by three players on each team while the doubles regu is played by two players on each team.


title: Sepak takraw

text: "Takraw" is the Thai word for the hand-woven rattan ball originally used in the game. Therefore, the game is essentially "kick ball". The concept of Footvolley originates from Thai Takraw pronounced (Tha-Graw). It is also sometimes incorrectly referred to by foreigners as "Shaolin Soccer", however it is an ancient game mainly enjoyed between Thailand and Laos.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The court has an area of free from all obstacles up to the height of measured from the floor surface (sand and grass court not advisable). The width of the lines bounding the court should not be more than measured and drawn inwards from the edge of the court measurements. All the boundary lines should be drawn at least away from all obstacles. The center line of should be drawn equally dividing the right and left court.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Where the center line meets the sidelines, quarter circles shall be drawn, on either side, from the sideline to the center line with a radius of measured and drawn outwards from the edge of the 0.9 m radius.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The service circle of 0.3 m radius shall be drawn on the left and on the right court, the center of which is 2.45 m from the back line of the court and 3.05 m from the sidelines, the 0.04 m line shall be measured and drawn outward from the edge of the 0.3 m radius.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The net should be made of fine ordinary cord or nylon with 6 cm to 8 cm mesh, similar to a volleyball net.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The net should be 0.7 m in width and not shorter than 6.10 m in length, taped at 0.05 m from tape double at the top and sideline, called boundary tape.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The net should be edged with 0.05 m tape double at the top and the bottom of the net supported by a fine ordinary cord or nylon cord that runs through the tape and strain over and flush with the top of the posts. The top of the net shall be 1.52 m (1.42 m for women) in height from the center and 1.55 m (1.45 m for women) at the posts.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Sepak Takraw balls without synthetic rubber covering must have 12 holes and 20 intersections, must have a circumference measuring from for men or from for women, with a weight that ranges from for men or from for women.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The ball can be any single or multi-color, but must not be in any color that would impair the performance of the players.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The Sepak Takraw ball can also be constructed of synthetic rubber or soft durable material for covering the ball, for the purpose of softening the impact of the ball on the player's body. The type of material and method used for constructing the ball or for covering the ball with rubber or soft durable covering must be approved by ISTAF before it can be used for any competition.


title: Sepak takraw

text: All world, international, and regional competitions sanctioned by International Sepaktakraw Federation, including but not limited to, the Olympic Games, World Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and SEA Games, must be played with ISTAF approved Sepak Takraw balls.


title: Sepak takraw

text: A match is played by two teams called 'regu', each consisting of three players. On some occasions, it can be played by only two players (doubles) or four players (quadrant) per team.


title: Sepak takraw

text: One of the players should be at the back; they are called a "Tekong" or are also known as the "Server". The other two players should be in front, one on the left and the other on the right. The player on the left is called a "feeder/setter/tosser" and the player on the right is called a "attacker/striker/killer".


title: Sepak takraw

text: The side that must serve first should start the first set. The side that wins the first set should have the option of "Choosing Service".


title: Sepak takraw

text: The throw must be executed as soon as the referee calls the score. If either of the "Inside" players throws the ball before the referee calls the score, it must be re-thrown and a warning will be given to the thrower.


title: Sepak takraw

text: During the service, as soon as the Tekong kicks the ball, all the players are allowed to move about freely in their respective courts.


title: Sepak takraw

text: The service is valid if the ball passes over the net, whether it touches the net or not, and inside the boundary of the two net tapes and boundary lines of the opponent's court.


title: Sepak takraw

text: An official doubles or regu match is won by best of three sets (win 2 out of 3 sets), with each set being played up to 21 points.


title: Sepak takraw

text: A team event or group match is effectively three regu matches played back to back, using different players for each regu. The winner is determined by best of three regus (win 2 out of 3 regus), where a winner of each individual regu is determined by best of 3 sets, played up to 21 points per set.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Serving: Teams alternate serving every three points, regardless of who wins the points. If a tie takes place at 21-21, each team alternates one serve each until a winner is determined.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Set: Each set is won by the side which scores 21 points with a minimum lead of two points to a ceiling of 25 points. In the event of a 21–21 tie, the set shall be won by the side which gets a lead of two points, or when a side reaches 25 points (whichever occurs first).


title: Sepak takraw

text: Match: A match is won by the team who has won two sets. A team event match is won by the team that wins two regus.


title: Sepak takraw

text: Ranking: In group stages of tournaments or team events (round robin) the ranking in a group is determined by:


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: Adriana La Cerva is a fictional character on the HBO TV series "The Sopranos", portrayed by Drea de Matteo. She is the long-time girlfriend and, later, fiancée of Tony Soprano's protégé, Christopher Moltisanti. For her performance, de Matteo won the 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: Adriana is the niece of Jackie and Richie Aprile. She is not repulsed by the Mafia lifestyle and starts out as a hostess at Artie Bucco's restaurant, Vesuvio. Adriana is initially portrayed as shallow and materialistic, interested in the things that her boyfriend Christopher's money could buy: expensive cars, shoes, jewelry, drugs, and designer clothing. Despite the couple growing closer, she becomes a frequent victim of domestic violence at the hands of Christopher.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: After he and Adriana fight, she moves in with her mother, but Chris gets her back by proposing to her, against her mother's advice. Despite this, the two do not get married. She reveals to Chris that she is potentially infertile, which leads to another bout of domestic violence. Despite the violence, she always seems to have Christopher's best interests (as well as her own) in mind.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: Adriana is portrayed as ambitious and wanting to have a business of her own. In Season 3, Christopher acquires The Lollipop Lounge in Long Branch, New Jersey, from a gambling debtor, and turns it over to Adriana to manage as she pleases. Adriana renames the bar "Crazy Horse" and makes it successful as a venue for local alternative rock bands and as a bar for college students from nearby Monmouth University and elsewhere. Benny Fazio is beaten in the nightclub's parking lot by Phil Leotardo. In season 4, Adriana reveals that she is possibly infertile due to complications from a previous abortion. In season 5, Adriana is diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: By the end of season 3, The FBI targets Adriana as a potential weakness in the family's organization. Upon the death of Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, the FBI looks to Adriana as a close relation to Christopher, a rising star in the crime family, and sends Special Agent Deborah Ciccerone to befriend her in "Army of One". Ciccerone, who goes by "Danielle Ciccolella", succeeds at befriending Adriana, but the feds have to abandon the mission earlier than planned when Christopher makes a pass at Ciccerone, upsetting Adriana.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: In "No Show", the FBI brings Adriana in and threatens her with long imprisonment for drug possession, or perhaps punishment by Tony Soprano, if she does not co-operate. Adriana vomits all over herself, the table, and the agents.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: Out of loyalty to Christopher, Adriana avoids giving up any serious information on the family and does her best to avoid the Soprano family house in order to have nothing to give back to the feds. Her deception catches up with her after the FBI learns of her involvement in covering up a murder at her club and threatens to press charges of being an accessory to murder against her unless she offers full cooperation, which would include wearing a wire.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: In "Long Term Parking", she reveals the truth to Christopher, hoping they can go into the Witness Protection Program together and start new lives. An enraged Christopher beats and almost strangles her, before breaking down crying. His loyalty to his crime family turns out to be greater than his love for Adriana, and he reveals her status as an informant to Tony. Tony telephones Adriana, falsely informing her that Christopher has attempted suicide at a diner in Ramapo Mountain State Forest by New Jersey State Police and has been hospitalized, and that Silvio Dante will drive her to the hospital.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: En route on Interstate 287, Silvio stops the car in the middle of the woods. Realizing what is about to happen, a terrified Adriana tries to flee, crawling away from the car on all fours off screen where Silvio shoots her dead. Christopher is later seen putting some of her clothes in a red suitcase and dumping them. He then leaves her light blue Ford Thunderbird in the long-term parking lot at Newark Liberty International Airport.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: In the season 6 episode "The Ride", Carmela Soprano runs to Adriana's mother, Liz La Cerva, who tells Carmela that she believes Christopher killed Adriana and that the FBI questioned her about Adriana's disappearance. When Carmela tells Tony about their conversation, he dismisses her fears, explaining that if Christopher had killed Adriana then her body would have been found by now. In addition, he points out to Carmela that if the FBI really suspected Christopher, then they would have arrested him.


title: Adriana La Cerva

text: While in Paris, Carmela dreams of seeing Adriana in a park, but a policeman tells her Adriana is dead. Carmela is intent on finding her, especially after Liz La Cerva tries to kill herself. However, Tony and Silvio pull some strings and Carmela is able to continue construction on her spec house, and the distraction keeps her from investigating the matter further.


title: Howard Krein

text: Howard David Krein (born 1966/1967) is an American otolaryngologist, plastic surgeon, and business executive. He is the husband of Ashley Biden, the daughter of United States President Joe Biden. He is an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University and is a founding partner and co-director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Center. Krein is the chief medical officer at StartUp Health, a venture capital and health technology firm. He served on the Biden Cancer Initiative's board of directors from 2017 to 2019. Krein has advised the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign on its COVID-19 pandemic response in an unofficial role.


title: Howard Krein

text: Krein was born and raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is the son of Stanley Krein, an insurance executive and former director of marketing at Aetna, and Brenda Ferne "Bunny" Lipner Krein, a physician assistant in cardiology at Cooper University Hospital. His family is Jewish.


title: Howard Krein

text: As a teenager Krein competed in CowTown, a weekly summertime rodeo competition in Pilesgrove, New Jersey. He became a volunteer fire fighter at the age of sixteen.


title: Howard Krein

text: Krein graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in neuroscience. He obtained a doctoral degree in cell and development biology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 1996. He graduated from medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in 2000. He completed an internship in emergency medicine and general surgery and a residency in otolaryngology at Jefferson. He completed a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Medical College of Virginia.


title: Howard Krein

text: Krein is a board-certified otolaryngologist who also specializes in facial and reconstructive surgery. He has volunteered at the International Hospital for Children, operating on children with facial deformities in Belize. Krein also volunteers with Faces of Honor, where he performs reconstructive surgery for victims of domestic violence and veterans of the War in Afghanistan and the Iraqi conflict.


title: Howard Krein

text: Krein has been an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University since 2007, and has served as the Senior Director of Health Policy and Innovation at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center since 2016. He is a founding partner and co-director of the hospital's Herbert Kean Center for Facial Aesthetics.


title: Howard Krein

text: Since 2011 Krein has served as a Chief Medical Officer at StartUp Health, previously Organized Wisdom, a venture capital and health technology firm. The firm, whose chief executive officer is Krein's brother, lobbied the government on health industry technology regulations in 2018.


title: Howard Krein

text: Krein has been an advisor to the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign on its COVID-19 pandemic response. StartUp Health has been running an initiative to invest in health care startups offering solutions to the global pandemic since March 2020. Krein's role with the Biden campaign while working as an executive of a health technology firm has led to speculation about a conflict of interest. StartUp Health described Krein as an advisor to the Obama administration in 2011. Krein has stated that he does not have a formal role in the Biden campaign, but has participated in briefings on the coronavirus based on his experience treating patients and coordinating Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's response to the outbreak.


title: Howard Krein

text: Krein began dating Ashley Biden, a social worker and daughter of U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, in 2010 after being introduced by her half-brother, Beau Biden. They married in a Catholic-Jewish interfaith ceremony at St. Joseph's on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware, led by a Catholic priest assisted by a rabbi.


title: Joss Ackland

text: Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE (born 29 February 1928) is an English retired actor who has appeared in more than 130 film and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Delves Broughton in "White Mischief" (1987).


title: Joss Ackland

text: Ackland was born in North Kensington, London on 29 February 1928, the son of Major Sydney Norman Ackland (died 1981), an Irish journalist who had been sent to England to live with an aunt by his parents for seducing their maid, but subsequently seduced his aunt's maid, Ruth Izod (died 1957), whom he married. He was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.


title: Joss Ackland

text: Ackland and Rosemary Kirkcaldy were married on 18 August 1951, when Ackland was 23 and she 22. She was an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared on stage together in Pitlochry, Scotland. The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in its infancy. They moved to Lilongwe, Malawi, where Ackland managed a tea plantation for six months but, deciding it was too dangerous, they moved to Cape Town, South Africa. Though they both obtained steady acting jobs in South Africa, after two years they returned to England in 1957.


title: Joss Ackland

text: Ackland joined the Old Vic, appearing alongside other notable actors including Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay. Ackland worked steadily in television and film in the 1960s and 70s. He worked opposite Alec Guinness in the 1979 television serial "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", playing sporting journalist and intermittent British espionage operative Jerry Westerby, and his career advanced through the 1980s with important parts in such films as "The Sicilian", "Lethal Weapon 2", "The Hunt for Red October" and "White Mischief".


title: Joss Ackland

text: On television Ackland appeared as Jephro Rucastle with Jeremy Brett and David Burke in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes;" the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". Other appearances included "Passion of Mind" with Demi Moore and the two-part TV serial "Hogfather" based on Terry Pratchett's "Discworld". He played C. S. Lewis in the television version of "Shadowlands" before it was adapted into a stage play starring Nigel Hawthorne and then a theatrical film with Anthony Hopkins in the same role.


title: Joss Ackland

text: His stage roles included creating the role of Juan Perón in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Evita" opposite Elaine Paige. He also starred in the London production of Stephen Sondheim's and Hugh Wheeler's "A Little Night Music" with Jean Simmons and Hermione Gingold, performing on the RCA Victor original London cast album.


title: Joss Ackland

text: Ackland appears in the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 film "It Couldn't Happen Here", and in the video for their version of the song "Always on My Mind", which was taken from the film. Several years later, he said in an interview with the "Radio Times" that he appeared with the band purely because his grandchildren liked their music.


title: Joss Ackland

text: He also co-starred as Emilio Estevez's mentor and friend Hans in the 1992 Disney hit "The Mighty Ducks". He reprised the role four years later in 1996's "".


title: Joss Ackland

text: In a 2001 interview with the BBC, Ackland said that he appeared in some "awful films" due to being a workaholic. He said that he "regretted" appearing in "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" and the Pet Shop Boys music video. He also criticised former co-star Demi Moore as "not very bright or talented".


title: Joss Ackland

text: Also in 2007, Ackland appeared in the film "How About You" opposite Vanessa Redgrave, portraying a recovering alcoholic living in a residential home after being forced to retire and losing his wife to cancer.


title: Joss Ackland

text: In 2008, he returned to the small screen as Sir Freddy Butler, a much married baronet, in the ITV1 show "Midsomer Murders". The episode, entitled "Vixens Run" also featured veteran actress Siân Phillips.


title: Joss Ackland

text: In September 2013, Jonathan Miller directed a Gala Performance of William Shakespeare's "King Lear" at the Old Vic in London. Ackland played Lear.


title: Joss Ackland

text: Ackland and his wife Rosemary were married for 51 years. They had seven children, thirty-two grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Despite his filming taking him to far-flung locations, he said Rosemary and he "were hardly ever apart". Daughter Kirsty married Anthony Shawn Baring, a descendant of the merchant banker Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet and a descendant of Robert Rundell Guinness, founder of the merchant bank Guinness Mahon. In 1963, their house in Barnes caught fire. Rosemary saved their five children but broke her back when jumping from the bedroom window. She was told she would miscarry and never walk again, but later gave birth and, after 18 months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, walked again.


title: Joss Ackland

text: Their eldest son, Paul, died of a heroin overdose in 1982, aged 29. In 2000, Rosemary was diagnosed with motor neurone disease; she died on 25 July 2002.


title: Joss Ackland

text: In 2020, Ackland participated in the Letters Live project, and was recorded from his home in Clovelly, Devon. His letter reflected on the COVID-19 crisis and his hopes for how the country could draw 'strength from adversity'.


title: Sputnik (news agency)

text: Sputnik (; formerly Voice of Russia and RIA Novosti, naming derived from Russian ) is a Russian state-owned news agency and radio broadcast service. It was established by the Russian government-owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya on 10 November 2014. With headquarters in Moscow, Sputnik claims to have regional editorial offices in Washington, D.C., Cairo, Beijing, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro. Sputnik describes itself as being focused on global politics and economics and aims for an international audience.


title: Sputnik (news agency)

text: Sputnik is frequently described by academics and journalists as a Russian propaganda outlet. In 2016, Neil MacFarquhar of "The New York Times" wrote: "The fundamental purpose of "dezinformatsiya", or Russian disinformation, experts said, is to undermine the official version of events—even the very idea that there is a true version of events—and foster a kind of policy paralysis." The Russian government rejects the validity of such assertions. In early 2019, Facebook removed hundreds of pages on its social media platform passing as independent news sites but were actually under the control of Sputnik employees.


title: Sputnik (news agency)

text: Sputnik operates news websites, featuring reporting and commentary, in 31 languages including English, Spanish, Polish and Serbian. The websites house over 800 hours of radio broadcasting material each day, and its newswire service runs a 24/7 service.


title: Sputnik (news agency)

text: Sputnik was banned in the European Union in February 2022 (along with RT) following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Technology companies and social media services responded to the invasion by removing Sputnik from their platforms, while many versions such as the French, the German and the Greek ones have closed their operation.


title: Sputnik (news agency)

text: RIA Novosti was Russia's international news agency until 9 December 2013 when it became known as Rossiya Segodnya. Dmitry Kiselev, an anchorman of the Russia-1 channel was appointed to be the first president of the reorganized agency. He soon announced that Margarita Simonyan was to be editor-in-chief. Simonyan told "The New York Times" in 2017 that she choose Sputnik as the new name "because I thought that’s the only Russian word that has a positive connotation, and the whole world knows it."


title: Sputnik (news agency)

text: Sputnik was launched on 10 November 2014 by Rossiya Segodnya, which is itself funded through RT, owned and operated by the Russian government, and was created via an Executive Order of the President of Russia on 9 December 2013. As well as the RIA Novosti news agency, Sputnik's origins can be traced to 1929 when Radio Moscow was launched as the official international broadcasting station of Soviet Union airing across the country, Eastern Europe and Cuba until it was replaced by Voice of Russia in 1993 along with the foreign language services of RIA Novosti. RT UK was launched a fortnight earlier. According to its editor-in-chief Dmitry Kiselyov, Sputnik was intended to reach a worldwide audience "tired of aggressive propaganda promoting a unipolar world and who want a different perspective". The station claims it "tells the untold". However, President Vladimir Putin, while visiting the Moscow base of the RT television network in 2013, said the objective behind both the then forthcoming Sputnik agency and RT was to "break the monopoly of the Anglo-Saxon global information streams."


title: Sputnik (news agency)

text: "Radio Sputnik" is the audio service of the Sputnik platform operating in 30 languages "for a total of over 800 hours a day, covering over 130 cities and 34 countries on "FM, DAB/DAB+ (Digital Radio Broadcasting), HD Radio, as well as mobile phones and the Internet." It is available on satellite transponders, including a 24-hour English service audible in North America via the Galaxy-19 satellite. Among the station's presenters are Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert who host the weekly talk show "Double Down" which concentrates on economics. Another talk show is "By Any Means Necessary" which is hosted by Eugene Puryear, while liberal talk radio host Thom Hartmann presents his own program which is syndicated on Sputnik each day.