title: Binge drinking

text: A recent study conducted on an American College tested to discover if excessive binge drinking would have an effect on the cardiovascular system. From the results they received they found alterations in the binge drinker's macrocirculation and microcirculation functions which may be sign of a risk in cardiovascular disease. The study suggests that binge drinkers with a history of strong binge drinking should be screened regularly.


title: Binge drinking

text: Binge drinking has the propensity to result in brain damage faster as well as more severely than chronic drinking (alcoholism), due to the neurotoxic effects of the repeated rebound withdrawal effects. During the repeated alcohol free stages associated with binge drinking, a larger amount of glutamate is released than occurs during withdrawal from chronic alcohol abuse; additionally this extreme release of glutamate happens on a repeated basis in binge drinkers leading to excitotoxicity. The tolerance that occurs during chronic ('non-stop') drinking delays alcohol-related brain damage compared to binge drinking, which induced immediate and repeated insults to the brain.


title: Binge drinking

text: Impairments in impulse control in binge drinkers, which is more prominent in female binge drinkers, is due to dysfunction of the frontal lobe. The findings in humans have been largely concordant with animal studies. Such animal studies find that heavy and regular binge drinking causes neurodegeneration in corticolimbic brain regions areas that are involved in learning and spatial memory, such as the olfactory bulb, piriform cortex, perirhinal cortex, entorhinal cortex, and the hippocampal dentate gyrus. A study in rats found that a heavy two-day drinking binge caused extensive neurodegeneration in the entorhinal cortex with resultant learning deficits. While brain damage from binge drinking is known to occur as a result of binge drinking patterns, it is unclear how long drinking sessions last and how regular binge drinking is done to cause brain damage in humans. One study found that humans who drank at least 100 drinks (male) or 80 drinks (female) per month (concentrated to 21 occasions or less per month) throughout a three-year period had impaired decision-making skills compared to non-binge drinkers. Repeated acute withdrawal from alcohol, which occurs in heavy binge drinkers, has been shown in several studies to be associated with cognitive deficits as a result of neural kindling; neural kindling due to repeated withdrawals is believed to be the mechanism of cognitive damage in both binge drinkers and alcoholics. Neuronal kindling also leads to each subsequent acute withdrawal episode being more severe than previous withdrawal episodes.


title: Binge drinking

text: Blackouts, a form of amnesia that occurs in binge drinkers may be due to suppressed hippocampus function with rebound NMDA (glutamate) activity combined with excessive glucocorticoid release induced by the stress of repeated intoxication followed by acute withdrawal/abstinence is the proposed mechanism of neural kindling leading to neurotoxicity of structures involved in learning and memory within the brain of binge drinkers. Frontal lobe processing may become impaired as a result of binge drinking with resultant neurocognitive deficits and impaired working memory.


title: Binge drinking

text: Alcohol suppresses brain function during intoxication; but upon withdrawal rebound effects occur in the glutamate/NMDA system and with excess glutamate activity glucocorticoid release; due to the repeated intoxication, followed by acute withdrawal, a neurotoxic effect that damages the central nervous system develops, leading to persisting impairments in verbal and nonverbal cognitive abilities as well as impairment of spatial orientation. Due to developmental processes occurring during adolescence including myelinization and restructuring of the synapses, adolescents are thought to be more vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol.


title: Binge drinking

text: Age and genetic factors influence the risk of developing alcohol-related neurotoxicity. Adolescence, especially early adolescence (i.e. before age 15), is a critical and delicate developmental stage when specialised neuronal and synaptic systems mature. This critical developmental stage is where lifelong adult traits e.g., talents, reasoning and complex skills mature; however alcohol and in particular binge drinking may disrupt and interfere with this developmental process. Adolescence is also a period of development characterised by a high level of novel seeking, thrill seeking and risk taking behaviour and thus alcohol and other drug experimentation and abuse is common. An adolescent rat study found that a short exposure to high levels of alcohol resulted in long-lasting changes to functional brain activity with corresponding abnormalities in EEG brain waves that persisted into adulthood, including persisting disturbances in sleep EEG with a reduction in slow wave sleep. These EEG findings are similar to premature aging. According to one review of the literature, if the developmental stage of adolescence is similar to the developmental stage of the fetus with regard to sensitivity to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol, and if long-lasting or permanent damage to the brain occurs similar to what animal studies suggest, then this represents a major public health issue due to the high levels of alcohol use by adolescents. Indeed, alcohol can affect the remodeling and functional changes in synaptic plasticity and neuronal connectivity in different brain regions that occurs during adolescence ("see this related article").


title: Binge drinking

text: An alcohol use disorder may develop when a person continues to drink heavily despite recurrent social, interpersonal, and/or legal problems. Behaviorally, frequent binge drinking is usually involved, but not everyone who engages in binge drinking develops an alcohol use disorder.


title: Binge drinking

text: For the purpose of identifying an alcohol use disorder when assessing binge drinking, using a time frame of the past 6 months eliminates false negatives. For example, it has been found that using a narrow two week window for assessment of binge drinking habits leads to 30% of heavy regular binge drinkers wrongly being classed as not having an alcohol use disorder. However, the same researchers also note that recall bias is somewhat enhanced when longer timeframes are used.


title: Binge drinking

text: Binge drinking is considered harmful, regardless of a person's age, and there have been calls for healthcare professionals to give increased attention to their patients' drinking habits, especially binge drinking. Some researchers believe that raising the legal drinking age and screening brief interventions by healthcare providers are the most effective means of reducing morbidity and mortality rates associated with binge drinking. Programs in the United States have thought of numerous ways to help prevent binge drinking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests increasing the cost of alcohol or the excise taxes, restricting the number of stores who may obtain a license to sell liquor (reducing "outlet density"), and implementing stricter law enforcement of underage drinking laws. There are also a number of individual counseling approaches, such as motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral approaches, that have been shown to reduce drinking among heavy drinking college students. In 2006, the Wisconsin Initiative to Promote Healthy Lifestyles implemented a program that helps primary care physicians identify and address binge drinking problems in patients. In August 2008, a group of college presidents calling itself the Amethyst Initiative asserted that lowering the legal drinking age to 18 (presumably) was one way to curb the "culture of dangerous binge drinking" among college students. This idea is currently the subject of controversy. Proponents argue that the 21 law forces drinking underground and makes it more dangerous than it has to be, while opponents have claimed that lowering the age would only make the situation worse. Despite health warnings, most Australian women drink at least one night a week. But experts are warning they are not only damaging their bodies but are also at risk of attracting sexual predators.


title: Binge drinking

text: Research shows ways to reduce binge drinking or engage in dangerous drinking. Some computer-based intervention appear to reduce binge drinking, an example of which is "rethinking drinking". A systematic review of published research also indicated that face-to-face interventions are most effective in reducing binge drinking among college students, although internet-based interventions may also be beneficial.


title: Binge drinking

text: Understanding consumer personality and how people view others is important. People were shown ads talking of the harmful effects of binge drinking. People who valued close friends as a sense of who they are, were less likely to want to binge drink after seeing an ad featuring them and a close friend. People who were loners or who did not see close friends important to their sense of who they were reacted better to ads featuring an individual. A similar pattern was shown for ads showing a person driving at dangerous speeds. This suggests ads showing potential harm to citizens from binge drinking or dangerous driving are less effective than ads highlighting a person's close friends.


title: Binge drinking

text: In 2009 the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing spent $53.5 million Australian Dollars on National Binge Drinking Strategy to target young Australians. This campaign titled "Don't Turn a Night Out Into a Nightmare" was delivered to the public over many mass media platforms to show the harms and consequences of risky single occasion drinking (RSOD) as binge drinking is defined in Australia. Evidence as to the effectiveness of these types of campaigns is mixed. Research needs to be completed to ensure that the effectiveness of the messages are resulting in a positive shift in the behaviours of the target audience.


title: Binge drinking

text: Due to the risks especially in adolescents, of cognitive impairments and possible irreversible brain damage associated with binge drinking, urgent action has been recommended. There is some evidence that interventions by employers such as, health and lifestyle checks, psychosocial skills training and peer referral, can reduce the level of binge drinking. In the US brief motivational interventions have shown some benefit in reducing future binge drinking.


title: Binge drinking

text: Adolescents who misuse alcohol can benefit from interventions aimed at risk reduction. For more severe cases an intervention involving parents, guardians, or a psychotherapist is recommended. An effective strategy of intervention for adolescents whose binge drinking leads to admission to hospital, e.g. for alcohol poisoning or injury, is manualised brief interventions at the hospital in one to four counseling sessions each lasting 30 to 60 minutes conducted by trained staff. Evaluation of personal pattern of drinking and associated risks and an emphasis on personal responsibility in a non-condescending manner is recommended during the intervention; discussing and informing and educating the adolescent of possible negative short and long-term consequences of drinking is recommended. The setting of goals and rules to achieve those goals is also recommended during intervention with problem binge drinking adolescents. Motivational enhancement therapy also shows promise as a treatment.


title: Binge drinking

text: Increasing public information and awareness regarding the risks of binge drinking, conducting interviews in emergency departments of young people suspected of harmful drinking patterns and trying to persuade them to accept individual counseling in youth addiction counseling services are effective strategies for reducing the harm of binge drinking. Encouraging recreational and adventurous training activities such as climbing or driving can be used alternative "natural buzzes" to alcohol misuse. Additionally, the provision of educational content about the risks of binge drinking and a risk assessment are beneficial during intervention with young binge drinkers and a referral in the case of an alcohol use disorder for specialised help.


title: Binge drinking

text: According to the NIAAA definition of "heavy drinkers", men may be at risk for alcohol-related problems if their alcohol consumption exceeds 14 standard drinks per week or four drinks per day, and women may be at risk if they have more than seven standard drinks per week or three drinks per day. Despite this risk, a 2014 report in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that only 10% of either "heavy drinkers" or "binge drinkers" also met the criteria for alcohol dependence, while only 1.3% of non-binge drinkers met this criteria. An inference drawn in this study is that evidence-based policy strategies and clinical preventive services may effectively reduce binge drinking without requiring addiction treatment in most cases.


title: Binge drinking

text: Binge drinking is more common in men than it is in women. Among students in the US, approximately 50% of men and 39% of women binge drink. Racial differences exist among binge drinking with Hispanics followed by Caucasians having the highest level of binge drinking. Caucasians have been found to be nearly twice as likely to binge drink than blacks. It is a common pattern among Native Americans.


title: Binge drinking

text: Among the Australian youth population, 31% of males and 14% of women aged 15–17 years engage in risky alcohol consumption.


title: Binge drinking

text: Individuals of African descent have a lower level of binge drinking followed by those of Asian descent. In the case of Asians their low level of binge drinking may be due to the presence of the aldehyde dehydrogenase gene (ALDH2, Chromosome 12) in many (but by no means the vast majority) that results in poor metabolism of alcohol, which leads to severe adverse effects such as facial flushing.


title: Binge drinking

text: Men are more likely to binge drink (up to 81% of alcohol binges are done by men) than women and men are also more likely to develop alcohol dependence than women. People who are homozygous for the ALDH2 gene are less likely to binge-drink due to severe adverse effects that occur even with moderate amounts of alcohol consumption.


title: Binge drinking

text: College students have been found to be more likely to binge drink than their same age peers who were not enrolled in college. In the US, this effect has caused serious problems with the country's legal drinking age. This effect is more prevalent in women than in men.


title: Binge drinking

text: Other factors that have been found to correlate with higher levels of binge drinking include low religiosity, marijuana use, living with roommates, and cigarette use.


title: Binge drinking

text: Binge drinking costs the UK economy approximately £20 billion a year; 17 million working days are estimated to be lost due to hangovers and drink-related illness each year. The cost of binge drinking to employers is estimated to be £6.4 billion and the cost per year of alcohol harm is estimated to cost the National Health Service £2.7 billion. Urgent action has been recommended to understand the binge drinking culture and its aetiology and pathogenesis and urgent action has been called for to educate people with regard to the dangers of binge drinking.


title: Binge drinking

text: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study in October 2011 that showed that in the United States binge drinking costs society $223 billion a year, which amounts to $2 per drink. These costs include health care costs for alcohol-related issues, including liver cirrhosis, loss of work productivity, property damage due to drunk driving, and expenditures related to criminal acts. Overall, 11.9% of binge drinkers drove during or within two hours of their most recent binge drinking episode. Those drinking in licensed establishments (bars, clubs, and restaurants) accounted for 54.3% of these driving episodes. Significant independent risk factors for driving after binge drinking included male gender (AOR=1.75); being aged 35–54 or ≥55 years compared to 18–34 years (AOR=1.58 and 2.37, respectively); and drinking in bars or clubs compared to drinking in the respondent's home (AOR=7.81). Drivers who drank most of their alcohol in licensed establishments consumed an average of 8.1 drinks, and 25.7% of them consumed ≥10 drinks.


title: Binge drinking

text: Women become intoxicated more quickly than men, and experience a higher blood alcohol level. This difference in effect occurs even when a woman's body weight and consumption of alcohol are the same as that of a man. Because of these discrepancies, college-age women tend to experience the consequences of binge drinking before their male counterparts.


title: Binge drinking

text: There is no known safe level of alcohol consumption either when trying to get pregnant or during pregnancy. With alcohol abuse remaining highly stigmatized—particularly in the case of pregnant women—some advocate for treatment programs to focus on a non-judgmental stance, on personal empowerment, and on offering contraceptives to women engaging in sex, in order to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.


title: Binge drinking

text: However, men are almost twice as likely to partake in excessive drinking than women, there being a higher rate of alcohol-related hospitalizations among males than females. Researchers from Columbia and Yale found the discrepancy could be due to the fact men release more dopamine during alcohol consumption than women. The increased neurochemical release causing a stronger association with pleasure and alcohol intoxication. "This may contribute to the initial reinforcing properties of alcohol and the risk for habit formation".


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: A penalty kick (commonly known as a penalty or a spot kick) is a method of restarting play in association football, in which a player is allowed to take a single shot at the goal while it is defended only by the opposing team's goalkeeper. It is awarded when an offence punishable by a direct free kick is committed by a player in their own penalty area. The shot is taken from the penalty mark, which is 11 m (12 yards) from the goal line and centred between the touch lines.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The ball is placed on the penalty mark, regardless of where in the penalty area the foul occurred. The player taking the kick must be identified to the referee. Only the kicker and the defending team's goalkeeper are allowed to be within the penalty area; all other players must be within the field of play, outside the penalty area, behind the penalty mark, and a minimum of 9.15m (10 yd) from the penalty mark (this distance is denoted by the penalty arc). The goalkeeper is allowed to move before the ball is kicked, but must remain on the goal-line between the goal-posts, facing the kicker, without touching the goalposts, crossbar, or goal net. At the moment the kick is taken, the goalkeeper must have at least part of one foot touching, or in line with, the goal line. The assistant referee responsible for the goal line where the penalty kick is being taken is positioned at the intersection of the penalty area and goal line, and assists the referee in looking for infringements and/or whether a goal is scored.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The referee blows the whistle to indicate that the penalty kick may be taken. The kicker may make feinting (deceptive or distracting) movements during the run-up to the ball, but may not do so once the run-up is completed. The kick and the last step the kicker takes must be in motion. The ball must be stationary before the kick, and it must be kicked forward. The ball is in play once it is kicked and moves, and at that time other players may enter the penalty area and penalty arc. The kicker may not touch the ball a second time until it has been touched by another player of either team or goes out of play (including into the goal).


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In case of an infringement of the laws of the game during a penalty kick, most commonly entering the penalty area illegally, the referee must consider both whether the ball entered the goal, and which team(s) committed the offence. If both teams commit an offence, a rekick is taken.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The following infringements committed by the kicking team result in an indirect free kick for the defending team, regardless of the outcome of the kick:


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In the case of a player repeatedly infringing the laws during the penalty kick, the referee may caution the player for persistent infringement. All offences that occur before kick may be dealt with in this manner, regardless of the location of the offence.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: If the ball touches an outside agent (i.e., an object foreign to the playing field) as it moves forward from the kick, the kick is retaken.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: A two-man penalty, or "tap" penalty, occurs when the kicker, instead of shooting for goal, taps the ball slightly forward so that a teammate can run on to it and shoot or pass. If properly executed, it is a legal play since the kicker is not required to shoot for goal and need only kick the ball forward. This strategy relies heavily on the element of surprise, as it first requires the goalkeeper to believe the kicker will actually shoot, then dive or move to one side in response. It then requires the goalkeeper to remain out of position long enough for the kicker's teammate to reach the ball before any defenders, and for that teammate to place a shot on the undefended side of the goal.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The first recorded tap penalty was taken by Jimmy McIlroy and Danny Blanchflower of Northern Ireland against Portugal on 1 May 1957. Another was taken by Rik Coppens and André Piters in the World Cup Qualifying match Belgium v Iceland on 5 June 1957. Another attempt was made by Mike Trebilcock and John Newman, playing for Plymouth Argyle in 1964. In 1982, Johan Cruyff passed to his Ajax team-mate Jesper Olsen, who then passed back, allowing Cruyff to tap in for goal.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Arsenal players Thierry Henry and Robert Pires failed in an attempt at a similar penalty in 2005, during a Premier League match against Manchester City at Highbury. Pires ran in to take the kick, attempted to pass to the onrushing Henry, but miskicked and the ball hardly moved; as he had slightly touched the ball, he could not touch it again, and City defender Sylvain Distin cleared the ball before Henry could shoot.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Lionel Messi tapped a penalty for Luis Suárez as Suárez completed his hat-trick on 14 February 2016 against league opponents Celta de Vigo.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Defending against a penalty kick is one of the most difficult tasks a goalkeeper can face. Owing to the short distance between the penalty spot and the goal, there is very little time to react to the shot. Because of this, the goalkeeper will usually start their dive before the ball is actually struck. In effect, the goalkeeper must act on their best prediction about where the shot will be aimed. Some goalkeepers decide which way they will dive beforehand, thus giving themselves a good chance of diving in time. Others try to read the kicker's motion pattern. On the other side, kickers often feign and prefer a relatively slow shot in an attempt to foil the goalkeeper. The potentially most fruitful approach, shooting high and centre, i.e., in the space that the goalkeeper will evacuate, also carries the highest risk of shooting above the bar.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: As the shooter makes their approach to the ball, the goalkeeper has only a fraction of a second to "read" the shooter's motions and decide where the ball will go. If their guess is correct, this may result in a missed penalty. Helmuth Duckadam, Steaua București's goalkeeper, saved a record four consecutive penalties in the 1986 European Cup Final against Barcelona. He dived three times to the right and a fourth time to his left to save all penalties taken, securing victory for his team.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: A goalkeeper may also rely on knowledge of the shooter's past behaviour to inform his decision. An example of this would be by former Netherlands national team goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen, who always had a box with cards with all the information about the opponent's penalty specialist. Ecuadorian goalkeeper Marcelo Elizaga saving a penalty from Carlos Tevez in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Ecuador and Argentina, revealed that he had studied some penalty kicks from Tevez and suspected he was going to shoot to the goalkeeper's left side. Two other examples occurred during the 2006 FIFA World Cup:


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: This approach may not always be successful; the player may intentionally switch from their favoured spot after witnessing the goalkeeper obtaining knowledge of their kicks. Most times, especially in amateur football, the goalkeeper is often forced to guess. Game theoretic research shows that both the penalty taker and also the goalkeeper must randomize their strategies in precise ways to avoid having the opponent take advantage of their predictability.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The goalkeeper also may try to distract the penalty taker, as the expectation is on the penalty taker to succeed, hence more pressure on the penalty taker, making them more vulnerable to mistakes. For example, in the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar pointed to his left side when Nicolas Anelka stepped up to take a shot in the penalty shoot out. This was because all of Chelsea's penalties went to the left. Anelka's shot instead went to Van der Sar's right, which was saved. Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar used a method of distracting the players called the "spaghetti legs" trick to help his club defeat Roma to win the 1984 European Cup. This tactic was emulated in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, which Liverpool also won, by Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, helping his team defeat Milan.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: An illegal method of saving penalties is for the goalkeeper to make a quick and short jump forward just before the penalty taker connects with the ball. This not only shuts down the angle of the shot, but also distracts the penalty taker. The method was used by Brazilian goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel. FIFA was less strict on the rule during that time. In more recent times, FIFA has advised all referees to strictly obey the rule book.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Similarly, a goalkeeper may also attempt to delay a penalty by cleaning their boots, asking the referee to see if the ball is placed properly and other delaying tactics. This method builds more pressure on the penalty taker, but the goalkeeper may risk punishments, most likely a yellow card.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: A goalkeeper can also try to distract the taker by talking to them prior to the penalty being taken. Netherlands national team goalkeeper Tim Krul used this technique during the penalty shootout in the quarter-final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup against Costa Rica. As the Costa Rican players were preparing to take the kick, Krul told them that he "knew where they were going to put their penalty" in order to "get in their heads". This resulted in him saving two penalties and the Netherlands winning the shootout 4–3.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Even if the goalkeeper succeeds in blocking the shot, the ball may rebound back to the penalty taker or one of his teammates for another shot, with the goalkeeper often in a poor position to make a second save. This makes saving penalty kicks more difficult. This is not a concern in penalty shoot-outs, where only a single shot is permitted.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: While penalty kicks are considerably more often successful than not, missed penalty kicks are not uncommon: for instance, of the 78 penalty kicks taken during the 2005–06 English Premier League season, 57 resulted in a goal, thus almost 30% of the penalties were unsuccessful.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: A German professor who has been studying penalty statistics in the German Bundesliga for 16 years found 76% of all the penalties during those 16 years went in, and 99% of the shots in the higher half of the goal went in, although the higher half of the goal is a more difficult target to aim at. During his career, Italian striker Roberto Baggio had two occurrences where his shot hit the upper bar, bounced downwards, rebounded off the keeper and passed the goal line for a goal.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Some goalkeepers have become well known for their ability to save penalty kicks. One such goalkeeper is Brazil's and Flamengo's Diego Alves, who boasts a 49 percent save success rate. Other goalkeepers with high save rates include Claudio Bravo, Kevin Trapp, Samir Handanović, Gianluigi Buffon, Tim Krul, Danijel Subašić, and Manuel Neuer.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: A penalty kick is awarded whenever one of the following offences is committed by a player within that player's own penalty area while the ball is in play (the ball must be in play at the time of the offence, but it does "not" need to be within the penalty area at that time).


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: A penalty kick is also awarded if, while the ball is in play, a player, substitute, substituted player, sent-off player or team official commits any direct free-kick offence against a match official or against an opposing player, substitute, substituted player, sent-off player, or team official outside the field of play, provided that the closest boundary line to the location of the offence is within the offending team's own penalty area.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The original laws of the game, in 1863, had no defined punishments for infringements of the rules. In 1872, the indirect free kick was introduced as a punishment for illegal handling of the ball; it was later extended to other offences. This indirect free-kick was thought to be an inadequate remedy for a handball which prevented an otherwise-certain goal. As a result of this, in 1882 a law was introduced to award a goal to a team prevented from scoring by an opponent's handball. This law lasted only one season before being abolished in 1883.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The invention of the penalty kick is credited to the goalkeeper and businessman William McCrum in 1890 in Milford, County Armagh. The Irish Football Association presented the idea to the International Football Association Board's 1890 meeting, where it was deferred until the next meeting in 1891.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Two incidents in the 1890–1 season lent additional force to the argument for the penalty kick. On 20 December 1890, in the Scottish Cup quarter-final between East Stirlingshire and Heart of Midlothian Jimmy Adams fisted the ball out from under the bar, and on 14 February 1891, there was a blatant goal-line handball by a Notts County player in the FA Cup quarter-final against Stoke City


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Finally after much debate, the International Football Association Board approved the idea on 2 June 1891. The penalty-kick law ran:


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The world's first penalty kick was awarded to Airdrieonians in 1891 at Broomfield Park, and the first penalty kick in the Football League was awarded to Wolverhampton Wanderers in their match against Accrington at Molineux Stadium on 14 September 1891. The penalty was taken and scored by Billy Heath as Wolves went on to win the game 5–0.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1892, the player taking the penalty-kick was forbidden to kick the ball again before the ball had touched another player. A provision was also added that "[i]f necessary, time of play shall be extended to admit of the penalty kick being taken".


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1902, the penalty area was introduced with its current dimensions (a rectangle extending from the goal-posts). The penalty spot was also introduced, from the goal. All other players were required to be outside the penalty area.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1923, all other players were required to be at least from the penalty-spot (in addition to being outside the penalty-area). This change was made in order to stop defenders from lining up on the edge of the penalty area to impede the player taking the kick.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1930, a footnote was appended to the laws, stating that "the goal-keeper must not move his feet until the penalty kick has been taken".


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1937, an arc (colloquially known as the "D") was added to the pitch markings, to assist in the enforcement of the restriction. The goal-keeper was required to stand between the goal-posts.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1939, it was specified that the ball must travel the distance of its circumference before being in play. In 1997, this requirement was eliminated: the ball became in play as soon as it was kicked and moved forward. In 2016, it was specified that the ball must "clearly" move.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1995, all other players were required to remain behind the penalty spot. The Scottish Football Association claimed that this new provision would "eliminate various problems which have arisen regarding the position of players who stand in front of the penalty-mark at the taking of a penalty-kick as is presently permitted".


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: In 1997, the goal-keeper was once again allowed to move the feet, and was also required to face the kicker.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The question of "feinting" during the run-up to a penalty was popularized by Pelé in the 1970s and it was called "paradinha", which in Portuguese means "little stop. It has occupied the International FA Board since 1982, when it was decided that "if a player stops in his run-up it is an offence for which he shall be cautioned (for ungentlemanly conduct) by the referee". However, in 1985 the same body reversed itself, deciding that the "assumption that feigning was an offence" was "wrong", and that it was up to the Referee to decide whether any instance should be penalized as ungentlemanly conduct. From 2000 to 2006, documents produced by IFAB specified that feinting during the run-up to a penalty-kick was permitted. In 2007, this guidance emphasized that "if in the opinion of the referee the feinting is considered an act of unsporting behaviour, the player shall be cautioned". In 2010, because of concern over "an increasing trend in players feinting a penalty kick to deceive the goalkeeper", a proposal was adopted to specify that while "feinting in the run-up to take a penalty kick to confuse opponents is permitted as part of football", "feinting to kick the ball once the player has completed his run-up is considered an infringement of Law 14 and an act of unsporting behaviour for which the player must be cautioned".


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Since its introduction in 1891, a penalty kick has been awarded for two broad categories of offences:


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The number of offences eligible for punishment by a penalty-kick, small when initially introduced in 1891, expanded rapidly thereafter. This led to some confusion: for example, in September 1891, a referee awarded a penalty kick against a goalkeeper who "[lost] his temper and [kicked] an opponent", even though under the 1891 laws this offence was punishable only by an indirect free-kick.


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: The table below shows the punishments specified by the laws for offences involving handling the ball or physical contact, between 1890 and 1903:


title: Penalty kick (association football)

text: Since 1903, the offences for which a penalty kick is awarded within the defending team's penalty area have been identical to those for which a direct free kick is awarded "outside" the defending team's penalty area. These consisted of handball (excluding technical handling offences by the goalkeeper), and foul play, with the following exceptions (which were punished instead by an indirect free kick in the penalty area):


title: Spectral theorem

text: In mathematics, particularly linear algebra and functional analysis, a spectral theorem is a result about when a linear operator or matrix can be diagonalized (that is, represented as a diagonal matrix in some basis). This is extremely useful because computations involving a diagonalizable matrix can often be reduced to much simpler computations involving the corresponding diagonal matrix. The concept of diagonalization is relatively straightforward for operators on finite-dimensional vector spaces but requires some modification for operators on infinite-dimensional spaces. In general, the spectral theorem identifies a class of linear operators that can be modeled by multiplication operators, which are as simple as one can hope to find. In more abstract language, the spectral theorem is a statement about commutative C*-algebras. See also spectral theory for a historical perspective.


title: Spectral theorem

text: Examples of operators to which the spectral theorem applies are self-adjoint operators or more generally normal operators on Hilbert spaces.


title: Spectral theorem

text: The spectral theorem also provides a canonical decomposition, called the spectral decomposition, of the underlying vector space on which the operator acts.


title: Spectral theorem

text: Augustin-Louis Cauchy proved the spectral theorem for symmetric matrices, i.e., that every real, symmetric matrix is diagonalizable. In addition, Cauchy was the first to be systematic about determinants. The spectral theorem as generalized by John von Neumann is today perhaps the most important result of operator theory.


title: Spectral theorem

text: This article mainly focuses on the simplest kind of spectral theorem, that for a self-adjoint operator on a Hilbert space. However, as noted above, the spectral theorem also holds for normal operators on a Hilbert space.


title: Spectral theorem

text: We begin by considering a Hermitian matrix on formula_1 (but the following discussion will be adaptable to the more restrictive case of symmetric matrices on formula_2). We consider a Hermitian map on a finite-dimensional complex inner product space endowed with a positive definite sesquilinear inner product formula_3. The Hermitian condition on formula_4 means that for all ,


title: Spectral theorem

text: An equivalent condition is that , where is the Hermitian conjugate of . In the case that is identified with a Hermitian matrix, the matrix of can be identified with its conjugate transpose. (If is a real matrix, then this is equivalent to , that is, is a symmetric matrix.)


title: Spectral theorem

text: This condition implies that all eigenvalues of a Hermitian map are real: it is enough to apply it to the case when is an eigenvector. (Recall that an eigenvector of a linear map is a (non-zero) vector such that for some scalar . The value is the corresponding eigenvalue. Moreover, the eigenvalues are roots of the characteristic polynomial.)


title: Spectral theorem

text: Theorem. If is Hermitian on , then there exists an orthonormal basis of consisting of eigenvectors of . Each eigenvalue is real.


title: Spectral theorem

text: We provide a sketch of a proof for the case where the underlying field of scalars is the complex numbers.


title: Spectral theorem

text: By the fundamental theorem of algebra, applied to the characteristic polynomial of , there is at least one eigenvalue and eigenvector . Then since


title: Spectral theorem

text: we find that is real. Now consider the space , the orthogonal complement of . By Hermiticity, is an invariant subspace of . Applying the same argument to shows that has an eigenvector . Finite induction then finishes the proof.


title: Spectral theorem

text: The spectral theorem holds also for symmetric maps on finite-dimensional real inner product spaces, but the existence of an eigenvector does not follow immediately from the fundamental theorem of algebra. To prove this, consider as a Hermitian matrix and use the fact that all eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix are real.


title: Spectral theorem

text: The matrix representation of in a basis of eigenvectors is diagonal, and by the construction the proof gives a basis of mutually orthogonal eigenvectors; by choosing them to be unit vectors one obtains an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors. can be written as a linear combination of pairwise orthogonal projections, called its spectral decomposition. Let


title: Spectral theorem

text: be the eigenspace corresponding to an eigenvalue . Note that the definition does not depend on any choice of specific eigenvectors. is the orthogonal direct sum of the spaces where the index ranges over eigenvalues.


title: Spectral theorem

text: In other words, if denotes the orthogonal projection onto , and are the eigenvalues of , then the spectral decomposition may be written as


title: Spectral theorem

text: If the spectral decomposition of "A" is formula_9, then formula_10 and formula_11 for any scalar formula_12 It follows that for any polynomial one has


title: Spectral theorem

text: The spectral decomposition is a special case of both the Schur decomposition and the singular value decomposition.


title: Spectral theorem

text: The spectral theorem extends to a more general class of matrices. Let be an operator on a finite-dimensional inner product space. is said to be normal if . One can show that is normal if and only if it is unitarily diagonalizable. Proof: By the Schur decomposition, we can write any matrix as , where is unitary and is upper-triangular.


title: Spectral theorem

text: If is normal, then one sees that . Therefore, must be diagonal since a normal upper triangular matrix is diagonal (see normal matrix). The converse is obvious.


title: Spectral theorem

text: where is a diagonal matrix. Then, the entries of the diagonal of are the eigenvalues of . The column vectors of are the eigenvectors of and they are orthonormal. Unlike the Hermitian case, the entries of need not be real.


title: Spectral theorem

text: In the more general setting of Hilbert spaces, which may have an infinite dimension, the statement of the spectral theorem for compact self-adjoint operators is virtually the same as in the finite-dimensional case.


title: Spectral theorem

text: Theorem. Suppose is a compact self-adjoint operator on a (real or complex) Hilbert space . Then there is an orthonormal basis of consisting of eigenvectors of . Each eigenvalue is real.


title: Spectral theorem

text: As for Hermitian matrices, the key point is to prove the existence of at least one nonzero eigenvector. One cannot rely on determinants to show existence of eigenvalues, but one can use a maximization argument analogous to the variational characterization of eigenvalues.


title: Spectral theorem

text: If the compactness assumption is removed, then it is "not" true that every self-adjoint operator has eigenvectors.


title: Spectral theorem

text: The next generalization we consider is that of bounded self-adjoint operators on a Hilbert space. Such operators may have no eigenvalues: for instance let be the operator of multiplication by on formula_15, that is,


title: Spectral theorem

text: This operator does not have any eigenvectors "in" formula_15, though it does have eigenvectors in a larger space. Namely the distribution formula_18, where formula_19 is the Dirac delta function, is an eigenvector when construed in an appropriate sense. The Dirac delta function is however not a function in the classical sense and does not lie in the Hilbert space or any other Banach space. Thus, the delta-functions are "generalized eigenvectors" of formula_4 but not eigenvectors in the usual sense.


title: Spectral theorem

text: In the absence of (true) eigenvectors, one can look for subspaces consisting of "almost eigenvectors". In the above example, for example, where formula_21 we might consider the subspace of functions supported on a small interval formula_22 inside formula_23. This space is invariant under formula_4 and for any formula_25 in this subspace, formula_26 is very close to formula_27. In this approach to the spectral theorem, if formula_4 is a bounded self-adjoint operator, then one looks for large families of such "spectral subspaces". Each subspace, in turn, is encoded by the associated projection operator, and the collection of all the subspaces is then represented by a projection-valued measure.


title: Spectral theorem

text: One formulation of the spectral theorem expresses the operator as an integral of the coordinate function over the operator's spectrum formula_29 with respect to a projection-valued measure.


title: Spectral theorem

text: When the self-adjoint operator in question is compact, this version of the spectral theorem reduces to something similar to the finite-dimensional spectral theorem above, except that the operator is expressed as a finite or countably infinite linear combination of projections, that is, the measure consists only of atoms.


title: Spectral theorem

text: An alternative formulation of the spectral theorem says that every bounded self-adjoint operator is unitarily equivalent to a multiplication operator. The significance of this result is that multiplication operators are in many ways easy to understand.


title: Spectral theorem

text: The spectral theorem is the beginning of the vast research area of functional analysis called operator theory; see also the spectral measure.


title: Spectral theorem

text: There is also an analogous spectral theorem for bounded normal operators on Hilbert spaces. The only difference in the conclusion is that now may be complex-valued.


title: Spectral theorem

text: There is also a formulation of the spectral theorem in terms of direct integrals. It is similar to the multiplication-operator formulation, but more canonical.


title: Spectral theorem

text: Let formula_4 be a bounded self-adjoint operator and let formula_32 be the spectrum of formula_4. The direct-integral formulation of the spectral theorem associates two quantities to formula_4. First, a measure formula_35 on formula_32, and second, a family of Hilbert spaces formula_37 We then form the direct integral Hilbert space


title: Spectral theorem

text: The elements of this space are functions (or "sections") formula_39 such that formula_40 for all formula_41.


title: Spectral theorem

text: The spaces formula_42 can be thought of as something like "eigenspaces" for formula_4. Note, however, that unless the one-element set formula_44 has positive measure, the space formula_42 is not actually a subspace of the direct integral. Thus, the formula_42's should be thought of as "generalized eigenspace"—that is, the elements of formula_42 are "eigenvectors" that do not actually belong to the Hilbert space.


title: Spectral theorem

text: Although both the multiplication-operator and direct integral formulations of the spectral theorem express a self-adjoint operator as unitarily equivalent to a multiplication operator, the direct integral approach is more canonical. First, the set over which the direct integral takes place (the spectrum of the operator) is canonical. Second, the function we are multiplying by is canonical in the direct-integral approach: Simply the function formula_48.


title: Spectral theorem

text: A vector formula_25 is called a cyclic vector for formula_4 if the vectors formula_51 span a dense subspace of the Hilbert space. Suppose formula_4 is a bounded self-adjoint operator for which a cyclic vector exists. In that case, there is no distinction between the direct-integral and multiplication-operator formulations of the spectral theorem. Indeed, in that case, there is a measure formula_35 on the spectrum formula_29 of formula_4 such that formula_4 is unitarily equivalent to the "multiplication by formula_41" operator on formula_58. This result represents formula_4 simultaneously as a multiplication operator "and" as a direct integral, since formula_58 is just a direct integral in which each Hilbert space formula_42 is just formula_62.


title: Spectral theorem

text: Not every bounded self-adjoint operator admits a cyclic vector; indeed, by the uniqueness in the direct integral decomposition, this can occur only when all the formula_42's have dimension one. When this happens, we say that formula_4 has "simple spectrum" in the sense of spectral multiplicity theory. That is, a bounded self-adjoint operator that admits a cyclic vector should be thought of as the infinite-dimensional generalization of a self-adjoint matrix with distinct eigenvalues (i.e., each eigenvalue has multiplicity one).


title: Spectral theorem

text: Although not every formula_4 admits a cyclic vector, it is easy to see that we can decompose the Hilbert space as a direct sum of invariant subspaces on which formula_4 has a cyclic vector. This observation is the key to the proofs of the multiplication-operator and direct-integral forms of the spectral theorem.


title: Spectral theorem

text: One important application of the spectral theorem (in whatever form) is the idea of defining a functional calculus. That is, given a function formula_67 defined on the spectrum of formula_4, we wish to define an operator formula_69. If formula_67 is simply a positive power, formula_71, then formula_69 is just the formula_73 power of formula_4, formula_75. The interesting cases are where formula_67 is a nonpolynomial function such as a square root or an exponential. Either of the versions of the spectral theorem provides such a functional calculus. In the direct-integral version, for example, formula_69 acts as the "multiplication by formula_67" operator in the direct integral:


title: Spectral theorem

text: That is to say, each space formula_42 in the direct integral is a (generalized) eigenspace for formula_69 with eigenvalue formula_82.


title: Spectral theorem

text: Many important linear operators which occur in analysis, such as differential operators, are unbounded. There is also a spectral theorem for self-adjoint operators that applies in these cases. To give an example, every constant-coefficient differential operator is unitarily equivalent to a multiplication operator. Indeed, the unitary operator that implements this equivalence is the Fourier transform; the multiplication operator is a type of Fourier multiplier.


title: Spectral theorem

text: In general, spectral theorem for self-adjoint operators may take several equivalent forms. Notably, all of the formulations given in the previous section for bounded self-adjoint operators—the projection-valued measure version, the multiplication-operator version, and the direct-integral version—continue to hold for unbounded self-adjoint operators, with small technical modifications to deal with domain issues.


title: Mudskipper

text: Mudskippers are any of the 23 extant species of amphibious fish from the subfamily Oxudercinae of the goby family Oxudercidae. They are known for their unusual body shapes, preferences for semiaquatic habitats, limited terrestrial locomotion and jumping, and the ability to survive prolonged periods of time both in and out of water.


title: Mudskipper

text: Mudskippers can grow up to long, and most are a brownish green colour that range anywhere from dark to light. During mating seasons, the males will also develop brightly coloured spots in order to attract females, which can be red, green or blue. Unlike other fish, the mudskipper's eyes protrude from the top of its flat head. Their most noticeable feature however is their side pectoral fins that are located more forward and under their elongated body. These fins are jointed and function similarly to limbs, which allow the mudskipper to crawl from place to place. Although having the typical body form of any other gobiid fish, these front fins allow the mudskipper to actively "skip" across muddy surfaces (hence the common name) and even climb low-hanging tree branches and scrubs. Mudskippers have also been found to be able to leap distances of up to by laterally flexing and pushing with its tail.


title: Mudskipper

text: Oxudercinae is sometimes classified within the family Gobiidae (gobies). Recent molecular studies do not support this classification, as oxudercine gobies appear to be paraphyletic relative to amblyopine gobies (Gobiidae: Amblyopinae), thus being included in a distinct "Periophthalmus lineage", together with amblyopines. Mudskippers can be defined as oxudercine gobies that are "fully terrestrial for some portion of the daily cycle" (character 24 in Murdy, 1989). This would define the species of the genera "Boleophthalmus", "Periophthalmodon", "Periophthalmus", and "Scartelaos" as "mudskippers". However, field observations of "Zappa confluentus" suggest that this monotypic genus should be included in the definition.


title: Mudskipper

text: Mudskippers typically live in burrows in intertidal habitats, and exhibit unique adaptations to this environment that are not found in most intertidal fishes, which typically survive the retreat of the tide by hiding under wet seaweed or in tide pools. These burrows are most often characterised by their smooth and vaulted ceilings. The way the males dig these burrows has been found to be directly linked to their ability to survive submerged in almost anoxic water. It has also been found to play a crucial role in the development of the eggs within the burrow. Mudskippers are quite active when out of water, feeding and interacting with one another, for example, to defend their territories and court potential partners. Once the male has completed digging his burrow he will resurface and will begin attempting to attract a female through assorted yet typical displays. These displays consist of body undulations, different postures and energetic movements. Once the female has made her choice she will then proceed to follow the male into the burrow where she will lay hundreds of eggs and allow them to be fertilized. After fertilization occurs, the period of cohabitation between the male and female is rather short. Eventually, the female will leave and it is the male that ends up guarding the egg filled burrow from hungry predators.


title: Mudskipper

text: Perhaps the most interesting trait of the mudskipper is their ability to both survive and thrive in and out of water. When leaving the water and moving into a more dry environment on land they are still able to breathe using water that is trapped inside their rather large gill chambers. They are also able to absorb oxygen from the lining of their mouth and throat allowing them to stay out of water for long periods of time. In fact, it has been discovered that they spend up to three quarters of their life on land. They are found in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions, including the Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic coast of Africa.


title: Mudskipper

text: Compared with fully aquatic gobies, these specialised fish present a range of peculiar anatomical and ethological adaptations that allow them to move effectively on land as well as in the water. As their name implies, these fish use their fins to move around in a series of skips.


title: Mudskipper

text: Mudskippers have the ability to breathe through their skin and the lining of their mouth (the mucosa) and throat (the pharynx); this is only possible when the mudskippers are wet, limiting them to humid habitats and requiring that they keep themselves moist. This mode of breathing, similar to that employed by amphibians, is known as cutaneous respiration. Another important adaptation that aids breathing while out of water is their enlarged gill chambers, where they retain a bubble of air. These chambers close tightly when the fish is above water, due to a ventromedial valve of the gill slit, keeping the gills moist, and allowing them to function while exposed to air. Gill filaments are stiff and do not coalesce when out of water.


title: Mudskipper

text: The different species have adapted to various diets on the mudflats. "Boleophthalmus boddarti" is detritivorous, while others will eat small crabs, insects, snails and even other mudskippers.


title: Mudskipper

text: Digging deep burrows in soft sediments allows the fish to thermoregulate, avoid marine predators during the high tide when the fish and burrow are submerged, and lay their eggs. When the burrow is submerged, several mudskipper species maintain an air pocket inside it, which allows them to breathe in conditions of very low oxygen concentration.


title: Mudskipper

text: To reduce toxic ammonia production, mudskippers can suppress amino acid breakdown when exposed to air. Another method they use involves the partial breakdown of amino acids leading to the production of alanine, which also reduces ammonia production.


title: Mudskipper

text: Mudskippers can reduce the membrane permeability of their skin and acidify the water in their burrows to reduce levels of ammonia from the environment.


title: Mudskipper

text: The genus "Periophthalmus" is by far the most diverse and widespread genus of mudskipper. Eighteen species have been described. "Periophthalmus argentilineatus" is one of the most widespread and well-known species. It can be found in mangrove ecosystems and mudflats of East Africa and Madagascar east through the Sundarbans of Bengal, Southeast Asia to Northern Australia, southeast China, and southern Japan, to Samoa and Tonga Islands. It grows to a length of about 9.5 cm and is a carnivorous opportunist feeder. It feeds on small prey such as small crabs and other arthropods. However, a recent molecular study suggests that "P. argentilineatus" is in fact a complex of species, with at least three separate lineages, one in East Africa, and two in the Indo-Malayan region.


title: Mudskipper

text: Another species, "Periophthalmus barbarus", is the only oxudercine goby that inhabits the coastal areas of western Africa.


title: MGM Holdings

text: MGM Holdings, Inc. is an American holding company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, launched on February 11, 2005 by a creditor-oriented consortium as the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (from which the "MGM" initials were coined). It has been owned by Amazon since March 17, 2022.


title: MGM Holdings

text: MGM Holdings was formed on February 11, 2005, by a Sony-led consortium, and on April 8, 2005, it acquired MGM in a US$4.8 billion leveraged buyout. From that period until its emergence from bankruptcy on December 20, 2010, MGM Holdings was owned by Providence Equity Partners (29%), TPG Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group) (21%), Sony Corporation of America (20%), Comcast (20%), DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (7%), and Quadrangle Group (3%).


title: MGM Holdings

text: After being installed in August 2009 as MGM's new CEO, Stephen Cooper tried to convince MGM's lenders that they should restructure the company's long-term debt to allow the studio to continue with its current business model. The lenders refused to do so and argued that a sale was the only way to recoup their investment. Cooper agreed to conduct an auction to gauge the level of interest by potential buyers and the value of the assets for sale.


title: MGM Holdings

text: On November 12, 2009, MGM announced it was "beginning a process to explore various strategic alternatives including operating as a standalone entity, forming strategic partnerships and evaluating a potential sale of the company." Alternatives the company was exploring included the sale of the company or merger with another media firm, or an asset auction, which could have included the sale of its 4,000-title film and television library, the company logo, rights to the "James Bond" franchise, and half-ownership in the three "Hobbit" films. The studio also held out the possibility of gaining a large influx of cash from new investors, although industry analysts believed that alternative was unlikely to happen. Some industry analysts said sale of the studio could net $1.5 billion to $3 billion. Others pegged the value at between $2 billion to $2.5 billion. Potential buyers included Time Warner (which already owned the pre-May 1986 MGM library, had enough cash reserves, and co-produced the "Hobbit" films with MGM), Qualia Capital (a private equity fund led by Hollywood producer Amir Malin), 20th Century Fox (MGM's home entertainment distributor), and Lionsgate.


title: MGM Holdings

text: MGM also announced that its creditors agreed to a forbearance on the company's debt payments originally until January 31, 2010, but the forbearance was extended to March 31, 2010.


title: MGM Holdings

text: As of early December 2009, 16 companies had expressed interest in purchasing all or parts of MGM, although only two had actually negotiated a confidentiality agreement that would allow them to examine MGM's financial statements. "The Hollywood Reporter" said Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Lionsgate were the leading suitors for the company. Industry observers worried, however, that buyers might only bid on a few of MGM's assets such as the James Bond film franchise or "The Hobbit" film which would draw bids of less than $1 billion. At least one industry trade publication said creditors would accept offers amounting to $2 billion for parts or all of the studio. Even a bid or bids totalling $1.8 billion might be accepted, industry observers said, if the buyer agreed to "schmuck insurance" (the right to convert debt to equity, under certain conditions and time-frames). On December 18, press reports said that News Corporation's 20th Century Fox film studio had been interested in purchasing MGM, but it could not agree to the "restrictive" terms of MGM's nondisclosure agreement, which in part do not permit potential buyers to speak with MGM's creditors. The strict terms of the nondisclosure agreement also led two other potential buyers to refuse to participate, and several others were negotiating over the terms and unable to participate in the process. The due diligence process was "going slowly" one trade publication reported, with only four of the potential 20 companies participating as of December 18.


title: MGM Holdings

text: MGM originally set January 15, 2010 as the deadline to receive bids from the companies interested in acquiring the studio. However, fewer bids than expected were made. Reliance Entertainment, which has a joint venture with DreamWorks Pictures, joined the bidding on the deadline date. News Corp. reportedly signed a non-disclosure agreement on or about January 15, and was considering a bid. On January 17, the "New York Times" reported that bids had been received from Time Warner, Lionsgate, and a few smaller companies but that most of the offers were below the $2 billion minimum. Some of the bids may have been below $1 billion, and nearly all the bids would require MGM to file for bankruptcy first and shed its debt obligations. But the "Financial Times" said sources believed most bids were within the $1.5 to $2 billion range. Barclays Capital, a British investment bank, was quoted as saying, "We find it unlikely that MGM's creditors would cleanly agree to a sale price materially below $2bn." Time Warner, one media source reported, is seen by industry observers as the leading bidder since it already owns much of the MGM library and has large cash reserves. Qualia Capital, previously thought to be a potential bidder, has suggested that MGM's creditors could avoid forcing the studio into bankruptcy by agreeing to transform $500 million of debt into company stock (which would provide MGM with a cash infusion as well as eliminate a substantial portion of debt). By January 23, bids from Relativity Media (about $1.6 billion) and Reliance Entertainment (about $1.8 billion) were received as well. Six days later, MGM extended its deadline to March 31, and by the next day, News Corporation suggested that the company should offer MGM some cash to keep the company running.


title: MGM Holdings

text: MGM stated in February 2010 that the studio would likely be sold in the next four months and that "Hot Tub Time Machine" might be one of the last four films to bear the MGM name. However, some stated that the company might continue as a label for new James Bond productions, as well as other movie properties culled from the MGM library. A few weeks later, MGM set March 19 as a deadline to receive bids from companies interested in acquiring the studio, including Time Warner and Lionsgate, although Time Warner was considered the most likely to buy the studio since its Warner Bros. catalog already included all the pre-May 1986 MGM titles originally acquired by Ted Turner.


title: MGM Holdings

text: Eventually, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 3, 2010 and emerged on December 2 when the Federal Bankruptcy Court approved MGM's reorganization plan, which led to MGM's creditors taking over the company. On December 17, 2010, the company laid off about 50 staff members.


title: MGM Holdings

text: Following the emergence from bankruptcy, MGM's secured lenders, which include Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase, jointly owned MGM Holdings Inc, which in turn owns the Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. In December 2010, MGM named Spyglass partners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum as the co-Chairs and co-CEOs of the studio; and also appointed Ann Mather, the ex-Pixar CFO to head MGM's new board of directors. On December 29, 2010, MGM signed a new lease with New York-based group George Comfort & Sons for a 6-story building in the corner of 235–269 N. Beverly, leaving its old headquarters in Century City.


title: MGM Holdings

text: A late 2011 financial report revealed that MGM had acquired Tom Cruise's 30% stake in United Artists and once again owned 100% of UA.


title: MGM Holdings

text: In May 2012, MGM sold its minority non-voting shares of LAPTV to Fox International Channels while signing a long term contract for content with LAPTV. On July 31, 2012, MGM announced a deal with Carl Icahn, MGM's largest shareholder, to acquire his stake in MGM Holdings for US$590 million. The deal allowed MGM to set a market value of US$2.4-US$3 billion for the studio, in case it went public or sold to a strategic investor. On July 31, MGM sold MGM Networks, Inc. to Chellomedia, while retaining its US, Canada, UK, Germany and joint ventures in Brazil and Australia, to raise fund to buy out Carl Icahn and prepare for an IPO. Chellomedia (later acquired by AMC Networks and renamed the latter as AMC Networks International) has licensed the MGM brand and content to continue on the purchased MGM channels.


title: MGM Holdings

text: In September 2014, MGM acquired a 55% interest in One Three Media and Lightworkers Media, both operated by Hollywood producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. The two companies, along with UA, were consolidated into a new film and television company known as United Artists Media Group. On December 14, 2015, MGM announced that it had acquired the remaining 45% stake of UAMG it did not yet own. Downey and Burnett will receive stakes in MGM collectively valued at $233 million with Hearst receiving cash. Additionally, Burnett was promoted to CEO of MGM Television, replacing the outgoing Roma Khanna. The planned faith-based entertainment service will become a separate entity owned by MGM, Burnett, Downey, and Hearst.


title: MGM Holdings

text: In October 2017, MGM's board renewed Gary Barber's contract as chairman and CEO until December 2022. In February 2018, Chris Brearton, the former media M&A attorney of Latham and Watkins, was appointed as chief operating officer. On March 19, 2018, MGM Holdings announced that Barber had been fired by the studio's board of directors. MGM gave no reason for his firing. For the interim, the company would be led by the newly formed "Office of the CEO". The "Office of the CEO" is made up of divisional heads and senior executives. Later in April, MGM decided to use the rights to the 25th "James Bond" film as leverage for a possible sale of the studio, with Annapurna Pictures and Warner Bros. seen as potential bidders. On May 21, it is reported that Barber (who still owns 9% of MGM through stock options) is exploring a bid to acquire MGM and is speaking to investment banks about financing his offer. Instead, Barber sells his stock and options to MGM in June in a three-year stand-still on company-related matters.


title: MGM Holdings

text: In July 2018, MGM reset its debt capital structure to $2.5 billion which lowers the borrowing rate as MGM paid off the prior loan facility. This despite Moody's Investor Service reducing MGM on two key ratings because of increase TV spending and the departure of fiscally conservative Barber as CEO. Nancy Tellem, a director on the board since 2013, joined the company's Office of the CEO by February 7, 2019, with the title of executive director tasked with a long-term strategy. However, Tellem exited that position after six months in part due to clashes with Mark Burnett, TV group chairman. MGM's President of the Motion Picture Group, Jonathan Glickman, exited the company on February 1, 2020 with a first look deal starting with Aretha Franklin biographical "Respect" picture. Michael De Luca taking charge of the motion picture group as chairman effective March 1, 2020.


title: MGM Holdings

text: In December 2020, MGM began to explore a potential sale of the studio, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the domination of streaming platforms due to the closure of movie theaters as contributing factors, hiring Morgan Stanley and LionTree Advisors to handle the process on behalf of the studio. On May 17, 2021, Amazon entered negotiations to acquire the studio. On May 26, 2021, Amazon announced their intent to acquire the studio for $8.45 billion, with the studio and its units/assets continuing operations under the new parent company. The merger was completed on March 17, 2022. Later that day, Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Video senior vice president, Mike Hopkins, revealed that Amazon will continue to partner with United Artists Releasing (MGM and Annapurna's joint distribution venture), which will remain in operation to release all future MGM titles theatrically on a "case-by-case basis," while "all MGM employees will join my organization." It was also revealed that Amazon had no plans to make changes to the studio's production slate and release schedules nor make all MGM content exclusive to Prime Video, providing some hope that the studio would operate autonomously from Amazon Studios. These plans are expected to not impact the future of the James Bond franchise and its creative team. Two town hall meetings further detailing MGM's future post-merger took place on March 18, 2022, which included one for MGM employees and one for Amazon Studios/Prime Video employees. Both revealed the new interim reporting structure as part of Amazon's "phased integration plan," which would involve De Luca, Burnett and Brearton reporting to Hopkins on behalf of the studio. De Luca and Abdy announced their exits from the studio on April 27, 2022.


title: MGM Holdings

text: MGM Holdings directly or indirectly owns and controls about 160 affiliates, with the most notable being the following group companies:


title: Eagle Nebula

text: The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.


title: Eagle Nebula

text: The Eagle Nebula is part of a diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703. This region of active current star formation is about 5700 light-years distant. A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula in the northeastern part is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers long.


title: Eagle Nebula

text: The cluster associated with the nebula has approximately 8100 stars, which are mostly concentrated in a gap in the molecular cloud to the north-west of the Pillars.


title: Eagle Nebula

text: The brightest star (HD 168076) has an apparent magnitude of +8.24, easily visible with good binoculars. It is actually a binary star formed of an O3.5V star plus an O7.5V companion. This star has a mass of roughly 80 solar masses, and a luminosity up to 1 million times that of the Sun.


title: Eagle Nebula

text: The descriptive names reflect impressions of the shape of the central pillar rising from the southeast into the central luminous area. The name "Star Queen Nebula" was introduced by Robert Burnham, Jr., reflecting his characterization of the central pillar as the Star Queen shown in silhouette.


title: Eagle Nebula

text: Images produced by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen using the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 greatly improved scientific understanding of processes inside the nebula. One of these became famous as the "Pillars of Creation", depicting a large region of star formation. Its small dark pockets are believed to be protostars (Bok globules). The pillar structure resembles that of a much larger instance in the Soul Nebula of Cassiopeia, imaged with the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005 equally characterized as "Pillars of Star Creation". or "Pillars of Star Formation". These columns – which resemble stalagmites protruding from the floor of a cavern – are composed of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust, which act as incubators for new stars. Inside the columns and on their surface astronomers have found knots or globules of denser gas, called EGGs ("Evaporating Gaseous Globules"). Stars are being formed inside some of these.


title: Eagle Nebula

text: X-ray images from the Chandra observatory compared with Hubble's "Pillars" image have shown that X-ray sources (from young stars) do not coincide with the pillars, but rather randomly dot the nebula. Any protostars in the pillars' EGGs are not yet hot enough to emit X-rays.


title: Eagle Nebula

text: Evidence from the Spitzer Space Telescope originally suggested that the pillars in M16 may be threatened by a "past supernova". Hot gas observed by Spitzer in 2007 suggested they were already – likely – being disturbed by a supernova that exploded 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Due to the distance the main blast of light would have reached Earth for a brief time 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. A more slowly moving, theorized, shock wave would have taken a few thousand years to move through the nebula and would have blown away the delicate pillars. However, in 2014 the pillars were imaged a second time by Hubble, in both visible light and infrared light. The images being 20 years later provided a new, detailed account of the rate of evaporation occurring within the pillars. No supernova is evidenced within them, and it is estimated in some form they still exist – and will appear for at least 100,000 more years.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 October, 21 November and 26 December 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union. The last stages of the election were contested between the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych from the Party of Regions. It was later determined by the Ukrainian Supreme Court that the election was plagued by widespread falsification of the results in favour of Yanukovych.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: According to Ukraine's electoral law, a two-round system is used to elect the president in which a candidate must win a majority (50% or more) of all ballots cast. The first round of voting was held on 31 October. As no candidate had 50% or more of the votes cast a run-off ballot between the two-highest polling candidates, Yushchenko and Yanukovych, was held on 21 November. According to official Central Election Commission results announced on 23 November, the run-off election was won by Yanukovych. The election results were challenged by Yushchenko and his supporters, with many international observers claiming that the election was rigged.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The subsequent events led to a political crisis in Ukraine, with widespread peaceful protesters, dubbed the "Orange Revolution", calling for a re-run second round election. The Ukrainian Supreme Court annulled the official run-off results and ordered a repeat of second round ballot.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The final re-run ballot was held on 26 December. Viktor Yushchenko was declared the winner with 52 percent of the vote to Yanukovych's 44 percent. Western observers reported that the re-run ballot was considered overall fairer than the previous ballots.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The two main contenders in the election were the incumbent Prime Minister and government-supported candidate Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. Viktor Yanukovych, who was the Prime Minister since 2002, was supported by the outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, as well as by the Russian government and then president Vladimir Putin.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Viktor Yushchenko was portrayed as being more pro-Western and had received support of the European Union states and the United States.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On December 3, the Supreme Court of Ukraine declared the results of the November 21, 2004 run-off ballot to be invalid. The re-run ballot was held on December 26, 2004.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The preliminary ballot of the 2004 presidential election was held on October 31, 2004. The official results recorded Viktor Yushchenko with 39.87 percent and Victor Yanukovych with 39.32 percent of the votes cast. As no candidate had secured 50% or more votes required for outright victory, a run-off election was scheduled for November 21. Although a 75 percent turnout was recorded in the initial vote, observers reported many irregularities, particularly in the regions where Yushchenko's support was seen to be strongest. It was unclear how much of an impact this had on the result.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: A total of 28,035,184 voters participated in the first round of voting. Results of the preliminary vote were as follows:


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Following the November 21 run-off ballot, Ukraine's electoral commission declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych with 49.42% of the vote the winner with Viktor Yushchenko receiving 46.69% of the ballots cast. Observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the run-off vote "did not meet international standards" and U.S. senior election observer, Senator Richard Lugar, called it a "concerted and forceful program of election day fraud".


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The geographic distribution of the votes showed a clear east–west division of Ukraine, which is rooted deeply in the country's history. The western and central parts roughly correspond with the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century. They are considered more pro-Western, with the population mostly Ukrainian-speaking and Ukrainian Greek Catholic (Uniate) in the west or Ukrainian Orthodox in the center, and have voted predominantly for Yushchenko. The heavy-industrialized eastern part, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, where the links with Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church are much stronger, and which contains many ethnic Russians, is a Yanukovych stronghold.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Between the two rounds of the election, dramatic increases in turnout were recorded in Yanukovych-supporting regions, while Yushchenko-supporting regions recorded the same turnout or lower than recorded in the first round. This effect was most marked in eastern Ukraine and especially in Yanukovych's stronghold of Donetsk Oblast, where a turnout of 98.5% was reportedly claimed—more than 40% up from the first round. In some districts, turnout was recorded to be more than 100%, with one district reported by observers to have recorded a 127% turnout. According to election observers and post-election investigations, pro-Yanukovych activists traveled around the country and voted many times as absentees. Some groups dependent on government assistance, such as students, hospital patients and prisoners, were told to vote for the government candidate.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Many other alleged irregularities were reported, including ballot stuffing, intimidation at voting booths and huge numbers of new voters appearing on the electoral rolls—in Donetsk alone, half a million more voters were registered for the runoff election. Yanukovych won all but one of the regions where significant increases in turnout were noted. It was later determined by the Ukrainian Supreme Court that this was in fact due to widespread falsification of the results.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Many commentators saw the elections as being influenced by outside powers, notably the United States, the European Union and Russia, with the US and EU backing Yushchenko (Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Senator John McCain all visited Kyiv, in official or private capacities ), and Russian president Vladimir Putin publicly backing Yanukovych. In the media the two candidates were contrasted, with Yushchenko representing both the pro-Western Kyiv residents as well as the rural Ukrainians, whereas Yanukovych representing the Eastern, pro-Russian industrial laborers.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: More specifically it was considered that a Yushchenko victory would represent a halt of Ukraine's integration with the rest of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and possibly a cancellation of the Common Economic Space between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan that had already been agreed to by the Ukrainian parliament; he would instead be likely to increase attempts at further integration with Europe and a possible membership in the EU and NATO. Viktor Yanukovych had promised to make Russian an official language for Ukraine, as is also the case in other CIS member states Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The European Union made it clear that they would not recognize the results of the election. All 25 member countries of the EU summoned their ambassadors from Ukraine in order to register a sharp protest against what is seen as election fraud.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The European Union disputed the election process in Ukraine, with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso warning of consequences if there is no review of the election. During a meeting between Putin and EU officials in the Hague, the Russian president opposed the EU reaction by saying that he was "deeply convinced that we have no moral right to push a big European state to any kind of massive disorder."


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Among EU member countries, Ukraine's western neighbors were most concerned. In Poland, Ukraine's largest western neighbor, politicians, the media and ordinary citizens enthusiastically supported Yushchenko and opposed the election fraud. Polish deputies to the European Parliament have called for giving Ukraine the prospect of future EU membership provided the country uniformed to democratic standards. Western EU members are however more reluctant with the idea of Ukrainian membership in the EU, which results in Polish media accusing them of being more interested in the integration process with Turkey and maintaining good relations with Russia.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On November 25, former Ukrainian foreign minister and a close collaborator of Yushchenko, Borys Tarasyuk delivered a speech before the Polish Sejm, urging Poland not to recognize the election result and help solve the political crisis. On the same day former Polish President Lech Wałęsa went to Kyiv to publicly express his support for Viktor Yushchenko. He was later followed by a number of Polish MPs from different parties.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On November 26 the President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski arrived in Kyiv, followed on the same day by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Javier Solana and the Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The United States government also decided not to recognize the election, and expressed dissatisfaction with the results; the outgoing US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, unequivocally stated that the result announced could not be accepted as legitimate by the United States. President George W. Bush and various members of Congress made statements disclosing their concern over the legitimacy of the polling. Prominent former Cold War hawk Zbigniew Brzezinski cast the election as opposition to renewed Russian imperialism:


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: U.S. Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton jointly wrote a letter nominating Victor Yushchenko along with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for the Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination was unsuccessful.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Russia's president, Vladimir Putin congratulated Viktor Yanukovych, which was followed shortly afterward by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, on his victory before election results were officially declared. CIS election observers praised the second round of the elections as "legitimate and of a nature that reflected democratic standards", a view in direct contradiction to other monitoring organizations such as the ENEMO, the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and the IEOM.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Prominent hardliners in Russia cast the election as opposition to renewed Western imperialism. Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, for example, blames the West for interfering in the situation in Ukraine in the run-up to the October 31 presidential election:


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On November 28, Yury Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow, gave a speech denouncing the Ukrainian opposition, calling its members a "sabbath of witches" pretending to "represent the whole of the nation." Russian newspapers have printed increasingly shrill warnings, with the Communist party paper "Pravda" claiming: "NATO troops in Hungary and Poland are preparing to move, and Romanian and Slovakian military units have been put on alert. Ukrainian towns are in their sights."


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Several other CIS countries lined up with Russia in supporting Yanukovych. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko phoned Yanukovych to offer his own congratulations before the results had been officially declared. Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev wrote to Yanukovych that "Your victory shows that the Ukrainian people have made a choice in favour of the unity of the nation, of democratic development and economic progress." The presidents of Kyrgyzstan (Askar Akayev) and of Uzbekistan (Islam Karimov) likewise sent their congratulations. However, later Karimov criticized Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian election, saying that "Russia's excessive demonstration of its willingness to see a certain outcome in the vote has done more harm than good."


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: In contrast, the Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili indicated his support for the supporters of Yushchenko, saying that "What is happening in Ukraine today clearly attests to the importance of Georgia's example for the rest of the world." This was a reference to the Rose Revolution of late 2003. Indeed, Georgians have been highly visible in the demonstrations in Kyiv and the flag of Georgia has been among those on display in the city's Independence Square, while Yushchenko himself held up a rose in a seeming reference to the Rose Revolution. Moldova's Foreign Ministry issued a statement late November 2004 that stated "basic democratic principles were distorted" and expressed regret that the poll "lacked the objective criteria necessary for their recognition by both the citizens of Ukraine and the international community".


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Armenia and Azerbaijan kept more cautious positions, supporting neither side but stressing the need for Ukrainian unity.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On December 2, one day before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a repeat runoff ballot, President Kuchma visited Moscow to discuss the crisis with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Putin supported Kuchma's position of desiring wholly new elections, rather than just a repeat of the second round.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The final results of the rerun ballot recorded Viktor Yushchenko receiving 52.00% of the votes, with Viktor Yanukovych on 44.19% which represented a change in the vote by +5.39% to Yushchenko and -5.27% from Yanukovych.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Viktor Yanukovych conceded defeat on December 31, 2004, and subsequently resigned as Ukraine's Prime Minister the same day. Despite Yushchenko's victory in the second round of voting, the regional voting patterns remained largely unchanged between each round, with many southern and eastern provinces supporting Yanukovych, with the west and central regions favoring Yushchenko.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Ukraine's supreme court rejected an appeal lodged by Viktor Yanukovych against the electoral commission's conduct of the election on January 6.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On January 10 the Ukrainian Electoral Commission officially declared Viktor Yushchenko the winner and on January 11 published the final election results, clearing the way for Yushchenko to be inaugurated as Ukraine's third President. The official ceremonies took place on Sunday, January 23 at about noon, when Yushchenko undertook the constitutional oath was sworn in as president.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: In November 2009, Yanukovych stated that although his victory in the elections was "taken away", he gave up this victory in order to avoid bloodshed, commenting: "I didn't want mothers to lose their children and wives their husbands. I didn't want dead bodies from Kyiv to flow down the Dnipro. I didn't want to assume power through bloodshed."


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Despite alleged convincing evidence pointing to high-level involvement in the Kuchma administration and the Central Election Commission of Ukraine no criminal election fraud charges have been filed against any top officials. The prosecutor general did arrest several public figures on charges of election fraud in the first half of 2005, but no high-profile case was brought to court. On 23 September 2005 Yushchenko announced a pact with the Party of Regions in which he promised to look into an amnesty for those convicted of vote rigging during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections. One of the top election-fraud suspects, former CEC head Serhiy Kivalov, is a Party of Regions deputy who heads the Ukrainian Parliament's Judiciary Committee.


title: 2004 Ukrainian presidential election

text: During the 2010 presidential election-campaign, Viktor Yanukovych pledged to prevent electoral fraud during those elections, saying: "We will properly respond to all provocations and attempts to fake election results".


title: Topper Headon

text: Nicholas Bowen "Topper" Headon (born 30 May 1955) is an English drummer, best known as the drummer of punk rock band the Clash. Known for his instrumental contributions to the drumming world, Headon was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of The Clash in 2003.


title: Topper Headon

text: He joined the Clash in 1977 and became famed for his drumming skills. He received his nickname owing to his resemblance to Mickey the Monkey from the "Topper" comic.


title: Topper Headon

text: Headon spent his early childhood in Crockenhill, northwest Kent, before attending Dover Grammar School for Boys. He started playing drums at an early age and was a jazz fan, citing Billy Cobham as a strong influence. In 1973, he joined the cult progressive rock outfit Mirkwood. He appeared with them for a year and a half, and they supported major acts such as Supertramp. He later played with a band which opened for American R&B legends the Temptations and admits to falsely claiming that he played with the Temptations.


title: Topper Headon

text: Originally Headon joined the Clash in 1977 with the intention of establishing a reputation as a drummer before moving on to other projects, but he soon realised their full potential and remained with them for four-and-a-half years. His first live performance was at Le Chartreux Cinema, Rouen, France on April 26, 1977. Headon appeared on the albums "Give 'Em Enough Rope" (1978), "The Clash" (1979 US version), "London Calling" (1979), "Sandinista!" (1980) and "Combat Rock" (1982), as well as several landmark singles the Clash recorded during their early period. He performed lead vocal on "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" from "Sandinista" and composed most of the music and played drums, piano and bass guitar on the hit single "Rock the Casbah" from "Combat Rock". He also appeared on "Super Black Market Clash" (1993), which included B-sides from the band's single releases.


title: Topper Headon

text: Clash singer/guitarist Joe Strummer is quoted as saying Headon's drumming skills were a vital part of the band. Tensions rose between Headon and his fellow band members due to his addiction, and he left the band on 10 May 1982, at the beginning of the "Combat Rock" tour. The band covered up the real reason for Headon's departure, the apparent growing use of heroin, claiming Headon's exit was due to exhaustion. Strummer had even asked Headon once: "How can I be singing anti-drug songs with you sitting behind me?"


title: Topper Headon

text: In a later interview for the rockumentary "", he apologised for his addiction and speculated that, had he not been asked to leave the Clash, the band might have lasted longer and might possibly still be together. He also lamented that the best known Clash line-up had been considering a reunion at the time of Strummer's death, after the positive reunion during the "Westway to the World" rockumentary.


title: Topper Headon

text: After leaving the Clash, he was considered as drummer in Mick Jones's post-Clash band Big Audio Dynamite and played in a short-lived group called Samurai, with bassist Pete Farndon, guitarist Henry Padovani, organist Mick Gallagher, and vocalist Steve Allen (formerly of Deaf School). Headon subsequently focused on recording a solo album, "Waking Up" (1986), which featured Mick Gallagher, Bobby Tench and Jimmy Helms. He also released a cover version of the Gene Krupa instrumental "Drumming Man" as a single, which featured Headon's "DuKane Road" on the B-side. His own composition "Hope for Donna" was included on the Mercury Records sampler "Beat Runs Wild", in the same year. During the 1980s Headon produced albums for New York band Bush Tetras. In 1989 he contributed drums to the punk rock band Chelsea's "Underwraps" (1989).


title: Topper Headon

text: During the late 1980s Headon drove mini-cabs to finance his heroin addiction, and later busked on the London Underground with bongo drums.


title: Topper Headon

text: After a live show in 2002, he was informed of the death of Clash frontman Joe Strummer. An emotional Headon stated:


title: Topper Headon

text: Headon was extensively interviewed for the "" documentary film about the late Clash frontman, which was released in 2007. Headon related his experiences during this period, how he became addicted to heroin and how there were problems before his dismissal. Headon also stated that seeing the video of "Rock the Casbah" with "someone else (Terry Chimes) in "my" place playing "my" song" caused him to fall in even greater depression and heavier drug addiction.


title: Topper Headon

text: On 11 January 2008 he performed with Carbon/Silicon at the Carbon Casino Club in Portobello London, being included with the line-up of Mick Jones, Tony James, Leo Williams and Dominic Greensmith. Headon joined the band on stage during the Clash's "Train in Vain (Stand by Me)". An encore followed with Headon playing drums on "Should I Stay or Should I Go". This performance marked the first time since 1982 that Headon and Jones had performed together on stage.