title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: It quickly became evident that the men who stayed in their places suffered less than those who ran away, as any movement worsened the effects of the gas, and that those who stood up on the fire step suffered less—indeed they often escaped any serious effects—than those who lay down or sat at the bottom of a trench. Men who stood on the parapet suffered least, as the gas was denser near the ground. The worst sufferers were the wounded lying on the ground, or on stretchers, and the men who moved back with the cloud. Chlorine was less effective as a weapon than the Germans had hoped, particularly as soon as simple countermeasures were introduced. The gas produced a visible greenish cloud and strong odour, making it easy to detect. It was water-soluble, so the simple expedient of covering the mouth and nose with a damp cloth was effective at reducing the effect of the gas. It was thought to be even more effective to use urine rather than water, as it was known at the time that chlorine reacted with urea (present in urine) to form dichloro urea.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Chlorine required a concentration of 1,000 parts per million to be fatal, destroying tissue in the lungs, likely through the formation of hypochlorous and hydrochloric acids when dissolved in the water in the lungs. Despite its limitations, chlorine was an effective psychological weapon—the sight of an oncoming cloud of the gas was a continual source of dread for the infantry.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Countermeasures were quickly introduced in response to the use of chlorine. The Germans issued their troops with small gauze pads filled with cotton waste, and bottles of a bicarbonate solution with which to dampen the pads. Immediately following the use of chlorine gas by the Germans, instructions were sent to British and French troops to hold wet handkerchiefs or cloths over their mouths. Simple pad respirators similar to those issued to German troops were soon proposed by Lieutenant-Colonel N. C. Ferguson, the Assistant Director Medical Services of the 28th Division. These pads were intended to be used damp, preferably dipped into a solution of bicarbonate kept in buckets for that purpose; other liquids were also used. Because such pads could not be expected to arrive at the front for several days, army divisions set about making them for themselves. Locally available muslin, flannel and gauze were used, officers were sent to Paris to buy more and local French women were employed making up rudimentary pads with string ties. Other units used lint bandages manufactured in the convent at Poperinge. Pad respirators were sent up with rations to British troops in the line as early as the evening of 24 April.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: In Britain the "Daily Mail" newspaper encouraged women to manufacture cotton pads, and within one month a variety of pad respirators were available to British and French troops, along with motoring goggles to protect the eyes. The response was enormous and a million gas masks were produced in a day. The "Mail"s design was useless when dry and caused suffocation when wet—the respirator was responsible for the deaths of scores of men. By 6 July 1915, the entire British army was equipped with the more effective "smoke helmet" designed by Major Cluny MacPherson, Newfoundland Regiment, which was a flannel bag with a celluloid window, which entirely covered the head. The race was then on between the introduction of new and more effective poison gases and the production of effective countermeasures, which marked gas warfare until the armistice in November 1918.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The British expressed outrage at Germany's use of poison gas at Ypres and responded by developing their own gas warfare capability. The commander of II Corps, Lieutenant General Sir Charles Ferguson, said of gas:


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The first use of gas by the British was at the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915, but the attempt was a disaster. Chlorine, codenamed "Red Star", was the agent to be used (140 tons arrayed in 5,100 cylinders), and the attack was dependent on a favourable wind. On this occasion the wind proved fickle, and the gas either lingered in no man's land or, in places, blew back on the British trenches. This was compounded when the gas could not be released from all the British canisters because the wrong turning keys were sent with them. Subsequent retaliatory German shelling hit some of those unused full cylinders, releasing gas among the British troops. Exacerbating the situation were the primitive flannel gas masks distributed to the British. The masks got hot, and the small eye-pieces misted over, reducing visibility. Some of the troops lifted the masks to get fresh air, causing them to be gassed.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The deficiencies of chlorine were overcome with the introduction of phosgene, which was prepared by a group of French chemists led by Victor Grignard and first used by France in 1915. Colourless and having an odour likened to "mouldy hay," phosgene was difficult to detect, making it a more effective weapon. Phosgene was sometimes used on its own, but was more often used mixed with an equal volume of chlorine, with the chlorine helping to spread the denser phosgene. The Allies called this combination "White Star" after the marking painted on shells containing the mixture.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Phosgene was a potent killing agent, deadlier than chlorine. It had a potential drawback in that some of the symptoms of exposure took 24 hours or more to manifest. This meant that the victims were initially still capable of putting up a fight; this could also mean that apparently fit troops would be incapacitated by the effects of the gas on the following day.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: In the first combined chlorine–phosgene attack by Germany, against British troops at Wieltje near Ypres, Belgium on 19 December 1915, 88 tons of the gas were released from cylinders causing 1069 casualties and 69 deaths. The British P gas helmet, issued at the time, was impregnated with sodium phenolate and partially effective against phosgene. The modified PH Gas Helmet, which was impregnated with phenate hexamine and hexamethylene tetramine (urotropine) to improve the protection against phosgene, was issued in January 1916.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Around 36,600 tons of phosgene were manufactured during the war, out of a total of 190,000 tons for all chemical weapons, making it second only to chlorine (93,800 tons) in the quantity manufactured:


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Phosgene was never as notorious in public consciousness as mustard gas, but it killed far more people: about 85% of the 90,000 deaths caused by chemical weapons during World War I.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: On 29 June 1916, the Austro-Hungarian Army attacked the Royal Italian Army's lines on Monte San Michele with a mix of phosgene and chlorine gas. Thousands of Italian soldiers died in this first chemical weapons attack on the Italian Front.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The most widely reported chemical agent of the First World War was mustard gas. It is a volatile oily liquid. It was introduced as a vesicant by Germany on July 12, 1917, weeks prior to the Third Battle of Ypres. The Germans marked their shells yellow for mustard gas and green for chlorine and phosgene; hence they called the new gas "Yellow Cross". It was known to the British as "HS" ("Hun Stuff"), and the French called it "Yperite" (named after Ypres).


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Mustard gas is not an effective killing agent (though in high enough doses it is fatal) but can be used to harass and disable the enemy and pollute the battlefield. Delivered in artillery shells, mustard gas was heavier than air, and it settled to the ground as an oily liquid. Once in the soil, mustard gas remained active for several days, weeks, or even months, depending on the weather conditions.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, their eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. This was extremely painful. Fatally injured victims sometimes took four or five weeks to die of mustard gas exposure.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: One nurse, Vera Brittain, wrote: "I wish those people who talk about going on with this war whatever it costs could see the soldiers suffering from mustard gas poisoning. Great mustard-coloured blisters, blind eyes, all sticky and stuck together, always fighting for breath, with voices a mere whisper, saying that their throats are closing and they know they will choke."


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The polluting nature of mustard gas meant that it was not always suitable for supporting an attack as the assaulting infantry would be exposed to the gas when they advanced. When Germany launched Operation Michael on 21 March 1918, they saturated the Flesquières salient with mustard gas instead of attacking it directly, believing that the harassing effect of the gas, coupled with threats to the salient's flanks, would make the British position untenable.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Gas never reproduced the dramatic success of 22 April 1915; it became a standard weapon which, combined with conventional artillery, was used to support most attacks in the later stages of the war. Gas was employed primarily on the Western Front—the static, confined trench system was ideal for achieving an effective concentration. Germany also used gas against Russia on the Eastern Front, where the lack of effective countermeasures resulted in deaths of over 56,000 Russians, while Britain experimented with gas in Palestine during the Second Battle of Gaza. Russia began manufacturing chlorine gas in 1916, with phosgene being produced later in the year. Most of the manufactured gas was never used.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The British Army first used mustard gas in November 1917 at Cambrai, after their armies had captured a stockpile of German mustard gas shells. It took the British more than a year to develop their own mustard gas weapon, with production of the chemicals centred on Avonmouth Docks. (The only option available to the British was the Despretz–Niemann–Guthrie process.) This was used first in September 1918 during the breaking of the Hindenburg Line with the Hundred Days' Offensive.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The Allies mounted more gas attacks than the Germans in 1917 and 1918 because of a marked increase in production of gas from the Allied nations. Germany was unable to keep up with this pace despite creating various new gases for use in battle, mostly as a result of very costly methods of production. Entry into the war by the United States allowed the Allies to increase mustard gas production far more than Germany. Also the prevailing wind on the Western Front was blowing from west to east, which meant the Allies more frequently had favourable conditions for a gas release than did the Germans.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: When the United States entered the war, it was already mobilizing resources from academic, industry and military sectors for research and development into poison gas. A Subcommittee on Noxious Gases was created by the National Research Committee, a major research centre was established at Camp American University, and the 1st Gas Regiment was recruited. The 1st Gas Regiment eventually served in France, where it used phosgene gas in several attacks. The Artillery used mustard gas with significant effect during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive on at least three occasions. The United States began large-scale production of an improved vesicant gas known as Lewisite, for use in an offensive planned for early 1919. By the time of the armistice on 11 November, a plant near Willoughby, Ohio was producing 10 tons per day of the substance, for a total of about 150 tons. It is uncertain what effect this new chemical would have had on the battlefield, as it degrades in moist conditions.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: By the end of the war, chemical weapons had lost much of their effectiveness against well trained and equipped troops. At that time, chemical weapon agents inflicted an estimated 1.3 million casualties.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Nevertheless, in the following years, chemical weapons were used in several, mainly colonial, wars where one side had an advantage in equipment over the other. The British used poison gas, possibly adamsite, against Russian revolutionary troops beginning on 27 August 1919 and contemplated using chemical weapons against Iraqi insurgents in the 1920s; Bolshevik troops used poison gas to suppress the Tambov Rebellion in 1920, Spain used chemical weapons in Morocco against Rif tribesmen throughout the 1920s and Italy used mustard gas in Libya in 1930 and again during its invasion of Ethiopia in 1936. In 1925, a Chinese warlord, Zhang Zuolin, contracted a German company to build him a mustard gas plant in Shenyang, which was completed in 1927.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Public opinion had by then turned against the use of such weapons which led to the Geneva Protocol, an updated and extensive prohibition of poison weapons. The Protocol, which was signed by most First World War combatants in 1925, bans the use (but not the stockpiling) of lethal gas and bacteriological weapons. Most countries that signed ratified it within around five years; a few took much longer—Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, and the United States did not do so until the 1970s, and Nicaragua ratified it in 1990. The signatory nations agreed not to use poison gas in the future, stating "the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world."


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Chemical weapons have been used in at least a dozen wars since the end of the First World War; they were not used in combat on a large scale until Iraq used mustard gas and the more deadly nerve agents in the Halabja chemical attack near the end of the eight-year Iran–Iraq War. The full conflict's use of such weaponry killed around 20,000 Iranian troops (and injured another 80,000), around a quarter of the number of deaths caused by chemical weapons during the First World War.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The Geneva Protocol, signed by 132 nations on June 17, 1925, was a treaty established to ban the use of chemical and biological weapons during wartime. As stated by Coupland and Leins, "it was fostered in part by a 1918 appeal in which the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described the use of poisonous gas against soldiers as a barbarous invention which science is bringing to perfection". The Protocol required that all remaining stockpiles of chemical weapons be destroyed. Chemical warfare agents that contained bromine, nitroaromatic, and chlorine were dismantled and destroyed. The destruction and disposal of the chemicals did not consider the long-term and adverse impacts on the environment. Although the Geneva Protocol banned the use of chemical weapons during wartime, the Protocol did not ban the production of chemical weapons. In fact, since the Geneva Protocol, the stockpiling of chemical weapons has continued, and weapons have become more lethal. As a result, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was drafted in 1993, which prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons. Despite there being an international ban on chemical warfare, the CWC "allows domestic law enforcement agencies of the signing countries to use chemical weapons on their citizens".


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: All major combatants stockpiled chemical weapons during the Second World War, but the only reports of its use in the conflict were the Japanese use of relatively small amounts of mustard gas and lewisite in China, Italy's use of gas in Ethiopia (in what is more often considered to be the Second Italo-Ethiopian War), and very rare occurrences in Europe (for example some mustard gas bombs were dropped on Warsaw on 3 September 1939, which Germany acknowledged in 1942 but indicated had been accidental). Mustard gas was the agent of choice, with the British stockpiling 40,719 tons, the Soviets 77,400 tons, the Americans over 87,000 tons and the Germans 27,597 tons. The destruction of an American cargo ship containing mustard gas led to many casualties in Bari, Italy, in December 1943.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: In both Axis and Allied nations, children in school were taught to wear gas masks in case of gas attack. Germany developed the poison gases tabun, sarin, and soman during the war, and used Zyklon B in their extermination camps. Neither Germany nor the Allied nations used any of their war gases in combat, despite maintaining large stockpiles and occasional calls for their use. Poison gas played an important role in the Holocaust.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Britain made plans to use mustard gas on the landing beaches in the event of an invasion of the United Kingdom in 1940. The United States considered using gas to support their planned invasion of Japan.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The contribution of gas weapons to the total casualty figures was relatively minor. British figures, which were accurately maintained from 1916, recorded that 3% of gas casualties were fatal, 2% were permanently invalid and 70% were fit for duty again within six weeks.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Death by gas was often slow and painful. According to Denis Winter ("Death's Men", 1978), a fatal dose of phosgene eventually led to "shallow breathing and retching, pulse up to 120, an ashen face and the discharge of four pints (2 litres) of yellow liquid from the lungs each hour for the 48 of the drowning spasms."


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: A common fate of those exposed to gas was blindness, chlorine gas or mustard gas being the main causes. One of the most famous First World War paintings, "Gassed" by John Singer Sargent, captures such a scene of mustard gas casualties which he witnessed at a dressing station at Le Bac-du-Sud near Arras in July 1918. (The gases used during that battle (tear gas) caused temporary blindness and/or a painful stinging in the eyes. These bandages were normally water-soaked to provide a rudimentary form of pain relief to the eyes of casualties before they reached more organized medical help.)


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The proportion of mustard gas fatalities to total casualties was low; 2% of mustard gas casualties died and many of these succumbed to secondary infections rather than the gas itself. Once it was introduced at the third battle of Ypres, mustard gas produced 90% of all British gas casualties and 14% of battle casualties of any type.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Mustard gas was a source of extreme dread. In "The Anatomy of Courage" (1945), Lord Moran, who had been a medical officer during the war, wrote:


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Mustard gas did not need to be inhaled to be effective—any contact with skin was sufficient. Exposure to 0.1 ppm was enough to cause massive blisters. Higher concentrations could burn flesh to the bone. It was particularly effective against the soft skin of the eyes, nose, armpits and groin, since it dissolved in the natural moisture of those areas. Typical exposure would result in swelling of the conjunctiva and eyelids, forcing them closed and rendering the victim temporarily blind. Where it contacted the skin, moist red patches would immediately appear which after 24 hours would have formed into blisters. Other symptoms included severe headache, elevated pulse and temperature (fever), and pneumonia (from blistering in the lungs).


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Many of those who survived a gas attack were scarred for life. Respiratory disease and failing eyesight were common post-war afflictions. Of the Canadians who, without any effective protection, had withstood the first chlorine attacks during Second Ypres, 60% of the casualties had to be repatriated and half of these were still unfit by the end of the war, over three years later.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Many of those who were fairly soon recorded as fit for service were left with scar tissue in their lungs. This tissue was susceptible to tuberculosis attack. It was from this that many of the 1918 casualties died, around the time of the Second World War, shortly before sulfa drugs became widely available for its treatment.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: A postmortem account from the British official medical history records one of the British casualties:


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The distribution of gas cloud casualties was not limited to the front. Nearby towns were at risk from winds blowing the poison gases through. Civilians rarely had a warning system to alert their neighbours of the danger and often did not have access to effective gas masks. When the gas came to the towns it could easily get into houses through open windows and doors. An estimated 100,000–260,000 civilian casualties were caused by chemical weapons during the conflict and tens of thousands (along with military personnel) died from scarring of the lungs, skin damage, and cerebral damage in the years after the conflict ended. Many commanders on both sides knew that such weapons would cause major harm to civilians as wind would blow poison gases into nearby civilian towns but nonetheless continued to use them throughout the war. British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig wrote in his diary: "My officers and I were aware that such weapon would cause harm to women and children living in nearby towns, as strong winds were common on the battlefront. However, because the weapon was to be directed against the enemy, none of us were overly concerned at all."


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: None of the First World War's combatants were prepared for the introduction of poison gas as a weapon. Once gas was introduced, development of gas protection began and the process continued for much of the war producing a series of increasingly effective gas masks.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Even at Second Ypres, Germany, still unsure of the weapon's effectiveness, only issued breathing masks to the engineers handling the gas. At Ypres a Canadian medical officer, who was also a chemist, quickly identified the gas as chlorine and recommended that the troops urinate on a cloth and hold it over their mouth and nose, urine would be left to sit for a period so that the ammonia would activate, this would neutralize some of the chemicals in the chlorine gas, this action would allow them to delay the German advance at Ypres giving the allies time to reinforce the area when French and other colonial troops had retreated. The first official equipment issued was similarly crude; a pad of material, usually impregnated with a chemical, tied over the lower face. To protect the eyes from tear gas, soldiers were issued with gas goggles.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The next advance was the introduction of the gas helmet—basically a bag placed over the head. The fabric of the bag was impregnated with a chemical to neutralize the gas—the chemical would wash out into the soldier's eyes whenever it rained. Eye-pieces, which were prone to fog up, were initially made from talc. When going into combat, gas helmets were typically worn rolled up on top of the head, to be pulled down and secured about the neck when the gas alarm was given. The first British version was the Hypo helmet, the fabric of which was soaked in sodium hyposulfite (commonly known as "hypo"). The British P gas helmet, partially effective against phosgene and with which all infantry were equipped with at Loos, was impregnated with sodium phenolate. A mouthpiece was added through which the wearer would breathe out to prevent carbon dioxide build-up. The adjutant of the 1/23rd Battalion, The London Regiment, recalled his experience of the P helmet at Loos:


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: A modified version of the P Helmet, called the PH Helmet, was issued in January 1916, and was impregnated with hexamethylenetetramine to improve the protection against phosgene.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Self-contained box respirators represented the culmination of gas mask development during the First World War. Box respirators used a two-piece design; a mouthpiece connected via a hose to a box filter. The box filter contained granules of chemicals that neutralised the gas, delivering clean air to the wearer. Separating the filter from the mask enabled a bulky but efficient filter to be supplied. Nevertheless, the first version, known as the Large Box Respirator (LBR) or "Harrison's Tower", was deemed too bulky—the box canister needed to be carried on the back. The LBR had no mask, just a mouthpiece and nose clip; separate gas goggles had to be worn. It continued to be issued to the artillery gun crews but the infantry were supplied with the "Small Box Respirator" (SBR).


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The Small Box Respirator featured a single-piece, close-fitting rubberized mask with eye-pieces. The box filter was compact and could be worn around the neck. The SBR could be readily upgraded as more effective filter technology was developed. The British-designed SBR was also adopted for use by the American Expeditionary Force. The SBR was the prized possession of the ordinary infantryman; when the British were forced to retreat during the German spring offensive of 1918, it was found that while some troops had discarded their rifles, hardly any had left behind their respirators.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Horses and mules were important methods of transport that could be endangered if they came into close contact with gas. This was not so much of a problem until it became common to launch gas great distances. This caused researchers to develop masks that could be used on animals such as dogs, horses, mules, and even carrier pigeons.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: For mustard gas, which could cause severe damage by simply making contact with skin, no effective countermeasure was found during the war. The kilt-wearing Scottish regiments were especially vulnerable to mustard gas injuries due to their bare legs. At Nieuwpoort in Flanders some Scottish battalions took to wearing women's tights beneath the kilt as a form of protection.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Gas alert procedure became a routine for the front-line soldier. To warn of a gas attack, a bell would be rung, often made from a spent artillery shell. At the noisy batteries of the siege guns, a compressed air strombus horn was used, which could be heard nine miles (14 km) away. Notices would be posted on all approaches to an affected area, warning people to take precautions.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Other British attempts at countermeasures were not so effective. An early plan was to use 100,000 fans to disperse the gas. Burning coal or carborundum dust was tried. A proposal was made to equip front-line sentries with diving helmets, air being pumped to them through a 100 ft (30 m) hose.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The effectiveness of all countermeasures is apparent. In 1915, when poison gas was relatively new, less than 3% of British gas casualties died. In 1916, the proportion of fatalities jumped to 17%. By 1918, the figure was back below 3%, though the total number of British gas casualties was now nine times the 1915 levels.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The first system employed for the mass delivery of gas involved releasing the gas cylinders in a favourable wind such that it was carried over the enemy's trenches. The Hague Convention of 1899 prohibited the use of poison gasses delivered by projectiles. The main advantage of this method was that it was relatively simple and, in suitable atmospheric conditions, produced a concentrated cloud capable of overwhelming the gas mask defences. The disadvantages of cylinder releases were numerous. First and foremost, delivery was at the mercy of the wind. If the wind was fickle, as was the case at Loos, the gas could backfire, causing friendly casualties. Gas clouds gave plenty of warning, allowing the enemy time to protect themselves, though many soldiers found the sight of a creeping gas cloud unnerving. Gas clouds had limited penetration, only capable of affecting the front-line trenches before dissipating.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Finally, the cylinders had to be emplaced at the very front of the trench system so that the gas was released directly over no man's land. This meant that the cylinders had to be manhandled through communication trenches, often clogged and sodden, and stored at the front where there was always the risk that cylinders would be prematurely breached during a bombardment. A leaking cylinder could issue a telltale wisp of gas that, if spotted, would be sure to attract shellfire.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: A British chlorine cylinder, known as an "oojah", weighed 190 lb (86 kg), of which 60 lb (27 kg) was chlorine gas, and required two men to carry. Phosgene gas was introduced later in a cylinder, known as a "mouse", that weighed 50 lb (23 kg).


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Delivering gas via artillery shell overcame many of the risks of dealing with gas in cylinders. The Germans, for example, used artillery shells. Gas shells were independent of the wind and increased the effective range of gas, making anywhere within reach of the guns vulnerable. Gas shells could be delivered without warning, especially the clear, nearly odourless phosgene—there are numerous accounts of gas shells, landing with a "plop" rather than exploding, being initially dismissed as dud HE or shrapnel shells, giving the gas time to work before the soldiers were alerted and took precautions.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The main flaw associated with delivering gas via artillery was the difficulty of achieving a killing concentration. Each shell had a small gas payload and an area would have to be subjected to a saturation bombardment to produce a cloud to match cylinder delivery. Mustard gas did not need to form a concentrated cloud and hence artillery was the ideal vehicle for delivery of this battlefield pollutant.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The solution to achieving a lethal concentration without releasing from cylinders was the "gas projector", essentially a large-bore mortar that fired the entire cylinder as a missile. The British Livens projector (invented by Captain W.H. Livens in 1917) was a simple device; an diameter tube sunk into the ground at an angle, a propellant was ignited by an electrical signal, firing the cylinder containing 30 or 40 lb (14 or 18 kg) of gas up to 1,900 metres. By arranging a battery of these projectors and firing them simultaneously, a dense concentration of gas could be achieved. The Livens was first used at Arras on 4 April 1917. On 31 March 1918 the British conducted their largest ever "gas shoot", firing 3,728 cylinders at Lens.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Over of France had to be cordoned off at the end of the war because of unexploded ordnance. About 20% of the chemical shells were duds, and approximately 13 million of these munitions were left in place. This has been a serious problem in former battle areas from immediately after the end of the War until the present. Shells may be, for instance, uncovered when farmers plough their fields (termed the 'iron harvest'), and are also regularly discovered when public works or construction work is done. After the armistice, people sought unexploded weapons for their metal value, as well as preventing the danger that they posed to civilians. Toxic chemicals were emptied from shells, resulting in many deaths and health defects.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Another difficulty is the current stringency of environmental legislation. In the past, a common method of getting rid of unexploded chemical ammunition was to detonate or dump it at sea; this is currently prohibited in most countries.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: The problems are especially acute in some northern regions of France. The French government no longer disposes of chemical weapons at sea. For this reason, piles of untreated chemical weapons accumulated. In 2001, it became evident that the pile stored at a depot in Vimy was unsafe; the inhabitants of the neighbouring town were evacuated, and the pile moved, using refrigerated trucks and under heavy guard, to a military camp in Suippes. The capacity of the plant is meant to be 25 tons per year (extensible to 80 tons at the beginning), for a lifetime of 30 years.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Germany has to deal with unexploded ammunition and polluted lands resulting from the explosion of an ammunition train in 1919.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Aside from unexploded shells, there have been claims that poison residues have remained in the local environment for an extended period, though this is unconfirmed; well known but unverified anecdotes claim that as late as the 1960s trees in the area retained enough mustard gas residue to injure farmers or construction workers who were clearing them.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: After World War I, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other nations had stockpiles of unfired weapons. It has been estimated that 125 million tons of toxic gases were used to manufacture bombs, grenades and shells. The remaining weapons were destroyed, dismantled, and disposed of in oceans and seas. It was believed that the chemicals would be diluted when disposed of in the ocean, and therefore ocean and sea dumping was a “safe and convenient” practice. Hundreds of thousands of tons of chemical agents, such as sulphur mustard, cyanogen chloride and arsine oil, were disposed of at sea. Chemical weapons have since washed up on shorelines and been found by fishers, causing injuries and, in some cases, death. Other disposal methods included land burials and incineration. After World War 1, “chemical shells made up 35 percent of French and German ammunition supplies, 25 percent British and 20 percent American”. Weapons that contained chemicals such as bromine, chlorine and nitroaromatic were burned. The thermal destruction of chemical weapons negatively impacted the ecological environment of disposal sites. For example, in Verdun, France, the thermal destruction of weapons “resulted in severe metal contamination of upper 4-10 cm of topsoil” at the Place à Gas disposal site.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Soldiers who claimed to have been exposed to chemical warfare have often presented unusual medical conditions which has led to much controversy. The lack of information has left doctors, patients, and their families in the dark in terms of prognosis and treatment. Nerve agents such as sarin, tabun, and soman are believed to have the most significant long-term health effects. Chronic fatigue and memory loss have been reported to last up to three years after exposure. In the years following World War One, there were many conferences held in attempts to abolish the use of chemical weapons altogether, such as the Washington Naval Conference (1921–22), Geneva Conference (1923–25) and the World Disarmament Conference (1933). The United States was an original signatory of the Geneva Protocol in 1925, but the US Senate did not ratify it until 1975.


title: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: Although the health effects are generally chronic in nature, the exposures were generally acute. A positive correlation has been proven between exposure to mustard agents and skin cancers, other respiratory and skin conditions, leukemia, several eye conditions, bone marrow depression and subsequent immunosuppression, psychological disorders and sexual dysfunction. Chemicals used in the production of chemical weapons have also left residues in the soil where the weapons were used. The chemicals that have been detected can cause cancer and can affect the brain, blood, liver, kidneys and skin. The development and production of chemical weapons threatened public health and introduced a new set of challenges. Not only did war gasses like mustard and chlorine endanger the lives of soldiers, but also threatened the safety of workers who manufactured them.


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: The Package is a 2018 American teen comedy film directed by Jake Szymanski from a screenplay by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider. The film stars Daniel Doheny, Sadie Calvano, Geraldine Viswanathan, Luke Spencer Roberts, and Eduardo Franco.


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: Returning home from Germany, Sean Floyd plans to go to the woods for spring break with his friends Jeremy Abelar and Donnie. Unbeknownst to Sean or Donnie, Jeremy has invited his younger sister, Becky, who recently broke up with her boyfriend Chad, and her friend Sarah, who Donnie used to date. Donnie and Jeremy encourage Sean to make a move on Becky, whom he has a crush on. Jeremy assures the group that the trip is safe, while the rest worry as it took them 6 hours to reach their destination. Arriving at the campsite, Sean attempts to make a move on Becky but is interrupted by Donnie, who takes him along to pester a peeing Jeremy. Because of them startling him while he's playing with a knife, Jeremy accidentally cuts off his own penis. Sean takes everyone's phones to find an area with service and calls 9-1-1. He also angrily texts Chad from Becky's phone, before accidentally losing all the phones. Paramedics arrive in a helicopter, and Sean gives them a cooler containing Jeremy's penis.


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: After the paramedics leave, the group finds the penis in a different cooler and realize that Sean gave the paramedics the wrong cooler. At the hospital, the nurse reveals the dilemma to Jeremy, who is distraught due to the fact that she does not have any faith in the group. Having gotten lost in the woods trying to find their car, the group finds a radio tower. Believing they can send someone a signal, they go inside and find a rattlesnake. Startled, Becky tosses the cooler towards it, and the snake bites the penis. After Sean has sucked out the venom, Sarah discovers a drone secretly following them and chases it, but falls into water at the bottom of a ravine. The rest follow, and they swim across the ravine and find the owner of the drone, a foul-mouthed 11-year-old boy out camping with his dad. He tries to bribe Sarah and Becky into scissoring in front of him in exchange for the keys to his dad's boat. Becky and Sean scare him by talking about penises being cut off, allowing the group to steal the boat, although they are attacked by his dad, who thinks the group molested his son.


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: They find their car and head to a gas station where Jeremy had previously bought booze using his fake soldier ID. The gas station clerk cleans the penis as an act of patriotism. Afterwards, he sees Donnie's high school ID and realizes they lied about being soldiers - he chases their car as they escape and hits Donnie in the shoulder with an arrow through his headboard. They head to the hospital and give the penis to the doctors. After the surgery, they head inside Jeremy's room to find a different man named Reginald, and realize there was a misunderstanding and Jeremy's penis was put on Reginald instead. In a heated argument, Donnie tells Becky about Sean texting Chad from her phone. She calls Chad to pick her up, and Sean and Donnie visit Reginald, who is now awake. They explain the situation and Reginald tells them how his girlfriend cut off his penis as revenge for him cheating with her sister. The doctor tells Sean and Donnie to go get Reginald's penis, which was just found and turned in, with the hopes of attaching it to Jeremy. However, Reginald's girlfriend suddenly comes to visit and ends up cutting off his penis again. Sean and Donnie fight her and retrieve Jeremy's penis. They meet up with Becky and Sarah, and Sean apologizes to Becky and tells her she shouldn't be with someone who cheated on her. She accepts the apology and the four of them leave together.


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: After figuring out that the hospital had likely registered Jeremy under the name on his fake ID, they call the first hospital they had visited and finally deliver Jeremy's penis. While Jeremy is in surgery, Donnie and Sarah reconcile and decide to give their relationship another chance. Becky and Sean apologize to each other and start a relationship.


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: When Sean is about to return to Germany, Jeremy is released from the hospital and introduces his girlfriend, Kendall Jenners, whom the rest believed was fake after he repeatedly mentioned her throughout the trip. Donnie and Sarah rekindle their relationship and, with everyone goading them, Becky and Sean share a long kiss.


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: In January 2017, it was reported that Netflix had won a bidding war for the spec script for the film, then titled "Eggplant Emoji", by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider. In July 2017, it was announced that Jake Szymanski would direct, and in August 2017, Daniel Doheny, Sadie Calvano, Geraldine Viswanathan, Luke Spencer Roberts, and Eduardo Franco joined the cast. The film was later re-titled "The Package".


title: The Package (2018 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, ""The Package" learns the hard way that a penis joke does not make a movie."


title: Symphonic metal

text: Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Symphonic metal bands can feature classically trained vocalists, in which case they can be attributed nicknames such as opera metal or operatic metal. Perhaps the most pioneering and prominent examples of symphonic metal bands are Swedish band Therion, Finnish band Nightwish, Italian band Rhapsody of Fire and Dutch bands Within Temptation, The Gathering and Epica. All six bands place a large focus on elements prevalent in film scores in addition to the more basic classical components utilized more widely in the genre.


title: Symphonic metal

text: The metal subgenres most typically featuring a subset of symphonic bands are gothic metal, power metal, black metal, death metal and classic heavy metal. As with many other metal bands, those adopting a symphonic style may feature influences from several metal subgenres.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Music workstation keyboards and orchestras are often a key feature of the style, distinguishing symphonic from non-symphonic bands within the same metal subgenre. Other instruments, including guitars, bass and drums, may at times play relatively simple parts in contrast to the complex and nuanced keyboard and/or orchestral parts. Bands that do not use live orchestral instrumentation on their recordings or when playing live typically utilize factory presets on workstation keyboards (i. e., strings, choirs, pianos, pipe organs, etc.) to conjure up a "pseudo-orchestral" sound, where parts are played idiomatically according to keyboard technique. This is particularly characteristic of lesser-known bands on tighter budgets. Some symphonic metal bands abstain from using keyboards entirely, preferring to use orchestral backing tracks pre-recorded by a live symphony orchestra and/or choir during an album session, or recorded using virtual software instruments in a sequencer. This is particularly characteristic of bands that feature deeper and more complex arrangements which could be more difficult for one or two keyboardists to reproduce faithfully in a live performance.


title: Symphonic metal

text: It is more difficult to generalize about the role of the classic metal instruments (guitars, bass and drums), as they vary depending on the metal subgenre to which the symphonic band mostly associates. With varying frequency, symphonic bands may employ these instruments (as well as the lead vocals) to play more simple, catchy melodies than non-symphonic bands, which arguably make the symphonic metal style one of the most accessible in metal.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Songs are often highly atmospheric, though more upbeat than those of many non-symphonic metal bands; songs with morbid themes routinely feature prominent major-key fanfares. Particularly central to creating mood and atmosphere is the choice of keyboard timbre.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Lyrics cover a broad range of topics. As with two of its often overlapping elements, power metal and opera (including symphonic progressive rock), fantasy and mythological themes are common. Concept albums styled after operas or epic poems are not uncommon.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Bands in this genre may often feature a female lead vocalist, usually a soprano. Male vocalists (baritone or bass-baritone), are also common in gothic metal. Growling, death-metal-style vocals are not unknown but tend to be used less frequently than in other metal subgenres (a notable exception being Mark Jansen in Epica). Backing vocals, often consisting of a choral ensemble or full choir, may be employed.


title: Symphonic metal

text: It is common for bands, particularly female-fronted bands, to feature operatic lead vocals. Such bands may be referred to as "operatic symphonic metal" and include the likes of Epica, Nightwish (Tarja Turunen, then Floor Jansen), Haggard, Therion, "Operatika", "Dremora", Dol Ammad, Visions of Atlantis, Aesma Daeva, and Almora, among countless others. The operatic style is not tied exclusively to symphonic metal, but may appear in avant-garde metal, progressive metal and gothic metal.


title: Symphonic metal

text: The first song from a metal band to use orchestra was "Spiral Architect" from the 1973 album "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" by Black Sabbath. However, the roots of symphonic metal are found in early death metal and gothic metal bands, who made some use of symphonic elements in their music, notably Swiss extreme metal pioneers Celtic Frost, using French horn on their 1985 release "To Mega Therion" (which inspired the naming of symphonic metal pioneers Therion) and more prominent symphonic orchestra on their 1987 album "Into the Pandemonium".


title: Symphonic metal

text: An early prototypical symphonic metal song was "Dies Irae" by American Christian thrash metal group Believer. Appearing on their 1990 album "Sanity Obscure", it foreshadowed the operatic approach used by the bands Therion and Nightwish. According to Jeff Wagner in his book "Mean Deviation", the song was a creative watershed in metal, and except for Mekong Delta, no other extreme metal band at the time had merged the genre with classical music so seamlessly.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Nightwish, Rhapsody of Fire and Within Temptation all released their first album in 1997. Within Temptation's sound was usually defined as gothic metal, being overall simpler than Nightwish's power metal, but both bands shared two frequent symphonic metal elements - powerful female lead vocals from Tarja Turunen and Sharon den Adel respectively, and the heavy use of classically influenced keyboard playing. Haggard, which started as a progressive death metal band, had released some demos and EPs in their early years in a simple death metal style, but in 1997 went a step forward. They chose to change their style and to turn it into a mix of classical music with real classical and medieval instruments such as, violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe, clarinet, crumhorn, keyboards and death metal, releasing their first symphonic metal studio album.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Many new symphonic bands appeared or came to wide attention in the early to mid 2000s, including Rain Fell Within, After Forever, Epica, Delain, Leaves' Eyes, Xandria, and Edenbridge, all featuring female vocals and the characteristic keyboards. Power metal, with its relatively upbeat fantasy themes and stylized keyboard sounds, tended to be an important influence on these groups.


title: Symphonic metal

text: The term "symphonic metal" has sometimes been applied to individual songs or albums by bands that belong primarily to the basic, non-symphonic style of their subgenre. However, it is worth noting that the term is sometimes used to describe stylistic elements increasingly present in a growing number of metal music subgenres.


title: Symphonic metal

text: The term "symphonic metal" is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements; "symphonic metal" then is not so much a subgenre but rather a cross-generic designation. A few bands simply refer to themselves as "symphonic metal", particularly Aesma Daeva, and the term is applied by some to generically ambiguous metal bands like Epica and post-2002 Nightwish. Following heavy metal's tradition of classifying its subgenres based on the differences among the musical structures in the electric, "metal" part of bands' sound, the label "symphonic" is usually added as a prefix preceding the subgenre to which a band mostly belongs. No "symphonic metal" band being simply symphonic, a subgenre definition could be attributable to any bands simply defining themselves as symphonic metal. Symphonic heavy metal and symphonic gothic metal bands are the main objects of such neglect of classification, originating the misperception of "symphonic metal" as a coherent and separated metal subgenre excluding symphonic black, -death, and -power metal bands.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Symphonic black metal has similar components as melodic black metal, but uses keyboarding or instruments normally found in symphonic or classical music. It can also include black metal bands that make heavy usage of atmospheric keyboarding in the music, akin to symphonic metal or gothic metal. The symphonic aspects of this genre are normally integral parts of a band, and as such are commonly used throughout the whole duration of a song. The prototypical symphonic black metal bands are Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Emperor and Carach Angren.


title: Symphonic metal

text: Symphonic power metal refers to power metal bands that make extensive usage of keyboards, or instruments normally found in classical music, similar to symphonic metal. These additional elements are often used as key elements of the music when compared to regular power metal, contributing not only an extra layer to the music, but a greater variety of sound. Bands in this genre often feature clean vocals, with some bands adding relatively small quantities of screams or growls.


title: Symphonic metal

text: The first prototypical symphonic power metal song was "Art of Life", a twenty-nine-minute song performed by Japanese heavy metal band X Japan in 1993. A defining role for the style's development was played by Italian band Rhapsody of Fire since their groundbreaking 1997 debut "Legendary Tales", first with a baroque approach influenced by Vivaldi and Paganini, and subsequently with a growing film-score oriented turn employing full orchestras and choirs. The influence of symphonic and operatic music are equally audible in cognate bands Luca Turilli's Rhapsody and Turilli / Lione Rhapsody. Rhapsody's contributions to symphonic metal are best exemplified by short songs like "Emerald Sword", "Dawn of Victory" and "Lamento Eroico", and long suites such as "Gargoyles, Angels of Darkness", "The Mystic Prophecy of the Demonknight" and "Erian's Mystical Rhymes". Finnish band Nightwish, who debuted the same year, also performed symphonic power metal, their style being well exemplified by songs like "Wishmaster" from the album "Wishmaster" and the rest of their discography up until year 2000. Since the album "Century Child" they gradually decreased their power metal influences, with songs like "Ghost Love Score" from the album "Once", "The Poet and the Pendulum" from the album "Dark Passion Play" and "The Greatest Show on Earth" from the album "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" as the best examples of their new course making an ever more extensive use of orchestral elements.


title: Symphonic metal

text: German band Blind Guardian also introduced some symphonic elements in the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth", although it wasn't until 2002 with "A Night at the Opera" when they established their symphonic power metal style, mainly with the song "And Then There Was Silence". They gradually began to compose more and more symphonic songs such as "Sacred Worlds" and "Wheel of Time", both featured in the album "At the Edge of Time", and "The Ninth Wave", "At the Edge of Time", "The Throne" and "Grand Parade" from their latest album "Beyond the Red Mirror". They made as well orchestral versions of previously released songs like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Theatre of Pain", both included in the compilation album "The Forgotten Tales". Blind Guardian went deeper into symphonic music with the album "Legacy of the Dark Lands", a fully orchestral album composed by singer Hansi Kürsch and guitarist André Olbrich that kept the band's spirit but was credited to the "Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra", as Hansi was the only member of the band to perform on the album.


title: Symphonic metal

text: One of the first gothic metal bands to release a full album featuring "Beauty and the Beast" vocals, where death metal vocals are contrasted with clean female vocals, was the Norwegian Theatre of Tragedy in 1995. From then on after the departure of lead singer, Liv Kristine, in 2003, she and her future husband, Alexander Krull went on to form the symphonic metal band, Leaves' Eyes. The band is one of the pioneers of the "Beauty and the Beast" vocal style scene. Other bands, such as the Dutch Within Temptation in 1996, expanded on this approach. A debut album "Enter" was unveiled in the following year, followed shortly by an EP "The Dance". Both releases made use of the beauty and beast approach delivered by vocalists Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt. Their second full-length "Mother Earth" was released in 2000 and dispensed entirely with the death metal vocals, instead "relying solely on den Adel's majestic vocal ability", apart from one b-side track that did not make the final album release. The album was a commercial success with their lead single "Ice Queen" topping the charts in Belgium and their native Netherlands. Their third album "The Silent Force" arrived in 2004 as an "ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band". The result was another commercial success across Europe and introduced "the world of heavy guitars and female vocals" to "a mainstream audience".


title: Symphonic metal

text: Within Temptation's brand of gothic metal combines "the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music". The critic Chad Bowar of About.com describes their style as "the optimum balance" between "the melody and hooks of mainstream rock, the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal". The commercial success of Within Temptation has since resulted in the emergence of a large number of other female-fronted gothic metal bands, particularly in the Netherlands. A typical example of their most symphonic sound can be heard in the songs "Jillian (I'd give my Heart)" and "Our Solemn Hour".


title: Symphonic metal

text: Another Dutch band in the symphonic gothic metal strain is After Forever. Their debut album "Prison of Desire" in 2000 was "a courageous, albeit flawed first study into an admittedly daunting undertaking: to wed heavy metal with progressive rock arrangements and classical music orchestration - then top it all off with equal parts gruesome cookie-monster vocals and a fully qualified opera singer". Founding member, guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen departed After Forever only a few months after the release of their second album "Decipher". Jansen would go on to form Epica, another Dutch band that performs a blend of gothic and symphonic metal. A debut album "The Phantom Agony" emerged in 2003 with music that combines Jansen's death grunts with the "angelic tones of a classically trained soprano, Simone Simons, over a lush foundation of symphonic power metal". The music of Epica has been described as combination of "a dark, haunting gothic atmosphere with bombastic and symphonic music". Like Within Temptation and After Forever, Epica has been known to make use of an orchestra. Their 2007 album "The Divine Conspiracy" was a chart success in their home country.


title: Symphonic metal

text: This blend of symphonic and gothic metal has also been arrived at from the opposite direction. The band Nightwish from Finland began as a symphonic power metal act and introduced gothic elements on their 2004 album "Once", particularly on the single "Nemo". They continued to mix their style of "bombastic, symphonic and cinematic" metal with a gothic atmosphere on their next album "Dark Passion Play" in 2007. The Swedish group Therion also introduced gothic elements to their brand of symphonic metal on their 2007 album "Gothic Kabbalah".


title: Symphonic metal

text: Bands described as symphonic death metal include Ex Deo, Septicflesh, Children of Bodom, MaYaN, and Fleshgod Apocalypse. Haggard's 2000 album, "Awaking the Centuries", has been described as death metal–styled symphonic metal. Make Them Suffer is a band that mixes deathcore with symphonic/classical elements in their earlier material. Other bands that have mixed deathcore with symphonic metal include Winds of Plague, Shadow of Intent, Lorna Shore (in their more recent material) and Betraying the Martyrs, the latter being known to "temper the punishing brutality of deathcore with melodic flourishes pulled from symphonic and progressive metal, giving it a theatricality that feels distinctly European."


title: Antonio Fargas

text: Antonio Juan Fargas (born August 14, 1946) is an American actor known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation and comedy movies, as well as his portrayal as Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series "Starsky & Hutch".


title: Antonio Fargas

text: Fargas was born in New York City to Mildred (née Bailey) and Manuel Fargas; he was one of 11 children. His father was a Puerto Rican who worked for the City of New York. His mother was from Trinidad and Tobago. Raised in New York's Spanish Harlem, Fargas graduated from Fashion Industries High School in 1965.


title: Antonio Fargas

text: Fargas' breakout role was in the comedy film "Putney Swope" (1969). After starring in a string of blaxploitation movies in the early 1970s, such as "Across 110th Street" (1972) and "Foxy Brown" (1974), he gained recognition as streetwise informant Huggy Bear in the television series "Starsky & Hutch". He appeared in "All My Children" beginning in 1982 as Les Baxter, the upper-class lawyer who was the father of Angie Hubbard; he would be killed off the series in 1987.


title: Antonio Fargas

text: As a nod to his early roles, Fargas had a part in the blaxploitation spoof "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988) as well as another Wayans brothers "hood" parody, "Don't Be a Menace" (1996). He guest-starred in the mid-1990s sitcoms "Living Single", "Martin", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "The Steve Harvey Show". Fargas played the driver in the 1997 music video for the Backstreet Boys hit "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)".


title: Antonio Fargas

text: Some of Fargas' notable appearances on British television shows include Series 4 of the reality series "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" in 2004 and "Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show" in early 2006. He played the part of Toledo in a revival of August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 2006. He had a regular role as Doc on the 2005–2009 television series "Everybody Hates Chris".


title: Antonio Fargas

text: In 2008, Fargas acted in the British boxing film "Sucker Punch". He appeared in an episode of Fox's "Lie to Me" as the father of a murdered firefighter.


title: Antonio Fargas

text: Fargas' son Justin Fargas, a University of Southern California alumnus, is a former NFL running back who played seven seasons for the Oakland Raiders, amassing over 3,000 rushing yards in his career. As of September 2014, Fargas' daughter-in-law is former LSU women's basketball coach Nikki Caldwell.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: The Bibi Ka Maqbara (English: "Tomb of the Lady") is a tomb located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was commissioned in 1660 by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the memory of his wife Dilras Banu Begum (posthumously known as Rabia-ud-Daurani) and is considered to be a symbol of Aurangzeb's 'conjugal fidelity'. It bears a striking resemblance to the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of Aurangzeb's mother, Mumtaz Mahal. Aurangzeb was not much interested in architecture though he had commissioned the small, but elegant, Pearl Mosque at Delhi. Bibi Ka Maqbara is the second largest structure that Aurangzeb has built, the largest being the Badshahi Mosque.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: The comparison to the Taj Mahal has often obscured its very own considerable charm. Due to the strong resemblance, it is also called the "Dakkhani Taj" (Taj of the Deccan). Bibi Ka Maqbara is the "principal monument" of Aurangabad and its historic city. An inscription found on the main entrance door mentions that this mausoleum was designed and erected by Ata-ullah, an architect and Hanspat Rai, an engineer respectively. Ata-ullah was the son of Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, the principal designer of the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb's son, Muhammad Azam Shah was in later years put in charge of overseeing the repair-work of the mausoleum by Shah Jahan.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: Dilras Banu Begum was born a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty of Iran (Persia) and was the daughter of Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi (titled Shahnawaz Khan), who was the viceroy of Gujarat. She married Prince Muhi-ud-din (later known as Aurangzeb upon his accession) on 8 May 1637 in Agra. Dilras was his first wife and chief consort, as well as his favourite. She bore him five children — Zeb-un-Nissa, Zinat-un-Nissa, Zubdat-un-Nissa, Muhammad Azam Shah and Sultan Muhammad Akbar.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: After giving birth to her fifth child, Muhammad Akbar, Dilras Banu Begum possibly suffered from puerperal fever, due to complications caused by the delivery and died a month after the birth of her son on 8 October 1657. Upon her death, Aurangzeb's pain was extreme and their eldest son, Azam Shah, was so grieved that he had a nervous breakdown. It became Dilras' eldest daughter, Princess Zeb-un-Nissa's responsibility to take charge of her newborn brother. Zeb-un-Nissa doted on her brother a lot, and at the same time, Aurangzeb greatly indulged his motherless son and the prince soon became his best-loved son.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: In 1660, Aurangzeb commissioned a mausoleum at Aurangabad to act as Dilras' final resting place, known as Bibi Ka Maqbara ("Tomb of the Lady"). Here, Dilras was buried under the posthumous title of 'Rabia-ud-Daurani' ("Rabia of the Age"). In the following years, her tomb was repaired by her son Azam Shah under Aurangzeb's orders. Bibi Ka Maqbara was the largest structure that Aurangzeb had to his credit and bears a striking resemblance to the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of Dilras' mother-in-law, Empress Mumtaz Mahal, who herself died in childbirth. Aurangzeb, himself, is buried a few kilometers away from her mausoleum in Khuldabad.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: Bibi Ka Maqbara is believed to have been built between 1668 and 1669 C.E. According to the "Tarikh Namah" of Ghulam Mustafa, the cost of construction of the mausoleum was Rs. 668,203-7 (rupees six lakh, sixty-eight thousand, two hundred three and seven annas) – Aurangzeb allocated only Rs. 700,000 for its construction. An inscription found on the main entrance door mentions that this mausoleum was designed and erected by Ata-ullah, an architect and Hanspat Rai, an engineer respectively. The marble for this mausoleum was brought from mines near Jaipur. According to Tavernier, around three hundred carts laden with marble, drawn by at least 12 oxen, were seen by him during his journey from Surat to Golconda. The mausoleum was intended to rival the Taj Mahal, but the decline in architecture and proportions of the structure (both due to the severe budgetary constraints imposed by Aurangzeb) had resulted in a different and particular monument with its own significant beauty.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: The mausoleum is laid out in a "charbagh" formal garden. It stands at the centre of a huge enclosure measuring approximately 458 m. N-S X 275 m. E-W. Baradaris or pillared pavilions are located at the centre of north, east and western part of the enclosure wall. The high enclosure wall is crenellated with pointed arched recesses and bastions at regular intervals. The recesses are divided by pilasters, crowned with small minarets. The mausoleum is built on a high square platform with four minarets at its corners, which is approached by a flight of steps from the three sides. A mosque is found to the west of the main structure, a later addition by the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in closure of the west entrance.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: Entry to the mausoleum is through a main entrance gate on its south, which has foliage designs on brass plate on wood covering from the exterior. After passing through the entrance a small tank is provided and a low profile screen wall leads to the main structure. The screened pathway has a series of fountains at its centre.


title: Bibi Ka Maqbara

text: The mausoleum is encased with marble up to the dado level. Above the dado level, it is constructed of basaltic trap up to the base of the dome; the latter is again built of marble. A fine plaster covers the basaltic trap and given a fine polished finish and adorned with fine stucco decorations. The mortal remains of Rabia Daurani are placed below the ground level surrounded by an octagonal "jali" pierced marble screen with exquisite designs, which can be approached by a descending flight of steps. The roof of this chamber that corresponds to the ground level of the mausoleum is pierced by an octagonal opening and given a low barricaded marble screen. This makes the tomb viewable from the ground level through this octagonal opening. The mausoleum is crowned by a dome pierced with trellis works and accompanying panels decorated with flower designs. The structure is in the form of a hexagon, its angles ornamented with minarets.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Handsome, the Fair () or Plantagenet, was the count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also Duke of Normandy by conquest from 1144. His marriage to Empress Matilda, daughter of King Henry I of England, led to the centuries-long reign of the Plantagenet dynasty in England. The name "Plantagenet" was taken from Geoffrey's epithet. Geoffrey's ancestral domain of Anjou gave rise to the name Angevin, and what modern historians name as the Angevin Empire in the 12th century.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: Geoffrey was the elder son of Fulk V of Anjou and Ermengarde of Maine. Geoffrey received his nickname from the yellow sprig of broom blossom ("genêt" is the French name for the "planta genista", or broom shrub) he wore in his hat. The chronicler John of Marmoutier described Geoffrey as handsome, red haired, jovial, and a great warrior. King Henry I of England, having heard reports on Geoffrey's talents and prowess, sent legates to Anjou to negotiate a marriage between his 25-year-old daughter Matilda and Geoffrey. Consent was obtained from both parties, and on 10 June 1128 the fifteen-year-old Geoffrey was knighted in Rouen by King Henry, in preparation for the wedding.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: Geoffrey and Matilda's marriage took place in 1128. The marriage was meant to seal a lasting peace between England, Normandy (an English possession since William I) and Anjou. She was eleven years older than Geoffrey, and very proud of her status as dowager empress (as opposed to being a mere countess), and which she kept for the remainder of her life. Their marriage was a stormy but happy one with frequent long separations; they had three sons Henry, Geoffrey and William.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: The year after the marriage Geoffrey's father left for Jerusalem (where he was to later become king), leaving Geoffrey behind as count of Anjou.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: When his father in law, King Henry I of England, died in 1135, Geoffrey supported Matilda in entering Normandy to claim her inheritance. The border districts submitted to her, but England chose her first cousin Stephen of Blois for its king, and Normandy soon followed suit. The following year, Geoffrey gave Ambrieres, Gorron, and Chatilon-sur-Colmont to Juhel de Mayenne, on condition that he help obtain the inheritance of Geoffrey's wife.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: In 1139 Matilda landed in England with 140 knights, where she was besieged at Arundel Castle by King Stephen. In the Anarchy which ensued, Stephen was captured at Lincoln in February 1141, and imprisoned at Bristol. A legatine council of the English church held at Winchester in April 1141 declared Stephen deposed and proclaimed Matilda "Lady of the English".


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: During 1142 and 1143, Geoffrey secured all of Normandy west and south of the Seine, and, on 14 January 1144, he crossed the Seine and entered Rouen. He assumed the title of Duke of Normandy in the summer of 1144. In 1144, he founded an Augustine priory at Château-l'Hermitage in Anjou. Geoffrey held the duchy until 1149, when he and Matilda conjointly ceded it to their son, Henry, which cession was formally ratified by King Louis VII of France the following year.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: Geoffrey also put down three baronial rebellions in Anjou, in 1129, 1135 and 1145–1151. He was often at odds with his younger brother, Elias, whom he had imprisoned until Elias died in 1151. The threat of rebellion slowed his progress in Normandy, and is one reason he could never intervene in England. Geoffrey died later the same year, aged 38, and Henry took his father's place as head of the Plantagenet ducal house. In 1153, the Treaty of Wallingford stipulated that Stephen should remain King of England for life and that Henry, the son of Geoffrey and Matilda should succeed him, beginning the Plantagenet era in English history.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: Geoffrey died suddenly on 7 September 1151. According to John of Marmoutier, Geoffrey was returning from a royal council when he was stricken with fever. He arrived at Château-du-Loir, collapsed on a couch, made bequests of gifts and charities, and died. His wife and sons outlived him. He was buried at St Julien's Cathedral in Le Mans, France, and his son Henry succeeded him as Duke of Normandy.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: Geoffrey also had illegitimate children by an unknown mistress (or mistresses): Hamelin who married Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey; Emma, who married Dafydd Ab Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales; and Mary, who became a nun and Abbess of Shaftesbury and who may be the poet Marie de France.


title: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

text: An enamel effigy (funerary plaque) commissioned by his widow to decorate the tomb of Geoffrey of Anjou is one of the earliest examples of European heraldry. Jean de Marmentier, a late-12th-century chronicler, reported that in 1128 Henry I of England knighted his son-in-law Geoffrey and granted him a badge of gold lions. A gold lion may already have been Henry's own badge, and different lion motifs would later be used by many of his descendants. The enamel shows Geoffrey with a blue shield depicting gold lions, apparently the same motif later used by a grandson of Geoffrey, William Longespee. In addition to being one of the first authentic representations of a coat of arms, according to British historian Jim Bradbury it "suggests possible evidence for the early use of what became the English royal arms".


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: Magnus Rognan Midtbø (born 18 September 1988) is a Norwegian rock climber and YouTube video blogger. He was born in Bergen, Norway. He retired from competitive climbing in 2017.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: Midtbø started climbing in 2000 at 11 years of age after his mother enrolled him in a class. After just one year of climbing, he won the Norwegian Youth Championship, and a year later, in 2002, he on-sight climbed his first lead route "Øgletryne" at the Sageveggen rock wall, near Bergen.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: After graduating from high school in 2007, Midtbø moved to Innsbruck, Austria. At the time, Innsbruck attracted many of the world's top climbers, including David Lama, Jakob Schubert, and Anna Stöhr, who trained together for competitions. In an interview, Midtbø described Lama as the most talented person he had ever climbed with as well as a personal inspiration during their tenure in Austria.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: In August 2010, he made his most challenging ascent to date, when he completed the route "Ali Hulk sit start extension" in Rodellar, Spain. The route is composed of a boulder (climbed without rope) and a sport climbing segment. The first ascent was made by Daniel Andrada in 2007. The grade was initially considered to be but has been since downgraded to 9a+\b. In an interview with UK Climbing, Midtbø stated that there were many challenges to this route, such as resting in the initial boulder section to work out the rest of the route and mustering sufficient core strength to overcome the overhang.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: In May 2013, Midtbø returned to Rodellar to on-sight "Cosi fan tutte", graded . , only four other people had on-sighted routes graded 8c+ or higher: Patxi Usobiaga, Adam Ondra, Ramon Julian Puigblanque, and Alex Megos.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: Midtbø retired from competitive climbing in May 2017. In the 95th vlog of Midtbø's YouTube channel, he described his decision to retire: "I still get motivated just by climbing. I think some people need a specific goal, but I’ve never felt like I needed one. It sounds really cheesy, I know. I just love climbing. I love being in the nature. I love the feeling of feeling free, but it is like that you know. I don’t know. I like the lifestyle, I like traveling, I like trying hard, and most of all, I like the feeling of feeling really fit, really strong, the feeling of being able to climb anything."


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: Midtbø runs a successful eponymous YouTube channel, which has over one and a half million subscribers as of November 2022. On his channel, Midtbø posts videos centered around climbing; he often offers training advice, collaborates with fellow climbers, and has made several videos that highlight his athletic prowess. Most of his YouTube content is dedicated to his vlog series, which he began producing in March 2017. He also posts climbing and fitness-related content to his Instagram account, where he has more than 430,000 followers.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: In 2013, Magnus Midtbø participated in a German TV show "Der Deutsche Meister" (the German Champion) as the international contestant in the "Reckstangenklettern" (salmon ladder) challenge. Midtbø beat the German contestant.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: Midtbø received criticism in 2016 for publishing an Instagram picture of himself hanging off the Trolltunga rock formation, a popular tourist attraction in Norway. Wearing a safety harness, Midtbø suspended himself from the overhanging rock, but local police officers were concerned that the stunt might inspire others to replicate it without taking proper safety precautions.


title: Magnus Midtbø (climber)

text: His sister, Hannah Midtbø (born 1990), is also a professional climber. She won the Nordic Championships (NM) in the lead climbing discipline in 2006 and has been a bouldering competitor at various IFSC World Cups and European Championships.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: Andhaghaaram () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language supernatural horror thriller film written and directed by V. Vignarajan, in his directional debut. It is produced by Priya Atlee under A for Apple Productions, alongside Sudhan Sundaram and Jayaram under their banner Passion Studios and K. Poornachandra's O2 Pictures. The film stars Arjun Das, Vinoth Kishan, and Kumar Natarajan in lead roles along with Pooja Ramachandran and Misha Ghoshal.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: The movie follows three men in Chennai, who are seemingly unconnected to each other and the sinister happenings in their lives. The first man is Dr. Indran, one of the country's most renowned clinical psychiatrists. He is almost fatally shot by one of his violent patients. He survives, but his entire family is massacred, and he loses both his voice and professional license. After his operation, Indran opts for a new approach to his practice even though he is still being reviewed by authorities.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: The second man is Selvam, an honest blind man who works as a clerk at a public library. After the death of his parents, he is taken care of by his uncle. His only inheritance is his father's mansion that he is struggling to maintain. Selvam's father was a famous occultist, and Selvam has learned some of the tricks of the trade from him. He needs money for his operation (kidney failure) so he agrees to hold a cleansing ritual at a haunted building. Though he manages to capture one of the spirits, there is another one that is still in the building.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: The third man is Vinod, a cricket coach who is over-ridden by guilt at the condition of his best friend Pradeep. Pradeep is suffering from an unknown mental disorder after Vinod gifted him a book on the occult. Vinod also starts receiving mysterious and threatening calls through his newly installed landline rotary phone. His girlfriend Manasi convinces him to see a psychiatrist saying that he is imagining things.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: It is revealed that the three men's timelines are taking place at different points in time. Selvam's closest confidant is Pooja, his tutor. She is the sister of Pradeep, who was once undergoing treatment by Indran. By the time Vinod gets a new landline installed, Pradeep has died by suicide, throwing himself off his balcony and landing on Indran, who also dies. Just like Pradeep, countless other patients Indran has been illegally treating have committed suicide through hypnosis. Indran had lost all faith in humanity after the loss of his family, hence his evil plan. Even in death, his vengeance lives on. It is Indran's spirit who has been calling and tormenting Vinod. The phone used to be Selvam's and is actually a medium to communicate with the dead. However, Selvam would later get into trouble with loan sharks, who kill him in order to take over his father's mansion.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: Pooja helps Vinod put the pieces together, but not before they realise that Selvam has been trying to help Vinod all along. Vinod breaks the telephone but Pooja tells him that he needs the telephone to contact Selvam to find out how to get rid of the tormenting spirit. Vinod runs back to the shop where he gave the telephone for fixing. He then stops at the bridge and attends the call. Indran hypnotises Vinod and forces him to jump off the bridge. In the nick of time, Selvam possesses and saves Vinod and also dismantles the phone, which ruptures both Indran and Selvam's connection with the world of the living.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: In the end, it is shown that Selvam gets his revenge on the publisher/real estate businessman by strangling him with the help of Pooja's information, and she completes Selvam's final wish.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: The film began production in August 2014, with Vinoth Kishan and Arjun Das in pivotal roles and Pooja Ramachandran, Misha Ghoshal and Kumar Natarajan in supporting roles. Kishan was reported to play a blind role in the film, for which he stated that the role may not make audiences "empathetic", but further added it as an "exciting role" and "quite different from how blind characters are usually portrayed in Indian cinema". He further added that the blind role will have a pivotal part in the story. Shooting of the film and post-production works were completed within late 2014.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: The film's soundtrack album is composed by Pradeep Kumar which has four tracks with lyrics written by Sivam. One of the songs "Suzhalum Irulil" features an orchestral version, performed by Shakthisree Gopalan and the other tracks were performed by Sivam, Sean Roldan and Shahid Hameed along with Kumar himself. The album was released on 14 November 2020 by Think Music.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: Film critic Ramesh Bala, through his review for "Indiaglitz" gave 8 out of 10 to the soundtrack stating "Pradeep Kumar delivers the morose haunting soundtrack for Andhaghaaram and perfectly in sync with the movie's tone" and listed "Suzhalum Irulil" and "Izhupari Aattam" among their favourite picks.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: Despite production being completed in 2014, the film was delayed for more than six years since no one was willing to distribute the film as it featured newcomers and no prominent faces. In 2019, following Arjun Das' popularity after his role in "Kaithi" (2019), the film once again came into news. Director Atlee came forward to present the film under his banner A for Apple Studios, which marked his second production venture after "Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae" (2017) and Passion Studios co-produced the film.


title: Andhaghaaram

text: The film's first poster and teaser were released in April 2020. The team also planned for the promotional activities of the film before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was announced and then makers opted for a low-key announcement. Furthermore, the team also decided to release the film through streaming platform Netflix as theatres being shut due to the lockdown. The second trailer was released during November 2020, confirming the Netflix release on 24 November 2020 and was also released in Telugu under the title "Andhakaaram".


title: Andhaghaaram

text: V. Lakshmi of "The Times of India" gave 3 out of 5 and stated "Though the narration keeps you glued, a lacklustre twist makes you question if your patience was worth it." Pradeep Kumar of "The Hindu" stated that "The film appears complicated due to a drawn out screenplay. Nonetheless, director Vignarajan’s debut is an interesting piece of work". Manoj Kumar R of "The Indian Express" gave a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and reviewed "Andhaghaaram feels a bit rushed. The ease and clarity with which Vignarajan moves the story forward from the beginning disappears towards the end. It feels overwhelming with the deluge of revelations that Vignarajan dumps on the audience making it difficult for the audience to keep with what’s happening. But, Andhaghaaram is still a good attempt, given the complexity of its concept."


title: Andhaghaaram

text: Ranjani Krishnakumar of "Firstpost" was more critical on the film stating that ""Andhagaaram" could have been an interesting film, but soon enough, it gets tiresome. The details unravel painfully slowly, and in excruciating little bursts" and gave 2 out of 5. Shrikanth Venkatesh of "Sify" gave 3.5 out of 5 praising Vignarajan's direction stating it as "a fairly impressive debut attempt". He further added "In spite of some flaws, it does give us reasons to look forward to the director’s next ventures". "Behindwoods Review Board" rated 3 out of 5 and summarised "Andhaghaaram is high on thrills, performances and technicalities but could have been even more gripping if the runtime was a bit shorter".


title: Andhaghaaram

text: Baradwaj Rangan of "Film Companion South" reviewed that ""Andhaghaaram" is underwhelming, and yet, scene for scene, it’s some kind of spectacular". Apart from praising the technical aspects of the film, he also appreciated director Vignarajan stating it as an "arrival of a very real talent".


title: Good governance

text: Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. Governance is "the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)". Governance in this context can apply to corporate, international, national, or local governance as well as the interactions between other sectors of society.


title: Good governance

text: The concept of "good governance" thus emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies. The concept centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in society. Because countries often described as "most successful" are liberal democratic states, concentrated in Europe and the Americas, good governance standards often measure other state institutions against these states. Aid organizations and the authorities of developed countries often will focus the meaning of "good governance" to a set of requirements that conform to the organization's agenda, making "good governance" imply many different things in many different contexts.


title: Good governance

text: Good governance in the context of countries is a broad term, and in that regards, it is difficult to find a unique definition. According to Fukuyama (2013), there are two dimensions to qualify governance as good or bad: the capacity of the state and the bureaucracy's autonomy. They both complement, in the sense that when the state is more capable, for instance through the collection of taxes, there should be more autonomy because the bureaucrats are able to conduct things well without being instructed with a lot of details. In less capable states, however, less discretion and more rules setting are desirable.


title: Good governance

text: Another way to think about good governance is through outcomes. Since governments carry out with goals like the provision of public goods to its citizens, there is no better way to think about good governance other than through deliverables, which are precisely the one demanded by citizens, like security, health, education, water, the enforcement of contracts, protection to property, protection to the environment and their ability to vote and get paid fair wages.


title: Good governance

text: Similarly, good governance might be approximated with provision of public services in an efficient manner, higher participation given to certain groups in the population like the poor and the minorities, the guarantee that citizens have the opportunity of checks and balances on the government, the establishment and enforcement of norms for the protection of the citizens and their property and the existence of independent judiciary systems.


title: Good governance

text: Lawson (2011) in his review of Rothstein's book "The quality of government: corruption, social trust, and inequality in international perspective" mentions that the author relates good governance to the concept of impartiality, which is basically when the bureaucrats perform their tasks following the public interest rather than their self-interest. Lawson differs with him in that this impartial application of law ignores important factors like the economic liberalism, which matters due to its relation with economic growth.


title: Good governance

text: According to Bo Rothstein and Jan Teorell, the key characteristic of good governance is the impartiality of government institutions.


title: Good governance

text: The meaning of good governance in regards to corporate sectors varies between actors. Legislation has been enacted in an attempt to influence good governance in corporate affairs. In the United States, the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 set up requirements for businesses to follow. Whistleblowing has also been widely used by corporations to expose corruption and fraudulent activity.


title: Good governance

text: Three institutions can be reformed to promote good governance: the state, the private sector and civil society. However, among different cultures, the need and demand for reform can vary depending on the priorities of that country's society. A variety of country level initiatives and international movements put emphasis on various types of governance reform. Each movement for reform establishes criteria for what they consider good governance based on their own needs and agendas. The following are examples of good governance standards for prominent organizations in the international community.


title: Good governance

text: The United Nations (UN) is playing an increasing role in good governance. According to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "Good governance is ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law; strengthening democracy; promoting transparency and capacity in public administration." To implement this, the UN follows eight principles:


title: Good governance

text: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created at a United Nations (UN) conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. In 1996, the IMF declared "promoting good governance in all its aspects, including by ensuring the rule of law, improving the efficiency and accountability of the public sector, and tackling corruption, as essential elements of a framework within which economies can prosper". The IMF feels that corruption within economies is caused by the ineffective governance of the economy, either too much regulation or too little regulation. To receive loans from the IMF, countries must have certain good governance policies, as determined by the IMF, in place.


title: Good governance

text: The World Bank introduced the concept in its 1992 report entitled "Governance and Development". According to the document, good governance is an essential complement to sound economic policies and is central to creating and sustaining an environment which fosters strong and equitable development. For the World Bank, good governance consists of the following components: capacity and efficiency in public sector management, accountability, legal framework for development, and information and transparency.


title: Good governance

text: The Worldwide Governance Indicators is a program funded by the World Bank to measure the quality of governance of over 200 countries. It uses six dimensions of governance for their measurements, Voice & Accountability, Political Stability and Lack of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption. They have been studying countries since 1996.


title: Good governance

text: Good governance defines an ideal that is difficult to achieve in full, though it is something development supporters consider donating to causes. Major donors and international financial institutions, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or World Bank, are basing their aid and loans on the condition that the recipient undertakes reforms ensuring good governance. This is mostly due to the close link between poor governance and corruption.


title: Good governance

text: Because concepts such as civil society, decentralisation, peaceful conflict management and accountability are often used when defining the concept of good governance, the definition of good governance promotes many ideas that closely align with effective democratic governance. Not surprisingly, emphasis on good governance can sometimes be equated with promoting democratic government. However, a 2011 literature review analyzing the link between democracy and development by Alina Rocha Menocal of the Overseas Development Institute stresses the inconclusiveness of evidence on this relationship.


title: Good governance

text: A good example of this close association, for some actors, between western democratic governance and the concept of good governance is the following statement made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Nigeria on August 12, 2009:


title: Good governance

text: Nayef Al-Rodhan, in his 2009 book "Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man: A Philosophy of History and Civilisational Triumph", proposed eight minimum criteria for ensuring good national governance. Al-Rodhan's eight minimum criteria are: 1) participation, equity, and inclusiveness, 2) rule of law, 3) separation of powers, 4) free, independent, and responsible media, 5) government legitimacy, 6) accountability, 7) transparency, and 8) limiting the distorting effect of money in politics. In the book, he argues that good national governance is an important component in creating a history of sustainability for the human race. For Al-Rodhan, the eight minimal criteria of good governance are expressions of the fundamental values of democracy and more liberal constitutionalism.


title: Good governance

text: The Tuskegee Study from 1932 to 1972 led to the signing of the National Research Act. This law outlined basic ethical ways in which research is to be carried out. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) made regulations that required voluntary agreements for anyone who was to take part in their studies. Governance is used in scientific studies to ensure that policies are safe and ethical when studies are being done on human subjects. After the National Research Act there have been other organization put in place such as the Ethics Advisory Board, which reviews biomedical research. Many federal agencies adopted the Federal Policy for Protection of Human Rights in 1991. In 1995 President Bill Clinton established the National Bioethics Advisory Commission led by the Department of Health and Human Services with the task of reviewing regulations and policies to ensure the safety of research volunteers.


title: Good governance

text: According to Sam Agere, "The discretionary space left by the lack of a clear well-defined scope for what governance encompasses allows users to choose and set their own parameters."


title: Good governance

text: In the book "Contesting 'good' governance", Eva Poluha and Mona Rosendahl contest standards that are common to western democracy as measures of "goodness" in government. By applying political anthropological methods, they conclude that while governments believe they apply concepts of good governance while making decisions, cultural differences can cause conflict with the heterogeneous standards of the international community.


title: Good governance

text: An additional source of good governance criticism is "The Intelligent Person's Guide to Good Governance", written by Surendra Munshi. Munshi's work was created in order to "revive" good governance. Many individuals tend to either wave away and be bored with the idea of governance, or not have a clue to what it has at all. This book is a generalized discussion on what the purpose of good governance is and how it serves that purpose throughout our society. Munshi targets the book toward anyone doing research or just simply "those concerned with the issue of governance".


title: Good governance

text: "Rethinking Systems: Configurations of Politics and Policy in Contemporary Governance", written by Michael P. Crozier, is another work analyzing good governance. Crozier's article discusses the different dynamics of changes that occur throughout communication systems and the effect it has on governance. The idea of various perspectives is presented throughout the article. This allows the reader to be able to see what contemporary governance is like from different viewpoints. Crozier's motive was to also create an open mindset when referring to how governance and policy within society operate, especially with the constant changes occurring day to day.


title: Good governance

text: Recent criticism has been aimed at the idea that good governance and institutions are one of the primary explanatory variables of economic growth, such as argued by Kaufmann and Kraay and Acemoglu and Robinson, which has put institutional reforms high on global development agendas. The criticism is fundamentally concerned with the issue that the relatively few countries which have managed to develop rapidly over the last 70 years did not have the "right" kind of institutions; in contrast, countries like China and South Korea have been plagued by corruption and a lack of checks-and-balances during their development trajectories. Or as the development economist Dani Rodrik put it: "A development strategy that focused on anti-corruption in China would not have produced anything like the growth rate that this country has experienced since 1978, nor would it have resulted in 400 million plus fewer people in extreme poverty."