title: Robben Island

text: With the end of apartheid, the island has become a popular tourist destination. It is managed by Robben Island Museum (RIM); which operates the site as a living museum. In 1999, the island was declared a World Heritage Site for its importance to South Africa's political history and development of a democratic society. Every year, thousands of visitors take the ferry from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town for tours of the island and its former prison. Many of the guides are former prisoners. All land on the island is owned by the nation of South Africa, with the exception of the island church. Administratively, Robben Island is a suburb of the City of Cape Town. It is open all year around, weather permitting.


title: Robben Island

text: Robben Island is accessible to visitors through tours that depart from Cape Town's waterfront. Tours depart three times a day and take about 3.5 hours, consisting of a ferry trip to and from the island, and a tour of the various historical sites on the island that form part of the Robben Island Museum. These include the island graveyard, the disused lime quarry, Robert Sobukwe's house, the Bluestone quarry, the army and navy bunkers, and the maximum security prison. Nelson Mandela's cell is shown.


title: Robben Island

text: Seagoing vessels must take great care navigating near Robben Island and nearby Whale Rock (it does not break the surface) as these pose a danger to shipping. A prevailing rough Atlantic swell surrounds the offshore reefs and the island's jagged coastline. Stricken vessels driven onto rocks are quickly broken up by the powerful surf. A total of 31 vessels are known to have been wrecked around the island.


title: Robben Island

text: In 1990, a marine archaeology team from the University of Cape Town began Operation "Sea Eagle". It was an underwater survey that scanned of seabed around Robben Island. The task was made particularly difficult by the strong currents and high waves of these waters. The group found 24 vessels that had sunk around Robben Island. Most wrecks were found in waters less than deep. The team concluded that poor weather, darkness and fog were the cause of the sinkings.


title: Robben Island

text: Maritime wrecks around Robben Island and its surrounding waters include the 17th-century Dutch East Indiaman ships, the "Yeanger van Horne" (1611), the "Shaapejacht" (1660), and the "Dageraad" (1694). Later 19th-century wrecks include several British brigs, including the "Gondolier" (1836), and the United States clipper, "A.H. Stevens" (1866). In 1901 the mail steamer SS "Tantallon Castle" struck rocks off Robben Island in dense fog shortly after leaving Cape Town. After distress cannons were fired from the island, nearby vessels rushed to the rescue. All 120 passengers and crew were taken off the ship before it was broken apart in the relentless swell. A further 17 ships have been wrecked in the 20th century, including British, Spanish, Norwegian and Taiwanese vessels.


title: Robben Island

text: Due to the maritime danger of Robben Island and its near waters, Jan van Riebeeck, the first Dutch colonial administrator in Cape Town in the 1650s, ordered that huge bonfires were to be lit at night on top of Fire Hill, the highest point on the island (now Minto Hill). These were to warn VOC ships that they were approaching the island.


title: Robben Island

text: In 1865, Robben Island lighthouse was completed on Minto Hill. The cylindrical masonry tower, which has an attached lightkeeper's house at its base, is high with a lantern gallery at the top. In 1938, the lamp was converted to electricity. The lighthouse uses a flashing lantern instead of a revolving lamp; it shines for a duration of 5 seconds every seven seconds. The 46,000-candela beam, visible up to away, flashes white light away from Table Bay. A secondary red light acts as a navigation aid for vessels sailing south-southeast.


title: Robben Island

text: When the Dutch arrived in the area in 1652, the only large animals on the island were seals and birds, principally penguins. In 1654, the settlers released rabbits on the island to provide a ready source of meat for passing ships.


title: Robben Island

text: The original colony of African penguins on the island was completely exterminated by 1800. But, since 1983, a new colony has been established there, and the modern island is again an important breeding area for the species. The colony grew to a size of ~16,000 individuals in 2004, before starting to decline in size again. , this decline has been continuous (to a colony size of ~3,000 individuals). Such a decline has been found at almost all other African penguin colonies. Its causes are still largely unclear and likely to vary between colonies, but at Robben Island are probably related to a diminishing of the food supply (sardines and anchovies) through competition by fisheries. Easy to see in their natural habitat, the penguins have been a popular tourist attraction.


title: Robben Island

text: Around 1958, Lieutenant Peter Klerck, a South African Navy officer serving on the island, introduced various animals. The following extract of an article, written by his son Michael Klerck, who lived on the island from an early age, describes the local fauna:


title: Robben Island

text: My father, a naval officer at the time, with the sanction of Doctor Hey, director of Nature Conservation, turned an area into a nature reserve. A 'Noah's Ark' berthed in the harbour sometime in 1958. They stocked the island with tortoise, duck, geese, buck (which included Springbok, Eland, Steenbok, Bontebok and Fallow Deer), Ostrich and a few Wildebeest which did not last long. All except the fallow deer are indigenous to the Cape. Many animals are still there including three species of tortoise—the most recently discovered in 1998—two Parrot Beaked specimens that have remained undetected until now. The leopard or mountain tortoises might have suspected the past terror; perhaps they had no intention of being a part of a future infamy, but they often attempted the swim back to the mainland (they are the only species in the world that can swim). Boats would lift them out of the sea in Table Bay and return them to us. None of the original 12 shipped over remain, and in 1995, four more were introduced—they seem to have more easily accepted their home as they are still residents. One resident brought across a large leopard tortoise discovered in a friend's garden in Newlands, Cape Town. He lived in our garden and grew big enough to climb over the wall and roam the island much like the sheep in Van Riebeeck's time. As children we were able to ride his great frame comfortably, as did some grown men. The buck and ostriches seemed equally happy and the ducks and Egyptian Geese were assigned a home in the old quarry, which had, some three hundred years before, supplied the dressed stone for the foundations of the Castle; at the time of my residence it bristled with fish.


title: Robben Island

text: Recent reports in Cape Town newspapers show that a lack of upkeep, a lack of culling, and the proliferation of rabbits on the island has led to the total devastation of the wildlife; there remains today almost none of the animals my father brought over all those years ago; the rabbits themselves have laid the island waste, stripping it of almost all ground vegetation. It looks almost like a desert. A reporter from the broadcasting corporation told me recently that they found the carcass of the last Bontebok.


title: Robben Island

text: In the early 21st century, the rabbit population had reached an estimated 25,000, which had become an invasive species, endangering others. Humans are hunting and culling the rabbits to reduce their number.


title: Local extinction

text: Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions.


title: Local extinction

text: Local extinctions mark a change in the ecology of an area. In recent times, local extinction has sometimes been followed by a replacement of the species taken from other locations; wolf reintroduction is an example of this.


title: Local extinction

text: Glaciation can lead to local extinction. This was the case during the Pleistocene glaciation event in North America. During this period, most of the native North American species of earthworm were killed in places covered by glaciation. This left them open for colonization by European earthworms brought over in soil from Europe.


title: Local extinction

text: Species naturally become extirpated from islands over time. The number of species an island can support is limited by its geographical size. Because many islands were relatively recently formed due to climate change at the end of the Pleistocene when the sea level rose, and these islands most likely had the same complement of species as found on the mainland, counting the species which still survive at present on a statistically large enough amount of islands will give the parameters with which certain groups of species such as plants or birds will become less biodiverse on a given island over a given period of time, depending on its size. The same calculations can also be applied to determine when species will disappear from nature parks ('islands' in many senses), mountain tops and mesas (see sky islands), forest remnants or other such distributional patches. This research also demonstrates that certain species are more prone to extinction than others, a species has an intrinsic extinction-ability (incidence function).


title: Local extinction

text: Some species exploit or require transient or disturbed habitats, such as vernal pools, a human gut, or burnt woodland after forest fires, and are characterised by highly fluctuating population numbers and shifting distributional patterns. Many natural ecosystems cycle through a standard succession, pioneer species disappear from a region as the ecosystem matures and reaches a climax community.


title: Local extinction

text: A local extinction can be useful for research: in the case of the Bay checkerspot butterfly, scientists, including Paul R. Ehrlich, chose not to intervene as a population disappeared from an area in order to study the process.


title: Local extinction

text: Many crocodilian species have experienced localized extinction, particularly the saltwater crocodile ("Crocodylus porosus"), which has been extirpated from Vietnam, Thailand, Java, and many other areas.


title: Local extinction

text: Major environmental events, such as volcanic eruptions, may lead to large numbers of local extinctions, such as with the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, which led to a fern spike extinction.


title: Local extinction

text: Heat waves can lead to local extinction. In New Zealand, during the summer of 2017–2018, sea surface temperatures around parts of South Island exceeded , which was well above normal. Air temperatures were also high, exceeding . These high temperatures, coupled with small wave height, led to the local extinction of Bull Kelp ("Durvillaea" spp.) from Pile Bay.


title: Local extinction

text: Lagoa Santa, Brazil has lost almost 70% of the local fish species over the last 150 years. These include "Acestrorhynchus lacustris", "Astyanax fasciatus", and "Characidium zebra". This could be caused by the introduction of non-native species, like "Talapia rendalli", into the lagoon, changes in water level and organic pollution.


title: Local extinction

text: Local extinctions can be reversed, in some cases artificially. Wolves are a species that have been reintroduced into parts of their historical range. This has happened with red wolves ("Canis rufus") in the United States in the late 1980s and also grey wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s. There have been talks of reintroducing wolves in Scotland, Japan, and Mexico.


title: Local extinction

text: When the local population of a certain species disappears from a certain geographical delimitation, whether fish in a drying pond or an entire ocean, it can be said to be extirpated or locally extinct in that pond or ocean.


title: Local extinction

text: A particular total world population can be more or less arbitrarily divided into 'stocks' or 'subpopulations', defined by political or other geographical delimitations. For example, the Cetacean Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the conservation status of the Black Sea stock of harbour porpoise ("Phocoena phocoena") that touches six countries, and COSEWIC, which only assesses the conservation status of wildlife in Canada, even assesses Canadian species that occur in the United States or other countries.


title: Local extinction

text: While the IUCN mostly only assesses the global conservation status of species or subspecies, in some older cases it also assessed the risks to certain stocks and populations, in some cases these populations may be genetically distinct. In all, 119 stocks or subpopulations across 69 species had been assessed by the IUCN in 2006. If a local stock or population becomes extinct, the species as a whole has not become extinct, but extirpated from that local area.


title: Local extinction

text: Examples of stocks and subdivisions of world populations assessed separately by the IUCN for their conservation status are:


title: Local extinction

text: The IUCN also lists countries where assessed species, subspecies or geographic populations are found, and from which countries they have been extirpated or reintroduced.


title: Ava Max discography

text: American singer Ava Max has released one studio album, two extended plays, 21 singles (including six as a featured artist), nine promotional singles and 24 music videos. In 2008, Max released an independent extended play on her Myspace profile titled "Amanda Kay". She released "Take Away the Pain" under the stage name Ava in 2013, which was later produced by the Canadian duo Project 46 in 2015.


title: Ava Max discography

text: After signing with Atlantic Records in 2016, Max released her debut single "My Way" in April 2018, and collaborated with Gashi on a song titled "Slippin'". "Sweet but Psycho" was released in August 2018, which became Max's breakthrough hit, reaching number one in 22 countries including Sweden, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom. It reached the top of the "Billboard" Dance Club Songs chart in January 2019, and charted at number 10 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: Ava Max discography

text: Max's next single "So Am I" was released in March 2019, which charted in the top 10 in Poland, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden. Two promotional singles were released titled "Blood, Sweat & Tears" and "Freaking Me Out", which were followed by her next single "Torn" in August 2019. "Salt" was sent to digital streaming platforms in December 2019. In 2020, Max released "Kings & Queens", "Who's Laughing Now" and "OMG What's Happening" as singles from her debut studio album "Heaven & Hell", which was released in September 2020. "My Head & My Heart" was released in November 2020, which was included on the re-issue of the aforementioned album.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: The Camp Lejeune water contamination problem occurred at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, from 1953 to 1987. During that time, United States Marine Corps (USMC) personnel and families at the base bathed in and ingested tap water contaminated with harmful chemicals at all concentrations from 240 to 3400 times current safe levels. An undetermined number of former residents later developed cancer or other ailments, which could be due to the contaminated drinking water. Victims claim that USMC leaders concealed knowledge of the problem and did not act properly to resolve it or notify former residents.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 2009 the U.S. federal government initiated investigations into the allegations of contaminated water and failures by U.S. Marine officials to act on the issue. In August 2012, President Obama signed the Janey Ensminger Act into law to begin providing medical care for people who may have been affected by the contamination. In February 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune significantly increased the risk of possibly contracting multiple diseases, though they did not say that the water actually caused any disease. The PACT Act of 2022, Sec. 804, is the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022. It provides damages for past injuries from Camp Lejeune toxic exposure. It is the first such law that provides compensation to the civilian family members of veterans stationed at the base as well as those who came onto the base for work.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: From August 1, 1953 through December 31, 1987 (sometimes from January 1, 1950 through December 31, 1985), Marines and personnel of any branch of the armed forces and their families stationed at Camp Lejeune's main base, barracks, family, temporary housing, Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point may have consumed, and bathed in, water contaminated with toxins at concentrations from 240 to 3400 times levels permitted by safety standards. As a result, at least 850 former residents filed claims for nearly $4 billion from the military. The contamination appears to have affected the water from two of the eight water wells on the base. The main chemicals involved were volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as perchloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent, and trichloroethylene (TCE), a degreaser; however, more than 70 chemicals have been identified as contaminants at Lejeune. The base's wells were shut off in the mid-1980s, after which the water met federal standards, then they were placed back online in violation of the law. The National Research Council of the National Academies released a report based upon a literature review of PCE and TCE in July 2009. The report failed to assess other contaminants, such as benzene and vinyl chloride, and concluded that the water at the base was tainted between 1950 and 1985, but that the contamination could not be linked to any health problems. However, on October 22, 2010, a letter from the Director of the government agency tasked to study health effects at Superfund sites, such as Camp Lejeune, illustrated the limitations of the 2009 literature review and advised that there "was undoubtedly a hazard associated with drinking the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune".


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 1980, the base began testing the water for trihalomethanes in response to new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That same year, a laboratory from the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency began finding halogenated hydrocarbons in the water. In March 1981, one of the lab's reports, which was delivered to U.S. Marine officials, stated, "Water is highly contaminated with other chlorinated hydrocarbons (solvents)!"


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: Possible sources of the contamination include solvents from a nearby, off-base dry cleaning company, from on-base units using chemicals to clean military equipment, and leaks from underground fuel storage tanks. In 1982, a private company, Grainger Laboratories, contracted by the USMC to examine the problem provided the base commander with a report showing that the wells supplying water for the base were contaminated with trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene (also known as perchlorethylene). The contractor delivered repeated warnings to base officials, including base chemist Elizabeth Betz, that the water was contaminated. A representative from Grainger, Mike Hargett, stated that he went with Betz in July 1982 to inform an unnamed Marine lieutenant colonel who was deputy director of base utilities about the problems with the water. According to Hargett, the Marine was unwilling to discuss Hargett's concerns. In August 1982, a Grainger chemist, Bruce Babson, sent a letter to the base commander, Marine Major General D. J. Fulham, warning him that the base wells appeared to be poisoned. The water from the contaminated wells, however, continued in use at the base.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: Grainger continued to warn Marine officials of problems with the water in December 1982, March 1983, and September 1983. In a spring 1983 report to the EPA, Lejeune officials stated that there were no environmental problems at the base. In June 1983, North Carolina's water supply agency asked Lejeune officials for Grainger's lab reports on the water testing. Marine officials declined to provide the reports to the state agency. In December 1983 Lejeune officials scaled back the water testing performed by Grainger.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In July 1984, a different company contracted under the EPA's Superfund review of Lejeune and other sites found benzene in the base's water, along with PCE and TCE. Marine officials shut down one of the contaminated wells in November 1984 and the others in early 1985. The Marines notified North Carolina of the contamination in December 1984. At this time the Marines did not disclose that benzene had been discovered in the water and stated to the media that the EPA did not mandate unacceptable levels of PCE and TCE.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 1997 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) investigated the well water and concluded that cancer derived from exposure to the water was unlikely. According to a federal investigation, ATSDR investigators overlooked evidence of benzene in the water when preparing the report.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: On April 28, 2009, the ATSDR admitted that the water had been contaminated with benzene and withdrew the 1997 report. The benzene most likely occurred as a result of 800,000 gallons of fuel that leaked from the base fuel farm during the years in question. The fuel leaks occurred near the main well that serves Hadnot Point, location of enlisted and officer's quarters and the base hospital. For unknown reasons, the presence of benzene in the water had been omitted from the USMC report submitted for federal health review in 1992, in spite of the USMC being aware of its presence. The report had been prepared by a contractor, Baker Corp. State officials had also reportedly informed the ATSDR in 1994 about the presence of benzene in the water.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 1999 the USMC began to notify former base residents that they might have consumed contaminated water. The notifications were directed by a federal health study examining possible birth defects among children born at the base during the contamination years. Up to this point, many families potentially affected by the water contamination attributed rare illnesses and cancers in their families to bad luck.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 2005 the US Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigated the USMC's handling of the issue, and reported that they found no criminal conduct by USMC officials. In 2007, however, one of the EPA investigators told Congress that he had recommended obstruction of justice charges against some Camp Lejeune officials, but had been overruled by Justice department prosecutors.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 2007, Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine master sergeant, found a document dated 1981 that described a radioactive dump site near a rifle range at the camp. According to the report, the waste was laced with strontium-90, an isotope known to cause leukemia and other cancers. According to Camp Lejeune's installation restoration program manager, base officials learned in 2004 about the 1981 document. Ensminger served in the Marine Corps for 24 and a half years, and lived for part of that time at Camp Lejeune. In 1985 his 9-year-old daughter, Janey, died of cancer.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: An advocacy group called The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten was created to inform possible victims of the contamination at Lejeune. The group's website includes an introduction with some basic information about the contamination at Lejeune, including that many health problems, such as various types of cancer, miscarriages, and birth defects, have been noted in people who drank the contaminated water. According to their site, numerous base housing areas were affected by the contamination, including Tarawa Terrace, Midway Park, Berkeley Manor, Paradise Point, Hadnot Point, Hospital Point, and Watkins Village and Knox Trailer Park (Frenchman's Point).


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 2008, the USMC began a Congressionally required notification campaign to notify former base residents of the issue. An online health registry now contains more than 135,000 names.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has determined that a former servicemember's cancer was caused by his exposure to the contaminated water. Paul Buckley, a USMC veteran who was diagnosed with incurable hematological malignancy, was stationed at Camp Lejeune in the 1980s. In March 2010 the VA decided that Buckley's cancer was directly linked to his ingestion of contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and awarded him 100% disability benefits. This is believed to be the first time the government has admitted liability. On February 22, 2012, the VA agreed that retired Marine Frank Rachowicz' terminal cancer was caused by exposure to the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: On July 6, 2009, Laura Jones filed a suit against the U.S. government over the contaminated water at the base. Jones previously lived at the base where her husband, a Marine, was stationed.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: The U.S. Navy requested a dismissal of the case, stating that the statute of limitations had expired and that regulations at the time did not include contaminants such as trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, vinyl chloride and benzene. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, however, rejected the Navy's arguments and ruled that the suit could go forward. Said Boyle, "The Department of the Navy's unwillingness to release information regarding contamination at Camp Lejeune or to provide notice to former residents remains relevant in that such conduct limited the information available to potential clients." Boyle dismissed a claim by the Navy in November 2010 that Jones had violated the 10-year statute of repose. Said Boyle, "To summarily bar such claims from entering the courthouse would be a profound miscarriage of justice."


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In January 2011, retired Marine Joel P. Shriberg filed suit against the US Government, claiming that Lejeune's contaminated water caused his breast cancer. Shriberg was stationed at Lejeune from September 1957 through April 1959.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 2011, 10 lawsuits were consolidated in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Georgia. In October 2014, a federal appeals court rejected the North Carolina legislature's attempt to extend a time limit for filing pollution-related lawsuits. On October 14, 2014, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court ruled that CERCLA did not preempt North Carolina's statutory limits.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: A multi-district litigation, MDL-2218, was dismissed on North Carolina statute of repose grounds on December 5, 2016, and the appeal to the 11th Circuit failed ("Straw, et. al. v. United States", 16-17573). The U.S. Supreme Court refused certiorari. The Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, Section 804 of the PACT Act, S. 3373, now provides an extended period for filing.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 2022, as part of the Honoring Our PACT Act, Congress introduced the Camp Lejeune Justice Act. The Camp Lejeune Justice Act would allow those exposed to the contaminated drinking water at the Marine Corps Base to file a Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuit and recover compensation for their injuries.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In October 2009 North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller announced his intention to add a companion bill to Richard Burr's "Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2009" to provide assistance to possible victims of the Lejeune water contamination. The proposed bills would authorize treatment at a US Veterans Administration facility to any veteran or family member who was based at Camp Lejeune during the time the water was contaminated and suffers from adverse health effects.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: Miller and Burr's proposed bill, "Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011", was approved by the Veteran's Affairs Committee on 29 June 2011 and was sent to the full House and Senate for approval. The bill was expected to cost $3.9 billion over 10 years and directed the Department of Defense to pay, and the VA to provide the care, for victims of the water contamination.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In February 2010, Senator Richard Burr stated that he would hold the nominations of two top Navy civilian officials- Paul Luis Oostburg Sanz as Navy general counsel and Jackalyne Pfannenstiel as assistant Navy secretary for installations and the environment, until the Navy confirmed that it had funded and initiated programs to study the mortality rate of possible victims of the contamination and a plan to compensate any victims for their injuries. The Navy notified Burr the week of March 1, 2010, that it had released $8.8 million to fund the requested study and Burr allowed the nominations of Sanz and Pfannenstiel to go forward. The study will be conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In March 2010 a congressional investigation led by Miller asked the Navy and a contractor, Baker Environmental Inc., for documents related to the contamination issue. Miller also asked for access to the Navy's electronic database of documents related to the contamination, which heretofore had not been made publicly accessible. "


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: On March 22, 2010, the ATSDR formally complained to the USMC for withholding details of and access to databases containing more than 700,000 electronic documents related to the water contamination. Said ATSDR Deputy Director Thomas Sinks, "It's interesting that there is information that we continue to discover that we need to go through." The Navy/USMC responded by providing access to ATSDR to the databases and denied that there was any intent to withhold documents from the investigation, saying that all of the documents had already been provided in hard copy. Access to the databases, however, was not provided to two panels advising the US Government on the contamination issue, with the USMC saying that the panel members must use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain access to the documents.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In September 2010 Miller and the oversight subcommittee of the United States House Committee on Science and Technology held hearings into the contamination. The committee focused in part on the 1997 ATSDR report and on a booklet the USMC released in July 2010 about the contamination which Miller described as "more public relations than public health." Congressional investigators and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry have asked the Marine Corps to retract the booklet, which contains information its critics have called "misleading".


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In April 2011, five members of Congress sent the Navy a letter criticizing its continued behavior regarding the issue. They accused the Navy of continuing to mischaracterize the 2009 report by the National Academy of the Sciences' National Research Council, which concluded there was no concrete link between the chemicals trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene and the ailments suffered by veterans and family. The Navy states that the report also assessed benzene exposure, which is false, according to the members' letter.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In June 2011 the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry began sending a survey to approximately 350,000 former employees or residents of Camp Lejeune. The purpose of the survey was to determine what diseases may be linked to the water contamination. The agency's report was expected to be completed in 2014.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In 2011 a documentary film on the water contamination was produced and released by Wider Film Projects/Tracks Films called "". The film, directed by Tony Hardmon and Rachel Libert, made the 15-film short list for consideration for a 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: On April 20, 2012, members of the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees signed a letter to President Obama asking that health care for Camp Lejeune contamination victims be expedited. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki responded that providing healthcare to Camp Lejeune veterans was "premature". The Government Accountability Office, on May 2, 2012, issued a report recommending that the DoD update its processes for addressing possible health effects from toxic exposure. Retired Marine drill instructor Jerry Ensminger started a petition requesting that the US government begin providing healthcare to Camp Lejeune veterans exposed to the toxic water. More than 136,000 people signed the Change.org petition.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: In February 2014 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its report on the effects of the water contamination. The report found that Lejeune Marines had about a 10 percent higher risk of dying from any type of cancer compared to the Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton. Lejeune Marines had a 35 percent higher risk of kidney cancer, a 42 percent higher risk of liver cancer, a 47 percent higher risk of Hodgkin lymphoma, a 68 percent higher risk of multiple myeloma, and double the risk of ALS.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: On July 18, 2012, the US Senate passed the Janey Ensminger Act authorizing medical care to military and family members who had resided at the base between 1957 and 1987 and developed conditions linked to the water contamination. The measure applies to up to 750,000 people. The House approved the bill on July 31, 2012. President Obama signed the bill into law on August 6, 2012.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: The bill applies to 15 specific ailments believed to be linked to the contamination, The Department of Veterans Affairs is assigned to provide the medical care. To fund the medical care, the bill extends higher fees for VA home loan guarantees to October 1, 2017.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: Efforts to create a Camp Lejeune Justice Act were renewed in 2022 and the Camp Lejeune Justice Act became Section 706 of the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act, H.R. 3967. This Act was packaged as S. 3373 with the Camp Lejeune Justice Acy and finally passed by a vote of 86–11 on August 2, 2022. President Biden was scheduled to sign this bill on August 8, 2022, in a White House Rose Garden ceremony.


title: Camp Lejeune water contamination

text: The language of Section 804 provides for monetary relief for those injured by exposure to the Camp Lejeune base and its toxic water by 30 days of "living" or "working" or "otherwise" being exposed between 1953 and 1987 is the prerequisite for compensation. This includes "in-utero" exposure. There is a jury trial right that is not present in the Federal Tort Claims Act. Also, there is no requirement to prove negligence, making this what is known in tort law as a strict liability relief. All immunities that were used in the Multi-District Litigation are stripped by this new law, making it much easier for veterans, their family members, and others poisoned and injured to get relief. Many mass tort law firms have begun advertising for Camp Lejeune clients and there are conferences being held on this subject.


title: Siobhan Williams

text: Williams' first role was as recurring character Jamie Lewis on "Heartland". In 2012, she appeared in Disney's "Radio Rebel" and played the antagonist, Stephanie Meyers, in 20th Century Fox's "", for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award (Best Performance by a Young Actress 2013). She was also nominated for her performance in Nasser Group's "Christmas Miracle" (Best Supporting Actress). Williams also played the recurring character Ginger on the Cartoon Network's live-action series "Level Up", which was picked up in Canada by Teletoon. Williams guest-starred in the second episode of CTV's new procedural drama "Motive", which aired as the series premiere on American Network ABC after it was picked up in summer 2013. Williams played Tiffany Greenwood, a high school student brutally murdered by a mayoral candidate/family friend she threatened to expose. This performance merited her yet another Young Artist Award nomination, and this time she won for Best Performance by a Guest Star. She also appeared in a supporting role in Lifetime's "Forever 16", which was released in September 2013.


title: Siobhan Williams

text: Williams guest starred in the Season 3 Premiere and Finale of AMC's "Hell On Wheels". She played the daughter of a Mormon patriarch whose family is evicted from their homestead by railway officials and appeared in a highly controversial arc with series lead Anson Mount. She was due to return in season 4 as series regular but was unable to accept the contract due to scheduling conflicts with "Black Box". In the summer of 2013 she filmed a western directed by Jon Cassar entitled "Forsaken", alongside Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Demi Moore and Brian Cox. On August 8, 2014, it was announced that Williams was cast in the Lifetime dramedy series "UnREAL".


title: Names of the Romani people

text: The Romani people are also known by a variety of other names; in English as "gypsies" or "gipsies", and "Roma"; in Greek as ("gíftoi") or ("tsiggánoi"), in Central and Eastern Europe as "Tsingani" (and variants); in France as "gitans" besides the dated terms "bohémiens" and "manouches"; in Italy as "rom" and "sinti" besides the dated terms "zingari", "zigani", and "gitani"; in Spain as "gitanos"; and in Portugal as "ciganos".


title: Names of the Romani people

text: Self-designation also varies: In Central and Eastern Europe, "Roma" is common. The Romani of England call themselves (in Angloromani) "Romanichal", those of Scandinavia (in Scandinavian romanidialect)" Romanisæl".


title: Names of the Romani people

text: In German-speaking Europe, the self-designation is "Sinti", in France "Manush", while the groups of Spain, Wales, and Finland use "Kalo/Kale" (from "kalo" meaning "black" in Romani language).


title: Names of the Romani people

text: There are numerous subgroups and clans with their own self-designations, such as the Kalderash, Machvaya, Boyash, Lovari, Modyar, Xoraxai, Lăutari, etc.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: In the English language (according to OED), "Rom" is a noun (with the plural "Romá" or "Roms") and an adjective, while "Romany" is also a noun (with the plural "Romanies") and an adjective. Both "Rom" and "Romany" have been in use in English since the 19th century as an alternative for . "Romany" is also spelled "Romani", or "Rommany".


title: Names of the Romani people

text: Sometimes, "rom" and "romani" are spelled with a double "r", i.e., "rrom" and "rromani", particularly in Romania in order to distinguish from the Romanian endonym ("români"), to which it has no relation. This is well established in Romani itself, since it represents a phoneme (/ʀ/ also written as "ř" and "rh") which in some Romani dialects has remained different from the one written with a single "r".


title: Names of the Romani people

text: "Roma" is a term primarily used in political contexts to refer to the Romani people as a whole. Still, some subgroups of Romani do not self-identify as Roma, therefore some scholars avoid using the term "Roma" as not all Romani subgroups accept the term.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: Because all Romanies use the word "Romani" as an adjective, the term began to be used as a noun for the entire ethnic group.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: Today, the term "Romani" is used by some organizations, including the United Nations and the US Library of Congress. However, the Council of Europe and other organizations use the term "Roma" to refer to Romani people around the world, and recommended that "Romani" be restricted to the language and culture: Romani language, Romani culture.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: The demonyms of the Romani people, Lom and Dom share the same etymological origin, reflecting Sanskrit "" "a man of low caste, living by singing and music"


title: Names of the Romani people

text: The ultimate origin of the Sanskrit term ' (perhaps from Munda or Dravidian) is uncertain. Its stem, ', is connected with drumming, linked with the Sanskrit verbal root "" 'to sound (as a drum)', perhaps a loan from Dravidian, e.g. Kannada "ḍamāra" 'a pair of kettle-drums', and Telugu "ṭamaṭama" 'a drum, tomtom'.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: The English term "gipsy" or "gypsy" is commonly used to indicate Romani people, Tinkers, and Travellers, and use of the word "gipsy" in modern-day English is pervasive (and is a legal term under English law—see below), and some Romani organizations use it in their own organizational names, particularly in the United Kingdom. The word, while sometimes positively embraced by Romani persons, is also sometimes rejected by other Romani persons as offensive due to it being tainted by its use as a racial slur and a pejorative connotation implying illegality and irregularity, and some modern dictionaries either recommend avoiding use of the word "gypsy" entirely or give it a negative or warning label.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: A British House of Commons Committee parliamentary inquiry, as described in their report “Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities” (published 2019), stated about their findings in the United Kingdom that: “We asked many members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities how they preferred to describe themselves. While some find the term “Gypsy” to be offensive, many stakeholders and witnesses were proud to associate themselves with this term and so we have decided that it is right and proper to use it, where appropriate, throughout the report.”


title: Names of the Romani people

text: The "Oxford English Dictionary" states a 'gipsy' is a According to the OED, the word was first used in English in 1514, with several more uses in the same century, and both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used this word.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: This exonym is sometimes written with a capital letter, to show that it designates an ethnic group. The Spanish term "gitano", the French term and the Basque term have the same origin.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name was written in various ways: "Egipcian", "Egypcian", "gypcian". The word "gipsy/gypsy" comes from the spellings which had lost the initial capital "E", and that is one reason that it is often spelled with the initial "g" in lowercase. As time elapsed, the notion of "the gipsy/gypsy" altered to include other associated stereotypes such as nomadism and exoticism. John Matthews in "The World Atlas of Divination" refer to gypsies as "Wise Women."


title: Names of the Romani people

text: Colloquially, "gipsy/gypsy" is used refer to any person perceived by the speaker as fitting the gypsy stereotypes.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: "Gipsy" has several developing and overlapping meanings under English Law. Under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, "gipsies" are defined as "persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an organised group of travelling showmen, or persons engaged in travelling circuses, travelling together as such". The definition includes such groups as New Age Travellers as well as Irish Travellers and Romany.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: "Gipsies" of Romany origins have been a recognised ethnic group for the purposes of Race Relations Act 1976 since "Commission for Racial Equality v Dutton 1989", as have Irish Travellers in England and Wales since "O'Leary v Allied Domecq 2000" (having already gained recognition in Northern Ireland in 1997).


title: Names of the Romani people

text: The name originates with Byzantine Greek ("atsinganoi", Latin "adsincani") or ("athinganoi", literally "untouchables"), a term applied to the sect of the Melchisedechians. The "Adsincani" appear in an 11th-century text preserved in Mt Athos, "The Life of Saint George the Athonite" (written in the Georgian language), as "a Samaritan people, descendants of Simon the Magician, named Adsincani, who were renowned sorcerers and villains". In the text, emperor Constantine Monomachos employs the Adsincani to exterminate wild animals, who were destroying the game in the imperial park of Philopation.


title: Names of the Romani people

text: Because many Romanies living in France had come via Bohemia, they were referred to as "Bohémiens". This term would later be adapted by the French to refer to a particular artistic and impoverished lifestyle of an individual, known as Bohemianism.


title: Government agency

text: A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administration. There is a notable variety of agency types. Although usage differs, a government agency is normally distinct both from a department or ministry, and other types of public body established by government. The functions of an agency are normally executive in character since different types of organizations ("such as commissions") are most often constituted in an advisory role—this distinction is often blurred in practice however, it is not allowed.


title: Government agency

text: A government agency may be established by either a national government or a state government within a federal system. Agencies can be established by legislation or by executive powers. The autonomy, independence, and accountability of government agencies also vary widely.


title: Government agency

text: Early examples of organizations that would now be termed a government agency include the British Navy Board, responsible for ships and supplies, which was established in 1546 by King Henry VIII and the British Commissioners of Bankruptcy established in 1570.


title: Government agency

text: From 1933, the New Deal saw growth in US federal agencies, the "alphabet agencies" as they were used to deliver new programs created by legislation, such as the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.


title: Government agency

text: From the 1980s, as part of New Public Management, several countries including Australia and the United Kingdom developed the use of agencies to improve efficiency in public services.


title: Government agency

text: Administrative law in France refers to "autorité administrative indépendante" (AAI) or Independent Administrative Authorities. They tend to be prominent in the following areas of public policy;


title: Government agency

text: Independent Administrative Authorities in France may not be instructed or ordered to take specific actions by the government.


title: Government agency

text: The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace (Greek: Γενική Γραμματεία Μακεδονίας-Θράκης), previously Ministry for Macedonia and Thrace (Greek: Υπουργείο Μακεδονίας-Θράκης) is a government agency of the Hellenic Republic that is responsible for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace.


title: Government agency

text: The term "agency" in India has several meanings; for example,the Cabinet and the parliament Secretariat describes itself as a ""nodal agency" for coordination amongst the ministries of the Govt. of India". Most notably as an international feature, what appear to be independent agencies ("or apex agencies") include some that have active roles for Ministers: such as, the National Security Council, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and the NITI Aayog, which is chaired ex officio by the Prime Minister.


title: Government agency

text: Today, Russian government agencies such as the FSB, FSO, and the GRU use Spetsnaz or other masked operators for any missions.


title: Government agency

text: The Government agencies in Sweden are State controlled organizations who act independently to carry out the policies of the Government of Sweden. The Ministries are relatively small and merely policy-making organizations, allowed to control agencies by policy decisions but not by direct orders. This means that while the agencies are subject to decisions made by the Government, Ministers are explicitly prohibited (so-called ban on "ministerstyre") from interfering with the day-to-day operation in an agency or the outcome in individual cases as well.


title: Government agency

text: In addition to the State and its agencies, there are also local government agencies, which are extensions of municipalities and county councils.


title: Government agency

text: Agencies in the United Kingdom are either executive agencies answerable to government ministers or non-departmental public bodies answerable directly to one of the parliaments or devolved assemblies of the United Kingdom. They are also commonly known as Quangos.


title: Government agency

text: Agencies can be created by enabling legislation by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Scottish Parliament or the National Assembly for Wales.


title: Government agency

text: Agencies in England usually answer to Westminster or the British Government. In Scotland, they usually answer to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament and in Wales to the National Assembly for Wales.


title: Government agency

text: Some have remits that cover the entire UK and these organizations are funded by and answer to the British Government.


title: Government agency

text: The Congress and President of the United States delegate specific authority to government agencies to regulate the complex facets of the modern American federal state. Also, most of the 50 U.S. states have created similar government agencies. Each of the 50 states' governments is similar to the national government with all but one having a bicameral legislature.


title: Government agency

text: The term "government agency" or "administrative agency" usually applies to one of the independent agencies of the United States government, which exercise some degree of independence from the President's control. Although the heads of independent agencies are often appointed by the government, they can usually be removed only for cause. The heads of independent agencies work together in groups, such as a commission, board or council. Independent agencies often function as miniature versions of the tripartite federal government with the authority to legislate (through the issuing, or "promulgation" of regulations), to adjudicate disputes, and to enforce agency regulations (through enforcement personnel). Examples of independent agencies include the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).


title: Government agency

text: A broader definition of the term "government agency" also means the United States federal executive departments that includes the President's cabinet-level departments, and their sub-units. Examples of these agencies include the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.


title: Government agency

text: Most federal agencies are created by Congress through statutes called "enabling acts" which define the scope of an agency's authority. Because the Constitution does not expressly mention federal agencies (as it does the three branches), some commentators have called agencies the "headless fourth branch" of the federal government. However, most independent agencies are technically part of the executive branch, with a few located in the legislative branch of government. By enacting the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in 1946, Congress established some means to oversee government agency action. The APA established uniform administrative law procedures for a federal agency's promulgation of rules and adjudication of claims. The APA also sets forth the process for judicial review of agency action.


title: Naxos

text: Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abrasives available.


title: Naxos

text: The largest town and capital of the island is Chora or Naxos City, with 7,374 inhabitants (2011 census). The main villages are Filoti, Apiranthos, Vivlos, Agios Arsenios, Koronos and Glynado.


title: Naxos

text: Naxos experiences a Mediterranean climate, with relatively mild winters and warm summers. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Csa". (Mediterranean Climate).


title: Naxos

text: According to Greek mythology, the young Zeus was raised in a cave on Mt. Zas (""Zas"" meaning ""Zeus""). Homer mentions "Dia"; literally the sacred island "of the Goddess". Károly Kerényi explains:


title: Naxos

text: One legend has it that in the Heroic Age before the Trojan War, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on this island after she helped him kill the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth. Dionysus (god of wine, festivities, and the primal energy of life) who was the protector of the island, met Ariadne and fell in love with her. But eventually Ariadne, unable to bear her separation from Theseus, either killed herself (according to the Athenians), or ascended to heaven (as the older versions had it). The Naxos portion of the Ariadne myth is also told in the Richard Strauss opera "Ariadne auf Naxos".


title: Naxos

text: The giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes figure in at least two Naxos myths: in one, Artemis bought the abandonment of a siege they laid against the gods, by offering to live on Naxos as Otus's lover; in another, the brothers had actually settled Naxos.


title: Naxos

text: It is also said that the sea god Poseidon was passing by Naxos whilst driving his chariot on the sea surface and is where he first laid eyes on his future wife, the nereid Amphitrite as she was dancing there.


title: Naxos

text: Stelida quarry, south-west of Chora, contains Mousterian tools dating back to the Middle Paleolithic era, which indicates that Neanderthal activity on the island spanned almost 200,000 years ago. The extinct dwarf elephant "Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi" lived on Naxos until hominids arrived on the island.


title: Naxos

text: Zas Cave, inhabited during the Neolithic era, contained objects of stone from Melos and copper objects including a dagger and gold sheet. The presence of gold and other objects within the cave indicated to researchers the status of the inhabitant.


title: Naxos

text: In 499 BC, an unsuccessful attack on Naxos by Persian forces led several prominent men in the Greek cities of Ionia to rebel against the Persian Empire in the Ionian Revolt, and then to the Persian War between Greece and Persia.


title: Naxos

text: Naxos was the first Greek city-state to attempt to leave the Delian League circa 469 BC; Athens quickly quashed the notion and forcibly removed all military naval vessels from the island's control. Athens then demanded all future payments from Naxos in the form of gold rather than military aid.


title: Naxos

text: Pope Martin I was detained on the island of Naxos for almost a year after he was arrested by Byzantine authorities in Rome due to his holding of a synod that condemned monotheletism. He was held on the island prior to being taken to Constantinople for trial. While detained on the island, he wrote to a certain Theodore living in Constantinople.


title: Naxos

text: Under the Byzantine Empire, Naxos was part of the thema of the Aegean Sea, which was established in the mid-9th century.


title: Naxos

text: In Byzantine times, the island's capital was on the southern fortress of Apalyres. During this time, it suffered from Saracen raids, particular during the existence of the Emirate of Crete (824–961), to which the island occasionally paid tribute. Traces of Muslim artistic influence are visible in frescoes from the 10th century. Nevertheless, as in Antiquity, Naxos was celebrated for its agriculture and animal husbandry; the 12th-century geographer al-Idrisi records extensive cattle raising on the island.


title: Naxos

text: In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, with a Latin Empire under the influence of the Venetians established at Constantinople, the Venetian Marco Sanudo conquered Naxos and most of the other Cyclades in 1205–1207. Of all the islands, only on Naxos was there any opposition to Sanudo: a group of Genoese pirates had occupied the castle between the end of Byzantine rule and Sanudo's arrival. To steel his band's resolve, Sanudo burnt his galleys "and bade his companions to conquer or die". The pirates surrendered the castle after a five weeks' siege.


title: Naxos

text: Naxos became the seat of Sanudo's realm, known as the "Duchy of Naxos" or "Duchy of the Archipelago". Twenty-one dukes in two dynasties ruled the Archipelago, until 1566; Venetian rule continued in scattered islands of the Aegean until 1714. Under Venetian rule, the island was called by its Italian name, "Nasso".


title: Naxos

text: The Sanudi introduced Western feudal law to the island, based on the "Assizes of Romania". However, the native Greek population continued to use Byzantine law for civil matters at least until the late 16th century.


title: Naxos

text: In the 13th century, following the capture of Antalya and Alanya on the southern Anatolian coast by the Seljuk Turks, refugees from these areas settled in Naxos. In the 14th century, the island was once more exposed to raids, this time from the Anatolian Turkish beyliks, chiefly the Aydınids. In turn, the Sanudi assisted the Genoese in capturing Chios in 1304 and the Knights Hospitaller in their conquest of Rhodes in 1309, in order to stop these islands being used as Turkish pirate base. Nevertheless, raids against Naxos are recorded in 1324 and 1326, and in 1341, Umur of Aydın carried off 6,000 people from the island and imposed a payment of tribute. Two years later, however, the Smyrniote crusade captured his main port, Smyrna.


title: Naxos

text: The relief was temporary, however, as Turkish raids recommenced later in the century. The island was so depopulated that Cristoforo Buondelmonti in claimed that there were not enough men to wed the Naxiot women. The rising Ottoman Empire first attacked the island in 1416, but the Sultans recognized Venetian overlordship over the Duchy in successive treaties, in exchange for an annual tribute.


title: Naxos

text: The Ottoman administration remained essentially in the hands of the Venetians; the Porte's concern was satisfied by the returns of taxes. Very few Turks ever settled on Naxos, and Turkish influence on the island is slight. Under Ottoman rule the island was known as Turkish: "Nakşa". Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821, when the islands revolted; Naxos finally became a member of the Greek state in 1832.


title: Naxos

text: Naxos is a popular tourist destination, with several ruins. It has a number of beaches, such as those at Agia Anna, Agios Prokopios, Alikos, Kastraki, Mikri Vigla, Plaka, and Agios Georgios, most of them near Chora.


title: Naxos

text: As other cycladic islands, Naxos is considered a windy place perfect for windsurfing, as well as kitesurfing. There are seven sports clubs in the island that offer both of these sports and other water activities.


title: Naxos

text: Naxos is the most fertile island of the Cyclades. It has a good supply of water in a region where water is usually inadequate. Mount Zeus () is the highest peak in the Cyclades, and tends to trap the clouds, permitting greater rainfall. This has made agriculture an important economic sector with various vegetable and fruit crops as well as cattle breeding, making Naxos the most self-sufficient island in the Cyclades. Naxos is well known within Greece for its "Arseniko Naxou" cheese, potatoes and Kitron, a local lemon-citrus spirit.


title: Naxos

text: The quarrying of marble on Naxos began before 550 BCE. Naxian marble was used for the creation of the roof tiles at ancient Olympia and on the Athenian Acropolis, As of 2016, about 5,000 m³ of high value Naxian marble was being exported annually.


title: Ms. Jackson

text: "Ms. Jackson" is a song by American alternative hip hop duo Outkast, consisting of André 3000 and Big Boi. It was released on October 24, 2000, as the second single from Outkast's fourth album, "Stankonia". It topped the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart for one week on February 17, 2001, and also reached number one in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. "Rolling Stone" ranked it at number 55 on their "100 Best Songs of the 2000s" list in June 2011 and at number 145 on their "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in 2021. In October 2011, "NME" placed it at number 81 on its list of the "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".


title: Ms. Jackson

text: "Ms. Jackson" won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. The music video, directed by F. Gary Gray, features animals nodding along to the song, won the BET Award for Video of the Year and MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Video. The single helped sell the album following the commercial underperformance of the lead single, "B.O.B", which, despite near universal acclaim from critics, failed to chart on the Hot 100 and only reached number 69 on the "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.


title: Ms. Jackson

text: In "Vibe" magazine, a few years after the song was released, André Benjamin (André 3000) recalled creating the song, "'Ms. Jackson' was an acoustic guitar song that I was doing at home. Then I just converted it over into something people could understand a little bit more." The song was inspired, in part, by Benjamin's relationship with Erykah Badu and her mother. In November 2016, Badu described her initial reaction to the song, stating that, "It hit kind of a sore spot. I didn't wanna hear that, especially when I heard Big Boi's verse. When I heard André's verse, I felt very good because his verse was really, really inspiring. He just said how he felt and it was his honest feelings and I always respected that and listened to what he felt and appreciated it." Badu also noted that her mother loved the song, saying, "Baby, she bought herself a 'Ms. Jackson' license plate. She had the mug, she had the ink pen, she had the headband, everything."


title: Ms. Jackson

text: Lyrically, the song is a love profession to the mother of the narrator's romantic partner that examines the issues that arise from having a child out of wedlock. In the song, the narrator promises to support his child regardless of what happens. The instrumentation samples the Brothers Johnson's version (with various audio effects, prominently reversing) of "Strawberry Letter 23", by Shuggie Otis.


title: Ms. Jackson

text: "Billboard" magazine wrote that song's message is genuine, noting its 1980s hip-hop sound and Outkast's "frantic" lyrics that emphasize the track's storyline. Reviewing the parent album, the same publication compared the track to an "old-school hip-hop love song" and called it "oh-so-radio-ready". Marci Kenon of "Billboard" called the "babies' mommas' mommas" hook memorable and later referred to the track as "infectious".


title: Ms. Jackson

text: "Ms. Jackson" is widely considered one of Outkast's best songs. In 2020, "The Ringer" ranked the song number five on their list of the 50 greatest Outkast songs, and in 2021, "The Guardian" ranked the song number six on their list of the 20 greatest Outkast songs.


title: Ms. Jackson

text: The song's music video, directed by F. Gary Gray and produced by Earthtone III, works as a possible metaphor for the duo's "stormy" relationships with the mothers of their children and their families. In the United States, a DVD single featuring the videos for "B.O.B" and "Ms. Jackson" was released in 2000, before the other physical formats. Along with Toni Braxton's "Just Be a Man About It", this single was the first to bear only a DVD credit on the "Billboard" Hot 100 until the other formats were issued. Because "Ms. Jackson" was the only Outkast song that was present on the Hot 100 at the time, sales points were added to this song instead of "B.O.B".


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63 is a 5.56×45mm NATO modular weapon system. Using a variety of modular components, it can be configured as an assault rifle, carbine, top-fed light machine gun, belt-fed squad automatic weapon, or as a vehicle mounted weapon. Also known as the M63, XM22", "XM23, XM207 or the Mk 23 Mod 0 machine gun, it was designed by Eugene Stoner in the early 1960s. Cadillac Gage was the primary manufacturer of the Stoner 63 during its history. The Stoner 63 saw very limited combat use by United States forces during the Vietnam War. A few were also sold to law enforcement agencies.


title: Stoner 63

text: Soon after leaving ArmaLite, Eugene Stoner, one of the United States' most prolific modern military small arms designers, responsible for the design of the ArmaLite AR-15/M16 assault rifles, ArmaLite AR-10 battle rifle and Armalite AR-7 survival rifle, among others, devised a concept for a modular weapon that would be built around a common receiver and certain interchangeable components and could be transformed into a rifle, carbine or various machine gun configurations by simply fitting the appropriate parts to the basic assembly.


title: Stoner 63

text: Stoner managed to solicit the help of Howard Carson, in charge of Cadillac Gage's West Coast plant in Costa Mesa, California (where Armalite was also located), in convincing the company's president, Russell Baker, of the feasibility and commercial potential of his new weapons system. Russell obliged and Cadillac Gage (a subsidiary of the Ex-Cell-O Corporation) established a small arms development branch in Costa Mesa. Stoner then recruited his two principal aides at Armalite: Robert Fremont and James L. Sullivan (who would later design the Ultimax 100 light machine gun for the Chartered Industries of Singapore).


title: Stoner 63

text: The first working prototype was chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO and completed in 1962. It was designated the Stoner M69W (for no other reason than when turned upside down it reads the same, symbolizing Stoner's vision of a fully invertible receiver). The follow-up design, called the Stoner 62, also chambered in 7.62×51mm, was intended for mass production. However, the design team decided to focus on the 5.56×45mm small caliber high-velocity cartridge, as it appeared the new round was gaining mainstream military approval. Eugene Stoner had previously worked with the cartridge when he designed the AR-15. The weapon system using the smaller cartridge was known as the Stoner 63. The first models were produced in February 1963. The Costa Mesa facility produced 234 Stoner 63s, when production was then moved in September 1964 to the Cadillac Gage plant in Warren, Michigan. With the change in manufacturing plants, polycarbonate plastic was used for the stocks and grips instead of wood. The weapon is covered under .


title: Stoner 63

text: On March 4, 1963, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency made the first purchase of the Stoner 63, ordering 25 units in various configurations. In August and September 1963, the Stoner 63 was sent to the Marines Corps Landing Force Development Center at Quantico for evaluation, where it made a positive impression with its light weight and high ammunition capacity; the Marines favored the rifle and light machine gun configurations. Trials were performed by the Army Materiel Command (responsible for logistical support for the Marine Corps) at their own test facilities.


title: Stoner 63

text: Many bugs affected the outcome of the Army trials of the gun: the ammunition requirements proposed were unrealistic and the weapon was expected to perform with an extremely wide range of port pressures, leaving very little power reserve with some ammunition types. For instance, the tracer ammunition used in the Stoner 63 was of such low pressure that it even failed to function reliably in the M16.


title: Stoner 63

text: These factors severely affected the weapon's reliability. After several months of testing, the Stoner 63 system was ultimately deemed to be unacceptable for service use. The Army submitted recommendations for improvements to the design—these included a stainless steel gas cylinder, a two-position fire selector with separate safety, ejection port dust covers and modifications to the belt feed mechanism. The upgrades resulted in the improved Stoner 63A, which began production in 1966. Only about 2,000 examples of the initial version were manufactured before the transition to the model 63A.


title: Stoner 63

text: From 1969 to 1971 Cadillac Gage Co initiated a program to upgrade the Stoner 63 light machine gun due to Marine Corps interest. They were given one last chance to make design improvements and have a final test by the Army Materiel Command. Several changes were made to the weapon, soon to be designated "XM207 Light Machine Gun". Misfires, high cyclic rates, jams and link separations were among the issues to be resolved.


title: Stoner 63

text: The 63A used a stack of Belleville spring washers to absorb some of the shock and bounce when the firing pin struck the primer. By changing the configuration of the washers, a higher spring rate was achieved, and this was the solution for the bulk of the misfires.


title: Stoner 63

text: The weapon, when cold, would fire at about 650 rounds per minute (rpm). When it was very hot, after several hundred rounds had been fired, the cyclic rate climbed as high as 1,100 rpm. The mechanical functions of the weapon just would not work properly at these high rates. There were several problems that occurred at high RPM, including link separation. A "rate regulator" similar to that used in M60 machine gun was installed in the buttstock. It was basically a shock absorber (designed by Cadillac Gage Co) that eliminated the recoil bounce off the back plate. This allowed the main drive spring to control the forward velocity of the carrier. With the "rate regulator" installed the cyclic rate of the weapon was limited to about 800 rpm. This resolved the mechanical malfunctions that occurred above 1,000 rpm. In combination with the "rate regulator" changes were made to the belt feed system for better reliability.


title: Stoner 63

text: Another issue was low gas pressure when firing tracer rounds, causing failures to cycle. The addition of an expandable steel sealing ring in the gas chamber kept the external gas leaks to a minimum, retaining enough gas pressure to cycle the action reliably. The next issue was the polycarbonate buttstock being unable to withstand the 5,000+ pound recoil force of firing anti-tank grenades. With the weapon's tight weight restriction, using a heavier metal buttstock was not an option. Several ribbed designs were evaluated, but none were successful. The solution was to pressure-fill the hollow buttstock with a lightweight urethane foam, imparting structural rigidity and high impact strength. This solved the problem without going over the weight limit, and made the buttstock extremely durable.


title: Stoner 63

text: Several weapons with these improvements were produced by Cadillac Gage for testing by the Army Materiel Command. This would be the last chance for the weapon, now designated XM207. With its latest design changes, the weapon passed all tests. But soon afterwards, president Nixon announced that the United States would be withdrawing from Vietnam, eliminating the urgency to adopt a new infantry weapon. The XM207 project was cancelled.


title: Stoner 63

text: Even very early on in its development stage, a small number of weapons were hurriedly pressed into service with the U.S. Navy SEALs deployed to Southeast Asia. During 1967, the Stoner 63A system was field tested by Company L (Lima Company), 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. Riflemen were issued the weapon in the Rifle configuration (in both 63 and 63A variants, designated XM22 and XM22E1 respectively), while officers and certain other personnel received the Carbine (XM23). The Automatic Rifle configuration was deployed on a limited basis in the squad automatic role, while Lima's weapons platoon received both the LMG and MMG configurations.


title: Stoner 63

text: In 1967, Dutch firm NWM (Nederlandsche Wapen-en Munitiefabriek) De Kruithoorn N.V. of 's-Hertogenbosch acquired licensing rights to manufacture and sell the weapon worldwide with the exception of the United States, Canada and Mexico. NWM assembled several prototypes but the company failed to secure any export customers and the weapon was withdrawn.


title: Stoner 63

text: In 1970, the U.S. Army designated the light machine gun configuration XM207 and issued it to select Army Special Forces units for evaluation. However, due to its complexity and high maintenance requirements (especially when compared to the new M16), the design was rejected, and the project was dropped in 1971. That same year, Cadillac Gage ceased all production of the Stoner 63. Around 4,000 63 and 63A units were built in total. The Navy SEALs continued to use the Stoner 63 and had officially adopted the Commando version as the Mark 23 Mod 0 machine gun. By the late 1980s the Stoner 63 was completely phased out in favor of the new M249 SAW, and most of the remaining guns were destroyed.


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63 series of weapons are piston driven, air-cooled, belt or magazine-fed and in rifle and carbine configuration, fire from a closed bolt to ensure maximum accuracy, or in machine gun mode, fire from the open bolt position to prevent cook-offs and enhance cooling. The weapon has a rotary bolt locking mechanism with 7 radially symmetrical locking lugs that engage a series of recesses in the barrel extension, and is actuated by a conventional long-stroke piston. The radial arrangement of locking lugs distributes the firing load evenly around the bolt head and barrel socket, reducing stress and increasing the longevity of these critical components. Attached to the piston extension is the bolt carrier which is equipped with a curved cam track that guides the bolt's cam pin (retained by the firing pin) and rotates the bolt 22.5° during the movement of the piston to either lock or unlock the bolt from behind the abutments in the barrel socket. Incorporated into the bolt carrier/piston group is an anti-bounce device, consisting of a carbide rod that rides within the piston extension's hollow interior and moves back and forth during the recoil and counter-recoil cycles, reducing bolt bounce and preventing the possibility of firing out of battery during closed bolt firing (in the Rifle/Carbine models).


title: Stoner 63

text: When fired, propellant gases from the ignited cartridge following the projectile down the bore are vented through a gas port into a gas cylinder where they drive the piston and bolt carrier rearward. There is about of uninterrupted free travel calculated to permit the gas build-up in the bore to drop to a safe level before the carrier's cam slot rotates the bolt counter-clockwise to unlock. The locking lugs have no pitch therefore no primary extraction occurs during the unlocking sequence. A deeply seated spring-loaded claw extractor in the bolt head extracts the spent cartridge casing from the chamber and a spring-powered ejector fixed to the front feed mechanism trigger housing ejects the casing. The bolt carrier continues to the rear and compresses the captive recoil spring on its guide rod.


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63 has a unique buffering system contained within the bolt carrier. In front of the carrier cap are a steel shim and a set of 27 saucer-shaped Belleville washers oriented in opposing sets of three, which absorb energy from the piston stroke by deforming into a flat plate when the bolt carrier strikes the receiver's end cap. When the plates return to their original shape they release a pulse of strain energy which propels the reciprocating parts forward in counter-recoil with a speed only slightly below that of the original recoil velocity. The plates will function without failure for between 40,000 and 50,000 rounds (depending upon the type of ammunition used and cyclic rates employed). This feature was designed to extend the weapon's service life.


title: Stoner 63

text: In the belt-fed configuration, belt movement is produced by a roller riding in the channeled feed arm and is actuated by the reciprocating movement of the bolt. The spring-loaded feed arm is protected by a hinged top cover and is pivoted at its rear end. As the bolt travels back, the front end of the feed arm moves across the feed tray and operates a lever attached to a single set of spring-loaded pawls. These pawls move a cartridge and link over the feed tray's stop pawl from where they are positioned onto the slotted feed path and held firmly in place by a spring-powered steel plate in the top cover. The cartridge is then pushed out of its link and the empty link is discarded through the link ejection port which is held closed by a spring-loaded dust cover.


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63/63A is chambered for the now-standard 5.56×45mm intermediate rifle cartridge. When in the belt-fed role, the weapon would feed from a disintegrating metallic linked belt marked "S-63 BRW" which is a scaled-down version of the U.S. M13 link developed for the M60 GPMG. The Stoner 63/63A will not work reliably with the later M27 link developed for the M249 SAW. The belt is normally contained in a 150-round plastic ribbed container that has a tab allowing it to be clipped on to the side of the left-hand feed tray. Early ammunition boxes were olive drab in color and manufactured at Costa Mesa, this later changed to a black-colored plastic container made in Warren, Michigan. Stoner 63A boxes were also black but had a reduced capacity of 100 rounds as the larger container would unbalance the rifle. These can either be attached to the left-hand feed tray or held in a bottom box carrier when using the right-hand feed mechanism. Several drum-type belt carriers were designed for the left-hand feed system, with a 150-round drum container being the most popular and used frequently by SEALS in Vietnam. A 250-round drum carrier was also developed by NAWS China Lake, but this proved too heavy and cumbersome. SEALS would also resort to converting RPD belt carriers for use with their Stoners. The detachable magazines used in the Rifle, Carbine and Automatic Rifle models are fabricated from steel and weigh unloaded. In an effort to reduce weight, aluminum magazines were later developed cutting the weight down to . Standard magazines have a 30-round cartridge capacity but a 20-round magazine was also offered.


title: Stoner 63

text: Barrel interchangeability is one of the main features that provides the Stoner 63 rifle its outstanding versatility. There are 5 barrel options available for the system: the Rifle, Carbine, Automatic Rifle (AR) and two types of machine gun barrels, a standard heavy barrel and a short Commando tube. The standard machine gun and AR barrels are in length (not including the flash suppressor). The Commando barrel has a length of and is fluted to reduce weight and enhance the barrel's cooling characteristics. This version was sometimes used by the Navy SEALS but was never fully reliable as the gas port is near the muzzle and as soon as the bullet leaves the barrel, gas pressures drop drastically leaving the operating system little to no power reserve. The gas port was drilled larger in an attempt to alleviate this problem; however this had the effect of merely accelerating the piston's initial displacement. The issue was never truly resolved. The Rifle, Carbine and AR barrels have no gas valves as they are exclusively used in magazine-fed configurations and do not require the energy surplus levels of belt-fed mechanisms. The standard machine gun barrel has a manually adjustable gas regulator that can be operated by inserting the nose of a cartridge into a hole over the regulator's lock detent, pushing down on the detent and rotating to the desired position. The gas regulator has three settings: a "slow" cyclic rate of about 700 rounds/min, produced when the narrowest indicator notch is set over the detent; a middle position with an intermediate rate of 830 rounds/min and a third "fouled" position that delivers the largest quantity of propellant gas to the system, resulting in a rate of fire of 865 rounds/min (the use of this setting should be limited as it induces excessive wear on the operating mechanism).


title: Stoner 63

text: All Stoner 63/63A barrels are gas nitrided and have a quick-detach capability and can be removed in a matter of seconds in field conditions by simply pushing down a latch located on top of the weapon in front of the feed cover and pulling the barrel forward (with the bolt retracted). The chamber portion of the barrel rests on a U-shaped barrel bracket attached to the gas cylinder. The barrel is firmly locked in position by means of a spring-loaded latch (with two nested coil springs) which drives a steel pin into a hole in the barrel socket. All barrels have a gas block to which a bayonet lug and front sight assembly are mounted. The barrels are equipped with a bird cage type flash suppressor with six oval ports. The AR and standard machine gun barrels also have a carrying handle that can be snapped into one of three positions or removed altogether. The black-painted wooden handles are attached to a steel rod via roll pin. With a few exceptions, all the barrels used in the Stoner 63/63A have a six-groove right-hand rifling with a twist rate of 1:12-inch (305 mm), designed to stabilize the lightweight 55-grain M193 projectile, which was standard at the time. At the Army's request, Cadillac Gage submitted for testing rifles, carbines, and light machine guns, with 1:9-inch (230 mm) twist barrels, respectively designated XM22E2, XM23E2, and XM207E2. The different twist was to test the 68-grain XM287 and XM288 bullets. After NWM obtained a license to produce the Stoner 63A, some barrels were manufactured with a 1:8-inch (200 mm) in rifling pitch to be used with heavier experimental bullets. None of these were ever produced in significant numbers.


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63/63A LMG is an automatic weapon that fires from the open bolt and the trigger mechanism permits only fully automatic firing though burst size can be controlled by the shooter. The entire trigger unit has four trigger pins that give the unit its modularity. The front pin holds a flapper-type magazine catch/release (used in the Rifle/Carbine variants and the left-hand feed LMG with a 150-round drum-type belt container), a full dust cover (used with the top-feeding Automatic Rifle or vertically mounted ammo box on any belt-fed system) or a half size dust cover (used with the right-hand-feed bottom box carrier). The next two pins retain the timer and hammer, both of which are absent in the open bolt configurations. The final pin acts as the trigger's axis shaft; the spring-loaded sear pivots on the selector lever's axis pin. The selector is disconnected when firing from the open bolt and a sliding manual safety installed near the trigger guard disables the trigger when pushed to the rear. The rear portion of the trigger housing serves as a receiver end cap and is used to attach the shoulder stock. The black polycarbonate pistol grip is also attached to the trigger housing. The checkered grip is flared at the bottom to prevent the shooter's hand from sliding off and has an internal storage compartment sealed by a hinged cover with a spring-loaded hatch.


title: Stoner 63

text: The hooked, non-reciprocating steel charging handle is typically mounted on the right side of the receiver. It has 24 lightening holes and engages a projection on the piston to draw the piston and bolt group to the rear (cocked) position. The handle should then be pushed back forward allowing a flat-spring latch riveted to the front end to capture a slotted plate welded to the front of the receiver. With the right-hand feed mechanism with underslung box carrier installed the handle is awkward to operate, so a special slotted forearm with a bottom cocking handle was developed.


title: Stoner 63

text: The nucleus of the Stoner 63 system is the receiver which is a rectangular sheet metal pressing. The gas cylinder, support structures, brackets, lugs and other devices are welded in place. The front portion carries the piston and barrel and is perforated to reduce weight and improve air circulation around the barrel and gas cylinder. The rear segment holds the piston extension and bolt group. The ejection port is on the right side when the receiver is inverted and the weapon is configured as a rifle or carbine and on the left side when in the various machine gun roles. The various components are phosphate finished and then coated with a black baked enamel finish called Endurion. Early examples of the Stoner 63 were delivered with all wood furniture, however these were soon replaced with black polycarbonate parts with the exception of the handguard, which remained wood, but was painted black.


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63 bipod is a non-locking type that attaches to the gas tube; it does not pivot and has a limited height adjustment feature. The Stoner 63A bipod is extensively perforated with lightening holes and can be locked in either the stowed or deployed positions. It too does not pivot but is compatible with the earlier Stoner 63, whereas the Stoner 63 bipod will not work with the later 63A pattern guns as the gas tube is of a larger diameter.


title: Stoner 63

text: The sight arrangement on the Stoner 63/63A differs amongst the various configurations. On the belt-fed LMGs, the rear sights are mounted on the top cover. These consist of a folding leaf aperture elevation scale graduated in 100 m increments from 200 to 1,000 m. The rear sight can also be corrected for windage in ¼-mil increments. When the primary sight is folded down, a battle sight aperture with a diameter of is exposed. The Rifle and Carbine versions have simple flip-type apertures with settings for 0–300 and 300–500 m contained between large perforated protective ears. The sights are adjustable in both windage and elevation in 1 MOA increments. All variants share the same front sight assembly—a semi-shrouded round threaded post adjustable for windage and elevation zero (similar to the M16 front sight).


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63/63A is supplied with several accessories, including: a blank-firing attachment (BFA), winter trigger guard, asbestos-lined spare barrel bag, cleaning kit, 40 mm grenade launcher, several types of slings and a wide range of belt box and magazine pouches.


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63/63A used three different types of bayonets: the standard U.S. M7, the KCB 70, developed specifically for this rifle by the West German company Eickhorn-Solingen together with NWM and a rare bayonet made by the Swiss industrial conglomerate SIG. The KCB 70 features a long Bowie blade with a clip-point and an integrated wire-cutter, it was inspired by Soviet bayonets for the AKM. A highly successful multi-purpose tool, it evolved into the KCB 77, a modular design that was adapted to many different assault rifles.


title: Stoner 63

text: The Stoner 63 was produced in several configurations, with 15 separate assemblies, which had limited parts commonality. These variants included a carbine, an assault rifle, and various light machine guns feeding linked ammunition from the left or right. The gas system was mounted in different positions depending on the weapon's configuration. Due to the multi-role nature of the design the carbine and rifle versions were heavier than comparable weapons of the same type.


title: Stoner 63

text: The most recent descendant of this line is the Stoner LMG produced by Knight's Armament Company, which has significant changes from the older Stoner 63, being based on Stoner's later model 86.


title: Stoner 63

text: Robinson Armament Co. also produced the semi-automatic M96 Expeditionary Weapon System which, though technically different, was based on the Stoner 63 design, and thus has some of its features and configurations.


title: Stoner 63

text: Although none were manufactured in the Netherlands, around 315 were modified and improved by NWM De Kruithoorn N.V. in various configurations for possible use in the Dutch Armed Forces as the Stoner 63A1 consisting of 6 variants One of the main modifications was an MP40 (later AK47) type underfolding and later side folding stock, a carbine, an assault rifle, heavy barrel assault rifle, belt fed machine gun, commando machine gun and fixed machine gun. The Stoner 63A1 was tested by the US Army and USMC as the XM22 assault rifle, XM23 carbine and XM207 machine gun. Various improvements was the Dutch pattern side folding stock, quick release bipod that folded under the handguard, an improved removable magazine floor plate, a quick release scope mount.


title: Stoner 63

text: The rifle, carbine, commando, and LMG variants were all given designations by the US Military. They are as follows:


title: Voulez-Vous

text: Voulez-Vous (; French for "Do you want (to)?") is the sixth studio album by the Swedish supergroup ABBA. Released on 23 April 1979, the album yielded five hits, all of them big 1979 singles in Britain – "Chiquitita", "Does Your Mother Know", "I Have a Dream" and the double A-side "Voulez-Vous"/"Angeleyes". The title track showed the group embracing disco music, which at the time was at its peak. The album topped the charts in a number of countries and ranked among Britain's five best-selling albums of the year.


title: Voulez-Vous

text: It was the first ABBA album to be mainly recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm, and the only ABBA album to include a studio recording made outside Sweden: the instrumental backing track for the title track was partly recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami.


title: Voulez-Vous

text: "Voulez-Vous" was first released on CD in 1984. The album has been digitally remastered and reissued four times; first in 1997, then in 2001 and in 2005 as part of "The Complete Studio Recordings" box set, and yet again in 2010 for the "Voulez-Vous Deluxe Edition".


title: Voulez-Vous

text: In early 1978, ABBA were at the peak of their success and having just completed promotion for their and release, thoughts were turned to the next album, which was planned to be released in time for Christmas. Sessions however proved to be difficult and after starting on 13 March 1978 with the ultimately unreleased track "Dr Claus von Hamlet", a number of compositions were demoed and rejected. Indeed, after six months, only two songs that would end up on the finished album ("The King Has Lost His Crown" and "Lovers (Live a Little Longer)") were completed.


title: Voulez-Vous

text: During this time the group opened their own recording studio, Polar Studios in Stockholm, which was among the most advanced in the world at the time and would be where ABBA would work from here on. Two songs recorded at this time were "Lovelight" and "Dream World". However, neither song would appear on the "Voulez-Vous" album ("Lovelight" would be used as the B-side to the single "Chiquitita", while "Dream World" would remain unreleased until 1994; both songs are now featured as bonus tracks on re-issues of the "Voulez-Vous" album). Other tracks started but subsequently scrapped included "Just a Notion", which was later included on "Voyage" (2021).


title: Voulez-Vous

text: By September 1978, ABBA had been absent from the charts for some months, and so a song from the recording sessions, "Summer Night City", was released as a single. Never happy with the finished song, members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus regretted the release and lamented the fact that it peaked lower than previous singles in the charts, not being released at all in the US. They considered the UK to be their most important market, and there it had ended a run of No. 1 hits by stalling at No. 5 - their smallest hit for three years. A full-length version was however still planned for the upcoming album, but ultimately never used. By this time, tensions were growing within the group due to the low productivity of the period, as member Agnetha Faltskog commented; "I can tell from the look in Björn's eyes when he gets home how the day's work has been. Many times the boys have been working for ten hours without coming up with one single note". Andersson talked to a reporter at the time saying; "The prospects are not good. It’s worse than ever...We have no idea when we’ll be finished". It became obvious that the album wouldn't be completed by the end of the year and the deadline was extended into 1979. In late 1978, further indication of internal struggles became widely known when it was announced that married couple Ulvaeus and Faltskog were to divorce. Rather than spelling the end for the group however, this freed up a lot of the tensions between the two and in late 1978, work suddenly took off apace for the album.


title: Voulez-Vous

text: In October, two tracks were completed: "Angeleyes" and "If It Wasn't for the Nights". Although seen as an archetype ABBA track, the former of these was deemed dated by Andersson, labelling it "back to the sixties". The second track however featured an all-out contemporary vibe, being quite disco-orientated and considered the strongest song that had been recorded for the album. It was intended to be not only the next single but also the song that ABBA would perform at the Music for UNICEF Concert in January 1979. This plan was changed however when an even-better song came along in December. With the original title of "In the Arms of Rosalita", "Chiquitita" was the song the band performed. Although rather more schlager in style, Andersson considered it the best of their new songs, despite the feeling that it was very out of style with the rest of the acts performing that night. "It was pretty strange, but we felt it was the best song we had and that's why we chose it, however wrong it may have been", he said. In early 1979, "Chiquitita" became one of ABBA's biggest hits around the world, reaching No. 1 in many countries, although just being clipped by Blondie's "Heart of Glass" in the UK at No. 2.


title: Voulez-Vous

text: At the end of January, Andersson and Ulvaeus left Sweden and rented an apartment in the Bahamas where they felt they could get some inspiration by listening to American music and experiencing a whole different vibe to the rather conservative Stockholm. Two songs emerged from this time; "Voulez-Vous" and "Kisses of Fire". Excited by the former, they went to Criteria Studios in Miami to record the backing track with the disco band Foxy — the only time they recorded a song outside Sweden. Upon returning to Sweden to finish the songs, another track, "Does Your Mother Know", was recorded - a song that was to be the next single, and also the only mainstream release to feature Ulvaeus on lead vocals. The single would not become as big a hit worldwide as "Chiquitita", but was the most successful release from the album in the US.


title: Voulez-Vous

text: By the end of March, the final two tracks were finished; "As Good as New" and "I Have a Dream" (the latter featuring a local children's choir from the International School of Stockholm).


title: Voulez-Vous

text: At the end of April the album, titled "Voulez-Vous", was finally ready for release and to emphasize the shift towards a disco sound, the album cover shot was taken at Alexandra's night club in Stockholm. The album was released on 23 April 1979, and in the following months of its launch, ABBA released a number of other singles from it. The title track was released as a double A-side with "Angeleyes", while "I Have a Dream" was belatedly released in December 1979 following their recent world tour. A track recorded in August 1979 (four months after the release of the album), "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", was released as a single in October and was later included as a bonus track on CD versions of "Voulez-Vous".


title: Voulez-Vous

text: The album received favorable reviews from music critics. Bruce Eder from the "AllMusic" website gave the album three and a half stars out of five and noted that "about half of "Voulez-Vous" shows the heavy influence of the Bee Gees from their megahit disco era" but that it also "had a pair of soft, lyrical Europop-style ballads" which according to him sounds like "popular folk music during the mid-to-late '60s". Sean Egan from "BBC" gave the album a favorable review in which he wrote that the album "was an effort that saw Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid put their dancing shoes on to join in with the dominant disco craze" and also that the album ballads "are able to provide a pocket of air on a disco floor that would otherwise get sweaty and stultifying".


title: Voulez-Vous

text: "Voulez-Vous" topped the charts all over Europe (including the UK, where it entered the charts at No. 1 and remained there for a month), and was a Top 10 success in countries including Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In the US, "Voulez-Vous" became ABBA's third album to reach the top 20 (peaking at No. 19).