title: Lou Albano

text: Although Albano's father, retired from medicine, wanted to open an insurance agency with his son, Lou instead began training as a boxer. A distant cousin and family friend, Lou Duva, introduced Albano to Willie Gilzenberg, a boxing promoter who later became the first titular president of the WWWF. Gilzenberg, noting Albano's relatively short stature, instead encouraged him to enter wrestling. Albano's father had himself been an amateur wrestler, and Albano himself had been introduced to professional wrestling at an event held at Fort Dix during his tenure in the Army, where he had seen the likes of Gorgeous George, Arnold Skaaland, Soldier Barry, and Lenny Montana—all of whom Albano later worked with. Gilzenberg asked Soldier Barry to help train Albano, and in 1952, the two began doing house shows in the New York area. Albano was originally seen as a "pretty boy," and wrestled as the babyface "Leaping Lou Albano". After a non-wrestling injury caused a gash on his forehead, he purposefully did not allow the scar to heal, and the minor disfigurement allowed him to turn heel. Now billed as the "Mount Vernon Mauler," and occasionally a pirate, he began establishing himself in the New York professional wrestling community. At this point, Gilzenberg introduced Albano to Vince McMahon Sr., promoter of the new Capitol Wrestling Corporation in Washington, D.C.—the first predecessor to what is today WWE. Albano worked for Capitol Wrestling and its successors, under Vince McMahon and his son, for most of the rest of his career. Albano made little impact as a solo wrestler, working prelims in various circuits, but he achieved moderate success as a tag team performer with partner Tony Altomare. Dubbed The Sicilians, Altomare and Albano competed as a stereotypical Italian gangster combo in the mode of the then-popular television series "The Untouchables". The pair won the Midwest tag team championship on the undercard of June 30, 1961 Comiskey Park event starring Pat O'Connor and Buddy Rogers that set the all-time record gate in the United States to that point. Their realistic depiction of gangster characters caught the attention of actual mafiosi in 1961. In Chicago, Tony Accardo and two associates "requested" that Albano and Altomare cease using the word "mafia". During their run as Midwest tag team champions, personal differences with bookers and other wrestlers resulted in the pair abandoning the territory quickly enough that they did not lose the title before leaving.


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano returned in 1967 and again partnered with Tony Altomare as "The Sicilians". In July, they won the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship from Arnold Skaaland and Spiros Arion. Albano and Altomare only held the championship for two weeks, a title change which was not even acknowledged on WWWF television outside the Atlantic City market. But several photographs of the pair with their title belts were taken, which elevated Albano's reputation in the wrestling magazines of the time, and provided good publicity fodder later in his career. By 1969 The Sicilians disbanded and went their separate ways. Albano went as a singles competitor.


title: Lou Albano

text: In 1970, fellow wrestler Bruno Sammartino mentioned to McMahon that Albano, a mediocre wrestler who was nonetheless an entertaining speaker, might be better utilized as a manager. In professional wrestling, a manager might be tasked with behind-the-scenes efforts to help push forward a charge's career or handle his booking, but plays an equal or even greater role in the ring, speaking for his charge and helping rile up the crowd for or against him. Sammartino recalled: "One day I said to Vince Sr., this guy [Albano] isn't the best wrestler, as a team, they [Albano & Altomare] can only go so far. But he'd be a great mouthpiece for some guy. Lou has such a gift of gab that he can help out some people. As a wrestler, he just seemed limited. He was always the same. He was never looked upon by promoters as someone who could be anyone special. But as a manager, he shined. That was his calling." Albano, realizing that wrestlers had only a limited lifespan in the ring, and still dealing with his old football injury, agreed. Although it was his decision to split up his ten-year tag team partnership with Altomare, the two remained very close until the latter's death in 2003.


title: Lou Albano

text: At this time, managers were relatively rare in the pro wrestling world—WWWF had only two others. However, a promising new wrestler, Oscar "Crusher" Verdu, had just recently emigrated from Spain. His in-ring capabilities were hampered by a limited command of English, and Albano was assigned to be his mouthpiece. Albano emphasized Verdu's physique and insisted that he had never been taken off his feet during a match. To rile up audiences, he also engaged in ethnic slurs, which were then a more common part of WWWF banter; Albano promised that Verdu would stomp on "that Italian" (Sammartino); the fact that Albano was known to be Italian himself only heightened the audience's reaction. Sammartino later said, "They wanted to see me beat the hell out of Verdu to make Albano a liar. He could get the kind of heat that nobody else could." The result was a Madison Square Garden sellout when Verdu faced Sammartino in June 1970, the first for the company in five years and a then-record gate for a wrestling event in that arena. The record lasted only a month, when a rematch brought in over $85,000 in ticket receipts. After losing that match, Verdu cycled out of the WWWF rotation, but Albano remained as the top heel manager for the next 15 years.


title: Lou Albano

text: Thus began his transition into the brash, bombastic manager "Captain" Lou Albano. With a quick wit and a grating personality, Albano delivered memorable promos and earned the scorn of the wrestling audience as he attempted to dethrone World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) superstar and Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino. Albano described the strategy behind his overblown, ranting interview style: "I just remember the point I wanna bring across, and then I just babble before, during, and after. Somehow, in the middle, I said the two or three sentences that sold tickets. Mostly, I just tried to make people want to see me get my ass kicked, and along the way, hopefully the guy I was managing would catch a beating too!" Growing out his hair and beard, and packing on extra pounds, Albano gave the image of a wild man. He developed a later trademark, applying rubber bands to his beard, after having seen a homeless man do the same. He also often wore a rubber band hanging from a safety pin pushed through his cheek.


title: Lou Albano

text: In January 1971, Albano was the manager when Ivan Koloff ended Sammartino's seven-year reign as champion. Koloff's title reign was a transitional one, lasting just three weeks. Koloff had a typical heel run against Sammartino in 1969, but Albano spent months claiming that his previous manager had trained him incorrectly, and that Koloff would beat Sammartino under Albano's expert tutelage. The shock of Koloff's victory was such that the crowd fell totally silent, and Sammartino momentarily feared that he had lost his hearing. Koloff and Albano were quickly rushed out of the ring by security without the championship belt as the crowd began to riot. Albano, his wife, and a family friend, who were both in attendance, escaped to a taxi outside the Garden. The mob surrounded the cab and began breaking windows, so the trio ran to a nearby bar, followed by the crowd who were pelting them with mud and objects. The mob was beginning to destroy the bar as the police finally arrived. Vince McMahon received a bill for damages totaling $27,000 ($182,378 in 2021 dollars), cementing Albano's unparalleled ability to "draw heat" (arouse anger in the audience).


title: Lou Albano

text: Another protege of Albano was "Iron Mike" McCord. In a memorable match in 1974 Chief Jay Strongbow applied his famous sleeper hold on McCord but Albano interfered in the match by smashing an arm cast over Strongbow's forehead, causing him to bleed badly. McCord was disqualified due to outside interference.


title: Lou Albano

text: Later Strongbow settled the score by challenging Albano to put on the wrestling tights once again. And the stage was set in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden, where he defeated Captain Lou Albano quite convincingly.


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano then resumed his role as the mastermind trying to lead his latest bad guy protege to the gold. For the remainder of the 1970s and into the mid-1980s, Albano's cadre of loyal henchmen were unable to re-secure the heavyweight championship, held by either Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund or Hulk Hogan. However, Albano guided singles wrestlers Don Muraco and Greg Valentine to the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Furthermore, Albano guided thirteen teams to the WWF World Tag Team Championships, including The Valiant Brothers, The Wild Samoans, The Yukon Lumberjacks, The Blackjacks, The Moondogs, The Masked Executioners, and after becoming a face (short for babyface, a wrestling term for a good guy/heroic character), the U.S. Express and the British Bulldogs. It was during his stewardship of the Valiant Brothers that Albano picked up his "Captain" nickname, as the act was promoted as "Captain Lou and the Valiants too." By the end of his career, Albano had managed over 50 different wrestlers who won two dozen championships.


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano could also help elevate wrestlers by splitting from them. In 1982, despite being managed by the villainous Albano, Jimmy Snuka was unexpectedly becoming a fan favorite due to his high-flying ring style. An interview segment revealed that Snuka had no legal contract with Albano, and thus was able to leave his manager. Shortly thereafter, a bloody beatdown by Albano, Freddie Blassie and Ray Stevens, helped transform Snuka into a sympathetic figure, and triggered the most successful period of his career. Albano had previously helped turn the villainous Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson into a fan favorite, by "purchasing" Patterson's contract against his will. He also managed the U.S. Express at WrestleMania.


title: Lou Albano

text: In 1984, Albano met pop singer Cyndi Lauper on a plane flight from Puerto Rico. Her manager, David Wolff, suggested that the two collaborate on a project at some point in the future. In 1984, the opportunity came when Lauper's video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" needed an actor to play the singer's father, and Albano was suggested. Initially reluctant, he was convinced by his wife to agree, and Lauper and Albano thereafter formed a lifelong friendship. He appeared in several of her music videos and she appeared on Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit" program to discuss the collaboration. Albano, in character, began denigrating Lauper and women in general and claimed to have written all her songs and been the only reason for her success. Lauper, in turn, assaulted Albano with her purse, and the two agreed to settle their differences in the ring. Albano and Lauper agreed to compete by proxy, each choosing a female wrestler to contend. Lauper chose Wendi Richter, while Albano chose The Fabulous Moolah. The match, scheduled for July 23, 1984, was dubbed "The Brawl to End it All", and was broadcast live on MTV. During the match, Lauper interfered on Richter's behalf by hitting Moolah in the head with her purse, dubbed "The Loaded Purse of Doom". At the conclusion of the match, Richter had defeated Moolah for the WWF Women's Championship, which the WWF had promoted Moolah as having held for the previous 28 years. For a time in the 1980s, Albano also managed the rock group NRBQ. The group recorded a 1986 album, "Lou and the Q," which contained a song titled "Captain Lou"—on which Albano himself sings and rants.


title: Lou Albano

text: In the meantime, Albano had become involved in several charities. His brother's brother-in-law had recently died of multiple sclerosis, and the experience led Albano to lend his time to raising awareness and funds to combat the disease, occasionally alongside Lauper. His increasingly public benevolence clashed with his in-ring persona, which violated the principles of "kayfabe"—maintaining the appearance of reality within professional wrestling—which were still strictly adhered to at the time. In 1984, Albano decided it was time, after 32 years as a heel, to turn face. He therefore arranged for Lauper to receive an in-ring award for her contributions to both wrestling and the fight against MS, for which he also came out and congratulated her. In the course of the ceremony, Roddy Piper and "Cowboy" Bob Orton came into the ring to sarcastically praise Albano before breaking Lauper's award, a gold record plaque, over his head. Lauper and her boyfriend-manager David Wolff were also attacked by Piper and Orton. The melee was broken up by Hulk Hogan, but the altercation allowed Albano to now wrestle and manage as a crowd favorite. His last two (heel) singles protégés, Valentine and Ken Patera, were paired with Jimmy Hart and Bobby Heenan, respectively, after Albano's face turn. Although he continued his overblown, rambling interviews—one of the lead announcers for the WWF, Gorilla Monsoon, continued to refer to Albano as "The Fountain of Misinformation"—Albano was now leading fan favorites such as The U.S. Express, George Steele, The British Bulldogs, Hulk Hogan and André the Giant into battle. The U.S. Express and British Bulldogs became the first tag teams to win the WWF Tag Team Championships with Albano as a "face" manager.


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano left the WWF in late 1986 with one final match on an episode of "Wrestling Challenge" that aired on November 16, 1986, teaming with The British Bulldogs to defeat The Dream Team and Luscious Johnny Vailant. Albano would then make a one-time appearance on a "Piper's Pit" on an episode of "Superstars of Wrestling" in February 1987 to ask André the Giant to reconsider his recent alignment with Bobby Heenan. Albano briefly worked in Herb Abrams' UWF promotion in 1991, where he hosted an interview segment.


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano returned to the WWF in 1994 to manage the newly face-turned Headshrinkers, helping lead them to the WWF Tag Team Championship. He left in early 1995, making sporadic appearances as a guest from then on, but never again as a manager.


title: Lou Albano

text: The events leading up to Albano's face turn proved to be pivotal in the history of the WWF. Hogan, Piper, and Orton began a feud at Lauper's award ceremony that culminated in The War to Settle the Score. The outcome of the War—Hogan winning by disqualification—was the impetus for the primary match at the first WrestleMania, in which Albano also participated, as a face manager. More importantly, the involvement of Lauper, a celebrity completely unrelated to wrestling, in the pro wrestling world was unprecedented. MTV's decision to broadcast the Brawl to End it All tremendously increased the WWF's public profile, especially in the coveted young adult demographic. This led directly to the 1980s professional wrestling boom. "Wrestling Observer"s Dave Meltzer wrote, "Without Albano, wrestling history would have been monumentally different because if you take Lauper's involvement out of the equation, the early losses on expanding nationally and buying so much television time were on the verge of putting the company under... Without her, there would have been no MTV special, no national media publicity, and it's highly unlikely without it that the first WrestleMania would have been a success. If you take Albano's participation out of the equation, there is a good chance the McMahon expansion would have hit an iceberg and died in early 1985 ... the attention garnered by the Rock & Wrestling Connection, stemming from that chance meeting on an airplane between Lauper and Albano less than two years earlier, led NBC to make the decision to air "Saturday Night's Main Event" several times per year in the "Saturday Night Live" time slot."


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano appeared in the 1986 film "Wise Guys", starring Danny DeVito. He played the role of Mario, Nintendo's mascot, in both the live-action and animated segments of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!", a TV series based on the "Super Mario Bros." game series. He also had roles in the TV series "227", "Hey Dude", and "Miami Vice", the 1992 film "Stay Tuned", and was a recurring guest on the game show "Hollywood Squares". Albano played a villainous caricature of himself named "Captain Lou Morano" in the 1987 movie "Body Slam", starring Dirk Benedict and Roddy Piper. The film also included cameo appearances by wrestlers Ric Flair, Freddie Blassie, and Bruno Sammartino. Albano played the role of the father in Cyndi Lauper's music videos for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" and "She Bop", as well as a cook in the video for her song "Time After Time".


title: Lou Albano

text: In 1953, Albano married his high school sweetheart, Geraldine Tango. The marriage lasted 56 years, until his death. Albano has been noted by several others for his faithfulness to his wife, a rare characteristic in the on-the-road world of 1970s and 1980s professional wrestling. Albano released his autobiography, "Often Imitated, Never Duplicated", on July 20, 2008, through his website. The book includes a foreword by Cyndi Lauper. The other Albano siblings are Vincent, George, Eleanor, and Carl, all of whom became teachers. Albano's brother, Carl, taught health for 32 years at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and was head of the Ridgewood High health department from 1974 until 2001. Carl's students have noted that he used his brother Lou as an example of the difference between crazy and unique. George served as the principal of Lincoln Elementary School in Mount Vernon, New York and often brought Lou in to delight the school's students during their lunch hour. Vincent was an art teacher and lived part-time in a lake house in Connecticut. Eleanor was a music teacher for preschool students in Connecticut.


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano's son, Carl Albano, has been a member of the Putnam County Legislature since 2011. During the 1990s, Albano shed 150 pounds (70 kg) following a health scare. In May 2005, Albano suffered a heart attack, but later recovered. Albano was sent home from the hospital and again began watching his health. The song "Captain Lou" by Kimya Dawson is dedicated to him. In 1983 the band NRBQ wrote a song about Albano called "Captain Lou". Albano appeared as a singer on that song as well on another called "Boardin' House Pie". Both of these songs appear on NRBQ's "Tapdancin' Bats" compilation, their "Lou and the Q" spoken-word comedy record, as well as their out-of-print, hard-to-find single which Albano used to sell at his wrestling matches.


title: Lou Albano

text: Albano died on October 14, 2009, in Westchester County, New York, of a heart attack while residing in hospice care. He was 76 years old.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The Sikorsky S-70 is an American medium transport/utility helicopter family manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It was developed for the United States Army in the 1970s, winning a competition to be designated the UH-60 Black Hawk and spawning a large family in U.S. military service. New and improved versions of the UH-60 have been developed since. Civilian versions, and some military versions, are produced under various S-70 model designations.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The S-70 family was developed to meet a United States Army requirement to replace the UH-1 Iroquois family of utility medium-lift helicopters in 1972. Three YUH-60A prototypes were constructed, with the first flying in October 1974. They were evaluated against the Boeing-Vertol YUH-61A. The YUH-60A was selected for production, and entered service as the UH-60A Black Hawk with the U.S. Army in 1979.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: After entering service, the helicopter was modified for new missions and roles, including mine laying and medical evacuation. An EH-60 variant was developed to conduct electronic warfare and special operations aviation developed the MH-60 variant to support its missions. In the late 1980s the model was upgraded to the UH-60L, which featured more power and lift with the upgrade to the -701C model of the GE T700 engine. The improved UH-60M model was developed in the early 2000s. The UH-60M and its International version, the S-70i, include GPS navigation, a glass cockpit, an integrated Flight Management System, and a significant upgrade to the powertrain and rotor system adding both power and lift capability.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The S-70 can perform a variety of missions, including air cavalry, electronic warfare, and aeromedical evacuation. Versions are used to transport the President of the United States under call sign "Marine One". In air assault operations it can move a squad of 11 combat troops and equipment or carry the 105 mm M102 howitzer, thirty rounds of ammunition, and a six-man crew. Alternatively, it can carry of cargo or sling load of cargo. The S-70 is equipped with advanced avionics and electronics, such as the Global Positioning System.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The United States Navy received the first navalized SH-60B Seahawk in 1983, and the SH-60F Ocean Hawk in 1988.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The HH-60G Pave Hawk is a highly modified version of the S-70 primarily designed to recover downed aircrew or other isolated personnel during war and equipped with a rescue hoist with a cable that has a lift capability, and a retractable in-flight refueling probe. The United States Air Force received the MH-60G Pave Hawk in 1982.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The United States Coast Guard received the HH-60J Jayhawk in 1992. It utilizes the equipment of the HH-60G Pave Hawk on the navalized SH-60 platform.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The S-70A Firehawk is a version of the S-70 designed for firefighting, rescue, medical evacuation, and external lift of bulky cargo and equipment. The Oregon National Guard was the first military organization in the world to add the Firehawk to its inventory; the Los Angeles County Fire Department was the first municipal organization. Another Firehawk aerial firefighting operator is the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) with the S-70i variant.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The Army flies medical evacuation models configured as rotary winged medical suites. It also uses the S-70 for special operations by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ("Night Stalkers") at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, designated as the MH-60K.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: The "Maple Hawk" was a variant offered by Sikorsky to the Canadian Forces during a 1996 tender to replace the military's search and rescue helicopters.


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: In 2010 August 5, to support its counter-narcotics and armed forces modernisation efforts, the US DSCA approved the Colombian Govt's request of additional 9 UH-60L (4 units allocated to the national police force).


title: Sikorsky S-70

text: In 2017 March, the National Police of Colombia ordered 10 additional 2nd-hand UH-60A helicopters that will increase their total to 19 helicopters in operation.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for "The Good Earth" a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China" and for her "masterpieces", two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents. She was the first American woman to win that prize.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mountain Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck, she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Originally named Comfort, Pearl Sydenstricker was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, to Caroline Maude (Stulting) (1857–1921) and Absalom Sydenstricker. Her parents, Southern Presbyterian missionaries, travelled to China soon after their marriage on July 8, 1880, but returned to the United States for Pearl's birth. When Pearl was five months old, the family arrived in China, living first in Huai'an and then in 1896 moving to Zhenjiang (then often known as Chingkiang in the Chinese postal romanization system), near the major city of Nanking. In summer, she and her family would spent time in Kuling. Her father built a stone villa in Kuling in 1897, and lived there until his death in 1931. It was during this annual summer pilgrimage in Kuling that the young girl decided to become a writer.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Of her siblings who survived into adulthood, Edgar Sydenstricker had a distinguished career with the United States Public Health Service and later the Milbank Memorial Fund, and Grace Sydenstricker Yaukey (1899–1994) wrote young adult books and books about Asia under the pen name Cornelia Spencer.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Pearl recalled in her memoir that she lived in "several worlds", one a "small, white, clean Presbyterian world of my parents", and the other the "big, loving merry not-too-clean Chinese world", and there was no communication between them. The Boxer Uprising (1899–1901) greatly affected the family; their Chinese friends deserted them, and Western visitors decreased. Her father, convinced that no Chinese could wish him harm, stayed behind as the rest of the family went to Shanghai for safety. A few years later, Pearl was enrolled in Miss Jewell's School there and was dismayed at the racist attitudes of the other students, few of whom could speak any Chinese. Both of her parents felt strongly that Chinese were their equals (they forbade the use of the word "heathen"), and she was raised in a bilingual environment: tutored in English by her mother, in the local dialect by her Chinese playmates, and in classical Chinese by a Chinese scholar named Mr. Kung. She also read voraciously, especially, in spite of her father's disapproval, the novels of Charles Dickens, which she later said she read through once a year for the rest of her life.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: In 1911, Pearl left China to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1914 and a member of Kappa Delta Sorority.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Although Buck had not intended to return to China, much less become a missionary, she quickly applied to the Presbyterian Board when her father wrote that her mother was seriously ill. In 1914, Buck returned to China. She married an agricultural economist missionary, John Lossing Buck, on May 13, 1917, and they moved to Suzhou, Anhui Province, a small town on the Huai River (not to be confused with the better-known Suzhou in Jiangsu Province). This is the region she describes in her books "The Good Earth" and "Sons".


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: From 1920 to 1933, the Bucks made their home in Nanjing, on the campus of the University of Nanking, where they both had teaching positions. She taught English literature at this private, church-run university, and also at Ginling College and at the National Central University. In 1920, the Bucks had a daughter, Carol, afflicted with phenylketonuria. In 1921, Buck's mother died of a tropical disease, sprue, and shortly afterward her father moved in. In 1924, they left China for John Buck's year of sabbatical and returned to the United States for a short time, during which Pearl Buck earned her master's degree from Cornell University. In 1925, the Bucks adopted Janice (later surnamed Walsh). That autumn, they returned to China.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: The tragedies and dislocations that Buck suffered in the 1920s reached a climax in March 1927, during the "Nanking Incident". In a confused battle involving elements of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops, Communist forces, and assorted warlords, several Westerners were murdered. Since her father Absalom insisted, as he had in 1900 in the face of the Boxers, the family decided to stay in Nanjing until the battle reached the city. When violence broke out, a poor Chinese family invited them to hide in their hut while the family house was looted. The family spent a day terrified and in hiding, after which they were rescued by American gunboats. They traveled to Shanghai and then sailed to Japan, where they stayed for a year, after which they moved back to Nanjing. Buck later said that this year in Japan showed her that not all Japanese were militarists. When she returned from Japan in late 1927, Buck devoted herself in earnest to the vocation of writing. Friendly relations with prominent Chinese writers of the time, such as Xu Zhimo and Lin Yutang, encouraged her to think of herself as a professional writer. She wanted to fulfill the ambitions denied to her mother, but she also needed money to support herself if she left her marriage, which had become increasingly lonely, and since the mission board could not provide it, she also needed money for Carol's specialized care. Buck traveled once more to the United States in 1929 to find long-term care for Carol, and while there, Richard J. Walsh, editor at John Day publishers in New York, accepted her novel "". She and Walsh began a relationship that would result in marriage and many years of professional teamwork.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Back in Nanking, she retreated every morning to the attic of her university house and within the year completed the manuscript for "The Good Earth". She was involved in the charity relief campaign for the victims of the 1931 China floods, writing a series of short stories describing the plight of refugees, which were broadcast on the radio in the United States and later published in her collected volume "The First Wife and Other Stories".


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: When her husband took the family to Ithaca the next year, Buck accepted an invitation to address a luncheon of Presbyterian women at the Astor Hotel in New York City. Her talk was titled "Is There a Case for the Foreign Missionary?" and her answer was a barely qualified "no". She told her American audience that she welcomed Chinese to share her Christian faith, but argued that China did not need an institutional church dominated by missionaries who were too often ignorant of China and arrogant in their attempts to control it. When the talk was published in "Harper's Magazine", the scandalized reaction led Buck to resign her position with the Presbyterian Board. In 1934, Buck left China, believing she would return, while her husband remained.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: The Bucks divorced in Reno, Nevada on June 11, 1935, and she married Richard Walsh that same day. He offered her advice and affection which, her biographer concludes, "helped make Pearl's prodigious activity possible". The couple lived in Pennsylvania until his death in 1960.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Following the Communist Revolution in 1949, Buck was repeatedly refused all attempts to return to her beloved China. Her 1962 novel "Satan Never Sleeps" described the Communist tyranny in China. During the Cultural Revolution, Buck, as a preeminent American writer of Chinese village life, was denounced as an "American cultural imperialist". Buck was "heartbroken" when she was prevented from visiting China with Richard Nixon in 1972.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: In her speech to the Academy, she took as her topic "The Chinese Novel." She explained, "I am an American by birth and by ancestry", but "my earliest knowledge of story, of how to tell and write stories, came to me in China." After an extensive discussion of classic Chinese novels, especially "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "All Men Are Brothers", and "Dream of the Red Chamber", she concluded that in China "the novelist did not have the task of creating art but of speaking to the people." Her own ambition, she continued, had not been trained toward "the beauty of letters or the grace of art." In China, the task of the novelist differed from the Western artist: "To farmers he must talk of their land, and to old men he must speak of peace, and to old women he must tell of their children, and to young men and women he must speak of each other." And like the Chinese novelist, she concluded, "I have been taught to want to write for these people. If they are reading their magazines by the million, then I want my stories there rather than in magazines read only by a few."


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Buck was committed to a range of issues that were largely ignored by her generation. Many of her life experiences and political views are described in her novels, short stories, fiction, children's stories, and the biographies of her parents entitled "Fighting Angel" (on Absalom) and "The Exile" (on Carrie). She wrote on diverse subjects, including women's rights, Asian cultures, immigration, adoption, missionary work, war, the atomic bomb ("Command the Morning"), and violence. Long before it was considered fashionable or politically safe to do so, Buck challenged the American public by raising consciousness on topics such as racism, sex discrimination and the plight of Asian war children. Buck combined the careers of wife, mother, author, editor, international spokesperson, and political activist.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: In 1949, outraged that existing adoption services considered Asian and mixed-race children unadoptable, Buck co-founded Welcome House, Inc., the first international, interracial adoption agency, along with James A. Michener, Oscar Hammerstein II and his second wife Dorothy Hammerstein. In nearly five decades of work, Welcome House has placed over five thousand children. In 1964, to support children who were not eligible for adoption, Buck established the Pearl S. Buck Foundation (name changed to Pearl S. Buck International in 1999) to "address poverty and discrimination faced by children in Asian countries." In 1964, she opened the Opportunity Center and Orphanage in South Korea, and later offices were opened in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. When establishing Opportunity House, Buck said, "The purpose ... is to publicize and eliminate injustices and prejudices suffered by children, who, because of their birth, are not permitted to enjoy the educational, social, economic and civil privileges normally accorded to children."


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: In 1960, after a long decline in health, her husband Richard died. She renewed a warm relation with William Ernest Hocking, who died in 1966. Buck then withdrew from many of her old friends and quarreled with others. In 1962 Buck asked the Israeli Government for clemency for Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal who was complicit in the deaths of five million Jews during WWII, as she and others believed that carrying out capital punishment against Eichmann could be seen as an act of vengeance, especially since the war had ended. In the late 1960s, Buck toured West Virginia to raise money to preserve her family farm in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Today the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace is a historic house museum and cultural center. She hoped the house would "belong to everyone who cares to go there," and serve as a "gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life." U.S. President George H. W. Bush toured the Pearl S. Buck House in October 1998. He expressed that he, like millions of other Americans, had gained an appreciation for the Chinese people through Buck's writing.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: In the mid-1960s, Buck increasingly came under the influence of Theodore Harris, a former dance instructor, who became her confidant, co-author, and financial advisor. She soon depended on him for all her daily routines, and placed him in control of Welcome House and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation. Harris, who was given a lifetime salary as head of the foundation, created a scandal for Buck when he was accused of mismanaging the foundation, diverting large amounts of the foundation's funds for his friends' and his own personal expenses, and treating staff poorly. Buck defended Harris, stating that he was "very brilliant, very high strung and artistic." Before her death, Buck signed over her foreign royalties and her personal possessions to Creativity Inc., a foundation controlled by Harris, leaving her children a relatively small percentage of her estate.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Pearl S. Buck died of lung cancer on March 6, 1973, in Danby, Vermont. After her death, Buck's children contested the will and accused Harris of exerting "undue influence" on Buck during her final few years. Harris failed to appear at trial and the court ruled in the family's favor.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: She was interred in Green Hills Farm in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. She designed her own tombstone. Her name was not inscribed in English on her tombstone. Instead, the grave marker is inscribed with Chinese characters representing the name Pearl Sydenstricker.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Many contemporary reviewers were positive and praised her "beautiful prose", even though her "style is apt to degenerate into over-repetition and confusion". Robert Benchley wrote a parody of "The Good Earth" that emphasised these qualities. Peter Conn, in his biography of Buck, argues that despite the accolades awarded to her, Buck's contribution to literature has been mostly forgotten or deliberately ignored by America's cultural gatekeepers. Kang Liao argues that Buck played a "pioneering role in demythologizing China and the Chinese people in the American mind". Phyllis Bentley, in an overview of Buck's work published in 1935, was altogether impressed: "But we may say at least that for the interest of her chosen material, the sustained high level of her technical skill, and the frequent universality of her conceptions, Mrs. Buck is entitled to take rank as a considerable artist. To read her novels is to gain not merely knowledge of China but wisdom about life." These works aroused considerable popular sympathy for China, and helped foment a more critical view of Japan and its aggression.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Chinese-American author Anchee Min said she "broke down and sobbed" after reading "The Good Earth" for the first time as an adult, which she had been forbidden to read growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Min said Buck portrayed the Chinese peasants "with such love, affection and humanity" and it inspired Min's novel "Pearl of China" (2010), a fictional biography about Buck.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: In 1973, Buck was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Buck was honored in 1983 with a 5¢ Great Americans series postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service In 1999 she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Buck's former residence at Nanjing University is now the Sai Zhenzhu Memorial House along the West Wall of the university's north campus.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Pearl Buck's papers and literary manuscripts are currently housed at Pearl S. Buck International and the West Virginia & Regional History Center.


title: Pearl S. Buck

text: Several historic sites work to preserve and display artifacts from Pearl's profoundly multicultural life:


title: Cartilage

text: Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck and the bronchial tubes, and the intervertebral discs. In other taxa, such as chondrichthyans, but also in cyclostomes, it may constitute a much greater proportion of the skeleton. It is not as hard and rigid as bone, but it is much stiffer and much less flexible than muscle. The matrix of cartilage is made up of glycosaminoglycans, proteoglycans, collagen fibers and, sometimes, elastin.


title: Cartilage

text: Because of its rigidity, cartilage often serves the purpose of holding tubes open in the body. Examples include the rings of the trachea, such as the cricoid cartilage and carina.


title: Cartilage

text: Cartilage is composed of specialized cells called chondrocytes that produce a large amount of collagenous extracellular matrix, abundant ground substance that is rich in proteoglycan and elastin fibers. Cartilage is classified in three types, "elastic cartilage", "hyaline cartilage" and "fibrocartilage", which differ in relative amounts of collagen and proteoglycan.


title: Cartilage

text: Cartilage does not contain blood vessels or nerves. Some fibrocartilage such as the meniscus of the knee does however have blood supply in part. Nutrition is supplied to the chondrocytes by diffusion. The compression of the articular cartilage or flexion of the elastic cartilage generates fluid flow, which assists the diffusion of nutrients to the chondrocytes. Compared to other connective tissues, cartilage has a very slow turnover of its extracellular matrix and is documented to repair at only a very slow rate relative to other tissues.


title: Cartilage

text: In embryogenesis, the skeletal system is derived from the mesoderm germ layer. Chondrification (also known as chondrogenesis) is the process by which cartilage is formed from condensed mesenchyme tissue, which differentiates into chondroblasts and begins secreting the molecules (aggrecan and collagen type II) that form the extracellular matrix. In all vertebrates, cartilage is the main skeletal tissue in early ontogenetic stages; in osteichthyans, many cartilaginous elements subsequently ossify through endochondral and perichondral ossification.


title: Cartilage

text: Following the initial chondrification that occurs during embryogenesis, cartilage growth consists mostly of the maturing of immature cartilage to a more mature state. The division of cells within cartilage occurs very slowly, and thus growth in cartilage is usually not based on an increase in size or mass of the cartilage itself. It has been identified that non-coding RNAs (e.g. miRNAs and long non-coding RNAs) as the most important epigenetic modulators can affect the chondrogenesis. This also justifies the non-coding RNAs' contribution in various cartilage-dependent pathological conditions such as arthritis, and so on.


title: Cartilage

text: The articular cartilage function is dependent on the molecular composition of the extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM consists mainly of proteoglycan and collagens. The main proteoglycan in cartilage is aggrecan, which, as its name suggests, forms large aggregates with hyaluronan. These aggregates are negatively charged and hold water in the tissue. The collagen, mostly collagen type II, constrains the proteoglycans. The ECM responds to tensile and compressive forces that are experienced by the cartilage. Cartilage growth thus refers to the matrix deposition, but can also refer to both the growth and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Due to the great stress on the patellofemoral joint during resisted knee extension, the articular cartilage of the patella is among the thickest in the human body.


title: Cartilage

text: The mechanical properties of articular cartilage in load-bearing joints such as the knee and hip have been studied extensively at macro, micro, and nano-scales. These mechanical properties include the response of cartilage in frictional, compressive, shear and tensile loading. Cartilage is resilient and displays viscoelastic properties.


title: Cartilage

text: Lubricin, a glycoprotein abundant in cartilage and synovial fluid, plays a major role in bio-lubrication and wear protection of cartilage.


title: Cartilage

text: Cartilage has limited repair capabilities: Because chondrocytes are bound in lacunae, they cannot migrate to damaged areas. Therefore, cartilage damage is difficult to heal. Also, because hyaline cartilage does not have a blood supply, the deposition of new matrix is slow. Over the last years, surgeons and scientists have elaborated a series of cartilage repair procedures that help to postpone the need for joint replacement. A tear of the meniscus of the knee cartilage can often be surgically trimmed to reduce problems.


title: Cartilage

text: Biological engineering techniques are being developed to generate new cartilage, using a cellular "scaffolding" material and cultured cells to grow artificial cartilage. Extensive researches have been conducted on freeze-thawed PVA hydrogels as a base material for such a purpose. These gels have exhibited great promises in terms of biocompatibility, wear resistance, shock absorption, friction coefficient, flexibility, and lubrication, and thus are considered superior to polyethylene-based cartilages. A two-year implantation of the PVA hydrogels as artificial meniscus in rabbits showed that the gels remain intact without degradation, fracture, or loss of properties.


title: Cartilage

text: Several diseases can affect cartilage. Chondrodystrophies are a group of diseases, characterized by the disturbance of growth and subsequent ossification of cartilage. Some common diseases that affect the cartilage are listed below.


title: Cartilage

text: Tumors made up of cartilage tissue, either benign or malignant, can occur. They usually appear in bone, rarely in pre-existing cartilage. The benign tumors are called chondroma, the malignant ones chondrosarcoma. Tumors arising from other tissues may also produce a cartilage-like matrix, the best-known being pleomorphic adenoma of the salivary glands.


title: Cartilage

text: The matrix of cartilage acts as a barrier, preventing the entry of lymphocytes or diffusion of immunoglobulins. This property allows for the transplantation of cartilage from one individual to another without fear of tissue rejection.


title: Cartilage

text: Cartilage does not absorb X-rays under normal "in vivo" conditions, but a dye can be injected into the synovial membrane that will cause the x-rays to be absorbed by the dye. The resulting void on the radiographic film between the bone and meniscus represents the cartilage. For In vitro x-ray scans, the outer soft tissue is most likely removed, so the cartilage and air boundary are enough to contrast the presence of cartilage due to the refraction of the x-ray.


title: Cartilage

text: Cartilaginous fish (chondrichthyes) or sharks, rays and chimaeras have a skeleton composed entirely of cartilage.


title: Cartilage

text: Cartilage tissue can also be found among some arthropods such as horseshoe crabs, some mollusks such as marine snails and cephalopods, and some annelids like sabellid polychaetes.


title: Cartilage

text: The most studied cartilage in arthropods is the branchial cartilage of "Limulus polyphemus". It is a vesicular cell-rich cartilage due to the large, spherical and vacuolated chondrocytes with no homologies in other arthropods. Other type of cartilage found in "Limulus polyphemus" is the endosternite cartilage, a fibrous-hyaline cartilage with chondrocytes of typical morphology in a fibrous component, much more fibrous than vertebrate hyaline cartilage, with mucopolysaccharides immunoreactive against chondroitin sulfate antibodies. There are homologous tissues to the endosternite cartilage in other arthropods. The embryos of "Limulus polyphemus" express ColA and hyaluronan in the gill cartilage and the endosternite, which indicates that these tissues are fibrillar-collagen-based cartilage. The endosternite cartilage forms close to Hh-expressing ventral nerve cords and expresses ColA and SoxE, a Sox9 analog. This is also seen in gill cartilage tissue.


title: Cartilage

text: In cephalopods, the models used for the studies of cartilage are "Octopus vulgaris" and "Sepia officinalis". The cephalopod cranial cartilage is the invertebrate cartilage that shows more resemblance to the vertebrate hyaline cartilage. The growth is thought to take place throughout the movement of cells from the periphery to the center. The chondrocytes present different morphologies related to their position in the tissue.


title: Cartilage

text: The embryos of "Sepia officinalis" express ColAa, ColAb, and hyaluronan in the cranial cartilages and other regions of chondrogenesis. This implies that the cartilage is fibrillar-collagen-based. The "Sepia officinalis" embryo expresses hh, whose presence causes ColAa and ColAb expression and is also able to maintain proliferating cells undiferentiated. It has been observed that this species presents the expression SoxD and SoxE, analogs of the vertebrate Sox5/6 and Sox9, in the developing cartilage. The cartilage growth pattern is the same as in vertebrate cartilage.


title: Cartilage

text: In gastropods, the interest lies in the odontophore, a cartilaginous structure that supports the radula. The most studied species regarding this particular tissue is "Busycotypus canaliculatus". The odontophore is a vesicular cell rich cartilage, consisting of vacuolated cells containing myoglobin, surrounded by a low amount of extra cellular matrix containing collagen. The odontophore contains muscle cells along with the chondrocytes in the case of "Lymnaea" and other mollusks that graze vegetation.


title: Cartilage

text: The Sabellid polychaetes, or feather duster worms, have cartilage tissue with cellular and matrix specialization supporting their tentacles. They present two distinct extracellular matrix regions. These regions are an acellular fibrous region with a high collagen content, called cartilage-like matrix, and collagen lacking a highly cellularized core, called osteoid-like matrix. The cartilage-like matrix surrounds the osteoid-like matrix. The amount of the acellular fibrous region is variable. The model organisms used in the study of cartilage in sabellid polychaetes are "Potamilla sp" and "Myxicola infundibulum".


title: Cartilage

text: Vascular plants, particularly seeds, and the stems of some mushrooms, are sometimes called "cartilaginous", although they contain no cartilage.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: The "Rush Hour" franchise is a series of American action comedy films created by Ross LaManna and directed by Brett Ratner with both Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in leading roles. All three films center around a pair of police detectives, Chief Inspector Lee (Chan) and Detective James Carter (Tucker), who go on their series of misadventures involving corrupt crime figures in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The films incorporate elements of martial arts, humor, and the buddy cop subgenre. The films were released theatrically from 1998 to 2007, attaining commercial success, but critical reception was mixed.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: "Rush Hour" was released on September 18, 1998, grossing $245,300,000 worldwide. Martin Lawrence was originally considered for the role of James Carter. Chris Tucker was finally chosen for the part. Director Brett Ratner, a big fan of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies, felt that American audiences would not be familiar with the jokes in Jackie's other movies, and deliberately re-used some of his gags. For example, the scene where Inspector Lee accidentally grabs Detective Johnson's (Elizabeth Peña) breasts is a reference to Jackie Chan's film "Mr. Nice Guy" (1997).


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: "Rush Hour" began as a spec script written in 1995 by screenwriter/novelist Ross LaManna. The screenplay was sold by LaManna's William Morris agent Alan Gasmer to Hollywood Pictures, a division of the Walt Disney Company, with Arthur Sarkissian attached as producer. After attaching director Ratner and developing the project for more than a year with producers including Sarkissian and Roger Birnbaum, Disney Studios Chief Joe Roth put the project into turnaround, citing concerns about the $34-million budget, and Chan's appeal to American audiences at the time. Several studios were interested in acquiring the project. New Line Cinema was confident in Ratner's talents, having done "Money Talks" with him, so they made a hard commitment to a budget and start date for Rush Hour.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: "Rush Hour 2" was released on August 3, 2001 and grossed $347,425,832 worldwide, making it the most financially successful film in the "series". The film received mixed reviews compared with the first film. Other than Chan and Tucker, no cast members return to reprise their roles from the first film. John Lone, Zhang Ziyi, and Roselyn Sánchez join the cast while actors Don Cheadle, Saul Rubinek, Gianni Russo, and Jeremy Piven have guest or cameo appearances.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: "Rush Hour 3" was officially announced on May 7, 2006, and filming began on July 4, 2006. The film, set in Paris and Los Angeles, was first released on August 10, 2007, and grossed $256,585,882 worldwide. Academy Award-winning film director Roman Polanski co-stars as a French police official involved in Lee and Carter's (Chan and Tucker's characters) case. Tzi Ma reprises his role as Ambassador Han, Lee's boss and friend who appeared in the first installment. This film has received an M rating by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia) and a PG-13 rating by the MPAA for "sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity and language". Additionally, the film was not screened in Chinese theaters in 2007 to make way for a larger variety of foreign films, according to a business representative (The quota for imported films is 20 each year).


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: Because of the films' collective box-office success, director Brett Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson are considering the production of a fourth installment. In the DVD audio commentary for "Rush Hour 3", Brett Ratner joked that the fourth "Rush Hour" film could be released in 2012. Ratner and Nathanson are exploring many concepts, including the use of the motion capture technique for the possible sequel and various different film projects with Chan and Tucker. It has been reported that the fourth film may be set in Moscow.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: In July 2009, in an interview, Ratner stated that he "has been in contact with a long list of stars including Danny DeVito and Jet Li for possible roles in a potential "Rush Hour 4"", but stressed "nothing's been okayed yet". In a short interview with Vulture in 2011, Ratner stated that the cost of making a follow-up to "" would have cost more than " and "that's why another "Rush Hour 4" probably won't get made, either: It'd be too much to pay me, Chris [Tucker], and Jackie [Chan] to come back."


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: In August 2011, in an interview with "The Breakfast Club", Tucker stated in response to the question of a fourth by saying, ""Rush Hour 4"? Maybe you know, because that's a different kind of movie. You got the action and the stuff like that, and they pay 20 million dollars too... I'm just joking! No, you know Jackie Chan, you know I love working with him and those type of movies you can redo them and it's different, we'll see but I don't know though. But we've got some new stuff coming, so we'll see what happens."


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: In July 2012, series producer Arthur M. Sarkissian stated that a fourth film was being worked on with Chan and Tucker, and stated that he would welcome Brett Ratner back as director if he would "do it in the right way." Sarkissian expressed some dissatisfaction with the third film, and admitted he wants the potential fourth film to be grittier, and have new ideas. Sarkissian is reportedly working on choosing which out of "four or five" screenwriters he has been talking to, should work on the script.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: In August 2014, Chan stated that the studio still wants to make "Rush Hour 4", but that he will only participate if he can see a quality script first, stating "I don’t want to do a rubbish script just because they want to make the movie". Both Chan and Tucker met for dinner to discuss "Rush Hour 4" in June 2015.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: In November 2016, while promoting "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk", Tucker reaffirmed his optimism for a potential fourth film, stating “Yeah, we’re talking about it now doing another one, and we’re trying to get it going. I think we might be able to get one going. I love working with Jackie and I think we could do a really fun one.” By October 2017, Chan said that the script for "Rush Hour 4" has been in the works and shooting for the film will most likely start in 2018 if Tucker agrees to be in the film. He stated that he was optimistic about Tucker accepting due to his previous claims of being on board for the film.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: In February 2018, Tucker confirmed the production of "Rush Hour 4". He stated on ESPN's podcast, "The Plug": "It's happening. This is gonna be the rush of all rushes. Jackie is ready and we want to do this so that people don't ever forget it." In February 2019, Tucker reported that the script is coming together, stating: "We're working on a few things on the script right now, so we’re trying to get into production. But we’re working on it and trying to get it going." He reiterated this in a podcast appearance in April that the fourth film was still a possibility, but that "it's not in pre-production. We're working on a few things [for] the script. Jackie wants to do it. I want to do it. The studio wants to do it."


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: By 2018, in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against Ratner by several actresses, Warner Bros. sources presumed that it's highly unlikely that Ratner will be directing "Rush Hour 4".


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: In March 2019, That Hastag Show reported that a female led Rush Hour reboot was in development by STX Studios with Li Bingbing in the lead.


title: Rush Hour (franchise)

text: A TV series based on the premise of the film series aired from March to August 2016, with Jon Foo as Chief Inspector Lee and Justin Hires as James Carter. The films' original director Brett Ratner signed on as the show's executive producer, along with "Rush Hour" producers Arthur M. Sarkissian, Jeff Ingold, and Jon Turteltaub. Turtletaub also directed the pilot episode with Bill Lawrence penning the series alongside Blake McCormick. James Lew, who worked on the stunts for all 3 films, was a stunt coordinator for the series. It was announced that Jon Foo and Justin Hires would star as Detectives Lee and Carter for the CBS series, along with Aimee Garcia and Jessika Van in regular roles. The series was cancelled after one season.


title: Pontic–Caspian steppe

text: The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea. It extends from Dobruja in the northeastern corner of Bulgaria and southeastern Romania, through Moldova and southern and eastern Ukraine, across the Russian Northern Caucasus, the Southern and lower Volga regions to western Kazakhstan, adjacent to the Kazakh steppe to the east, both forming part of the larger Eurasian Steppe. It forms a part of the Palearctic realm and of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome.


title: Pontic–Caspian steppe

text: The area corresponds to Cimmeria, Scythia, and Sarmatia of classical antiquity. Across several millennia, numerous tribes of nomadic horsemen used the steppe; many of them went on to conquer lands in the settled regions of Europe, Western Asia, and Southern Asia.


title: Pontic–Caspian steppe

text: The term Ponto-Caspian region is used in biogeography with reference to the flora and fauna of these steppes, including animals from the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Azov Sea. Genetic research has identified this region as the most probable place where horses were first domesticated.


title: Pontic–Caspian steppe

text: According to the most prevalent theory in Indo-European studies, the Kurgan hypothesis, the Pontic–Caspian steppe was the homeland of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language.


title: Pontic–Caspian steppe

text: The Pontic-Caspian steppe covers an area of of Europe, extending from Dobrudja in the northeastern corner of Bulgaria and southeastern Romania, across southern Moldova, Ukraine, through Russia and northwestern Kazakhstan to the Ural Mountains. The steppe is bounded by the East European forest steppe to the north, a transitional zone of mixed grasslands and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests.


title: Pontic–Caspian steppe

text: To the south, the steppe extends to the Black Sea, except the Crimean and western Caucasus mountains' border with the sea, where the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex defines the southern edge of the steppes. The steppe extends to the western shore of the Caspian Sea in the Dagestan region of Russia, but the drier Caspian lowland desert lies between the steppe and the northwestern and northern shores of the Caspian. The Kazakh Steppe bounds the steppe to the east.


title: Pontic–Caspian steppe

text: The Ponto-Caspian seas are the remains of the Turgai Sea, an extension of the Paratethys which extended south and east of the Urals and covering much of today's West Siberian Plain in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( "Khalid ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd" ; 13 February 1913 13 June 1982) was a Saudi Arabian statesman and politician who served as King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 25 March 1975 to his death in 1982. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 29 March 1965 to 25 March 1975. He was the fifth son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. He was the third of Abdulaziz's six sons who have been kings (the others were Saud, Faisal, Fahd, Abdullah and Salman).


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid was the son of King Abdulaziz and Al Jawhara bint Musaed Al Jiluwi. He assisted his half-brother Prince Faisal in his duties as foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. Khalid served as viceroy of the Hejaz region for a brief time in the 1930s. He visited the United States in 1943 together with Faisal, establishing relations between the two countries. He was appointed as the deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia in 1962. After Khalid's full brother Prince Muhammad stepped aside from the royal succession, King Faisal named Khalid as crown prince in 1965.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Following the assassination of King Faisal in 1975, Khalid ascended to the throne. His reign saw both huge developments in the country due to increase in oil revenues and significant events in the Middle East. In 1979, a group of civilians seized the Grand Mosque of Mecca and sought but failed to kidnap Khalid. Saudi forces regained control over the mosque, but the seizure resulted in the introduction of stricter religious policies in Saudi Arabia. Khalid died in 1982 and was succeeded by his half-brother Fahd.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid was born in Qasr Al Hukm, Riyadh, on 13 February 1913. He was the fifth son of King Abdulaziz. His mother, Al Jawhara bint Musaed, was from the important Al Jiluwi clan. She was a second cousin of Abdulaziz, their paternal grandfathers Jiluwi bin Turki and Faisal bin Turki being brothers. This was in keeping with long-standing traditions in Arabia of marriage within the same lineage, and members of Al Jiluwi frequently intermarried with the members of Al Saud.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid had one full-brother, Muhammad. His full sister, Al Anoud, married to the sons of King Abdulaziz's brother Sa'ad bin Abdul Rahman. She first married Saud bin Sa'ad. After Saud died, she married Fahd bin Sa'ad. Khalid attended the Mufirej school founded by Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Mufirej in 1879 based in the Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdul Latif mosque in the Dukhna neighborhood of Riyadh. There he acquired basic literacy skills and studied arithmetics.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Aged 14, Khalid was sent by Abdulaziz as his representative to the desert tribes to hear their concerns and problems. In 1928 he and his brother Muhammad were given the task of observing the Transjordan border during the Ikhwan revolt. Prince Khalid's preparation for ruling a modern state started through his visits with his brother Prince Faisal on foreign missions. He served as advisor to Faisal. Prince Khalid became an international figure due to his visits and service as a Saudi representative. He was more liberal in informing the press about the rationale behind foreign policy decisions.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Prince Khalid was made acting viceroy of Hejaz in early 1932 when his full brother Prince Muhammad carried out the task badly. The same year he was named as viceroy of Hejaz, replacing Prince Faisal in the post, who was named minister of foreign affairs, and Prince Khalid's term lasted until 1934. Prince Khalid joined the Saudi army led by his older brother Prince Faisal and fought against Yemeni forces in 1934. After the war, Prince Khalid served as the chairman of the Saudi delegation at the Taif Conference with Yemen in 1934. This was a diplomatic move that led to the Taif Treaty later that year which was signed by Prince Khalid on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Abdullah Al Wazeer on behalf of Yemen.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Prince Khalid was named interior minister in 1934 and was the Saudi representative at the peace negotiations in Yemen in 1935. In 1939, he participated in the St. James Conference on Palestine in London as the minister of interior as well as an assistant to Prince Faisal, head of the Saudi delegation.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In October 1943 Prince Faisal and Prince Khalid visited the United States representing their father, upon the July 1943 invitation of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The visit was the earliest high-level contact between Saudi Arabia and the USA. Vice President Henry A. Wallace organized a dinner for them at the White House. They also met with President Roosevelt. They stayed at the official government guest house, Blair House, and visited the West Coast by a special train that was officially provided by the U.S. government. A foreign diplomat described Prince Khalid following the visit as the "nicest man in Saudi Arabia."


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: However, after this visit and during the most of the 1950s Prince Khalid did not play a significant role in the government partly due to the fact that his half-brother Mansour bin Abdulaziz and his nephew Abdullah bin Faisal became much more dominant political figures. Prince Khalid reemerged as a significant figure in 1960 when King Saud named him acting prime minister. In addition, on 31 October 1962 he was appointed deputy prime minister in the new cabinet formed by Crown Prince Faisal. This move indicated his prominence in the line of succession. During the rivalry between Crown Prince Faisal and King Saud, Prince Khalid supported the former together with other princes who were members of the Al Jiluwi branch of Al Saud through maternal lineage or marriage. The group was led by Prince Muhammad, Prince Khalid and Prince Abdullah.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: At the beginning of King Faisal's reign Prince Khalid was made a member of the council which had been established by the king to guide the succession issues.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid's older full-brother Prince Muhammad declined a place in the succession. Khalid also refused the offer of King Faisal to be named as crown prince several times until March 1965. In addition, he asked King Faisal to remove him from the position various times. However, the King persuaded Khalid that his presence as crown prince was necessary to keep peace within the House of Saud. One of the speculations about Prince Khalid's selection as heir designate was his lack of predilection for politics. In short, by selecting him as heir designate the royal family could create intra-familial consensus.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid was named crown prince on 29 March 1965. King Faisal announced Khalid's appointment on the same day through a broadcast over Mecca Radio:Since the position of Crown Prince is a fundamental factor for the continuation and firmness of the reign, now the country enjoys stability, advancement and prosperity. Thanks to its adherence to Islam. It gives me great pleasure to announce...that I have chosen my brother Prince Khalid bin Abdulaziz as Crown Prince to rule after me.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Prince Khalid was also named first deputy prime minister following his appointment as crown prince. Although Joseph A. Kéchichian argues that Crown Prince Khalid was not active in daily issues, but acted as a representative during King Faisal's absences in meetings or ceremonies, he governed all organisational and executive powers of the Council of Ministers. He also dealt with the affairs of the Governorate of Mecca on behalf of King Faisal. However, in 1968 Crown Prince Khalid expressed his desire not to preside over the Council of Ministers against King Faisal's request which led to the appointment of Prince Fahd as second deputy prime minister with the task of leading the Council meetings.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1970 Crown Prince Khalid led Saudi delegations to Jordan to meet the needs of Palestinians who were seriously affected from Israel's attacks. According to the declassified US diplomatic documents of 1971, he enjoyed the support of the tribal chiefs, religious authorities and of Prince Abdullah, head of the Saudi National Guard, during this period.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid succeeded to the throne on 25 March 1975 when King Faisal was assassinated. He was proclaimed king after a meeting of senior members of Al Saud: his uncle Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman and his brothers Muhammad, Nasser, Saad, Fahd, and Abdullah. The meeting occurred just hours after the assassination of King Faisal. Khalid also became the de facto prime minister of Saudi Arabia and the chairman of two significant councils, namely the Higher Council for Administrative Reform and the Supreme Council for National Security.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Although there are various reports stating that King Khalid was only a figurehead during his reign, he was in fact not a figurehead, but the final decision-maker on all major policy issues during his reign. King Faisal established a system in which the king was the final mediator in family problems. King Khalid reduced the power of the Sudairi Seven concerning succession in 1977 when he was in London for treatment. Following the unsuccessful attempt of the Sudairi Seven to overthrow King Khalid and to install one of their own, Prince Sultan, as deputy crown prince instead of Prince Abdullah, the King asked Crown Prince Fahd and Prince Abdullah to fully obey the existing succession plan without any change. King Khalid also closely checked the activities of Crown Prince Fahd due to the latter's clear support for the pro-Western policies and hostile tendency against Iran and Shia population of Saudi Arabia.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In addition, King Khalid was not an ineffective leader. Although he seemed to be reluctant to rule the country initially, he later warmed to the throne and displayed an apparent interest in improving the education, health-care and infrastructure of the country during his seven-year reign. During the first two years of his reign he was not active in politics due to his poor health condition, but later he became much more active as a result of his much better health.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid is also considered to have been a genial caretaker during his reign. However, he failed to monopolize power during his reign, leading to the empowerment of the princes who had been in powerful posts in late King Faisal's reign. He had some personal characteristics that made him a respected king. He was admired as an honest man who managed to have good relations with the traditional establishment of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, he was granted support by other princes and powerful forces of the country. Ghadah Alghunaim, a board member of the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue, argues in her doctoral dissertation that Khalid's reign was a golden era and the "era of goodness" for the country.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid's reign was of massive development in Saudi Arabia and therefore, the country became one of the richest countries in that the oil revenues became $40 billion in 1977 and $90 billion in 1980.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid primarily dealt with domestic affairs with special focus on agricultural development. The industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu were created during the early days of his reign. In 1975 the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu was founded to run the cities, and its first secretary general was Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki. Jeddah Port Authority was established in September 1976 to expand the capacity of the existing port. The number of schools increased during his reign. In 1975, there were 3,028 elementary schools, 649 secondary schools and 182 high schools. In 1980, there were 5,373 elementary, 1,377 secondary and 456 high schools. The other significant development in the field of education during his reign was the establishment of King Faisal University. The others were the Higher Education Center for Women which was opened in 1976 as well as colleges of medicine and pharmacology established specifically for female students.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Immediately following his ascension to the throne King Khalid issued a general amnesty which allowed the release of political prisoners who had been members of the left wing movements and the return of those who had been in exile to Saudi Arabia. Most of them were arrested during the reign of King Faisal.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In terms of administrative functions King Khalid followed the structure established by King Faisal in which both royals and non-royals occupied significant positions. The political power consolidation of the ruling family was intensified during his reign. However, King Khalid expanded the role of nonroyals in bureaucracy without diminishing the roles of royal family members. These non-royals were mostly graduates of foreign universities, and by 1977 ten of the thirty-six members in the council of ministers were those who received a master's or doctorate degree from Western universities.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: The strict financial policies of King Faisal, coupled with the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis, created a financial windfall that fueled development and led to a commercial and economic boom in the country. Notable achievements in his reign included the institution of the second Five-Year Plan in 1975, which aimed to build up Saudi infrastructure and health care. The planned budget for the development plan was $142 billion. Although not all goals were achieved, the second development plan was much more successful than the first one. King Khalid also launched the Kingdom's third development plan with the budget of $250 billion in May 1980.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In a reorganization of the council of ministers on 30 March 1975, King Khalid named Crown Prince Fahd deputy prime minister and Prince Abdullah second deputy prime minister. Appointment of Prince Fahd as both crown prince and first deputy prime minister made him much powerful figure in contrast to the status of King Khaled when he was crown prince under King Faisal reign. Prince Nayef was named minister of interior succeeding Prince Fahd on 30 March 1975. King Khalid also appointed Prince Saud as the foreign affairs minister in March 1975.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In addition to the existing ministerial bodies six new ones were established by King Khalid. One of them was the ministry of municipal and rural affairs established in October 1975, and Prince Majid was appointed minister. Additionally, Prince Mutaib was appointed minister of public works and housing that was also established by King Khalid in October 1975. These two appointments were a move to reduce the power of Sudairi Seven in the cabinet. Besides, the ministry of industry and electricity, the ministry of higher education, the ministry of post, telegraph, and telephone and the ministry of planning were all founded by King Khalid. In the same government reshuffle he removed Prince Musaid, his uncle, from the post of finance minister which he had been held since 16 March 1962, and Mohammed bin Ali Aba Al Khail was made new finance minister. King Khalid also expanded the internal structure of some ministries, for instance, in 1976 the Public Security Administration was created to preserve the public order and tranquility, to promote of the public health, safety, and morals, and to detect and punish the crimes, and attached it to the ministry of interior.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: The members of the inner family council headed by King Khalid included his brothers, namely Prince Mohammad, Crown Prince Fahd, Prince Abdullah, Prince Sultan, and Prince Abdul Muhsin and two of his uncles, Prince Ahmed and Prince Musaid. Prince Mohammad was one of King Khalid's key advisors. In fact, they acted together on almost all political issues. Another of his advisors was Maarouf al-Dawalibi, former Prime Minister of Syria and founder of the Islamic Socialist Front.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Kamal Adham served as the president of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah or the general intelligence directorate until 19 January 1979 which he had held since 1965. Adham's successor in the post was Turki bin Faisal.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1977 a coup attempt by Saudi Air Force personnel, backed by the Libyan Intelligence Service, was discovered and quickly defeated.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia acquired full control of Aramco in 1980 during his reign and the company was renamed as Saudi Aramco. In March 1980 King Khalid established a constitutional committee with eight members under the presidency of Prince Nayef. However, the committee could not manage to produce the basic law that had been promised. King Khalid implemented a significant policy towards bedouins through a decree dated 15 March 1981 which required them to settle in a fixed place.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In November 1979, Khalid's reign saw two major local incidents which have had significant effects on the politics of Saudi Arabia: the Grand Mosque seizure and the Qatif Uprising.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Some foreign observers thought traditionalism was no longer a strong force in Saudi Arabia. This idea was disproved when at least 500 dissidents invaded and seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca on 20 November 1979. The same day two other raids were made by the groups related to these dissidents in Medina and Taif. The dissidents in Medina were immediately defeated by the Saudi troops. The goal of the dissidents in Taif was to abduct King Khalid who escaped the attack due to the changes in his plans.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: When the first news of the attack in Mecca reached Riyadh, the initial reaction of King Khalid was to consult the ulama, to get permission to use military force to eject the attackers. The ulama hesitated and refrained from a definite answer. Only after the assault had been underway for 36 hours did some ulama allow the use of force. At the time of the event, Crown Prince Fahd was in Tunisia for a meeting of the Arab Summit and the commander of the National Guard Prince Abdullah was in Morocco for an official visit. Therefore, King Khalid assigned the responsibility to Prince Sultan, the minister of defense, and Prince Nayef, the minister of interior, to deal with the incident.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: The Grand Mosque was regained by Saudi forces on 4 December 1979 and 63 rebels were executed on 9 January 1980 in eight different cities. The executions were decreed by King Khalid after the edict issued by ulemas. Although the Saudi government under King Khalid executed the rebels, the religious establishment that inspired them were given greater powers. And ulema successfully pressed King Khalid to realize their intentions.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In November 1979, Shiites in the Eastern Province, particularly in Qatif and in nearby villages, organized protests. Several demonstrators were arrested. The major reason for the uprising was negative conditions in villages. In the spring of 1979, King Khalid announced an annual budget of 160 billion riyals, indicating that this budget would be employed to improve the living conditions of all Saudi citizens. However, the budget did not make any significant contribution to the services. Instead, the royal family benefitted from the budget. Following the release of the demonstrators in February 1980, King Khalid and Crown Prince Fahd visited the Eastern region from town to town. Due to King Khalid's policy change towards the Shiite population in the region, they positively modified their approach towards the Saudi government and abandoned their oppositional ideas and actions.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Although King Khalid did not have an extensive interest in foreign affairs as much as King Faisal had, his reign witnessed many important international events, including the Iranian Revolution, the assassination of Anwar Sadat and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, all of which had significant effects for Saudi Arabia. In addition, the Saudi government led by King Khalid was much more active in improving the relations of Saudi Arabia with neighbouring states in contrast to the reign of Faisal. His government was also much more moderate and less conservative in regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict than that of King Faisal. Kamal Adham was King Khalid's key counsellor on foreign policy during his reign from 1975 to 1982.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In April 1975, King Khalid's first diplomatic coup was the conclusion of a demarcation agreement concerning the Al Buraymi Oasis, where the frontiers of Abu Dhabi, Oman and Saudi Arabia meet. Claims and counterclaims over this frontier had exacerbated relations among them for years. Therefore, King Khalid aimed at settling this long-standing boundary disputes. The conclusion of negotiations under King Khalid added to his stature as a statesman. Another significant event was the visit of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran to Riyadh on 28 April 1975. In June 1975, Saudi Arabia appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, which also assigned an ambassador to Saudi Arabia the same date.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: His first official visit as the King of Saudi Arabia was to Cairo, Egypt in mid-July 1975. The visit was an indication of Saudi Arabia's support of the initiatives of Anwar Sadat concerning peace settlement between the Arabs and Israel. King Khalid visited Damascus in December 1975 and met with Syrian President Hafez Assad to discuss the ways to support Muslims in Lebanon, where a civil war began in April 1975. He declared the Saudi Arabia's support to Syria's role in the war.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Diplomatic relations with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen were reestablished in March 1976. A month later, in April 1976, King Khalid made state visits to all of the Gulf states in the hope of promoting closer relations with his peninsular neighbors. On 24 May 1976 King Khalid visited Tehran to meet with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He also called numerous summits and inaugurated the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981 that is seen an outcome of his early visits. Then GCC was established along with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: One of the significant international moves occurred in the reign of King Khalid was the establishment of the Safari Club, of which the treaty was signed on 1 September 1976. It was a secret organization with the participation of Egypt, France, Iran, Morocco and Saudi Arabia to eliminate the potential influence of communism in the region. The treaty was signed by Kamal Adham on behalf of Saudi Arabia. King Khalid organized a conference in Riyadh in October 1976 to resolve the ongoing Lebanese civil war, and the conference contributed to end the war. The same month he also visited Pakistan, and the visit was mostly concerned with Saudi Arabia's financial support for the joint developmental projects in Pakistan. In addition, he visited Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi, and initiated the construction of King Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: On 19 May 1977, King Khalid met Hafez Assad and Anwar Sadat in Riyadh to initiate a coordinated policy on the Arab–Israeli conflict. He also met Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Riyadh on 18 June 1977. Lebanese Foreign Minister Fuad Butrus was received by King Khalid in Riyadh on 5 July 1977 to discuss the current situation in Lebanon. On 10 July 1977, Yen Chia-kan, President of Taiwan, visited Saudi Arabia and was received by the King in Riyadh. Two days later, on 12 July 1977, King Khalid and Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre met in Jeddah. Sudanese President Jaafar Nimeiry and King Khalid met in Ta'if on 2 August 1977. King Khalid's next visitors were Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and Foreign Minister Arnaldo Forlani who visited Saudi Arabia on 5–6 August.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In early January 1978 the US President Jimmy Carter paid an official visit to Riyadh and met King Khalid to discuss the Middle East peace efforts. Immediately after this meeting Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi visited King Khalid on 11 January 1978 to discuss some topics related to the security of the region. Following King Khalid's heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic on 3 October 1978 Jimmy Carter invited him to the White House for lunch, and they met on 27 October. The Camp David accord which was signed by Egypt and Israel in September 1978 severely affected the Saudi–Egyptian alliance, and Saudi Arabia's diplomatic relations with Egypt were terminated following the Baghdad Conference in November 1978. The same year King Khalid visited France to finalize the procurement of $24 billion military equipment, namely tanks, helicopters, and a complete radar network which was capable of covering the entire Red Sea. Much of this equipment was sent to North Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia to assist their resistance against communism.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, King Khalid sent Khomeini a congratulatory message, stating that Islamic solidarity could be the basis for closer relations of two countries. He also argued that with the foundation of the Islamic Republic in Iran there were no obstacles that inhibited the cooperation between two countries. In addition, King Khalid requested the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to congratulate the new Iranian government. However, his initiatives were unsuccessful in that Saudi Arabia unofficially supported Iraq against Iran in the Iran–Iraq War in 1980.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: On 24 December 1979 Pakistan President Zia ul Haq visited Riyadh and met King Khalid in relation to the Grand Mosque crisis which had been solved at the beginning of the month.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In April 1980 King Khalid cancelled the state visit to Britain as a protest over the broadcasting of "Death of a Princess" on 9 April 1980 in the United Kingdom that narrated the execution of Misha'al bin Fahd, the granddaughter of Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz. King Khalid had been invited by Queen Elizabeth II in June 1979, following the Queen's visit to Saudi Arabia in February 1979, during which King Khalid gave her a diamond necklace. In addition, the British ambassador was expelled from Saudi Arabia for five months due to the broadcasting of the documentary on ITV. Egyptian actress Suzan Abu Talib or Sawsan Badr and other actors who had roles in the documentary were banned from entering Saudi Arabia.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid in the capacity of the chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation assisted Pakistani authorities to end the hijacking of the Pakistan International Airlines Flight 326 on 2 March 1981 first to Kabul and to Damascus on the request of President Zia ul Haq. Upon meeting then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Saudi Arabia in April 1981, King Khalid is reputed to have said he would be happy to discuss falcons with her, but for all matters of administration she should talk to Crown Prince Fahd. King Khalid's visit to the United Kingdom that had been cancelled in 1980 was realized on 9 June 1981 for four days. Next he visited Spain on 15 June 1981.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid asked the US President Jimmy Carter to sell advanced fighter planes to Saudi Arabia to assist in countering communist aggression in the area. The delivery of the first of sixty F-15s under the agreement approved by Carter arrived in the Kingdom in 1982. He purchased a Boeing 747 with an operating room should he be stricken while on his travels. Jimmy Carter in his memoirs stated that both King Khalid and then Crown Prince Fahd assured him of "their unequivocal support for Sadat", but they would realize no concrete move in this direction, at least not publicly.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In June 1974 when he was Crown Prince Khalid argued that France taught the Syrians to be stubborn, and the British


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: At the very beginning of his reign King Khalid stated "Islamic law is and will remain our standard, our source of inspiration, and our goal." and "We are against communism and we will protect ourselves against it by all means. If the United States pressed Israel into making a just peace settlement, Russia would not acquire a single foothold in the Middle East."


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: He questioned the support of the US administration to Greece instead of Turkey in late May 1976 citing Turkey's contributions in the Korean War during the 1950s. In an interview on BBC Summary of World Broadcasts he expressed the following views on Zionism, Communism and colonialism on 3 July 1979: "We regard Zionism, communism and colonialism as a trinity allied against Arab and Islamic rights and aspirations. Our policy is based on that understanding, and it is natural for us to be always subjected to biased and poisonous campaigns at the hand of that very trinity." Following the defeat of invaders of Grand Mosque King Khalid expressed the following: "if [Juhayman] al Otaibi and his cohorts had targeted palaces rather than the Grand Mosque [in their 1979 uprising] the results of the uprising might have been very different."


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: At the third summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Taif in January 1981 he declared non-alignment of Saudi Arabia concerning the tensions between the USA and Soviet Union: "Our loyalty must be neither to an eastern bloc nor to a western bloc. The security of the Islamic nation will not be assured by joining a military alliance, nor by taking refuge under the umbrella of a superpower."


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid married four times and was the father of ten children. While the sequence in seniority of his wives is not known clearly, his wives were:


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid had four sons and six daughters. Prince Bandar, the eldest son of King Khalid, was born in 1935. He was one of the members of Al Saud Family Council established by Crown Prince Abdullah in June 2000 to discuss private issues such as business activities of princes and marriages of princess to individuals who were not member of House of Saud. Prince Bandar died in Mecca in March 2018. His youngest child, Prince Faisal, is the former governor of Asir Province and a member of the Allegiance Council.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid's eldest daughter, Princess Al Bandari, married her cousin Prince Badr, son of Prince Abdul Muhsin. Another of his daughters, Princess Hussa, married Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki, grandson of Turki I bin Abdulaziz. She died at the age of 59 in November 2010. Two of his daughters married the sons of Abdullah bin Faisal: Princess Al Jawhara married Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud and has a son, Mohammed, and Princess Nouf married Mohammed bin Abdullah and has four children, including Noura.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Another daughter of Khalid, Moudi, married Prince Abdul Rahman bin Faisal and is the general secretary of the King Khalid Foundation and the Al Nahda Foundation, and a former member of the Consultative Assembly. One of Khalid's daughters, Mishael bint Khalid died in Riyadh in April 2014.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid was described as warm, cheerful, attentive and devout and was adored by his sisters and brothers. An American journalist from "Christian Science Monitor", John K. Cooley, following his observation of King Khalid at majlis stated that he carefully listened to his subjects showing his sense of humor and amused smile. During the first year of his rule King Khalid was said by his close observers to be an open and good man without any pretense representing the best example of Arab gentlemanly culture. His favourite topics to discuss at majlis with visitors were the problems related to education and youth.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Khalid had the capacity to settle conflicts which was first recognized by his father. It was the reason for sending him to Yemen in 1935 to handle the problems with local people. During his kingship Khalid acted as a mediator between the Sudairi brothers and Prince Abdullah although he was much closer to the latter.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: Falconry and horse-riding were Khalid's favorite pastimes. He was described as a man of the desert. He had one of the best falcon collections. In the late 1970s King Khalid was given a rare Alberta-trained gyrfalcon by the Canadian government as a gift. Hunting was also one of his favorites, and he went to African countries to participate in hunting safaris when he was young. Khalid bought the first Toyota Landcruiser in 1955 for falconry. In December 1975 he bought the then longest Cadillac at 25 feet and 2 inches long again for falconry, and "Time magazine" called it "Khalidillac". In June 1974 while he was Crown Prince in a meeting with US Foreign Minister Henry Kissinger Khalid stated that he had been interested in hunting with hawks for forty years.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In the same meeting Kissinger asked him where he lived. In response he stated that he lived in Riyadh, but in the summer he stayed in Taif. King Khalid owned a desert farm outside Riyadh at Um Hamam. He bought Beechwood House in the north London suburb of Highgate for £1.9 million in March 1977 to use following two operations on his hip in the Wellington Hospital in London.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: When Khalid bin Abdulaziz was crown prince, he had a massive heart attack in 1970 and had a heart surgery in 1972 at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States. Since King Khalid suffered from heart ailment for a long period of time, Crown Prince Fahd was in charge of ruling the country. On 3 October 1978, he underwent a second heart surgery again in Cleveland. He also had a hip operation at Wellington Hospital in London in 1976. In February 1980, King Khalid had a minor heart attack.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid died on 13 June 1982 due to a heart attack in his summer palace in Taif. On the same day his body was brought from Taif to Mecca. After funeral prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, King Khalid was buried in Al Oud cemetery in Riyadh. Leaders of Qatar, Kuwait, Djibouti, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, participated in the funeral.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: King Khalid International Airport, King Khalid University, King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, King Khalid Military City and King Khalid Medical City in the Eastern province were all named after him. In Riyadh there is also a mosque named after him, King Khalid Mosque, serving the Muslims since 1988. In Jeddah a bridge is named after King Khalid. There is a research center on wildlife in Saudi Arabia named after him, Khalid Wildlife Research Centre.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In addition, his family established King Khalid Foundation, which is being headed by his son, Abdullah bin Khalid. The foundation awards individuals who have achievements in the fields of corporate social responsibility, nonprofit management and social innovation.


title: Khalid of Saudi Arabia

text: In January 1981 King Khalid was awarded by the United Nations (UN) a gold medal which is the UN's highest decoration for the statesmen who significantly contributed to peace and cooperation worldwide. King Khalid also received the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam due to his efforts in support of Islamic solidarity in 1981.