title: Pulimurugan

text: According to Vysakh, while filming with tigers, the schedule was decided by the tigers and depending on their mood to perform. The tigers usually participated for an hour or two, mostly in the early morning or late evening. The maximum delay in production was caused by the decision to use a live tiger, which consumed the most days that account 10 percent of the total film. It took an overall 35 days to film the tiger episodes. Although graphics were also used, over 80 percent of the tiger scenes were filmed with a real tiger. The last 22 minutes of the film, the climax, was shot in 56 days. The tiger den shown in the climax was created in a studio set. Mohanlal joined for his remaining schedule in the third week of January 2016 for a two-week-long filming schedule. It was reported that on 27 January, Mohanlal's car was hit by a speeding tipper lorry at Illithode, Malayattoor, on his way to the location and he escaped unhurt. Later, his driver clarified that it was not Mohanlal's car but a crew vehicle. The final schedule continued until early February 2016, for re-shooting some sequences in the location in Ernakulam. Mohanlal, who gave 90-day dates for the filming, filmed for 115 days. The whole filming schedule was completed in 220 days. The film was initially planned with a 100 days schedule, with 60 days for Vysakh and 40 days for Hein for stunt choreography but Vysakh took 100 days and Hein took 120 days.


title: Pulimurugan

text: Hyderabad-based Firefly Creative Studio handled the visual effects for the film. The studio was suggested to the production team by Hein, who had earlier worked with them in "" (2015). There were only a few members from the VFX team present during film's pre-production work. The visual effects supervisor was Murali Manohar. Enough time was allowed for the VFX work. Four crore of the film's budget was spent on the visual effects. It took 200 days to complete post-production.


title: Pulimurugan

text: In August 2015, Mohanlal said in an interview with Amrita TV, "Pulimurugan" has an animal as the antagonist and the story goes through the emotions of the human and the animal. The film's tagline is "The Wild Hunter", which was revealed in the release of its first-look poster on 6 August 2015. According to website Onmanorama, the poster featuring Mohanlal illustrated his character as a hunter, looking "intense like a predator whose sight set on the prey and is getting ready to launch himself on it, right hand clutching the ground and right leg firmly dug into the soil gathering force, left hand spread like a wing to maintain the balance and left leg placed strategically to give additional thrust for the attack."


title: Pulimurugan

text: The story happens in a village called Puliyoor. Mohanlal plays Pulimurugan, a man who helps the villagers. According to Vysakh, unlike his earlier film, which he describes as "complete entertainers with a lot of colour and action", the colour palette used in "Pulimurugan" is "subdued and realistic". Because the story takes place in a forest village, an earthy colour tone was used in the film with mainly greens, browns and subtle yellows to keep it realistic.


title: Pulimurugan

text: "Pulimurugan" was initially planned for release at Christmas in December 2015; because filming was continuing the release was postponed until the Hindu festival of Vishu in April 2016. The release date was again postponed to July because filming was not completed before the deadline of March 10 and the two-and-a-half-month-long post-production work began at the end of March. The film's release was again postponed and was released on 7 October 2016.


title: Pulimurugan

text: The film was released in the United Arab Emirates and Gulf Cooperation Council on 3 November 2016. It was shown in 350 screens in 82 theatres, with 630 shows on the opening day; the largest-ever release for an Indian film, surpassing the records of "Kabali" (425 shows) and "Sultan" (225 shows). It was released in 140 screens in the United Kingdom on 4 November. "Pulimurugan" was released in Japan by Celluloid Japan with an initial release starting from 20 November 2016. The film was dubbed into Telugu-language as "Manyam Puli" and was released on 2 December 2016 in 500 screens across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and was distributed by Saraswathi Films.


title: Pulimurugan

text: The film was also dubbed in Tamil with the same title and was released on 19 May 2017 in 300 centers all over Tamil Nadu. The Tamil version was too a commercial success and also opened to a good response. RP Bala wrote the dialogues for the Tamil version.


title: Pulimurugan

text: On its opening day, "Pulimurugan" earned 4.05 crore in Kerala, making it the highest opening-day gross for a Malayalam film and the second-highest of any film (behind Tamil-language film "Kabali") in the state. "Pulimurugan" grossed 4.83 crore on Sunday 9 October, taking its 3-day gross to 12.91 crore and setting the record for the highest-opening-weekend at the state box office. In 5 days, "Pulimurugan"s earnings in Kerela exceeded20 crore; the fastest time for any film. In 8 days' theatrical run, the film is estimated to have grossed about 30 crore in the state.


title: Pulimurugan

text: "Pulimurugan" set a new Malayalam-film record by completing 10,000 full-house shows in 14 days, and grossed over 46 crore from theatres all over India, with 40 crore from Kerala alone. The film eaned 60 crore in 17 days of its theatrical run in India. In a month of its release, "Pulimurugan" became the first Malayalam film to gross 100 crore at the box office. Until 23 November 2016, the film grossed 125 crore worldwide. "Manyam Puli" after completing 50 days run collected 12 crore from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana box office. , "Pulimurugan" has collected over 152 crore from ticket sales worldwide. It is also the third highest-grossing South Indian film of 2016.


title: Pulimurugan

text: Overseas, "Pulimurugan" created a record for the highest-opening-weekend gross for an Indian film in the UAE, grossing 13.83 crore in the first weekend (3-6 November) and exceeding the earnings of "Kabali", "Sultan", and "". In the US box office, it grossed more than $236,000 in less than a month and became the highest-grossing Malayalam film in the US, exceeding the earnings of "Premam". It also became the highest-grossing Indian film in the United Kingdom in its opening weekend there, grossing £90,162 and surpassing the earnings of "Oppam". The film collected over 35 crore from the UAE box office when it had run for 50 days. The film ran for 98 days in the UAE and became the third-longest-running film there, behind "Drishyam" (125 days) and "Titanic" (110 days). It collected 37.09 crore from the UAE box office.


title: Pulimurugan

text: Awarding the film 3.5 on a scale of 5, Nelson K. Paul from "Malayala Manorama" wrote; "The narrative is straight and tight. Most importantly, the movie is engaging throughout and doesn't slip off. Though it's an action thriller primarily. Vysakh has all the ingredients laced in for a well-balanced mix. The director has made sure that the elements he put in are there for a reason". He praised Mohanlal's "super flexible in stunt scenes" and his "mighty impressive" efforts, Kumar's cinematography and Hein's "adrenaline-filled action" choreography, with a special mention for the climax fight. He also commended the characterisation of Myna and the onscreen chemistry of Mohanlal and Mukherjee.


title: Pulimurugan

text: In his review for "The Indian Express", Manoj Kumar R. rated "Pulimurugan" 3.5 stars out of 5. He praised Mohanlal's acting and the "high-voltage" stunts, and called the screenplay "tight and engaging" with Sunder's film score and Kumar's cinematography adding to the film. He wrote; "It is a simple movie that basically aims to entertain the audience. The movie does not dwell too much on the man-animal conflict and discusses what is right or what is wrong". According to him, Vysakh has succeeded in exploiting the stardom of Mohanlal. "The Times of India" critic Sanjith Sidhardhan rated the film 3.5 on a scale of 5 and wrote that the film's strength is "a fleshed out story and pacy screenplay that takes its protagonist out of the wild and puts him in the world of ruthless men—a scenario where the hunter becomes the prey ... The movie has a good enough story to keep the audience engaged while providing ample thrills through Peter Hein-choreographed fantastic action sequences". He also praised Sunder's "rousing theme music" and the "crisp" editing that made the "161-minute runtime a breeze".


title: Pulimurugan

text: In his review for "Rediff.com", Paresh C. Palicha commented; "It is Mohanlal's calibre as an actor that makes this thriller a really thrilling experience. Udaykrishna's writing and Vysakh's direction use him very well, knowing what will work with his fans". He rated the film 2.5 stars out of 5. The reviewer from Sify gave a positive review, describing it as a "winner all the way" and a "super entertainer", and said; "with breathtaking visuals, top notch performances, superb action sequences and thrilling music, Vysakh has cooked a delicious treat. Though it is a bit too long at two hours and 41 minutes, this one keeps you engaged for sure". Sify noted Hein and Kumar for the stunts and visuals, called the performances of Mohanlal "an absolute delight to watch", and praised other cast members including Lal, Babu, Venjaramoodu, Kishore, and Ajas. Sify concluded that ""Pulimurugan" wins with the hard work that has gone into its making. It's the kind of masala that is superbly enjoyable and then there is Mohanlal in terrific form."


title: Pulimurugan

text: Writing for the "International Business Times", Anu James gave a positive review, writing that "though Mohanlal doesn't deliver any punch dialogues, his screen presence and thrilling action sequences are the [unique selling propositions] of the action thriller. Despite being a 56-year-old, the flexibility he has while performing the stunts deserves a special mention." She also praised Hein's stunt choreography, Kumar's cinematography, Sunder's film score, and the performances of Babu, Lal, and Ajas. Krishna B. Nair of Metromatinee wrote a positive review, calling it a "visual extravaganza plus an edge-of-the-seat experience!", and said, ""Pulimurugan" has a very impressive first half, not so fast paced yet thrilling second half and an absolutely stunning climax". She praised Mohanal's "dedication for the intense stunt sequences" and his combination scenes with Mukherji, who is "equally aggressive and adventurous" as Mukherji. James also praised Sundar's film score, Kumar's cinematography, the VFX work, and Hein for introducing "high-voltage ... whole new action sequences to the Malayali audiences", which "struck a chord with the moviegoers".


title: Pulimurugan

text: Anna M.M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film 2 stars out of five, remarking "the combined strength of Lalettan, the tigers, the suspenseful action and the humour when it is not crude is not enough to drown out the loudness and crassness of "Pulimurugan." This one I guess is for the forgiving Mohanlal fan or action enthusiasts who are willing to close their eyes to a lack of refinement and sensitivity."


title: Pulimurugan

text: Two songs from the film"Kaadanayum Kaalchilambe" and "Maanathe Maarikurumbe" were included by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the selection list of 70 songs eligible for contending for the nomination in the 90th Academy Awards for the Best Original Song category. The film score was also selected among the 141 eligible scores contending for the Academy Award for Best Original Score nomination.


title: Pulimurugan

text: The film's soundtrack and film score were composed by Gopi Sunder. The soundtrack runs for over ten minutes and has three tracks; a duet sung by K. J. Yesudas and K. S. Chithra, a solo by Vani Jairam, and a theme song by Sunder. Rafeeq Ahammed, Murukan Kattakada, and B. K. Harinarayanan were the lyricists. The music album was released on 5 October 2016 in an event held at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Kochi. Vysakh and Udayakrishna were absent from the function; they were busy with the release.


title: Pulimurugan

text: In late December 2015, Sunder announced that the film would have two songs and more might be added, one of which would be a lullaby sung by S. Janaki and another song sung by Jassie Gift and Shreya Ghoshal. Janaki, however, announced her retirement from singing in the second half of 2016. She was replaced with Jairam, and Gift and Ghoshal were replaced with Yesudas and Chithra. Sunder approached Yesudas with the composition of "Kaadaniyum Kalchilambe" in late August 2016—his first association with Sunder. Including his discussions with Yesudas, the recording process was completed in one-and-a-half hours. Ahammed was the lyricist. The song was recorded on 27 August 2016. The theme song starting with the line "Muruga Muruga" was written by Harinarayanan; its lyrics were written after finishing the composition. The songs were recorded in a studio in Ernakulam.


title: Pulimurugan

text: Sunder, who generally takes around one month to finish the music for a film, took three months for "Pulimurugan" and worked in two schedules. Without any short-notices, Vysakh gave Sunder enough time to compose the score. He composed while watching a rough version of the film before the final editing. At that time, the computer-generated imagery of the tiger was at its early stage and far from perfect, so Sunder had to envisage the tiger while composing for these scenes. The composition of score was completed on 11 September 2016. The DTS pre-mixing of the music was done on 17 September at G Studio in AVM, Chennai.


title: Pulimurugan

text: The first music video from the film, "Kaadaniyum Kalchilambe" sung by Yesudas and Chithra, was released via YouTube on 14 September 2016—the day of the Hindu festival Thiruvonam. The song features Mohanlal and Mukherji enjoying their country life. Nivedita Mishra of "Hindustan Times" said, "It is a paean to marriage ... Kaadaniyum Kalchilambe is a beautiful celebration of Kerala—so lush and so soothing to the eye and so lovingly captured by cinematographer Shaji Kumar". Anjana George of "The Times of India" also gave a positive review, highlighting its visuals and saying, "while beautifully showcasing the chemistry between Lal [Mohanlal] and Kamalini, the director has also tried to capture the magical splendour of forest. The lovely shades of green, yellow, orange and blue are being magnificently used in the visuals." On 11 October 2016, in response to audience demand, Sundar released the theme song attached with a video of the making of the film. The film's second music video, "Manathe Marikurumbe" sung by Jairam, was released on 27 October 2016.


title: John Roberts (actor)

text: John Roberts (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and writer who voices Linda Belcher on the animated sitcom "Bob's Burgers".


title: John Roberts (actor)

text: Roberts currently voices Linda, the doting matriarch of the Belcher family, in the Fox animated primetime comedy "Bob's Burgers". He has said in interviews that he based the voice of Linda on that of his own mother, Marge.


title: John Roberts (actor)

text: He has appeared several times on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "Watch What Happens: Live", has co-written a pilot for MTV with Bob Odenkirk and performed in two national tours for Margaret Cho as well as her Showtime special. Roberts first gained attention as one of the standout performer/writers on the YouTube follow up "Jackie & Debra" which won The Comedy Smalls award in London. He has over 20 million hits on YouTube and has made videos with the likes of Debbie Harry and David Cross. He performs several times a year at NYC's Joe's Pub and has signed a publishing deal with French Kiss Records.


title: John Roberts (actor)

text: On May 17, 2019, Roberts released the song "Looking". The freelance writer Randall Radic wrote that the music video "combines Roberts' love for '80s dance pop music with fluorescent lights, beau coup neon, mannequins, a vintage phone, and a studded leather jacket".


title: West Indies Federation

text: The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and those on the Leeward and Windward Islands, came together to form the Federation, with its capital in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state—possibly similar to the Canadian Confederation, Australian Commonwealth, or Central African Federation. Before that could happen, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts over how it would be governed or function viably. The formation of a West Indian Federation was encouraged by the United Kingdom, but also requested by West Indian nationalists.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The territories that would have become part of the Federation eventually became the nine contemporary sovereign states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago; with Anguilla, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands becoming British overseas territories. British Guiana and British Honduras held observer status within the West Indies Federation.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The total population of the West Indies Federation was between 3 and 4 million people, with the majority being of black West African descent. Minorities included Indians from the Indian subcontinent (called East Indians), Europeans, Chinese, Arabs, and Caribs. There was also a large population of mixed descent (mainly mulattos, but also Afro-Indian, Euro-Indian and mixed-Chinese). In terms of religion, most of the population was Protestant, with significant numbers of Catholics and some Hindus and Muslims (both almost exclusively from the East Indian population).


title: West Indies Federation

text: The West Indies Federation (or just West Indies) consisted of around 24 main inhabited islands and approximately 220–230 minor offshore islands, islets and cays (some inhabited, some uninhabited). The largest island was Jamaica, located in the far northwest of the Federation. To the southeast lay the second largest island, Trinidad, followed by Barbados (in terms of population), located at the eastern extremity of the Federation.


title: West Indies Federation

text: At its widest (west to east), from the Cayman Islands to Barbados it spanned some (and across approximately 22 degrees of longitude) and from the Turks and Caicos Islands in the north, to the Icacos Point, Trinidad in the south it extended (and across 12 degrees of latitude). However, most of the area along either of these distances was taken up by open water (with the exception of some of the other islands lying in between). By comparison Great Britain stretches across nearly 10 degrees of latitude and Spain extends across almost 20 degrees of longitude. Even though the West Indies was spread across such a vast area, most of its provinces were mostly contiguous and clustered fairly close together in the Eastern Caribbean, with the obvious exceptions of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Most of the islands have mountainous interiors surrounded by narrow coastal plains. The exceptions were Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands (which are all fairly flat), and Trinidad (which has a large mountain range in the north and a small central mountain range in the interior of the otherwise flat island). The narrow coastal plains as well as historical trade is the main reason why almost all of the major settlements (cities and towns) of the Federation were located on the coast. Chief towns included Kingston, Port of Spain, Chaguaramas, Bridgetown, Spanish Town, Montego Bay, San Fernando, Mandeville, Castries, Roseau, St. George's, Kingstown, St. John's, and Basseterre.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The climate in all the islands is tropical, with hot and humid weather, although inland regions in the larger islands have more temperate climates. Regions falling within the rain shadows (southern coasts of Jamaica and Trinidad and eastern coasts of the Lesser Antilles) are relatively drier. There are two seasons annually: the dry season for the first six months of the year, and the rainy season (also known as the hurricane season) in the second half of the year. Many of the islands fall within the traditional hurricane belt, with the exception of Trinidad (although it occasionally experiences low latitude hurricanes) and thus are at risk from potential wind and flood damage.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Britain classified the Federation as being part of its "Caribbean and North Atlantic Territories" region which was shared alongside other possessions such as Bermuda.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The Federation today is geographically considered to be part of the North American continent as all of its islands are in and around the Caribbean, even though Trinidad is located just offshore from South America and lies on the same continental shelf. "See Transcontinental countries."


title: West Indies Federation

text: Several historically "West Indian" British colonies opted not to join the Federation for various reasons. The Bahamas and Bermuda believed that their future lay with association with North America, and the British Virgin Islands similarly looked to a possible future association with the United States Virgin Islands. British Honduras was involved in a territorial dispute with Guatemala and saw the West Indies Federation as being too weak to defend British Honduras against its neighbour, instead looking to the UK for potential military assistance against Guatemala. British Guiana opted not to join when the Federation was formed due to its own ongoing political and internal struggles for independence from the UK, which had started in the 1950s. At issue was its newly formed political party with socialist leanings, at the height of the Cold War. It had hoped to join the Federation once these issues were resolved.


title: West Indies Federation

text: British Honduras and British Guiana did participate in the Federation to a certain extent as observers. The Bahamas participated in the 1960 West Indies Federation Games, with a future prime minister of the Bahamas, Perry Christie, as an athlete. Guyana would ultimately express interest in a very loose re-attempted Caribbean Federation around 1971.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The Federation was an internally self-governing, federal state made up of ten provinces, all British colonial possessions. The federation was created by the United Kingdom in 1958 from most of the British West Indies. Britain intended that the Federation would shortly become a fully independent state, thus simultaneously satisfying the demands for independence from all the colonies in the region. However, significant political divisions among the former colonies persisted, and the Federation never achieved full sovereignty.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The legal basis for the federation was the British Caribbean Federation Act 1956, and the date of formation—3 January 1958—was set by an Order in Council proclaimed in 1957.


title: West Indies Federation

text: As with all British colonies of the period, Queen Elizabeth II was the head of state, and The Crown was vested with the legislative authority for matters concerning executive affairs, defence and the financing of the Federation. Her representative, The 1st Baron Hailes, was given the title of Governor-General rather than that of Governor more typical for a British colony. The title may have reflected the federal nature of the state, or indicated the expectations that the Federation would soon become independent. The Governor-General also had the full power by the British Government to veto any laws passed by the Federation.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation was bicameral, consisting of a nominated Senate and a popularly elected House of Representatives. The Senate consisted of nineteen members. These members were appointed by the Governor General, after consulting the respective territorial governments. Two members represented each unit (with only one from Montserrat). The House of Representatives had 45 total elected members – Jamaica had seventeen seats, Trinidad and Tobago ten seats, Barbados five seats, Montserrat one seat, and the remaining islands two seats each.


title: West Indies Federation

text: However the government (executive) would be a Council of State, not a Cabinet. It would be presided over by the Governor-General and consist of the Prime Minister and ten other officials.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The West Indies Federation did not have independent sources of revenue (relying instead on a mandatory levy on the islands), and did not establish any agreements on a customs union, free trade and free movement.


title: West Indies Federation

text: There was also a Federal Supreme Court consisting of a Chief Justice and three (later five) other Justices. The Federal Supreme Court itself was the successor to the West Indian Court of Appeal (established in 1919) and had jurisdiction over the same territories (Barbados, British Guiana, the Leeward Islands (including the British Virgin Islands), Trinidad & Tobago and the Windward Islands) in addition to Jamaica and its dependencies, except for British Honduras, as the British Caribbean Federation Act 1956, which empowered the Privy Council to establish it, also repealed the enactment which allowed for appeals from the British Honduras Supreme Court to the Privy Council or the Supreme Court of Jamaica, namely the British Honduras (Court of Appeal) Act 1881. (The arrangement for appeals to the Supreme Court of Jamaica had generally ceased in 1911 anyway.)


title: West Indies Federation

text: Sir Stanley Eugene Gomes, Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, was appointed Chief Justice of the Federation in August 1961.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Three member states were proposed as hosts for the capital city of the federation: Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. Earlier in the federal negotiations the general opinion had been that the capital should be one of the smaller islands so that the capital would be in a neutral position to the larger territories and it would be able to inject some buoyancy into one of the (then) poorer economies. To this end, Grenada was tentatively selected as the member state to host the capital but this was abandoned after protests from some of the parties involved, and at the London Conference the smaller islands were ruled out for consideration. Within Trinidad and Tobago the first proposed site was Chaguaramas, a few miles west of Port of Spain, but the site was part of a United States naval base. In practice, Port of Spain served as the "de facto" federal capital for the duration of the federation's existence.


title: West Indies Federation

text: In preparation for the first federal elections, two Federation-wide parties were organised as confederations of local political parties. Both were organised by Jamaican politicians: the West Indies Federal Labour Party by Norman Manley, and the Democratic Labour Party by Alexander Bustamante. In broad terms, the WIFLP consisted of the urban-based parties throughout the Federation, while the DLP consisted of the rural-based parties. A small third party, the Federal Democratic Party was founded in November 1957 by a group of Trinidadians, although it did not win any seats.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The platforms for the two major national parties were similar in many respects. Both advocated maintaining and strengthening ties with the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada (countries with which the islands had strong cultural and economic links); encouraging and expanding tourism; working to bring British Guiana and British Honduras into the Federation and to obtain loans, financial aid, and technical assistance. Despite these similarities, there were differences. The WIFLP had advocated the encouragement of agriculture while the DLP had promised a climate favourable to both private industry and labour, development of human and economic resources. The WIFLP promised to encourage the Bahamas (in addition to British Guiana and British Honduras) to join the Federation, whereas the DLP did not. The WIFLP also campaigned to establish a central bank for the extension of credit resources and advocated a democratic socialist society and full internal self-government for all the unit territories, whilst avoiding the issues of freedom of movement and a customs union. The DLP said nothing about full internal self-government, attacked socialism, wished to avoid high taxation (via loans and technical aid) and emphasized West Indian unity, freedom of worship and speech, and encouragement of trade unions.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Federal elections were held on 25 March 1958. The WIFLP won the election, winning 26 seats while the DLP carried 19 seats. The bulk of the WIFLP seats came from the smaller islands while the DLP carried the majority in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. The DLP won 11 of the Jamaican seats and 6 of the Trinidadian seats. In appointing the Senate, Governor General Lord Hailes realized that only the St Vincent island government was DLP controlled and as a result the Senate was going to be disproportionately pro WIFLP. In a controversial decision, he contacted the opposition DLP groups in Jamaica and Trinidad, and appointed one DLP senator from each of those islands. Thus the Senate consisted of a total of 15 WIFLP members and 4 DLP members.


title: West Indies Federation

text: WIFLP leader Sir Grantley Adams of Barbados became Prime Minister. The selection of Adams as the Prime Minister was indicative of the problems the Federation would face. The expected leader of the WIFLP was Norman Manley, Premier of Jamaica, and the next logical choice was Dr Eric Williams, Premier of Trinidad and Tobago. However, neither had contested the Federal elections, preferring to remain in control of their respective island power bases. This suggested that the leaders of the two most important provinces did not see the Federation as viable. Similarly, Alexander Bustamante, the Jamaican founder of the DLP, also declined to contest the Federal election, leaving the party leadership to the Trinidadian Ashford Sinanan. The absence of the leading Jamaican politicians from any role at the federal level was to undermine the Federation's unity.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The Federation also had a number of units deemed to be common services for the entire federation, these were:


title: West Indies Federation

text: The politics of the embryonic Federation were wrecked by struggles between the federal government and the provincial governments, and between the two largest provinces (Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago) and the smaller provinces.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The West Indies Federation had an unusually weak federal structure. For instance, its provinces were not contained in a single customs union. Thus, each province functioned as a separate economy, complete with tariffs, largely because the smaller provinces were afraid of being overwhelmed by the large islands' economies. Also, complete freedom of movement within the Federation was not implemented, as the larger provinces were worried about mass migration from the smaller islands.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Jamaica, the largest member of the West Indies Federation, opposed plans to establish a customs union and to increase the ability of the federal government to levy taxes.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Adom Getachew writes that relations between minority groups, such as the descendants of East Indians (which were a large share of the populations of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana), and the majority population of Afro-West Indians were a source of tension in the West Indies Federation. For example, Guyana rejected the West Indies Federation in part because it lacked sufficient protections for ethnic minorities.


title: West Indies Federation

text: There were tensions between those who wanted a strong federal state (capable of undertaking major economic development projects and redistribution) and those who wanted a federal structure that gave each member substantial autonomy. Eric Williams was a strong advocate for a strong federal state. Critics in Jamaica were opposed to any redistributive schemes that would primarily lead to Jamaica providing grants to the smaller islands. There were also some concerns about unequal development and its impact on areas with less competitive industries which wanted protectionist measures within the federation.


title: West Indies Federation

text: In addition, the federal government could not take its component states to task. The initial federal budget was quite small, limiting the federal government's ability to use its financial largess as a carrot. It was dependent upon grants from the United Kingdom and from its member states. The provincial budgets of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were both larger than the federal budget. This led to repeated requests for those states to provide greater financing to the federal government. These requests were not well received, as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago together already contributed 85 percent of the federal revenue, in roughly equal portions.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Furthermore, the office of the Prime Minister was a weak one. Unlike other Westminster systems with Prime Ministers, the West Indian Federation's PM could not dissolve Parliament.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The Federation maintained a particularly close relationship with Canada, which had a similar past as a federation of several former British colonies. In the early years, several Caribbean leaders suggested that the West Indies Federation should investigate the possibility of becoming a Canadian province.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Despite the breakdown in talks, in May 1961, Canada presented the West Indies Federation with two of the region's most important gifts: two merchant ships, named "The Federal Palm" and "The Federal Maple". These two vessels visited every island in the federation twice monthly, providing a crucial sea-link between the islands.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Many reasons have been put forward to explain the demise of the federation. These include the lack of local popular support, competing insular nationalism, the weakness of the federal government, prohibitions on federal taxation and freedom of movement, inadequacies in the Federal constitution, fundamental changes made to the constitution very early in its existence, political feuds between the influential leaders, the decision of the three most influential politicians not to contest Federal elections, friction between these leaders and the Federal government, the overwhelming concentration of population and resources in the two largest units, geographic and cultural distance between the units, the lack of a history of common administration, and the impact of the period of self-government that followed the promotion from Crown Colony system.


title: West Indies Federation

text: However, the immediate catalyst for the dissolution of the Federation was Jamaican discontent. By 1961, there were a number of reasons for Jamaica's dissatisfaction with the state of affairs:


title: West Indies Federation

text: The most important reason for Jamaican dissatisfaction was the Federation's continuing colonial status. Jamaica had joined the Federation because its leaders had believed that the West Indies would quickly be granted independence. Nearly three years after the formation of the Federation, this had not occurred; meanwhile, smaller British colonies, like Cyprus and Sierra Leone, had gained independence. Thus, many Jamaicans believed that the island could and should seek independence in its own right.


title: West Indies Federation

text: There were also problems with the Federation's proposed capital in Chaguaramas, at that time still in the hands of the United States (having leased it as a naval base from the United Kingdom during World War II). Many of the Caribbean provincial leaders wanted Chaguaramas to be the Federation's capital. Provincial leaders such as Norman Manley of Jamaica and Eric Williams pushed for handing over of Chaguaramas to the Federation from the US. However the US and the UK disagreed and the Federation's Prime Minister Grantley Adams stopped the provincial leaders from obtaining Chaguaramas. For many Jamaicans it appeared that the Federation would then just hamper their development and movement towards independence.


title: West Indies Federation

text: As a result, the Bustamante-led Jamaica Labour Party (the local component of the West Indian DLP) successfully forced Manley to hold a referendum in September 1961 on political secession from the Federation. The result was 54% in favour of leaving the Federation, despite the opposition of Manley, the province's Chief Minister at the time. Manley himself lost the subsequent island elections in April 1962, and Bustamante became the first Prime Minister of an independent Jamaica on 6 August 1962.


title: West Indies Federation

text: After Jamaica left, there was an attempt to salvage a new federation from the wreckage of the old. Much depended on Premier Williams of Trinidad and Tobago, who had stated previously that he wanted a "strong federation". Premier Vere Bird of Antigua responded that his province would only be in a federation with Trinidad as an equal partner, not as "a little Tobago". He did indicate that a strong federation was acceptable provided that no attempt was made to create a unitary state.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Negotiations on this new federation began in September 1961; however, they indicated that Trinidad would have to provide 75 to 80 percent of the new Federation's revenue. Also, even though Trinidad would now represent 60 percent of the new Federation's population, the proposals under consideration would give it less than half of the seats in parliament.


title: West Indies Federation

text: By November, Williams indicated that he was now in favour of the idea of a unitary state. Failing that, he resolved to take Trinidad and Tobago into independence. In this, he was buoyed by his re-election as Trinidadian leader on 4 December 1961. Later that December, Premier Errol Barrow of Barbados met with Williams, but failed to persuade him to keep Trinidad in the Federation.


title: West Indies Federation

text: On January 14, 1962, the People's National Movement (the Williams-led Trinidad component of the WIFLP) passed a resolution rejecting any further involvement with the Federation. Williams himself stated that "one from ten leaves nought"—in other words, without Jamaica, no Federation was possible. Trinidad and Tobago became independent on August 31, 1962.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Without Trinidad and Jamaica, the remaining "Little Eight" attempted to salvage some form of a West Indian Federation, this time centred on Barbados. However, these negotiations ultimately proved fruitless. Without its two largest states, the Federation was doomed to financial insolvency. Barbados now refused to shoulder the financial burden, and Antigua and Grenada began toying with the idea of merging with Jamaica and Trinidad, respectively.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The West Indies Federation was legally dissolved with the Parliament of the United Kingdom's West Indies Act 1962. The remaining "Little Eight" provinces once again became separate colonies supervised directly from London, most of which became independent later on, as follows:


title: West Indies Federation

text: Montserrat remains an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands had been separated from Jamaica upon the latter's independence in 1962; Anguilla was separated from Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1980. All three remain UK territories as well.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The federation's currency was the West Indies dollar (though Jamaica continued to use the pound), which was later succeeded by the East Caribbean dollar, the Barbadian dollar, and the Trinidad and Tobago dollar. Successor organisations included the West Indies Associated States and CARICOM.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The Federal Supreme Court would also be succeed by a British Caribbean Court of Appeal (1962–1966) and then a West Indies Associated States Supreme Court (Court of Appeal and High Court) (1967–1980) and ultimately by an Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in 1981 for the OECS. More recently a Caribbean Court of Justice has been established which would also fulfil the role of the original Supreme Court if all CSME members accede to the court's appellate jurisdiction (currently Barbados, Belize and Guyana do so).


title: West Indies Federation

text: Some see the West Indies cricket team as a legacy of the Federation, although the side was actually organised thirty years prior to the birth of the federation.


title: West Indies Federation

text: Another lasting regional fixture, officially created before the Federation, is the University of the West Indies. During the Federation, the university pursued a policy of regional expansion beyond the main Jamaica campus. Two other campuses were established: one in Trinidad and Tobago, established in 1960, and one in Barbados, established a short time after the Federation dissolved in 1963. Since 2004, the West Indies Federal Archives Centre has been located on the university's Cave Hill campus in Barbados.


title: West Indies Federation

text: During the Federation's existence, each member continued to issue its own postage stamps as before; but on 22 April 1958, each of the members (except for the Cayman Islands) issued a set of three commemorative stamps. All of these stamps used a common design depicting a map of the Caribbean and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, with an inscription reading at the top and the name of the member state at the bottom. These stamps are quite common in both mint and used condition.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The Federation of the West Indies was not the first attempt at a British Caribbean federation. The history of the previous attempts at federations and unions, in part, explains the failure of the 1958 Federation.


title: West Indies Federation

text: The initial federal attempts never went so far as to try to encompass all of the British West Indies (BWI), but were more regional in scope. The historical regional groupings included the British Leeward Islands, British Windward Islands and Jamaica with its nearby former dependencies. See: History of the British West Indies.


title: NBA Most Improved Player Award

text: The NBA's Most Improved Player Award (MIP) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the player who has shown the most progress during the regular season compared to previous seasons. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters throughout the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points, and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. The criteria for selecting the most improved player was initially open-ended, but the NBA clarified in later years that it was intended for an up-and-coming player who improved dramatically and not a player who made a comeback, distinguishing it from the defunct NBA Comeback Player of the Year Award. Starting with the 2022–23 NBA season, winners receive the George Mikan Trophy, named after the five-time NBA champion.


title: NBA Most Improved Player Award

text: Since its inception, the award has been given to 36 players. No player has ever won the award twice. Boris Diaw, Kevin Love, Pascal Siakam, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only award winners to win an NBA Championship, Siakam is the only winner to win a championship in the same season as the award, and Antetokounmpo is the only winner to win NBA Finals MVP. Rony Seikaly, Gheorghe Mureșan, Boris Diaw, Hedo Türkoğlu, Goran Dragić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Pascal Siakam are the only award winners born outside the United States.


title: NBA Most Improved Player Award

text: Alvin Robertson, Dana Barros, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Danny Granger, Kevin Love, Paul George, Jimmy Butler, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Oladipo, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, and Ja Morant have won the award and been selected as an NBA All-Star in the same season; Dale Ellis, Kevin Duckworth, Kevin Johnson, Gilbert Arenas, Zach Randolph, Goran Dragic, and Pascal Siakam were the other winners who were selected in a later season to play in the All-Star Game. Only McGrady, O'Neal, George, Dragić, Antetokounmpo, Oladipo, Randle and Morant won the award and were named to the All-NBA Team in the same season. Pascal Siakam made the All-NBA Second Team the year after he won the award. The Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic have both seen five players win the award, the most in the NBA. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the first recipient of the award to later become an NBA MVP. Tracy McGrady is the only recipient to win a scoring title as well as being the first recipient of the award to be named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.


title: Uniswap

text: Uniswap is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that uses a set of smart contracts (liquidity pools) to execute trades on its exchange. It's an open source project and falls into the category of a DeFi product (Decentralized finance) because it uses smart contracts to facilitate trades. The protocol facilitates automated transactions between cryptocurrency tokens on the Ethereum blockchain through the use of smart contracts. , Uniswap was estimated to be the largest decentralized exchange and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange overall by daily trading volume.


title: Uniswap

text: The Uniswap company received investments from venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm Venture Capital, Union Square Ventures LLC and ParaFi. Uniswap’s average daily trading volume was US$220 million in October 2020. Traders and investors have utilized Uniswap because of its usage in decentralized finance (DeFi).


title: Uniswap

text: Uniswap is a decentralized finance protocol that is used to exchange cryptocurrencies and tokens; it is provided on blockchain networks that run open-source software. This is in contrast to cryptocurrency exchanges that are run by centralized companies.


title: Uniswap

text: Changes to the protocol are voted on by the owners of a native cryptocurrency and governance token called UNI, and then implemented by a team of developers. UNI coins were initially distributed to early users of the protocol. Each Ethereum address that had interacted with Uniswap prior to September 1, 2020 received the ability to claim 400 UNI tokens (worth approximately $1,400 at the time). The market capitalization for the UNI token is over USD 6.6 billion as of February 2022.


title: Uniswap

text: Uniswap uses liquidity pools to fulfill orders instead of relying on market maker, with an aim to create more efficient markets. Individuals and bots—termed "liquidity providers"—provide liquidity to the exchange by adding a pair of tokens to a smart contract which can be bought and sold by other users according to the constant-product rule formula_1. In return, liquidity providers are given a percentage of the trading fees earned for that trading pair. For each trade, a certain amount of tokens is removed from the pool for an amount of the other token, thereby changing the price. No fees are required to list tokens which allow a large amount of Ethereum tokens to be accessible and no registration is required for users. As open-source software, Uniswap's code can also be forked to create new exchanges.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Reza Aslan (, ; born May 3, 1972) is an Iranian-American scholar of sociology of religion, writer, and television host. A convert to evangelical Christianity from Shia Islam as a youth, Aslan eventually reverted to Islam but continued to write about Christianity. He has written four books on religion: "", "Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization", "", and "God: A Human History".


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan has worked for television, including a documentary series exploring world religions on CNN called "Believer", and serving as an executive producer on the HBO drama series "The Leftovers". Aslan is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the International Qur'anic Studies Association. He is a professor of creative writing at University of California, Riverside and a board member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan's family came to the United States from Tehran in 1979, fleeing the Iranian Revolution. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Aslan says that he "spent the 1980s pretending to be Mexican" due to the amount of discrimination faced by Iranian Americans. He attended Del Mar High School in San Jose, and graduated class of 1990. In the early 1990s, Aslan taught courses at De La Salle High School in Concord, California.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan holds a B.A. in religious studies from Santa Clara University, a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from Harvard Divinity School, a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in fiction writing from the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, and a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His 2009 dissertation, titled "Global Jihadism as a Transnational Social Movement: A Theoretical Framework", discussed contemporary Muslim political activism.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In August 2000, while serving as the Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Aslan was a visiting faculty member in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Iowa.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan was the 2012–13 Wallerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Drew University Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict.


title: Reza Aslan

text: An Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 2012 to 2013, he is also a member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He has served as Legislative Assistant for the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington D.C., and was elected President of Harvard's Chapter of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Aslan also serves on the board of directors of the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues, PEN Center USA, a writer's advocacy group, and he serves on the national advisory board of The Markaz (formerly the Levantine Cultural Center), a program to promote peace between Americans and the Arab/Muslim world. He also serves on the board of trustees for the Chicago Theological Seminary and is on the advisory board of the Yale Humanist Community.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan was born into a Twelver Shia Muslim family. He converted to evangelical Christianity at the age of 15, and converted back to Islam the summer before attending Harvard. In 2005, "The Guardian" called him "a Shia by persuasion". In a 2013 interview with WNYC host Brian Lehrer, Aslan said: "I'm definitely a Muslim and Sufism is the tradition within Islam that I most closely adhere to." In a 2013 article in "The Washington Post", Aslan stated: "It's not [that] I think Islam is correct and Christianity is incorrect. It's that all religions are nothing more than a language made up of symbols and metaphors to help an individual explain faith." In 2014, in an interview with Cenk Uygur of "The Young Turks", Aslan described Islam as:


title: Reza Aslan

text: a man-made institution. It's a set of symbols and metaphors that provides a language for which to express what is inexpressible, and that is faith. It's symbols and metaphors that I prefer, but it's not more right or more wrong than any other symbols and metaphors. It's a language, that's all it is.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan has published four books, edited two anthologies and writes frequently for different media outlets.


title: Reza Aslan

text: "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam" is a non-fiction book published in 2005. The book describes the history of Islam and argues for a liberal interpretation of the Islamic religion. It blames Western imperialism and self-serving misinterpretations of Islamic law by past scholars for the current controversies within Islam, challenging the "Clash of Civilizations" thesis.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In 2009, Aslan published his second book, "How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of Terror". The next year, it was rereleased in paperback as "Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization". The book is both a study of the ideology fueling Al Qaeda, the Taliban and like-minded militants throughout the Muslim world, and an exploration of religious violence in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Aslan argues that the United States, by infusing the War on Terror with its own religiously polarizing rhetoric, is fighting a similar war—a war that he asserts cannot be won.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan refers to Al Qaeda's "jihad" against the west as "a cosmic war", distinct from holy war, in which rival religious groups are engaged in an earthly battle for material goals. "A cosmic war is like a ritual drama in which participants act out on earth a battle they believe is actually taking place in the heavens." American rhetoric of "war on terrorism", Aslan says, is in precise "cosmic dualism" to Al Qaeda's "jihad". Aslan draws a distinction between Islamism and Jihadism. Islamists have legitimate goals and can be negotiated with, unlike Jihadists, who dream of an idealized past of a pan-Islamic, borderless "religious communalism". Aslan's prescription for winning the cosmic war is not to fight, but rather to engage moderate Islamic political forces in the democratic process. "Throughout the Middle East, whenever moderate Islamist parties have been allowed to participate in the political process, popular support for more extremist groups has diminished."


title: Reza Aslan

text: "The New Yorker" called "Beyond Fundamentalism" a "thoughtful analysis of America's War on Terror". "The Washington Post" added that it "offers a very persuasive argument for the best way to counter jihadism."


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan's book "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth" (2013) is an historical account of the life of Jesus, which analyzes the various religious perspectives on Jesus, as well as the creation of Christianity. In the work, Aslan argues that Jesus was a political, rebellious and eschatological Jew whose proclamation of the coming kingdom of God was a call for regime change that would end Roman hegemony over Judea and end a corrupt and oppressive aristocratic priesthood.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In this book, published by Random House in 2017, Aslan explains in accessible scholarly style the history of religion and a theory for why and how humans started thinking about supernatural beings and eventually God.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan has written articles for "The Daily Beast" as a contributing editor. He has also written for various newspapers and periodicals, including the "Los Angeles Times", "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post", "Slate", "The Boston Globe", "The Guardian", "The Nation", and "The Christian Science Monitor".


title: Reza Aslan

text: "Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East", an anthology edited and published by him, appeared in 2011. In collaboration with Words Without Borders, Aslan worked with a team of three regional editors and seventy-seven translators, amassing a collection of nearly 200 pieces originally written in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Turkish, many presented in English for the first time.


title: Reza Aslan

text: "Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities" (2011) co-edited with Abraham's Vision founder Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, is a collection of essays exploring contemporary Jewish–Muslim relations in the United States and the distinct ways in which these two communities interact with one another in that context.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan founded Aslan Media, a media platform offering alternative coverage of the Middle East and its global diaspora communities.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In 2006, Aslan partnered with Iranian American cinematographer and producer Mahyad Tousi to create BoomGen Studios, a studio and production company focused to bring stories from and about the Middle East to American audiences. Projects that they consulted on include National Geographic's "Amreeka"; Disney's "" and the Broadway adaptation of "Aladdin"; the Weinstein Company's "Miral"; Relativity Media's "Desert Dancer"; Fork Films' "The Trials of Spring"; Jon Stewart's directorial debut "Rosewater"; and 2014 Oscar-nominated documentary "The Square".


title: Reza Aslan

text: In January 2015, BoomGen announced that ABC picked up its biblical epic, "Of Kings and Prophets", a dramatic retelling of the central story in the Hebrew Bible: the story of King David from shepherd to king. The series followed an ensemble of characters including Saul and David, the successive Kings of Israel, their families, and their political rivals. "Of Kings and Prophets" was set in the Kingdom of Israel, but filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. Aslan, Tousi and Jason Reed served as executive producers on the show.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In 2015, Aslan joined the popular HBO series "The Leftovers" as a consulting producer for both its second and third seasons. In addition to helping to craft the foundation of the show, Aslan was integral to the shaping of protagonist Kevin Garvey's season two character arc.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In March 2016, cable network Ovation premiered "Rough Draft with Reza Aslan", a fast-paced and timely talk show featuring Aslan in conversation with critically acclaimed authors and writers in film, TV and journalism.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In 2015, Aslan began production on the "spiritual travel series" "Believer", a documentary series that follows Aslan as he immerses himself and experiences various religious traditions internationally, focusing on sects considered fringe and disreputable by larger religions. The program, which Aslan compared to "" was part of CNN's original programming lineup and premiered in March 2017.


title: Reza Aslan

text: The first episode focused on the Aghori sect of Hinduism. Aslan was accused of sensationalism and anti-Hinduism when Aslan ate part of a human brain while meeting Aghori sadhus. The United States India Political Action Committee said in a statement that "[w]ith multiple reports of hate-fueled attacks against people of Indian origin from across the U.S., the show characterizes Hinduism as cannibalistic, which is a bizarre way of looking at the third largest religion in the world." Vamsee Juluri, professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco, described the episode as "reckless, racist, and anti-immigrant", while Aseem Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation accused Aslan of being "poorly informed", circulating "common stereotypical misconceptions" about Hinduism and indulging in "religion porn" "to grab ratings", with the "most clichéd, spurious conflations of the Hindu religion with the caste system".


title: Reza Aslan

text: US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard compared the show to "touring a zoo". The show has also been criticized for saying that Varanasi was called "the city of the dead", calling the immersion of ashes "dumping", presenting the Aghors as an exception in their struggle against the caste system, and claims he misunderstood the distinction between Varna and Jāti, and the notion of God in Hinduism. The organizations American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) and the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) have also both questioned why Aslan's show does not cover Islam, his own religion. Aslan said that he had planned to cover the Ashura festival in Pakistan, but abandoned the plan because of insurance costs. He pledged to cover Islam if "Believer" had a second series. On June 9, 2017, CNN announced that it had "decided to not move forward with production" on Aslan's "Believer" series after his anti-Trump tweets were criticized because of vulgar language used shortly before June 9, 2017.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan (along with Andrew Reich) wrote a sitcom pilot titled "Allah in the Family" based on his experiences as an Iranian immigrant growing up in Oklahoma. The pilot was bought by ABC but has yet to go into production.


title: Reza Aslan

text: After the 2017 London Bridge attack Aslan took to Twitter to call President Donald Trump "a piece of shit" and a "man-baby" for his response to the attack. On June 9, 2017, in response to his remarks, CNN decided to cut ties with Aslan and announced they would not move forward with season two of the "Believer" series. Aslan said of the cancellation, "I am not a journalist. I am a social commentator and scholar. And so I agree with CNN that it is best that we part ways."


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan has made numerous appearances on TV and radio, including National Public Radio (NPR), "Spirited Debate" on Fox News, PBS, "The Rachel Maddow Show", "Meet the Press", "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", "The Colbert Report", "Anderson Cooper 360°", "Hardball", "Nightline", "Real Time with Bill Maher", "Fareed Zakaria GPS", and "ABC Australia's" "Big Ideas".


title: Reza Aslan

text: On 26 July 2013, Aslan was interviewed on "Spirited Debate", a Fox News webcast by Chief Religion Correspondent Lauren Green about his book "". Green was "unsatisfied with Aslan's credentials," and she pressed Aslan, questioning why a Muslim would write about Jesus. Aslan answered, "Because it's my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion, including the New Testament. That's what I do for a living, actually." The interview lasted about ten minutes and focused "on Aslan's background more than the actual contents of the book." The video clip of the interview went viral within days and the book, which was up to that point selling "steadily", appeared at the 4th place on "The New York Times" print hardcover best-seller list. By late July 2013, it was topping the U.S. best-seller list on Amazon.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Following Aslan's interview with Fox News, Elizabeth Castelli, professor of religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, reported a sense of outrage in academia, writing "Those of us in the academic field of religious studies, especially biblical scholars and historians of early Christianity, found the whole business deeply cringe-worthy. The Fox News interview was not just embarrassing but downright offensive. The anti-Muslim bias of Fox is well-documented and is bad enough, whatever the specific context. For scholars of religion, Green's conflation of the academic study of religion with personal religious identification is a familiar misunderstanding."


title: Reza Aslan

text: Despite Elizabeth Castelli's dismissal of Fox News for questioning Aslan as a religious scholar as she acknowledged Aslan could claim as a scholar of "history-of-religions", she dismissed his claims of being a historian. She wrote ""History of religions" is ... a particular disciplinary approach... often associated in the United States with the University of Chicago and the University of California at Santa Barbara, where Aslan earned his PhD in sociology. To the extent that he did coursework in the UCSB Religious Studies department, he can certainly lay claim ... But his claims are more grandiose than that and are based on his repeated public statements that he speaks with authority as a historian. He has therefore reasonably opened himself to criticism." "The Atlantic" concurred with Prof. Castelli's acknowledgment on Aslan's religious credentials.


title: Reza Aslan

text: In "The Washington Post", the journalist Manuel Roig-Franzia concurred with Prof. Castelli's critique of Aslan's historian credentials, noting that Aslan's university does not offer degrees in the history or the sociology of religion and writing that Aslan "boasts of academic laurels he does not have." However, he quoted Aslan's dissertation adviser, Mark Juergensmeyer, who acknowledged that their departments "don't have a degree in sociology of religions as such" but said that he "doesn't have a problem with Aslan's characterization of his doctorate, noting ... [Aslan] did most of his course work in religion" and his arrangement of getting Aslan out of the religious studies department into the sociology department "was undertaken to get Aslan out of time-consuming required language courses". "The Philadelphia Inquirer" also noted UCSB "is famous for its interdisciplinary program—students tailor their studies around a topic, not a department. They choose a department only for the diploma."


title: Reza Aslan

text: He is a professor of creative writing at University of California, Riverside and a board member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan is a sitting member of the advisory board for the National Iranian American Council. In 2015 as a member of the group, he joined with 73 other "prominent International Relations and Middle East scholars" in signing a statement of support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international agreement regarding the Iranian nuclear program.


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan refers to Al Qaeda's "jihad" against the west as "a cosmic war", distinct from holy war, in which rival religious groups are engaged in an earthly battle for material goals. "A cosmic war is like a ritual drama in which participants act out on earth a battle they believe is actually taking place in the heavens." American rhetoric of "war on terrorism", Aslan says, is in precise "cosmic dualism" to Al Qaeda's "jihad". Aslan draws a distinction between Islamism and Jihadism. Islamists have legitimate goals and can be negotiated with, unlike Jihadists, who dream of an idealized past of a pan-Islamic, borderless "religious communalism". Aslan's prescription for winning the cosmic war is not to fight, but rather to engage moderate Islamic political forces in the democratic process. "Throughout the Middle East, whenever moderate Islamist parties have been allowed to participate in the political process, popular support for more extremist groups has diminished."


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan has argued for religious freedom and protection for religious minorities throughout the Middle East. He has called for Iran to protect and stop the "horrific human rights abuses" against its Baháʼí community. Aslan has also said that the persecution and displacement of Middle Eastern Christian communities "is nothing less than a regional religious cleansing that will soon prove to be a historic disaster for Christians and Muslims alike."


title: Reza Aslan

text: In a 2014 interview, Aslan criticized the "armchair atheism" of atheists like Sam Harris and Bill Maher who lack formal training in the study of religion, and who, in Aslan's opinion, are therefore unable to effectively comment on how it shapes human behavior. Aslan has also called Richard Dawkins a "buffoon, embarrassing himself every day." He contrasts New Atheists with the "philosophical atheism" of earlier thinkers who "were experts in religion, and so they were able to offer critiques of it that came from a place of knowledge, from a sophistication of education, of research."


title: Reza Aslan

text: On 29 September 2014, Antonia Blumberg in "The Huffington Post" stated that Aslan, on CNN, "criticized comedian Bill Maher for characterizing female genital mutilation as an 'Islamic problem,' in addition to making several other sweeping generalizations about the faith." Aslan was reported as saying that "To say 'Muslim countries', as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same ... it's frankly, and I use this word seriously, stupid!" His criticism was not just of Maher, but of the way Muslims are portrayed in mainstream media. Prachi Gupta, in "Salon", wrote that Aslan believed that the U.S. was partnering with Saudi Arabia while simultaneously condemning ISIS.


title: Reza Aslan

text: On 8 October 2014, "The New York Times" published an article by Aslan, "Bill Maher Isn't the Only One Who Misunderstands Religion". In it, Aslan wrote, "Bill Maher is right to condemn religious practises that violate fundamental human rights. Religious communities must do more to counter extremist interpretations of their faith. But failing to recognize that religion is embedded in culture—and making a blanket judgment about the world's second largest religion—is simply bigotry."


title: Reza Aslan

text: In "The New Republic", Eric Sasson took issue with Aslan's claim in the CNN interview that men and women are treated equally in Indonesia and Turkey due to the countries having elected female leaders, pointing out that the Human Rights Watch reported a "significant rollback" of women's rights in both countries. Sasson also challenged Aslan's claim that female genital mutilation is a problem only in central Africa, saying that it's also an issue in the predominantly Muslim country of Malaysia. The television and radio host David Pakman also cast doubt on some of Aslan's claims from the interview. Sam Harris criticized Aslan for blaming individuals rather than Islam as a whole for violence in the Muslim world, calling his approach "post-modernist nonsense."


title: Reza Aslan

text: Aslan and his ex-fiancée, journalist Amanda Fortini, ended their engagement in 2008. He married entrepreneur and author Jessica Jackley, a Christian, in 2011, forming an interfaith family. They have three sons. His aunt is the Iranian-American pop singer Leila Forouhar. Aslan is a fan of the professional football team the Las Vegas Raiders.


title: Airlink

text: Airlink is an airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its main business is to provide services between smaller, under-served towns and larger hub airports. It has since expanded to offer flights on larger, mainline routes. The airline has an ever-expanding network of over 60 routes across 50+ destinations. In January 2021, it became the second-largest carrier within Africa by number of flights, and third-largest by number of seats.


title: Airlink

text: Airlink was formed in 1992 by business partners Rodger Foster and Barrie Webb, following the purchase of the liquidated Link Airways business, which had incorporated a range of other airlines: Midlands Aviation (founded in 1967), Lowveld Aviation Services, Magnum Airways, Border Air and Citi Air. The new airline was named Airlink.


title: Airlink

text: In 1995, SA Airlink officially launched on 25 March at a gathering of important guests, including Queen Elizabeth II. Later that year, the airline aligned its branding with that of South African Airways and joined their Voyager frequent-flyer programme.


title: Airlink

text: In 1997, SA Airlink further strengthened their partnership with South African Airways, and joined both SAA and South African Express in a strategic alliance. This alliance and partnership created the biggest airline network in Africa. The alliance was governed by a franchise agreement, which saw SA Airlink adopt the "South African" brand identity and become South African Airlink.


title: Airlink

text: In 1999, South African Airlink entered into a joint venture with the government of Swaziland (now Eswatini) to create a new airline to replace the defunct Royal Swazi National Airways. The airline was called Swaziland Airlink and was split 60% to the Swaziland government and 40% to .


title: Airlink

text: In August 2000, the strategic alliance with South African Airways was further strengthened as a bilateral partnership.


title: Airlink

text: In 2006, South African Airlink exited the strategic alliance with South African Airways and entered into a franchise agreement, dropping the "South African" branding from their name, but retaining a similar colour scheme. SA Airlink introduced their unique Sunbird logo as part of the new branding.


title: Airlink

text: In February 2008, SA Airlink successfully completed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), and was placed on the IATA registry with code "4Z".


title: Airlink

text: On 23 December 2009, the SA Civil Aviation Authority grounded their fleet of 13 BAe Jetstream 41 planes. Following audits of the airline's procedures and inspection of the grounded aircraft, they were returned to service. A problem with a seal in the aircraft's Honeywell engines was found to be the cause of safety issues.


title: Airlink

text: In 2016, SA Airlink signed an agreement with the government of Madagascar to operate scheduled domestic air services within it, and regional air services to and from the island. The airline also established a training centre in partnership with Embraer at their headquarters in Bonaero Park, Johannesburg.


title: Airlink

text: On 3 May 2017, Airlink became the first airline in history to make a commercial charter flight to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, landing a BAe Avro RJ-85 at the newly constructed Saint Helena Airport to pick up passengers stranded there when the island's only link with the outside world, the British Royal Mail Ship RMS "St Helena", suffered propeller damage.


title: Airlink

text: No other commercial airliner landed at St Helena until 14 October 2017, when Airlink began history's first scheduled commercial airline service to Saint Helena Airport, with an Embraer E190 with 78 passengers aboard arriving after a flight of about six hours from Johannesburg, with a stop at Walvis Bay, Namibia. The flight began a once-a-week scheduled service between Johannesburg and Saint Helena.


title: Airlink

text: In 2018, SA Airlink and FlySafair concluded negotiations for a merger. The application was turned down by the South African Competition Commission on the basis that it believed that regional airline SA Airlink and low-cost carrier FlySafair were competitors. The matter was referred to the Tribunal, but the application was withdrawn as the shareholders' objectives of both companies had changed.


title: Airlink

text: In 2019, SA Airlink expanded its training centre in cooperation with Embraer to house both an Embraer E190 and an Embraer ERJ-145 full flight simulator.


title: Airlink

text: In 2020, SA Airlink changed its name from SA Airlink to Airlink. The change was made to distinguish the company as an independent airline. Airlink ended its 23-year old franchise agreement with South African Airways in the early part of 2020. It has been operating and issuing tickets under its own 4Z ticket stock instead of South African Airways' SA code since then, and signed its own interline agreements with six other carriers.


title: Airlink

text: On 12 November 2020, Airlink unveiled a new livery, dropping any similarities to the South African Airways brand and incorporating the Sunbird logo set against sunrise colours as the main focal point of the new tail insignia. The first aircraft to sport the design were scheduled to fly during the December holiday season in 2020.


title: Airlink

text: In January 2021, Airlink became the third largest carrier within Africa by number of seats offered, and second largest by number of flights scheduled. This is mainly due to Airlink's use of lower capacity aircraft and the opening up of new markets due to the decline of South African Airways.


title: Airlink

text: In September 2022, Airlink acquired a 40% stake, labeled a strategic equity holding, in Namibian airline FlyNamibia for an undisclosed sum . The acquisition will have FlyNamibia adopt Airlink's "4Z" flight designation. Airlink will also provide technical and commercial training to FlyNamibia staff.


title: Airlink

text: Sishen Iron Ore Company Community Development Trust, via its subsidiary Sishen Iron Ore Company Community Development Trust Investment Holdings, acquired a 32.51% stake in the company in June 2012. The original founders, Airlink, Rodger Foster and Barrie Webb, remain shareholders.


title: Airlink

text: Airlink's head office is in the 3rd office block of the Greenstone Office Park in the Greenstone Hill suburb of Ekurhuleni in Gauteng, South Africa.


title: Cedric Yarbrough

text: Cedric Percelle Yarbrough (born March 20, 1973) is an American actor and comedian who stars in series "Reno 911!" as Deputy S. Jones and as Kenneth on the ABC sitcom "Speechless", as well as voicing Gerald Fitzgerald on the Netflix comedy Paradise PD, Officer Meow Meow Fuzzyface on the Netflix comedy-drama "BoJack Horseman", and Tom DuBois on the Adult Swim sitcom "The Boondocks".


title: Cedric Yarbrough

text: Yarbrough was born in Burnsville, Minnesota. He attended Burnsville Senior High School and later Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is also an alumnus of Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis.


title: Cedric Yarbrough

text: Yarbrough starred on the Comedy Central television series "Reno 911!" as Deputy S. (Sven) Jones which aired from 2003-2009 on Comedy Central. The series returned for a seventh season in 2020 on Quibi and for an eighth season in 2022 on The Roku Channel as "Reno 911! Defunded". He also appeared in both of the feature length films, 2007's "" and 2021's "Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon".


title: Cedric Yarbrough

text: He also provided the voice of Tom Dubois and Colonel H. Stinkmeaner on "The Boondocks, Chocolate Giddy-up on Black Dynamite," and Firestorm in the animated film "".


title: Cedric Yarbrough

text: From 2016–2019, he co-starred in the ABC sitcom "Speechless" as Kenneth Clements. He has also had recurring roles in series including "The Goldbergs", and "Rake". On "Carol's Second Act", which premiered in 2019, he stars as Nurse Dennis, which started out as a recurring role before being promoted to series regular early in the first season.


title: Obituary

text: An obituary (obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. According to Nigel Farndale, the Obituaries Editor of "The Times": "Obits should be life affirming rather than gloomy, but they should also be opinionated, leaving the reader with a strong sense of whether the subject lived a good life or bad; whether they were right or wrong in the handling of their public affairs."


title: Obituary

text: In local newspapers, an obituary may be published for any local resident upon death. A necrology is a register or list of records of the deaths of people related to a particular organization, group or field, which may only contain the sparsest details, or small obituaries. Historical necrologies can be important sources of information.


title: Obituary

text: Two types of paid advertisements are related to obituaries. One, known as a death notice, usually appears in the Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMD) section of a paper and omits most biographical details and may be a legally required public notice under some circumstances. The other type, a paid memorial advertisement, is usually written by family members or friends, perhaps with assistance from a funeral home. Both types of paid advertisements are usually run as classified advertisements.


title: Obituary

text: The word also applies to the entire program and the part of that program describing the life of the deceased. It is given to those who attend their service. The verso page heading may be "Obituary" or "Reflections", the recto heading is usually "Order of Service".


title: Obituary

text: A premature obituary is a false reporting of the death of a person who is still alive. It may occur due to unexpected survival of someone who was close to death. Other reasons for such publication might be miscommunication between newspapers, family members, and the funeral home, often resulting in embarrassment for everyone involved.


title: Obituary

text: In November 2020, Radio France Internationale accidentally published about 100 prewritten obituaries for celebrities such as Queen Elizabeth II and Clint Eastwood. The premature publication was blamed on a transition to a new content management system.


title: Obituary

text: Irish author Brendan Behan said, "there is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary." In this regard, some people seek to have an unsuspecting newspaper editor publish a premature death notice or obituary as a malicious hoax, perhaps to gain revenge on the "deceased". To that end, nearly all newspapers now have policies requiring that death notices come from a reliable source (such as a funeral home), though even this has not stopped some pranksters such as Alan Abel.


title: Obituary

text: Many news organizations maintain prewritten (or preedited video) obituaries on file for notable individuals who are still living, in order to promptly publish detailed, authoritative, and lengthy obituaries upon their deaths. These are also known as "advance" obituaries. The "Los Angeles Times" obituary of Elizabeth Taylor, for example, was written in 1999 after three months of research, then often updated before the actress' 2011 death. Sometimes the prewritten obituary's subject outlives its author. One example is "The New York Times"' obituary of Taylor, written by the newspaper's theater critic Mel Gussow, who died in 2005.


title: Obituary

text: Writing in 2021, Paul Farhi of "The Washington Post" observed that while once a "sleepy corner of journalism", publications in the Internet age have invested more resources in preparing advance obituaries for rapid publication online, in order to meet widespread public interest; obituaries can attract millions of readers online within days of their subjects' deaths. "The New York Times" maintains a "deep reservoir" of advance obituaries, estimated to stand at roughly 1,850 . The paper often interviews notables specifically for their obituaries, a practice begun by Alden Whitman in 1966. , "The Washington Post" has about 900 advance obituaries on file, and entertainment publication "The Hollywood Reporter" has prepared 800 advances for notable figures in the film and television industry.


title: Obituary

text: Former "New York Times" obituary writer Margalit Fox wrote that "as a general rule, when lives are long enough, accomplished enough and complex enough that we would just as soon not get caught short writing them on deadline, advances are assigned". However, Farhi noted that obituaries of younger people may still be written in advance if they are known to have health problems or "chaotic lives"; "The Washington Post" had an advance obituary for singer Amy Winehouse, whose struggles with substance abuse were widely chronicled before her death at age 27. Still, many public figures who die unexpectedly or prematurely will have no advance obituary available at a given publication, and journalists will be left to research and write lengthy profiles on short notice.


title: Obituary

text: Obituaries are a notable feature of "The Economist", which publishes one full-page obituary per week, reflecting on the subject's life and influence on world history. Past subjects have ranged from Ray Charles to Uday Hussein to George Floyd.


title: Obituary

text: "The Times" and the "Daily Telegraph" publish anthologies of obituaries under a common theme, such as military obituaries, sports obituaries, heroes and adventurers, entertainers, rogues, eccentric lives, etc.


title: Obituary

text: The "British Medical Journal" encourages doctors to write their own obituaries for publication after their death.


title: Obituary

text: For numerous summer seasons, CBC Radio One has run "The Late Show", a radio documentary series which presents extended obituaries of interesting Canadians.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: Aleksandr Vladimirovich Dvornikov (; born 22 August 1961) is a Russian Ground Forces army general who commanded the Russian military intervention in Syria and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: After joining the Soviet Army in 1978, Dvornikov rose through the ranks of the Soviet and then Russian army over a period of thirty years. In 2015, he became commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria during the Russian military intervention there. At that time he cemented a reputation for the harsh conduct of his military campaigns as those in Chechnya before.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: In April 2022, Dvornikov was placed in charge of military operations during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, until he was replaced with Army general Sergei Surovikin on October 8, 2022.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: Dvornikov was born on 22 August 1961 in Ussuriysk. He graduated from the Ussuriysk Suvorov Military School in 1978 and joined the Soviet Army. Dvornikov received further education at the Moscow High Command Training School, graduating in 1982. From 1982, he served in the Far Eastern Military District as a platoon and then company commander, and as a battalion chief of staff. In 1991, Dvornikov graduated from the Frunze Military Academy. He became a deputy battalion commander in the Western Group of Forces.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: Between 1992 and 1994, Dvornikov commanded the 154th Separate Motor Rifle Battalion of the 6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. In 1995, he became chief of staff and deputy commander of the 10th Guards Tank Division's 248th Motor Rifle Regiment. Dvornikov became regimental commander in 1996. On 20 January 1996, he was awarded the Order of Military Merit. On 2 February 1996, he was awarded the Order of Courage.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: In 1997, he transferred to command the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division in the Moscow Military District. Between 2000 and 2003 he was chief of staff and then commander of the 19th Motor Rifle Division in the North Caucasus Military District. On 6 May 2000, he was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th class with swords. Dvornikov graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff in 2005.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: In 2005, Dvornikov became deputy commander and chief of staff of the 36th Army in the Siberian Military District. In 2008, he took command of the 5th Red Banner Army. Dvornikov became deputy commander of the Eastern Military District in 2011. From May 2012 to June 2016, he served as chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Central Military District. Between November and December 2012, he was acting commander of the district.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: On 13 December 2012, Dvornikov became a lieutenant general. On 13 December 2014, he was promoted to colonel general.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: In September 2015, Dvornikov became the first commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria during the Russian military intervention in Syria. On 17 March 2016, he was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation for his leadership.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: In July 2016, Dvornikov became the Southern Military District's acting commander. He was confirmed in the position on 20 September 2016.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: In March 2019, the European Union enacted sanctions on him due to his role in the Kerch Strait incident.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: By a decree from President Putin, Dvornikov was promoted to the rank of army general on 23 June 2020.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: On 10 April 2022, Dvornikov was placed in complete charge of military operations during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before his appointment, there had not been a single military leader for all Russian forces; he had been one of several in charge of various fronts.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: On 3 June 2022 it was reported by the open-source intelligence group Conflict Intelligence Team, citing Russian soldiers, that Dvornikov had been replaced by Colonel General Gennady Zhidko in command of the invasion. However, on 5 June Ukrainian governor of Luhansk Oblast Serhiy Haidai said Dvornikov was still in command and had been given until 10 June by his superiors to complete the Battle of Severodonetsk.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: On 8 October 2022 the Russian Defence Ministry named Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as the overall commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine without naming who Surovikin was replacing.


title: Aleksandr Dvornikov

text: Dvornikov's military reputation is often cited in the international press for the harsh conduct of his military campaigns, particularly in Chechnya and Syria. He has been accused of having pursued scorched earth tactics. Retired US Navy Admiral James G. Stavridis spoke in an interview of what he said was a known epiphet of Dvornikov, "Butcher of Syria".<ref>


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys. The archipelago's coral reefs are the least disturbed of the Florida Keys reefs.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The park is noted for abundant sea life, tropical bird breeding grounds, colorful coral reefs, and legends of shipwrecks and sunken treasures. The park's centerpiece is Fort Jefferson, a massive but unfinished coastal fortress. Fort Jefferson is the largest brick masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere, and is composed of more than 16 million bricks. Among United States forts it is exceeded in size only by Fort Monroe, Virginia, and Fort Adams, Rhode Island. Dry Tortugas is unique in its combination of a largely undisturbed tropical ecosystem with significant historic artifacts. The park is accessible only by seaplane or boat and has averaged about 63,000 visitors annually in the period from 2008 to 2017. Activities include snorkeling, picnicking, birdwatching, camping, scuba diving, saltwater fishing and kayaking. Overnight camping is limited to 8 primitive campsites at the Garden Key campground — located just south of Fort Jefferson.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: Dry Tortugas National Park is part of the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve, established by UNESCO in 1976 under its Man and the Biosphere Programme.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The Dry Tortugas is a small archipelago of coral islands about west of Key West, Florida. They represent the westernmost extent of the Florida Keys, though several reefs and submarine banks continue westward outside the park, beyond the Tortugas. The park area is more than 99 percent water. The seven major islands, all within the park, are, roughly from west to east, Loggerhead Key, Garden Key, Bush Key, Long Key, Hospital Key, Middle Key and East Key. The park is bordered on the east, south and west by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and on the northwest by the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. The total land area within the park is .


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The northern and western portions of the park, including the central island group, were designated a research natural area on January 19, 2007, in which no marine life may be taken, nor may vessels anchor. Vessels wishing to moor in the research natural area must use designated mooring buoys or docks. About 54 percent of the park remains open for fishing.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The keys are low and irregular. Some keys have thin growths of mangroves, and various other vegetation, while others have only small patches of grass, or are devoid of plant life. In general, they rise abruptly from relatively deep water. They are continually changing in size and shape. The Tortugas Atoll has had up to 11 islets during the past two centuries. Some of the smaller islands have disappeared and reappeared multiple times as a result of hurricane impact. The total area of the islets, some of which are little more than sand bars just above the water mark, is about . Their area changes over time as wind and waves reshape them. As of June 2020 there are seven islets (from west to east):


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The three westernmost keys, which are also the three largest keys (Loggerhead Key, Garden Key, and Bush Key), make up about 93 percent of the total land area of the group.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The Dry Tortugas are the western extension of an arcuate chain of Pleistocene reef and oolitic limestone islands, with the eastern limit in the vicinity of Miami. These Florida Keys are the surface expression of the thick southern Florida carbonate platform, which has been accumulating sediments since the Early Cretaceous. Two stratigraphic units are exposed at the surface, the Key Largo Limestone and the Miami Limestone. The Key Largo Limestone are reefs up to 200 ft (61 m) thick, parallel to the shelf edge, consisting of hermatypic corals and calcarenites. The Miami Limestone is less than 49 ft (15 m) thick, and in general, is found behind the Key Largo Limestone reef, but overlies it in the western extent of the keys. It consists of a bryozoan facies and an oolitic facies and represents a subtidal shoal. Additionally, excellent examples of Holocene carbonate-sand deposits are found in the Dry Tortugas, consisting mainly of disarticulated "Halimeda" plates. Between the Dry Tortugas and Key West is a 39 ft (12 m) thick example of these sand deposits, known as "the quicksands".


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: Dry Tortugas has a tropical savanna climate (Aw), with a rainy season coinciding with the Atlantic hurricane season from May to October and a dry season extending from November through April. Despite occasional exposure to tropical systems, the Dry Tortugas is the driest place in Florida with an annual precipitation of about . There is no large jungle or forest canopy area on the islands, and the sandy soil (which drains quickly) and intense sun only enhance the drought-like conditions often found on the islands. Seasonally there is little temperature variation, with high temperatures in summer around and low temperatures in winter around . The hardiness zone is 12a, with an annual mean minimum temperature of .


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The first European to see the Dry Tortugas was Juan Ponce de León, who visited on June 21, 1513. Ponce de León caught 160 sea turtles there and subsequently referred to the islands as the "Tortugas" (turtles). They are called "Dry" owing to the absence of surface fresh water on the island. The name is the second oldest surviving European place-name in the US.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The archipelago includes a high concentration of historically significant shipwrecks dating from the 17th century to the present. In 1742 HMS "Tyger" wrecked in the Dry Tortugas. The stranded crew lived on Garden Key for 56 days, and fought a battle with a Spanish sloop, before sailing to Jamaica in several boats.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: Florida was acquired from Spain by the United States in 1819. The Dry Tortugas were seen as a strategic point for the control of the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Work on a lighthouse on Garden Key started in 1825. In 1856 work on a new, more powerful lighthouse on Loggerhead Key was started to replace the Garden Key light.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: The Dry Tortugas are also rich in maritime history. In 1989 Seahawk Deep Ocean Technology explored a shipwreck believed to be part of the 1622 Spanish treasure fleet. The wreck located in of water, yielded olive jars, copper, gold, silver, glass and other cultural artifacts. On September 6, 1622, the "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" was driven by a severe hurricane onto a coral reef near the Dry Tortugas, about west of Key West. Mel Fisher and his company discovered the wreck July 20, 1985. The estimated $450 million cache recovered, known as "The Atocha Motherlode," included 40 tons of gold and silver; there were some 114,000 of the Spanish silver coins known as pieces of eight, gold coins, Colombian emeralds, gold and silver artifacts, and 1,000 silver ingots.<ref name="http://www.melfisher.com"></ref> In addition to the "Atocha", Fisher's company, Salvors Inc., found remains of several nearby shipwrecks, including the "Atocha's" sister galleon the "Santa Margarita", lost in the same year, and the remains of a slave ship known as the "Henrietta Marie", lost in 1700.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: Fort Jefferson is a massive but unfinished coastal fortress. It is the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere, and is composed of more than 16 million bricks.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: Planning for a fortification began almost immediately after American acquisition, and construction started in 1847. Work was half complete in 1860. This bastion remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War. It later was used as a prison until abandoned in 1874. Dr. Samuel Mudd, famous for being the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth in the wake of the Lincoln assassination, was imprisoned here for conspiracy with three others until early 1869, when he was pardoned in 1869 after averting a viral outbreak. Also imprisoned was a leader of the "Chicago Conspiracy", Englishman George St. Leger Grenfell, who is supposed to have drowned having escaped in a small boat.


title: Dry Tortugas National Park

text: During the 1880s, the Navy established a base in the Dry Tortugas, and it subsequently set up a coaling (refueling) and a wireless (radio) station there as well. During World War I, a seaplane base was established in the islands, but it was abandoned soon thereafter.