title: Manaslu

text: Manaslu has been identified as being one of the most problematic eight-thousanders for summit verification. Like Shishapangma, Manaslu has a false summit that is separated from the true summit by a long and dangerous sharp corniced ridge. A 2021 investigation by a team of international experts that was reported in the "American Alpine Journal", estimated that the vast majority of climbers who claimed to have summitted Manaslu, had not in fact stood on the true peak.


title: Manaslu

text: The Manaslu region offers a variety of trekking options. The Manaslu Circuit Trek now usually starts in Arughat Bazaar and ends two to three weeks later in Besisahar, the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit Trek. Until recently the trek required camping, but building of tea-houses means the trek can be completed using local accommodation. The trek requires a Restricted Area Permit of $70 per week. It depends on season and that trekkers travel in a group of at least two persons with a registered guide. The trek lies on the newly developed Great Himalaya Trail.


title: Manaslu

text: The trek follows an ancient salt-trading route along the steep sided Budhi Gandaki river. From Deng, the slopes of ravines ease and views of snow peaks start appearing from Ligaon (Lhi). Further from Lhogaon (Lho), an impressive view of Manaslu, with its double peak, appears described as "a soaring monarch with a double-edged summit towering above fields of barley."


title: Manaslu

text: The route follows the pine-forested Syala village, which has the backdrop of many horseshoe-shaped peaks, and reaches the village of Samagaon (Sama) at the foot of Manaslu. There is a Buddhist monastery at Samagaon, where monks and nuns reside. After half a day's trek from Samagaon, the village of Samdo is reached. Samdo is the highest village in the Budhi Gandaki valley and is inhabited by Bhotias. This village commands a view of the valley and Pang Phuchi village with a backdrop of the Tibetan border. Further trekking leads along a major secondary valley to the Larkha La (Larkja La). Along this route, Cheo Himal, Himlung Himal (Nemjung) and Kang Guru are seen, along with occasional views of the Annapurna Massif. From here, the meadowland of Bimtang (Bimdakhoti) at elevation is reached, from where Manaslu is clearly visible. From Manaslu, the circuit passes through Dudh Khola (a tributary of Marshyangdi river), criss-crosses Marsyangdi River before reaching Bhulbule, Tarukha Ghat, crosses the Chepe Khola and Dorandi Khola before returning to Gorkha.


title: Manaslu

text: Two alternative routes are also popular. One is on the Annapurna Circuit trail but leaves it at Dharapani to reach Manang, crossing Thorong La and Jomsom (Kali Gandaki valley). From Jomsom flights depart to Pokhara. The other alternative route is from Bhulbule, crossing Marsyangdi to Khudi, divert from Annapurna trail and trek cross country through valleys and ridges to Sisuwa town on the bank of Begnas Tal. From here a road approach is available to Pokhara.


title: Manaslu

text: When trekking through the Manaslu region, ten peaks of over in height are visible, including peaks of over elevation. People add Tsum Valley and the Ganesh Himal Base Camp as acclimatization trips before going on expeditions through the high passes. The Tsum region, which was restricted for tourists for a long time, is now the centre of attraction for trekkers, with the government of Nepal recently opening it for group tourists. In order to retain its pristine culture and sustain its fragile ecosystem, the Tsum Welfare Committee is involved in the promotion of responsible tourism in Tsum. However, local participation for sustainable tourism is still a challenging task with a long road ahead.


title: Manaslu

text: Under loan funds provided by the Asian Development Bank, the government of Nepal has an infrastructure project titled "Manaslu Eco-tourism Development Project" under implementation. The objective is to improve the capacity of the Manaslu area to support tourism in an environmentally benign manner.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The Next Step is a Canadian teen drama series. Created by Frank Van Keeken, the series follows the members of a troupe from the titular dance studio, as they train for and compete in various championships, and deal with rivalries with other dance schools and drama among the team itself. The series is presented in a style influenced by reality television.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The series originally premiered on Family Channel on March 8, 2013, and has spawned digital content, as well as live touring shows featuring its cast members, and a spinoff series, "Lost & Found Music Studios." The series moved to CBC Television's streaming platform CBC Gem in 2020 for its seventh season. The series has also been sold internationally, with broadcasters such as CBBC in the United Kingdom, and Universal Kids in the United States—which became a production partner for its sixth season. In April 2022, an eighth series was announced by British broadcaster CBBC.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: On February 24, 2012, Family Channel announced that it had ordered 26 half-hour episodes (including S1 and S1.5), and a four-episode season finale. Special content was also going to be available, including "The Next Step Interactive". On April 9, 2013, Family announced that it had renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on March 7, 2014.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: On May 5, 2014, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on March 16, 2015. On April 16, 2015, it was announced that the series would return for a fourth season, which premiered on February 15, 2016. On March 21, 2016, Frank van Keeken announced on Instagram that "The Next Step" would return for a fifth season, which premiered on May 26, 2017. The series was renewed for a 26-episode sixth season, which premiered in Canada on September 29, 2018. A 24-episode seventh season premiered on CBC Gem on April 10, 2020, and was preceded with a two-part special in December 2019 on CBBC. In April 2022, British broadcaster CBBC revealed that an eighth season was in production. The season premiered on September 26, 2022 on CBBC in the United Kingdom and YTV in Canada.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: Filming began on July 19, 2012, in Toronto, Ontario. "The Next Step" is filmed at Filmport Presentation Centre, Toronto.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: Exterior and street shots were shot on location in Downtown Toronto. Locations include Dundas Street, Front Street, Jarvis Street, University Avenue, and Yonge Street. The exterior shots posing as "The Next Step" studio are from Colborne Street.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The series aired from March 8, 2013, to April 7, 2019, on Family Channel in Canada, and from April 10, 2020, to September 18, 2020, on CBC Gem for the series' seventh season. It has aired on Universal Kids in the United States and CBBC in the United Kingdom, respectively.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The series premiere set rating records for Family, with at least 574,000 viewers on its initial broadcast—which set a record for Family's highest-rated original series premiere. On January 8, 2014, BBC Worldwide licensed the series to several international broadcasters, including ABC Me in Australia, Hulu in the United States, and CBBC in the United Kingdom. In Canada, the show also airs on Vrak in French. In August 2017, the U.S. rights to the series were sold to Universal Kids, with the network also becoming a production partner for the sixth season. Boat Rocker Media, owner of the show's producer, Radical Sheep Productions, cited a reduction in funding for the series from DHX Media (owner of the series' Canadian broadcaster Family) as an impetus for the arrangement.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: In July 2020, "The Next Step" was praised by viewers and the media for airing a same-sex kiss, when characters Cleo (Dani Verayo) and Jude (Molly Saunders) kissed after performing a duet together. This was the first same-sex kiss to be featured in the series, following a gay couple being briefly featured in an episode of the fourth season. The scene also made history as the first same-sex kiss to be aired on CBBC.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: "The Next Step" set up a spinoff series in its third season, called "Lost & Found Music Studios", which uses a similar mockumentary format, and which features some of the cast from "The Next Step". The spinoff focuses on musicians and songwriters enrolled together in a special program at a music studio. The series debuted on Family Channel in Canada on December 11, 2015. and later was released on Netflix. The series consists of two seasons of 27 episodes.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The aftershow started when an episode finished. It was approximately 1–3 minutes long, and was hosted by five members: Asha Bromfield, Lovell Adams-Gray, Luke Watters, Kelly McNamee, and Samantha "Sam" Munro. The aftershow talks about "The Next Step" and breaks down some parts to help the viewer understand storylines.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: "The Next Step: The Off Season" (also titled "The Next Step: Off Season") is a short series that depicts events that take place between the fourth and fifth seasons of "The Next Step". The series was initially released exclusively on The Family Channel App, and was made be available on YouTube and the Family Channel website starting on May 19, 2017. The short series includes hints for the subsequent fifth season, as well as introducing new characters that are featured in season 5. A second season, titled "The Next Step: The Scholarship", depicted events between the fifth and sixth seasons of the series, and introduced characters that would appear in season 6. A third season, titled "The Next Step: Mini Episodes", presents events that take place between the sixth and seventh seasons.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: "The Next Step" has a website with information about the characters, a schedule of episodes, a gallery of shots and videos from the show and a store, with "The Next Step" related clothing. It also includes a soundtrack for "The Next Step".


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: In September 2013, Paul Cormack of Family Channel announced that "The Next Step" cast would go on a tour of Canada:


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The cast members that hosted the Hit the Floor Tour were Victoria Baldesarra, Lamar Johnson, Isaac Lupien, Jennifer Pappas, Brittany Raymond, and Trevor Tordjman. Each event consisted of the cast performing on stage in groups, and a Q&A session where the audience could ask questions and get "takeaways" for attending the event. The first 200 attendees were given a wristband, which would get them an autograph signed by the hosts.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: Due to the attendance numbers at the previous six malls, Family Channel moved the event in the Kingsway Mall in Edmonton, Alberta from inside to the parking lot.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The Next Step: Live on Stage was a cross-Canada tour that took place in the winter of 2015. It was the second tour for the show. The documentary film "The Next Step Live: The Movie" depicts the events of this tour. Castmembers on this tour were Victoria Baldesarra, Brittany Raymond, Trevor Tordjman, Jordan Clark, Lamar Johnson, Isaac Lupien, Jennifer Pappas, Logan Fabbro, Samantha Grecchi and Myles Erlick.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The cast of "The Next Step" put on a third tour in 2016. This was the first international tour by the cast, and was initially scheduled to hold performances in Canada, Spain, England and Ireland; subsequently show performances were added, including in Portugal, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. The European and Australian legs of this tour are depicted in the documentary film "The Next Step Live on Stage: Show the World".


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The cast for the Wild Rhythm Tour were Victoria Baldesarra, Trevor Tordjman, Jordan Clark, Taveeta Szymanowicz, Isaac Lupien, Myles Erlick, and Briar Nolet, with newcomer Isaiah Peck, who was to star as Henry in season 4, also performing on the tour; Lamar Johnson was added to the tour cast later. Szymanowicz was only on the Canadian leg of the tour, while Brittany Raymond performed in some of the European shows but could not go to the shows in Australia and New Zealand because of a family issue.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The cast of "The Next Step" went on tour in 2017 to Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Dublin, Ireland.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: The cast on this tour was similar to the "Wild Rhythm Tour" but with a few additions. The main cast included Victoria Baldesarra (Michelle), Jordan Clark (Giselle), Brittany Raymond (Riley), Myles Erlick (Noah), Briar Nolet (Richelle), Isaiah Peck (Henry) and Shelby Bain (Amy). For the Australian & New Zealand Leg, the show also included cast members Trevor Tordjman (James), Lamar Johnson (West) and Issac Lupien (Eldon). For the UK & Ireland leg, the shows also included Alexandra Chaves (Piper). In Australia & New Zealand the show was hosted by Disney presenters Adam Roberts & Ashleigh Wells (from "Hanging with Adam & Ash"). Trevor Tordjman was originally meant to perform on the UK leg of the tour but unfortunately had to pull out due to the filming of Disney Channel's "Zombies", and Isaiah Peck missed a couple of the UK shows.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: Nine of the season 6 cast toured Australia, Scotland, England, and Ireland, in September, October, and November 2019. The cast for the Absolute Dance Tour were Isaiah Peck, Shelby Bain, Alexandra Chaves, Berkeley Ratzlaff, Sage Linder, Dylan Ratzlaff, Liam Mackie, Noah Zulfikar, and Briar Nolet. Victoria Baldesarra joined for the Australia leg of the tour, with Myles Erlick joining on the UK leg. Alexandra Chaves missed the first few UK shows due to health issues, but rejoined in Manchester initially doing fewer dances before recovering completely towards the end of the tour.


title: The Next Step (Canadian TV series)

text: Fans also had the chance to meet and greet the cast and have their photo taken with them. The meet and greet included watching them rehearse, a private question and answer session, a signed poster and a VIP meet and greet lanyard all before the show. They did two shows on some days, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, whereas on other days, they only did one.


title: Free trade agreement

text: A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur when two countries agree to loosen trade restrictions between the two of them, generally to expand business opportunities. Multilateral trade agreements are agreements among three or more countries, and are the most difficult to negotiate and agree.


title: Free trade agreement

text: FTAs, a form of trade pacts, determine the tariffs and duties that countries impose on imports and exports with the goal of reducing or eliminating trade barriers, thus encouraging international trade. Such agreements usually "center on a chapter providing for preferential tariff treatment", but they also often "include clauses on trade facilitation and rule-making in areas such as investment, intellectual property, government procurement, technical standards and sanitary and phytosanitary issues".


title: Free trade agreement

text: Important distinctions exist between customs unions and free-trade areas. Both types of trading bloc have internal arrangements which parties conclude in order to liberalize and facilitate trade among themselves. The crucial difference between customs unions and free-trade areas is their approach to third parties. While a customs union requires all parties to establish and maintain identical external tariffs with regard to trade with non-parties, parties to a free-trade area are not subject to such a requirement. Instead, they may establish and maintain whatever tariff regime applying to imports from non-parties as they deem necessary. In a free-trade area without harmonized external tariffs, to eliminate the risk of trade deflection, parties will adopt a system of preferential rules of origin.


title: Free trade agreement

text: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) originally defined free-trade agreements to include only trade in goods. An agreement with a similar purpose, i.e., to enhance liberalization of trade in services, is named under Article V of the General Agreement on Trade in Service (GATS) as an "economic integration agreement". However, in practice, the term is now widely used in politic science, diplomacy and economics to refer to agreements covering not only goods but also services and even investment. Environmental provisions have also become increasingly common in international investment agreements, like FTAs.


title: Free trade agreement

text: The OED records the use of the phrase "free trade agreement" with reference to the Australian colonies as early as 1877. After the WTO's World Trade Organization - which has been considered as a failure - states increasingly started exploring options to conclude FTAs.


title: Free trade agreement

text: The formation of free trade areas is considered an exception to the most favored nation (MFN) principle in the World Trade Organization (WTO) because the preferences that parties to a free-trade area exclusively grant each other go beyond their accession commitments. Although Article XXIV of the GATT allows WTO members to establish free-trade areas or to adopt interim agreements necessary for the establishment thereof, there are several conditions with respect to free-trade areas, or interim agreements leading to the formation of free-trade areas.


title: Free trade agreement

text: Firstly, duties and other regulations maintained in each of the signatory parties to a free-trade area, which are applicable at the time such free-trade area is formed, to the trade with non-parties to such free-trade area shall not be higher or more restrictive than the corresponding duties and other regulations existing in the same signatory parties prior to the formation of the free-trade area. In other words, the establishment of a free-trade area to grant preferential treatment among its member is legitimate under WTO law, but the parties to a free-trade area are not permitted to treat non-parties less favorably than before the area is established. A second requirement stipulated by Article XXIV is that tariffs and other barriers to trade must be eliminated to substantially all the trade within the free-trade area.


title: Free trade agreement

text: Free trade agreements forming free-trade areas generally lie outside the realm of the multilateral trading system. However, WTO members must notify to the Secretariat when they conclude new free trade agreements and in principle the texts of free trade agreements are subject to review under the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. Although a dispute arising within free-trade areas are not subject to litigation at the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, "there is no guarantee that WTO panels will abide by them and decline to exercise jurisdiction in a given case".


title: Free trade agreement

text: It is also important to note that a free trade agreement is a reciprocal agreement, which is allowed by Article XXIV of the GATT. Whereas, autonomous trade arrangements in favor of developing and least developed countries are permitted by the "Decision on Differential and More Favorable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries" adopted by signatories to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1979 (the “Enabling Clause”). It is the WTO's legal basis for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Both free trade agreements and preferential trade arrangements (as named by the WTO) are considered as derogation to the MFN principle.


title: Free trade agreement

text: In general, "trade diversion" means that an FTA would divert trade away from more efficient suppliers outside the area towards less efficient ones within the areas. Whereas, "trade creation" implies that an FTA area creates trade which may not have otherwise existed. In all cases trade creation will raise a country's national welfare.


title: Free trade agreement

text: Both trade creation and trade diversion are crucial effects found upon the establishment of an FTA. Trade creation will cause consumption to shift from a high-cost producer to a low-cost one, and trade will thus expand. In contrast, trade diversion will lead to trade shifting from a lower-cost producer outside the area to a higher-cost one inside the FTA. Such a shift will not benefit consumers within the FTA as they are deprived the opportunity to purchase cheaper imported goods. However, economists find that trade diversion does not always harm aggregate national welfare: it can even improve aggregate national welfare if the volume of diverted trade is small.


title: Free trade agreement

text: Economists have made attempts to evaluate the extent to which FTAs can be considered public goods. They first address one key element of FTAs, which is the system of embedded tribunals which act as arbitrators in international trade disputes. These serve as a force of clarification for existing statutes and international economic policies as affirmed in the trade treaties.


title: Free trade agreement

text: The second way in which FTAs are considered public goods is tied to the evolving trend of them becoming “deeper”. The depth of an FTA refers to the added types of structural policies that it covers. While older trade deals are deemed “shallower” as they cover fewer areas (such as tariffs and quotas), more recently concluded agreements address a number of other fields, from services to e-commerce and data localization. Since transactions among parties to an FTA are relatively cheaper as compared to those with non-parties, FTAs are conventionally found to be excludable. Now that deep trade deals will enhance regulatory harmonization and increase trade flows with non-parties, thus reducing the excludability of FTA benefits, new generation FTAs are obtaining the essential characteristics of public goods.


title: Free trade agreement

text: Unlike a customs union, parties to an FTA do not maintain common external tariffs, which means they apply different customs duties, as well as other policies with respect to non-members. This feature creates the possibility of non-parties may free-riding preferences under an FTA by penetrating the market with the lowest external tariffs. Such risk necessitates the introduction of rules to determine originating goods eligible for preferences under an FTA, a need that does not arise upon the formation of a customs union. Basically, there is a requirement for a minimum extent of processing that results in "substantial transformation" to the goods so that they can be considered originating. By defining which goods are originating in the PTA, preferential rules of origin distinguish between originating and non-originating goods: only the former will be entitled to preferential tariffs scheduled by the FTA, the latter must pay MFN import duties.


title: Free trade agreement

text: It is noted that in qualifying for origin criteria, there is a differential treatment between inputs originating within and outside an FTA. Normally inputs originating in one FTA party will be considered as originating in the other party if they are incorporated in the manufacturing process in that other party. Sometimes, production costs arising in one party is also considered as that arising in another party. In preferential rules of origin, such differential treatment is normally provided for in the cumulation or accumulation provision. Such clause further explains the trade creation and trade diversion effects of an FTA mentioned above, because a party to an FTA has the incentive to use inputs originating in another party so that their products may qualify for originating status.


title: Free trade agreement

text: The database on trade agreements provided by ITC's Market Access Map. Since there are hundreds of FTAs currently in force and being negotiated (about 800 according to ITC's Rules of Origin Facilitator, counting also non-reciprocal trade arrangements), it is important for businesses and policy-makers to keep track of their status. There are a number of depositories of free trade agreements available either at national, regional or international levels. Some significant ones include the database on Latin American free trade agreements constructed by the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), the database maintained by the Asian Regional Integration Center (ARIC) providing information agreements of Asian countries, and the portal on the European Union's free trade negotiations and agreements.


title: Free trade agreement

text: At the international level, there are two important free-access databases developed by international organizations for policy-makers and businesses:


title: Free trade agreement

text: As WTO members are obliged to notify to the Secretariat their free trade agreements, this database is constructed based on the most official source of information on free trade agreements (referred to as regional trade agreements in the WTO language). The database allows users to seek information on trade agreements notified to the WTO by country or by topic (goods, services or goods and services). This database provides users with an updated list of all agreements in force, however, those not notified to the WTO may be missing. It also displays reports, tables and graphs containing statistics on these agreements, and particularly preferential tariff analysis.


title: Free trade agreement

text: The Market Access Map was developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) with the objectives to facilitate businesses, governments and researchers in market access issues. The database, visible via the online tool Market Access Map, includes information on tariff and non-tariff barriers in all active trade agreements, not limited to those officially notified to the WTO. It also documents data on non-preferential trade agreements (for instance, Generalized System of Preferences schemes). Up until 2019, Market Access Map has provided downloadable links to texts agreements and their rules of origin. The new version of Market Access Map forthcoming this year will provide direct web links to relevant agreement pages and connect itself to other ITC's tools, particularly the Rules of Origin Facilitator. It is expected to become a versatile tool which assists enterprises in understanding free trade agreements and qualifying for origin requirements under these agreements.


title: My Blue Heaven (1990 film)

text: My Blue Heaven is a 1990 American crime comedy film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Nora Ephron, and starring Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, and Joan Cusack. This is the third film in which Martin and Moranis starred together. It has been noted for its relationship to "Goodfellas", which was released one month later. Both films are based on the life of Henry Hill, although the character is renamed "Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli" in "My Blue Heaven". "Goodfellas" was based on the book "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pileggi, while the screenplay for "My Blue Heaven" was written by Pileggi's wife Nora Ephron, and much of the research for both works was done in the same sessions with Hill.


title: My Blue Heaven (1990 film)

text: Vinnie Antonelli is a former mobster recently inducted into the Witness Protection Program with his wife, Linda. The two are under the watchful eye of federal agent Barney Coopersmith. Vinnie and Barney soon find common ground when both of their wives leave them due to their lifestyles. While he succeeds in getting Vinnie to a suburb in California and a private home, Barney has one more problem: he must make sure the jovial and sometimes mischievous Vinnie conforms to Witness Protection protocol until he testifies against mob kingpins.


title: My Blue Heaven (1990 film)

text: Ephron first pitched the idea for the film to Goldie Hawn and Anthea Sylbert (who went on to produce the film) in 1987. After Hawn left the project in 1989, Steve Martin was cast to play Coopersmith, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the role of Antonelli. However, Schwarzenegger was offered the role of Det. John Kimble in "Kindergarten Cop" and left the production. Failing to find another suitable "Vinnie" for Martin's Coopersmith (Danny DeVito turned down the role), Martin offered to take on the part of Vinnie himself. Producers agreed, and then cast Rick Moranis as Coopersmith, who had originally been considered for the role, but was unavailable.


title: My Blue Heaven (1990 film)

text: Principal photography began in October 1989. It took place primarily in the California cities of San Luis Obispo, Atascadero, Paso Robles, and the surrounding area, though the nominal setting is a fictional suburb of San Diego. Some scenes were shot in San Diego. The film's title comes from the famous song performed by Fats Domino, which appears on the soundtrack.


title: My Blue Heaven (1990 film)

text: "My Blue Heaven" opened in 1,859 venues on August 17, 1990 and earned $6.2 million in its debut, ranking fourth in the North American box office and second among the week's new releases. It closed with a domestic gross of $23.6 million.


title: My Blue Heaven (1990 film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: My Blue Heaven (1990 film)

text: David J. Fox of "The New York Times" said the film was "a truly funny concept and a disappointment on the screen."


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, although it serves as its provincial capital. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a population of 251,881, making it the most populous city in the Eastern Visayas. The city is located southeast from Manila.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban City was briefly the capital of the Philippines under the Commonwealth Government, from October 20, 1944, to February 27, 1945. In an extensive survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center and released in July 2010, Tacloban City ranks as the fifth most competitive city in the Philippines, and second in the emerging cities category. On November 8, 2013, the city was largely destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan, having previously suffered similar destruction and loss of life in 1897 and 1912. On January 17, 2015, Pope Francis visited Tacloban during his Papal Visit to the Philippines and held a mass at Barangay San Jose, and later he led mass of 30,000 people in front of the airport.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban was first known as "Kankabatok", an allusion to the first inhabitants – "Kabatok". They established their dwellings in the vicinity of the present day Santo Niño Church. Others who came later were "Gumoda", "Haraging" and "Huraw" who erected their own settlements in nearby sites. "Huraw"'s domain is the hill where the city hall now sits. The combined settlements acquired the name "Kankabatok", meaning "property of "Kabatoks"".


title: Tacloban

text: The constant threat of pirates due to its lack of a natural barrier hindered the development and progress of the settlement. And so the place never figured out in the early centuries of the Spanish colonization of Leyte. When the Jesuits (the first evangelizers of Leyte) left in 1768, the Augustinians took over and in 1770 they established the barrio with a chapel (visita) of Tacloban under the jurisdiction of Palo.


title: Tacloban

text: The Augustinians who came from the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus based in Cebu were also responsible in introducing the devotion to the Santo Niño becoming therefore the heavenly patron of the settlement. With the Moro raids in check, the place became a hub for commercial activity and soon after the place was renamed Tacloban becoming an independent municipality and then capital of the province of Leyte. In 1843, the Augustinians ceded the administration of the parish to the Franciscans.


title: Tacloban

text: The change of the name came about in this manner: "Kankabatok" was a favorite haunt of fishermen. They would use a bamboo contraption called a ""taklub"" to catch crabs, shrimps or fish. When asked where they were going, the fishermen would answer, ""(to) tarakluban"", which meant the place where they used the device to catch these marine resources. Eventually, the name "Tarakluban" or Tacloban took prominence.


title: Tacloban

text: It is not known when Tacloban became a municipality because records supporting this fact were destroyed during a typhoon. It is commonly believed that Tacloban was officially proclaimed a municipality in 1770s. In 1768, Leyte and Samar were separated into two provinces, each constituting a politico-military province. Due to its strategic location, Tacloban became a vital trading point between the two provinces.


title: Tacloban

text: The capital of Leyte was transferred from one town to another with Tacloban as the last on February 26, 1830. The decision to make Tacloban the capital was based on the following reasons: 1) ideal location of the port and 2) well-sheltered and adequate facilities. On June 20, 1952, Tacloban was proclaimed a chartered city by virtue of Republic Act No. 760.


title: Tacloban

text: The arrival of Colonel Arthur Murray in 1901 made him the first military governor of Leyte. His first official act was the opening of Tacloban port to world commerce. Before World War II, Tacloban was the commercial, education, social and cultural center of the Province of Leyte. Copra and abaca were exported in large quantities. The leading institutions were: Leyte Normal School, Leyte High School, Leyte Trade School, Holy Infant Academy and Tacloban Catholic Institute.


title: Tacloban

text: In November 1912, a typhoon swept through the central Philippines and "practically destroyed" Tacloban. In Tacloban and Capiz on the island of Panay, the death toll was 15,000, half the population of those cities at the time.


title: Tacloban

text: On May 25, 1942, Japanese forces landed in Tacloban, signalling the beginning of their two-year occupation of Leyte. They fortified the city and improved its airfield. Since San Pedro Bay was ideal for larger vessels, the Japanese Imperial Naval Forces made Tacloban a port of call and entry. This time was considered the darkest in the history of Tacloban and the country due to the incidences of torture among civilians, including the elderly. In response, guerrilla groups operated in Leyte – the most notable of which was the group of Ruperto Kangleon.


title: Tacloban

text: Leyte was the first to be liberated by the combined Filipino and American troops. General Douglas MacArthur's assault troops landed in the Tacloban and Palo beaches (White Beach and Red Beach, respectively) and in the neighboring town of Dulag (Blue Beach) on October 20, 1944. These landings signaled the eventual victory of the Filipino and American forces and the fulfillment of MacArthur's famous promise: "I Shall Return."


title: Tacloban

text: Three days later, on October 23, at a ceremony at the Capitol Building in Tacloban, MacArthur, accompanied by President Sergio Osmeña, made Tacloban the temporary seat of the Commonwealth Government and temporary capital of the Philippines until the complete liberation of the country. The provincial government of Leyte and the municipal government of Tacloban were re-established.


title: Tacloban

text: Paulo Jaro was the Liberation mayor of Tacloban. The first mayor of this capital upon inauguration of the Philippine Republic was Epifanio Aguirre.


title: Tacloban

text: On January 8, 1960, MacArthur made his "sentimental" journey to Leyte. He was greeted with cheers by locals when he visited Tacloban.


title: Tacloban

text: The city was proclaimed as a highly urbanized city by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on October 4, 2008 and ratified by the people on December 18, 2008. Tacloban was officially declared an HUC at 10:40PM of that day.


title: Tacloban

text: On November 8, 2013 (PST), Tacloban was hit by the full force of Typhoon Haiyan, causing massive destruction across the city. Dead bodies were scattered on the streets, trees were uprooted, and a storm surge largely destroyed the airport, though it functioned soon after as a makeshift command and evacuation center. After taking a helicopter flight over the city, US Marine Brigadier General Paul Kennedy was quoted as saying, "I don't believe there is a single structure that is not destroyed or severely damaged in some way – every single building, every single house." Widespread looting and violence is reported to have taken place and local government virtually collapsed, as many city officials were victims. President Aquino declared a state of emergency in Tacloban. The official final death toll stood at 6,201.


title: Tacloban

text: On January 17, 2015, Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, arrived in Tacloban to celebrate Mass with the survivors of Haiyan "(Yolanda)". The pope arrived at Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport on a flight operated by Philippine Airlines.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban is located on the northeastern tip of Leyte island, with its easternmost part facing Cancabato Bay. The bay is at the east mouth of San Juanico Strait. The Tacloban territory follows the length of the strait, along with Babatngon municipality north of the city. The strait divides the islands of Leyte and Samar.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen: Af) but due to the numerous cyclones present in the area, the climate is not equatorial. Tropical rainforest climates are tropical climates in which there is no dry season – all months have mean precipitation values of at least . Tropical rainforest climates have no pronounced summer or winter; it is typically wet throughout the year and rainfall is both heavy and frequent. One day in an equatorial climate can be very similar to the next, while the change in temperature between day and night may be larger than the average change in temperature between "summer" and "winter".


title: Tacloban

text: The average high (daytime) temperature for the year in Tacloban is . The warmest month on average is May with an average daytime temperature of . The coolest month on average is January and February, with an average (nighttime) temperature of .


title: Tacloban

text: The highest recorded temperature was , recorded on April 6, 1924, and in August. The lowest recorded temperature in Tacloban is which was recorded in December.


title: Tacloban

text: The average rainfall for the year is , with the most rainfall on average in December with and the least on average in April with .


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban is predominantly a Waray-speaking city. The language is also officially called "Lineyte-Samarnon" ("Leyte-Samarnon") and is spoken by more than 90% of the total city population. Waray-Waray, aside from being the native language of the city, is also the lingua franca used in the city among Filipinos of various ethnic groups.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban is culturally and linguistically diverse. A decade before the end of Spanish sovereignty, it was largely a typical colonial community: most of its residents were either pure Iberian families or the new generations of Spanish-Filipino blood. Today's population consists of a mix of Spanish and Chinese mestizos, foreign expatriates and native Leyteños.


title: Tacloban

text: Other Filipino ethnic groups who migrated to the city are the Cebuano/Kana/Visayan speaking populace accounts for 6.08% of the total population, 0.80% are Tagalog, 0.10% are Ilocano, 0.07% are Kapampangan, and 2.95% come from other ethnic origins.


title: Tacloban

text: 88.52% of the residents of Tacloban City are Roman Catholic; 6.12% are Muslims (most are Maranao migrants from Mindanao); 0.83% are of the indigenous Christian denomination, Iglesia ni Cristo; 0.94% are Evangelicals (born-again Christians); Baptists 0.80%; 0.49% Seventh-Day Adventists. Others comprise 3.10%.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban is the economic center of the entire Eastern Visayas, with an economy largely focused on agriculture, commerce, and tourism. Proximal to the city proper is the 237-hectare Eastern Visayas Agri-Industrial Growth Center (EVRGC), which was approved and accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 1210 on April 23, 1998. EVRGC serves as an eco-industrial hub with the Tacloban city government as its developer and operator. Several regional broadcasters are also based in the city including ABS-CBN TV-2 Tacloban and PRTV-12 Tacloban. The Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport also makes the city a key regional transportation hub.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban is one of the fastest-growing cities in the Philippines, and has one of the lowest poverty incidence rates in the country (at roughly 9%, while the national poverty incidence stands at 30%). After its massive devastation on November 8, 2013, Tacloban was declared by its local government as a "start-up city", which means everything had to start back from scratch. Currently the city is experiencing a rapid economic recovery.


title: Tacloban

text: The executive power of the City Government is vested in the mayor. The "Sangguniang Panlungsod" or the city council has the legislative power to create city ordinances. It is a unicameral body composed of ten elected councilors and certain numbers of ex officio and sectoral representatives. It is presided by the vice mayor, the mayor and the elected city councilors who are elected-at-large every three years. The current city mayor is Alfred Romualdez.


title: Tacloban

text: The city government ceased to be under the supervision of the provincial government after it became a Highly Urbanized City in 2008. The city is now under the direct supervision of the national government.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban City is part of the 1st District of Leyte, alongside seven other municipalities: Alangalang, Babatngon, Palo, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Tanauan, and Tolosa. The district is currently represented by Congressman Martin Romualdez.


title: Tacloban

text: The official Seal of Tacloban is the symbol of the city's identity when it became a city under Republic Act No. 760 on June 20, 1952.


title: Tacloban

text: The week-long celebrations peaks on June 30, the Grand fiesta of Tacloban celebrated with the traditional turn-over ceremonies of the "Teniente" made by the immediate past Hermano Mayor to the incoming Hermano Mayor. This is accompanied by the ritual of giving the medallion containing the names of all Hermanos Pasados and the Standartes. Fireworks and grand parades mark the occasion. Every house in the city prepares a feast and opens its doors to guests and well wishers.


title: Tacloban

text: Tacloban is served by air, multicabs, taxis, jeepneys, buses, tricycles and pedicabs. The city host the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport. The New Transport Terminal of Tacloban City or New Bus Terminal located in Abucay district serves as the land transportation hub to and from various points in the region. The San Juanico Bridge connects the city to the town of Santa Rita in Samar.


title: Tacloban

text: As the regional center of Eastern Visayas, Tacloban offers a range of healthcare services. There are a number of hospitals and other medical institutions serving the city's population.


The 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama took place on December 12, 2017, to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate through the end of the term ending on January 3, 2021. The vacancy arose from Jeff Sessions' resignation, on February 8, 2017, to serve as the 84th United States attorney general. Democratic candidate Doug Jones defeated Republican candidate Roy Moore by a margin of 21,924 votes (1.63%). Jones became the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama since 1992.


title: 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama

text: On February 9, 2017, Governor Robert J. Bentley appointed Luther Strange, the attorney general of Alabama, to fill the vacancy until a special election could take place. Bentley controversially scheduled the special election to align with the 2018 general election instead of sooner. When Kay Ivey succeeded Bentley as governor, she rescheduled the special election for December 12, 2017.


text: Jones, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, won the Democratic primary election. Moore, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, competed with Strange and U.S. Representative Mo Brooks in the August 15, 2017 Republican primary; the two highest vote-getters, Moore and Strange, advanced to a runoff. President Donald Trump supported Strange during the primary runoff, in addition to much of the Republican establishment in the Senate, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who made the success of Strange's candidacy a major priority. Trump's efforts on behalf of Strange included tweeting and a rally in Huntsville, Alabama. Vice President Mike Pence campaigned for Strange as well. With McConnell's help, Strange outspent Moore by a margin of 10-to-1. However, Moore won the primary runoff on September 26, 2017. This was the first time that an incumbent U.S. senator having active White House support lost a primary since Arlen Specter lost to Joe Sestak in 2010.


text: In mid-November 2017, multiple women alleged that Moore had made unwanted advances or sexual assaults on them when he was in his early thirties and they were in their teens (the youngest was 14 at the time), attracting widespread national media coverage of the election. As a result of these allegations, many national Republican leaders and office holders called for Moore to withdraw from the special election or rescinded their endorsements of him. However, Donald Trump and many Alabama Republicans reaffirmed their support. At the time of the revelations, it was too late to remove his name from the ballot. Many Republican leaders proposed shifting their support to a write-in candidate such as Strange. Moore has stated that he never engaged in sexual misconduct, although he has not denied that he approached or dated teenagers over the age of 16 while he was in his 30s (sixteen is the legal age of consent in Alabama). In late November, retired Marine Colonel Lee Busby launched a write-in campaign.


text: At 9:23 p.m. CST, the Associated Press called the election for Jones, though Moore refused to concede. Jones was the first Democratic candidate to win a statewide election in Alabama since former Lieutenant Governor Lucy Baxley was elected president of the Alabama Public Service Commission in 2008. Jones was sworn into office on January 3, 2018, becoming the first Democratic U.S. senator from Alabama since Howell Heflin's retirement in 1997. As of 2022, this is the most recent special election to the U.S. Senate that did not take place simultaneously with a round of regularly scheduled elections and the last time a Democrat won statewide office in Alabama.


text: Following then-President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of then-Senator Sessions to be U.S. attorney general, Robert Aderholt, a member of the United States House of Representatives, had asked to be appointed to the seat. Representative Mo Brooks had also expressed interest in the seat, while Strange had stated before being selected that he would run for the seat in the special election whether or not he was appointed. Other potential choices Bentley interviewed for the appointment included Moore; Del Marsh, the president pro tempore of the Alabama Senate; and Jim Byard, the director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.


text: The Republican primary attracted national attention, especially following Trump's endorsement of incumbent Senator Luther Strange. Strange was backed by several key figures within the Republican establishment, most notably Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. His two main rivals in the primary consisted of former state judge Roy Moore and Mo Brooks. While Strange showed no signs of losing the first round of the primary, almost every opinion poll showed him trailing Roy Moore in a runoff. Strange came in second place in the first round of the primary behind Roy Moore, securing a spot in the runoff.


text: National interest in the race dramatically increased in the month before the runoff. Strange maintained his endorsement from Trump, who campaigned for him in Huntsville during the closing days of the campaign. Trump's endorsement of Strange sparked criticism among his own base, many of whom preferred Moore and detested Strange for his seemingly establishment feel. Several notable people close to Trump broke from the president to endorse Moore, including HUD Secretary Ben Carson and Breitbart Executive Chairman Steve Bannon. Despite the endorsement of Trump, Strange was handily defeated by Roy Moore in the runoff.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's wedding. The film stars Spencer Tracy in the title role, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll. It was adapted by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett from the 1949 novel by Edward Streeter. "Father of the Bride" was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Picture, and Best Writing, Screenplay.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: Following the wedding of his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor), Stanley T. Banks (Spencer Tracy), a successful suburban lawyer, recalls the day, three months earlier, when he first learned of Kay's engagement to Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor). At the family dinner table, Kay's casual announcement that she is in love with Buckley and has accepted his proposal makes Stanley feel uneasy, but he soon comes to realize that his daughter has grown up and the wedding is inevitable. While Ellie (Joan Bennett), Kay's mother, immediately begins making preparations for the wedding, Stanley lies awake at night, fearing the worst for his daughter.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: Stanley's misgivings about the marriage eventually make Ellie anxious, and she insists that Kay introduce them to Buckley's parents. Kay calls the tradition "old-fashioned rigamarole," but arranges the meeting nevertheless. Before the introduction, Stanley has a private conversation with Buckley, and is pleased to learn that the young man is the head of a small company and that he is capable of providing a comfortable life for Kay. The Bankses' first meeting with Doris and Herbert, Buckley's parents, gets off to an awkward start, and goes from bad to worse when Stanley drinks too much and falls asleep in the wealthy Dunstans' living room.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: Following Kay and Buckley's engagement party, Stanley, who misses the entire party because he is in the kitchen mixing drinks, realizes that his plans for a small wedding have been swept aside and he will be expected to pay for an extravagant wedding "with all the trimmings." As costs for the June event spiral out of control, Stanley calculates that he can afford to accommodate no more than one hundred-and-fifty guests. The task of paring down the guest list proves too difficult, however, and Stanley reluctantly consents to a 250-person reception. To save costs, Stanley suggests to Kay that she and Buckley elope. Kay is at first shocked by the suggestion, then reconsiders, supports the idea, and conveys that to her mother. Ellie strongly disapproves of eloping, which causes Stanley to express his disapproval too, making it appear the idea was originally Kay's.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: The plans for a lavish wedding continue until the day that Buckley tells Kay that he wants to take her on a fishing trip in Nova Scotia for their honeymoon. Kay reacts to the announcement with shock and calls off the wedding, but she and Buckley soon reconcile, and the two families begin their wedding rehearsals. On the day of the wedding, chaos reigns at the Banks home as final preparations are made for the reception. The wedding ceremony brings both joy and sorrow to Stanley, as he realizes that his daughter is now a woman and no longer his child. During the reception, Stanley tries to find Kay so he can kiss the bride but only manages to see her leaving on her honeymoon. Ellie and Stanley survey the mess in their home and concur that the entire affair was a great success. Kay calls and tells her father she loves him and thanks her parents for everything they have done for her.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: According to Frank Miller for TCM, when creating the role for the father, the character was shaped around Spencer Tracy. Minnelli believed Tracy was capable of handling a role that balanced humor with fatherly tenderness. After some miscommunication with the producers, Jack Benny was brought in for a reading. He was too comedic and couldn’t handle the dramatic aspects of the film. When Tracy heard another actor was being tested, he turned down the movie. Minnelli asked Katharine Hepburn to invite Tracy to a dinner party where he later convinced Tracy to join the production.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: The film premiered on May 18, 1950 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The premiere of "Father of the Bride" took place 12 days after Elizabeth Taylor's real-life marriage to her first husband Nicky Hilton, an event that MGM exploited in its publicity campaign for the picture. Helen Rose, who designed Taylor's gown for the film, also designed her wedding gown.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: Reviews from critics were generally positive. Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" called the film "equally wonderful" when compared to the book, with "all the warmth and poignancy and understanding that makes the Streeter treatise much beloved." Of Tracy's performance Crowther wrote, "As a father, torn by jealousy, devotion, pride and righteous wrath, Mr. Tracy is tops." "Variety" called it "the second strong comedy in a row for Spencer Tracy," with "plenty to enjoy during the speedy 92 minutes." "Harrison's Reports" wrote, "Crammed with laughs, it is a mirthful, warmly appealing entertainment that is sure to be a crowd pleaser." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" called it "a cheerful package of smiles and laughter. You'll enjoy it." John McCarten of "The New Yorker" was more dismissive of the film, calling the jokes "rather wheezy, and they certainly don't do much to speed up the picture. Since the plot consists simply of outlining the difficulties of putting on a wedding, including, of course, the damnable expense of it all, it grows a little tiresome after a half hour or so."


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: The film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, earning $4,036,000 in the US and Canada and $2,048,000 overseas, making MGM a profit of $2,936,000. It did so well that MGM registered the title "Now I'm a Grandfather" and negotiated rights for a sequel with Streeter.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: Pleased with the commercial and critical success of "Father of the Bride", MGM rushed a sequel into production the following year, called "Father's Little Dividend", in which Taylor's character has a baby. It did almost as well as the original film and was also made into a television series which aired on CBS during the 1961-62 season and featured Leon Ames (Stan), Ruth Warrick (Ellie), and Myrna Fahey (Kay).


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: A remake by the same name, starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Kimberly Williams as the bride, was released in 1991. It had a numeraled sequel, "Father of the Bride Part II", in 1995, with the same cast. As in the original's sequel, the bride gives birth to her first child, also a son. The film was also remade in Tamil as "Abhiyum Naanum", and in Kannada as "Naanu Nanna Kanasu".


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: In February 2018, "The Hollywood Reporter" revealed that remakes of several films are in development as exclusive content for Walt Disney Studios' Disney+. One of those projects named in the announcement is "Father of the Bride".


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: On September 24, 2020, Warner Bros. announced their plans for a remake starring a Hispanic family, with the script being penned by Matt Lopez. It was released on June 16, 2022, by Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: The film was featured in Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 picture "The Last Picture Show"; it is being viewed in the cinema in the film.


title: Father of the Bride (1950 film)

text: The original negative was destroyed in a fire in 1978, and all home media released have been sourced from a fine grain master positive. The film was released on DVD in June 2004. It was given an extensive digital restoration and released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection in May 2016.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: A chargé d'affaires (), plural chargés d'affaires, often shortened to chargé (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to charge-D, is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is French for "charged with business", meaning they are responsible for the duties of an ambassador. "Chargé" is masculine in gender; the feminine form is chargée d'affaires.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: A "chargé" enjoys the same privileges and immunities as an ambassador under international law, and normally these extend to their aides too. However, "chargés d'affaires" are outranked by ambassadors and have lower precedence at formal diplomatic events. In most cases, a diplomat serves as a "chargé d'affaires" on a temporary basis in the absence of the ambassador. In unusual situations, in cases where disputes between the two countries make it impossible or undesirable to send agents of a higher diplomatic rank, a "chargé d'affaires" may be appointed for an indefinite period.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: "Chargés d'affaires" "ad interim" ("a.i.") are those who temporarily head a diplomatic mission in the absence of the accredited head of that mission. It is usual to appoint a minister-counsellor, counsellor, or embassy secretary as "chargé d'affaires" "ad interim", and that person is presented to the foreign minister of the receiving state. By definition, "chargés d'affaires" "ad interim" do not possess diplomatic credentials.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: "Chargés d'affaires" "en pied" ("e.p.") are appointed to be permanent heads of mission, in cases where the two countries lack ambassadorial-level relations. They are appointed by letters of credence from the foreign minister of the sending state to the foreign minister of the receiving state. "Chargés d'affaires" "en pied" have precedence over "chargés d'affaires" "ad interim", but are outranked by ambassadors. They are sometimes referred to as "chargés d'affaires" "ad hoc" or "en titre".


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: In certain cases, a "chargé d'affaires" may be appointed for long periods, such as when a mission is headed by a non-resident ambassador who is accredited to multiple countries. In addition, a mission may be downgraded from an ambassadorial to a "chargé d'affaires" level to show displeasure, yet avoid taking the extremely serious step of breaking diplomatic relations. For example, Saudi Arabia and Thailand did not exchange ambassadors between 1989 and 2022, due to the Blue Diamond Affair. The Holy See recalled the ambassador to Taipei right after United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 ceased to recognize the Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China, and thus "chargé d'affaires" becomes the envoy to Taiwan.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: Sometimes when diplomatic recognition is extended to a new government, a "chargé" may be sent to immediately establish diplomatic representation. However, if a timely exchange of ambassadors does not take place, this may result in a prolonged period of "chargé"-level relations. For example, the United Kingdom recognized the People's Republic of China in 1950 and posted a "chargé d'affaires" in the new capital of Beijing. However, China was unwilling to exchange ambassadors until the United Kingdom withdrew its consulate from Taipei. Sino-British relations were not upgraded to the ambassadorial level until 1972.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: Since a "chargé d'affaires" presents his or her credentials to the foreign minister rather than the head of state, the appointment of a "chargé" may avoid a politically sensitive meeting that would imply approval or recognition of that head of state or government. Similarly, the receiving country may decline to receive an ambassador, but still maintain diplomatic relations by accepting a "chargé". For example, the Republic of Cyprus appoints a number of "chargés d'affaires" "en pied" to its embassies abroad.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: In modern use, "chargés d'affaires" essentially differ from ambassadors in that, like all diplomats, "chargés" represent their nation, but unlike an ambassador, they are not personal representatives of their head of state. Apart from rank and precedence, "chargés" enjoy the same privileges and immunities as other diplomatic agents.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: However, there have been rare historical circumstances in which the title "chargé d'affaires" was in fact employed in a more significant colonial role, as commonly held by a resident. Thus, in Annam-Tonkin (most of present Vietnam), the first French "chargé d'affaires" at Huế, the local ruler's capital, since 1875, one of them (three terms) was appointed the first resident-general on 11 June 1884, as they stopped being tributary to the Chinese Empire, less than a year after the 25 August 1883 French protectorates over Annam and Tonkin (central and northern regions).


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: In French, "chargé d'affaires" may be used outside diplomacy to designate an individual with some more or less temporary responsibility for a specific area of business, understood broadly.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: "Chargé d'affaires" generally follows French usage: "chargé d'affaires" is singular, "chargés d'affaires" for plural. The ""d'affaires"" is always in the plural form, and should be lowercase even if "Chargé" is capitalized. Following the French declension, "chargée d'affaires" (with the feminine ending) may be seen where the "chargé" is female.


title: Chargé d'affaires

text: For temporary "chargés", "ad interim" may or may not be added depending on the context, but is always lower case; it may be italicized or shortened to simply a.i.


title: Indian Plate

text: The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began moving north and carried Insular India with it. It was once fused with the adjacent Australian Plate to form a single Indo-Australian Plate, and recent studies suggest that India and Australia have been separate plates for at least 3 million years and likely longer. The Indian Plate includes most of modern South Asia (the Indian subcontinent) and a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean, including parts of South China and western Indonesia, and extending up to but not including Ladakh, Kohistan and Balochistan.


title: Indian Plate

text: Until roughly , the Indian Plate formed part of the supercontinent Gondwana together with modern Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and South America. Gondwana broke up as these continents drifted apart at different velocities, a process which led to the opening of the Indian Ocean.


title: Indian Plate

text: In the late Cretaceous, approximately and subsequent to the splitting off from Gondwana of conjoined Madagascar and India, the Indian Plate split from Madagascar, forming Insular India. It began moving north, at about per year, and is believed to have begun colliding with Asia as early as , in the Eocene epoch of the Cenozoic. However, some authors suggest the collision between India and Eurasia occurred much later, around . If the collision occurred between 55 and 50 Mya, the Indian Plate would have covered a distance of , moving more quickly than any other known plate. In 2012, paleomagnetic data from the Greater Himalaya was used to propose two collisions to reconcile the discrepancy between the amount of crustal shortening in the Himalaya (~) and the amount of convergence between India and Asia (~). These authors propose a continental fragment of northern Gondwana rifted from India, traveled northward, and initiated the "soft collision" between the Greater Himalaya and Asia at ~50 Mya. This was followed by the "hard collision" between India and Asia occurred at ~25 Mya. Subduction of the resulting ocean basin that formed between the Greater Himalayan fragment and India explains the apparent discrepancy between the crustal shortening estimates in the Himalaya and paleomagnetic data from India and Asia. However, the proposed ocean basin was not constrained by paleomagnetic data from the key time interval of ~120 Mya to ~60 Mya. New paleomagnetic results of this critical time interval from southern Tibet do not support this Greater Indian Ocean basin hypothesis and the associated dual collision model.


title: Indian Plate

text: In 2007, German geologists suggested the reason the Indian Plate moved so quickly is that it is only half as thick () as the other plates which formerly constituted Gondwana. The mantle plume that once broke up Gondwana might also have melted the lower part of the Indian subcontinent, which allowed it to move both more quickly and farther than the other parts. The remains of this plume today form the Marion Hotspot (Prince Edward Islands), the Kerguelen hotspot, and the Réunion hotspots. As India moved north, it is possible the thickness of the Indian Plate degenerated further as it passed over the hotspots and magmatic extrusions associated with the Deccan and Rajmahal Traps. The massive amounts of volcanic gases released during the passage of the Indian Plate over the hotspots have been theorised to have played a role in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, generally held to be due to a large asteroid impact.


title: Indian Plate

text: In 2020, however, geologists at the University of Oxford and the Alfred Wegener Institute found that new plate-motion models displayed increased movement speeds in all mid-ocean ridges during the late Cretaceous, a result irreconcilable to current theories of plate tectonics and a refutation of the plume-push hypothesis. Pérez-Díaz concludes that the accelerated movement of the Indian Plate is an illusion wrought by large errors in geomagnetic reversal timing around the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, and that a recalibration of the time scale shows no such acceleration exists.


title: Indian Plate

text: The collision with the Eurasian Plate along the boundary between India and Nepal formed the orogenic belt that created the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya Mountains, as sediment bunched up like earth before a plow.


title: Indian Plate

text: The Indian Plate is currently moving north-east at per year, while the Eurasian Plate is moving north at only per year. This is causing the Eurasian Plate to deform, and the Indian Plate to compress at a rate of per year.


title: Indian Plate

text: The westerly side of the Indian Plate is a transform boundary with the Arabian Plate called the Owen Fracture Zone, and a divergent boundary with the African Plate called the Central Indian Ridge (CIR). The northerly side of the Plate is a convergent boundary with the Eurasian Plate forming the Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountains, called the Main Himalayan Thrust.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: Neha Bhasin (born 18 November 1982) is an Indian singer and songwriter. She is known for her playback work in Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood and independent songs in the genre of Indian pop and punjabi folk music. Bhasin has received seven Filmfare nominations across different languages and won two Filmfare Awards for her songs ‘‘Jag Ghoomeya’’ (Hindi) and ‘‘Paani Ravi Da’’ (Punjabi).


title: Neha Bhasin

text: Neha Bhasin was born in Delhi to father Ashok Bhasin and mother Rekha Bhasin. Neha belongs to a Hindu Punjabi family. Her clan is Khukrain Bhasin which belongs to Khatri Punjabi community and originally hails from Rawalpindi District.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: She completed her schooling from Frank Anthony Public School. Neha won her first ever singing competition award, Mariah Carey's song Hero at the age of 9. Since she was a child, always aspired to become a popstar. She joined Shiamak Davar's dance academy to learn various dance forms. She also took vocal classical training from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: Neha became an over night sensation at age 18 when she was selected by Coke V popstars, a nationwide talent search conducted by Channel V to be a part of the 5-girl pop group Viva.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: Neha Bhasin married Sameer Uddin, a music composer, in a western wedding in Tuscany, Italy on October 23, 2016.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: Bhasin was attending Lady Sri Ram College when she auditioned for Coke [V] Popstars in 2002 and won the competition to form India's first all-girls Viva (band) along with four other girls.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: After the band broke up in 2004, Neha went on to sing for Bollywood films and Tamil film music industry.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: Her first breakthrough in Bollywood was the song 'Kuch Khass Hai' in 2007 which also got Neha her first Filmfare nomination in 2008. Neha's debut Tamil song 'Pesugiren Pesugiren' composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja won her the Vijay Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 2008.


title: Neha Bhasin

text: In 2021, Bhasin featured on Times Square Billboard as artist of the month on Spotify for her song ‘Oot Patangi’.


title: Chai Hansen

text: Chai Hansen (born Surachai Romruen, February 8, 1989) is a Thai-Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Monkey in "The New Legends of Monkey", Zac in "", Ilian in "The 100" and Jordan Kyle in "Shadowhunters".


title: Chai Hansen

text: Hansen was born in Ko Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand in 1989. He was born to a Thai father, Superut Romruen and an Australian mother, Sandra Hansen. At the age of 7 Hansen migrated to Australia with his mother and sister (Sarah Romruen) to seek a higher education.


title: Chai Hansen

text: In 2011, it was announced that Hansen would join the cast of internationally distributed series "Mako Mermaids". In season 2 onwards, he and Alex Cubis portrayed mermen, alongside Isabel Durant and Lucy Fry who portrayed mermaids.


title: Chai Hansen

text: Hansen was cast in role in the recurring role of Ilian in the fourth season of "The 100". He was then cast as Monkey in "The New Legends of Monkey", a new spin on classic tale Journey to the West.


title: Chai Hansen

text: In early 2018, Hansen was cast in a recurring role in "" third season as Jordan Kyle, a werewolf on a quest for redemption.


title: Chai Hansen

text: In May 2021, Hansen was cast as a series regular in the Amazon series "Night Sky", playing the role of Jude.


title: Bipasha Basu filmography

text: Bipasha Basu is an Indian actress who has featured in over 50 films, predominantly in Hindi language. After a successful career as a model, she made her film debut with a supporting role in Abbas–Mustan's thriller "Ajnabee" (2001), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Basu followed this with a role in her first Telugu cinemathe action film "Takkari Donga" (2002). She had her first major success with the supernatural thriller "Raaz" (2002), which earned Basu her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress nomination. The following year, she starred opposite John Abraham in the erotic thriller "Jism", in which she played a seductive wife. She received a Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role nomination for the film. Her roles in these films established her as a sex symbol.


title: Bipasha Basu filmography

text: Basu followed this initial success with roles in a series of commercial failures, including the thrillers "Aetbaar", "Rudraksh", "Rakht"—all in 2004—and the romance "Barsaat" (2005). She later featured in Prakash Jha's crime drama "Apaharan" (2005) and the ensemble comedy "No Entry" (2005). The latter emerged as a financial success, grossing at the box office, and Basu's role of an escort earned her a nomination for the Best Supporting Actress at the 51st Filmfare Awards. Basu had seven film releases in 2006. Her role as an executive at a conglomerate in Madhur Bhandarkar's drama "Corporate" earned her another nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She then portrayed a character based on Bianca in Vishal Bhardwaj's "Omkara", an adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy "Othello". In Sanjay Gadhvi's action film "Dhoom 2"—her final release of the year—she played dual roles; it was the top-grossing Bollywood film of the year. In 2008, she collaborated with Abbas–Mustan for the second time for "Race". Her performance as a troubled wife in Rituparno Ghosh's 2009 Bengali film "Shob Charitro Kalponik" was critically acclaimed. She then featured in the third installment of the Raaz series, entitled "Raaz 3D" (2012). Due to her frequent associations with horror films, she was labelled India's "horror queen" by the media.


title: Bipasha Basu filmography

text: In 2013, Basu made her Hollywood debut with the historical romance "The Lovers", in which she played a Maratha warrior. The following year, she starred in the comedy "Humshakals". The film received largely negative reviews, though it was a moderate commercial success. In 2015, she played conjoined twins—a first for an actress in Bollywood—in the horror film "Alone". She followed it by featuring as the host of the television horror series "Darr Sabko Lagta Hai" that year.


title: Amdocs

text: Amdocs () is a multinational corporation that was founded in Israel and currently headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri, with support and development centers located worldwide. The company specializes in software and services for communications, media and financial services providers and digital enterprises.


title: Amdocs

text: The company was founded in 1982 in Israel as an offshoot of Golden Pages, the Israeli phone directory company, which was owned by the Aurec Group headed by Morris Kahn. In 1982, Boaz Dotan became Amdocs' first President and CEO. Together with others at Golden Pages, Kahn developed a billing software program for phone directory companies and with Boaz Dotan established a company called Aurec Information & Directory Systems to market this product.


title: Amdocs

text: In 1985, Southwestern Bell Corporation acquired a 50 percent ownership share of Aurec Information & Directory Systems, and its name was changed to Amdocs. Within two years, the Aurec Group sold off all its holdings in Amdocs for almost US$1 billion.


title: Amdocs

text: Between 1990 and 1995 Amdocs took its initial diversification steps, expanding first into the wireline telephony arena and then the mobile space. Over the years, Amdocs has continued to expand its product and services offerings. In 1995, Avi Naor replaced Boaz Dotan as president and CEO of Amdocs.


title: Amdocs

text: The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in June 1998, moving to the NASDAQ Global Select Market in 2014.


title: Amdocs

text: Amdocs acquired software firm Clarify in 2001 for $200 million. In 2002, Dov Baharav replaced Avi Naor as Amdocs' President and CEO.


title: Amdocs

text: In 2005, Amdocs acquired billing and CRM provider DST Innovis for $238 million. In 2006, Amdocs acquired Cramer Systems.


title: Amdocs

text: Amdocs acquired Israeli startup SigValue in 2007 for $85 million. In 2008, Amdocs acquired Irish software company Changing Worlds for $60 million.


title: Amdocs

text: In November 2010, Eli Gelman replaced Dov Baharav as Amdocs' President and CEO. Also in 2010, Amdocs acquired MX Telecom for $104 million.


title: Amdocs

text: In 2011, Amdocs acquired Bridgewater Systems. The company acquired Celcite in 2013 for $129 million. Also in 2013, Amdocs acquired Actix.


title: Amdocs

text: In 2016, a subsidiary of Amdocs was created, named "Vector Creations Limited", which employed the team working on the Matrix protocol and software. Funding by Amdocs was announced to be cut in July 2017, leading to the Matrix core team creating their own UK-based company, "New Vector Limited".


title: Amdocs

text: In September 2016, Amdocs acquired Silicon Valley based Vindicia, Tel Aviv-based company Pontis, and Irish software company Brite:Bill.


title: Amdocs

text: In 2018, Amdocs acquired Vubiquity for $224 million. Following the acquisition, former Vubiquity CEO Darcy Antonellis became head of Amdocs Media Division. Also in 2018, Amdocs acquired Canadian company UXP Systems.


title: Amdocs

text: In January 2020, Amdocs donated resources including food packs to Globe Telecom as part of aid operations for Filipino communities affected by the eruption of Taal volcano. These donations came as part of Amdocs Corporate Social Responsibility program.


title: Amdocs

text: In July 2020, Amdocs acquired Openet Telecom Inc., a provider of 5G charging, policy and cloud technologies.


title: Amdocs

text: On 5 August 2020, Amdocs reported that Orange Liberia has collaborated with Amdocs to update its end-to-end digital enabling infrastructure.


title: Amdocs

text: On 8 March 2021, Amdocs Media’s Vindicia and Vimeo extended long-term engagement to enable Vimeo’s global SaaS video platform.


title: Amdocs

text: In May 2022, Amdocs announced it has acquired the UK-headquartered SaaS-based cloud network and service assurance solutions for communications service providers, MYCOM OSI for US$188 million.


title: Amdocs

text: In early 2000, federal agencies conducted a counterintelligence investigation to determine if Amdocs was being used by Israel to eavesdrop on U.S. government communications. The investigation found no evidence of such activity.


title: Emirate of Nejd

text: The Emirate of Nejd or Imamate of Nejd was the Second Saudi State, existing between 1824 and 1891 in Nejd, the regions of Riyadh and Ha'il of what is now Saudi Arabia. Saudi rule was restored to central and eastern Arabia after the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State, having previously been brought down by the Ottoman Empire's Egypt Eyalet in the Ottoman–Wahhabi War (1811–1818).


title: Emirate of Nejd

text: The second Saudi period was marked by less territorial expansion and less religious zeal, although the Saudi leaders continued to be called Imam and still employed Wahhabist religious scholars. Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad's reconquest of Riyadh from Egyptian forces in 1824 is generally regarded as the beginning of the Second Saudi State. Severe internal conflicts within the House of Saud eventually led to the dynasty's downfall at the Battle of Mulayda in 1891, between the forces loyal to the last Saudi imam, Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki, and the Rashidi dynasty of Ha'il.


title: Emirate of Nejd

text: The first Saudi to attempt to regain power after the fall of the Emirate of Diriyah in 1818 was Mishari bin Saud, a brother of the last ruler in Diriyah, Abdullah ibn Saud but he was soon captured by the Egyptians and killed. In 1824, Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad, a grandson of the first Saudi imam Muhammad ibn Saud who had managed to evade capture by the Egyptians, was able to expel Egyptian forces and their local allies from Riyadh and its environs and is generally regarded as the founder of the second Saudi dynasty as well as being the ancestor of the kings of modern-day Saudi Arabia. He made his capital in Riyadh and was able to enlist the services of many relatives who had escaped captivity in Egypt, including his son Faisal ibn Turki Al Saud.


title: Emirate of Nejd

text: Turki was assassinated in 1834 by Mishari bin Abdul Rahman, a distant cousin. Mishari was soon besieged in Riyadh and later executed by Faisal, who went on to become the most prominent ruler of the Saudis' second reign. Faisal, however, faced a re-invasion of Najd organised by Mehmet Ali. The local population was unwilling to resist, and Faisal was defeated and taken to Egypt as a prisoner for the second time in 1838.


title: Emirate of Nejd

text: The Egyptians installed Khalid bin Saud, last surviving brother of Abdullah bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, a great grandson of Muhammad bin Saud, had spent many years in the Egyptian court, as ruler in Riyadh and supported him with Egyptian troops. In 1840, however, external conflicts forced the Egyptians to withdraw all their presence in the Arabian Peninsula, leaving Khalid with little support. Seen by most locals as nothing more than an Egyptian governor, Khalid was toppled soon afterwards by Abdullah bin Thunayan, of the collateral Al Thunayan branch. Faisal, however, had been released that year and, aided by the Al Rashid rulers of Ha'il, was able to retake Riyadh and resume his rule, later appointing his son Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki as heir apparent, and divided his dominions between his three sons Abdullah, Saud, and Muhammad. This time Faisal recognised Ottoman suzerainty and paid an annual tribute, in exchange he was recognised as “ruler of all the Arabs” by the Ottomans.


title: Emirate of Nejd

text: Upon Faisal's death in 1865 the state began to decline due to the fact that different rulers, namely Abdullah, Saud, Abdul Rahman and Saud's sons, became the head of the state until 1891. Immediately following the death of Faisal Abdullah assumed rule in Riyadh but was soon challenged by his brother, Saud. The two brothers fought a long civil war, in which they traded rule in Riyadh several times. A vassal of the Saudis, Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Rashid of Ha'il took the opportunity to intervene in the conflict and increase his own power. Gradually, Al Rashid extended his authority over most of Najd, including the Saudi capital, Riyadh. He finally expelled the last Saudi leader, Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, from Najd after the Battle of Mulayda in 1891.


title: Korean Arts High School

text: Korean Arts High School () is an arts high school in Hongik-dong, Seongdong District, Seoul, South Korea.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: Shaurya () is a canister-launched hypersonic surface-to-surface tactical missile developed by the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for use by the Indian Armed Forces. It has a range of and is capable of carrying a payload of conventional or nuclear warhead. It gives the potential to strike at very-long-range against any adversary.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: The Shaurya missile is speculated to be the land version of the under-water Sagarika K-15 missile, although the DRDO officials have reportedly denied its connection with the K-15 programme. Shaurya is stored in a composite canister, which makes it much easier to store for long periods without maintenance as well as to handle and transport. It also houses the gas generator to eject the missile from the canister before its solid propellant motors take over to hurl it at the intended target.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: At DefExpo 2010 the missile was displayed without the container shroud, mounted on a land-mobile erector-launcher. Shaurya missiles can remain hidden or camouflaged in underground silos from enemy surveillance or satellites till they are fired from the special storage-cum-launch canisters. If put in silos, the DRDO scientists state that given Shaurya's limited range at present, either the silos will have to be constructed closer to India's borders or an extended range version will have to be developed. Defence scientists say the high-speed, two-stage Shaurya is highly manoeuvrable which also makes it less vulnerable to existing anti-missile defence systems.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: Shaurya can reach a velocity of Mach 7.5 even at low altitudes. On 12 November 2008, the missile reached a velocity of Mach 5 as it crossed a distance of 300 km, with a surface temperature of 700° Celsius. The missile performed rolls to spread the heat uniformly on its surface. Flight time was between 500 seconds and 700 seconds. It has been described as a complex system with high-performance navigation and guidance systems, efficient propulsion systems, state-of-the-art control technologies and canisterised launch. It can be easily transported by road and launched by TEL. The missile, encased in a canister, is mounted on a single vehicle, which has only a driver's cabin, and the vehicle itself is the launch platform. This "single vehicle solution" reduces its signature – it cannot be easily detected by satellites – and makes its deployment easy. The gas generator, located at the bottom of the canister, fires for about a second and a half. It produces high pressure gas, which expands and ejects the missile from the tube. The missile has six motors; the first one is the motor in the gas generator. The centrepiece of a host of new technologies incorporated in Shaurya is its ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer. The ring laser gyroscope was tested and integrated by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI) based in Hyderabad.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: The Shaurya missile was revealed to be designed specifically to be fired from submarines. A top DRDO scientist has confirmed this and further said that after taking off and reaching a height of about 50 km, the missile starts flying like a hypersonic cruise missile. Once it reaches the target area it manoeuvres towards the target before striking with an accuracy of 20 to 30 m within the target area.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: The missile was launched from an underground facility with an in-built canister from Complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: The missile was successfully test-fired for the third time, from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha, on Saturday 24 September 2011, in its final configuration. The missile flew at 7.5 Mach, and covered its full range of 700 km in 500 seconds. After this test, the missile is ready for production and induction into the Navy.


title: Shaurya (missile)

text: On 3 October 2020, DRDO successfully test-fired an advanced version of the Shaurya from Balasore as part of user trials. The Shaurya missile can strike targets at a range of around 800 kilometres that will complement the existing class of missile systems. The advance version of Shaurya is light weight and reaches hypersonic speed during the last phase of moving close to the target to render missile defense and countermeasure systems useless.


title: Gabion

text: A gabion (from Italian "gabbione" meaning "big cage"; from Italian "gabbia" and Latin "cavea" meaning "cage") is a cage, cylinder or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building, military applications and landscaping.


title: Gabion

text: For erosion control, caged riprap is used. For dams or in foundation construction, cylindrical metal structures are used. In a military context, earth- or sand-filled gabions are used to protect sappers, infantry, and artillerymen from enemy fire.


title: Gabion

text: Leonardo da Vinci designed a type of gabion called a "Corbeille Leonard" ("Leonard[o] basket") for the foundations of the San Marco Castle in Milan.


title: Gabion

text: The most common civil engineering use of gabions was refined and patented by Gaetano Maccaferri in the late 19th century in Sacerno, Emilia Romagna and used to stabilize shorelines, stream banks or slopes against erosion. Other uses include retaining walls, noise barriers, temporary flood walls, silt filtration from runoff, for small or temporary/permanent dams, river training, or channel lining. They may be used to direct the force of a flow of flood water around a vulnerable structure.


title: Gabion

text: Gabions are also used as fish screens on small streams. Gabion stepped weirs are commonly used for river training and flood control; the stepped design enhances the rate of energy dissipation in the channel, and it is particularly well suited to the construction of gabion stepped weirs.


title: Gabion

text: A gabion wall is a retaining wall made of stacked stone-filled gabions tied together with wire. Gabion walls are usually battered (angled back towards the slope), or stepped back with the slope, rather than stacked vertically.


title: Gabion

text: The life expectancy of gabions depends on the lifespan of the wire, not on the contents of the basket. The structure will fail when the wire fails. Galvanized steel wire is most common, but PVC-coated and stainless steel wire are also used. PVC-coated galvanized gabions have been estimated to survive for 60 years. Some gabion manufacturers guarantee a structural consistency of 50 years.


title: Gabion

text: In the United States, gabion use within streams first began with projects completed from 1957 to 1965 on North River, Virginia, and Zealand River, New Hampshire. More than 150 grade-control structures, bank revetments and channel deflectors were constructed on the two U.S. Forest Service sites. Eventually, a large portion of the in-stream structures failed due to undermining and lack of structural integrity of the baskets. In particular, corrosion and abrasion of wires by bedload movement compromised the structures, which then sagged and collapsed into the channels. Other gabions were toppled into channels as trees grew and enlarged on top of gabion revetments, leveraging them toward the river channels.


title: Gabion

text: Gabions have also been used in building, as in the Dominus Winery in the Napa Valley, California, by architects Herzog & de Meuron, constructed between 1995 and 1997. The exterior is formed by modular wire mesh gabions containing locally quarried stone; this construction allows air movement through the building and creates an environment of moderate temperatures inside.


title: Gabion

text: There are various special designs of gabions to meet particular functional requirements and some special terms for particular forms have come into use. For example:


title: Gabion

text: Early gabions were round cages with open tops and bottoms, made from wickerwork and filled with earth for use as military fortifications. These early military gabions were most often used to protect sappers and siege artillery gunners. The wickerwork cylinders were light and could be carried relatively conveniently in the ammunition train, particularly if they were made in several diameters to fit one inside another. At the site of use in the field, they could be stood on end, staked in position, and filled with soil to form an effective wall around the gun, or rapidly construct a bulletproof parapet along a sap. During the Crimean War, local shortages of brushwood led to use of scrap hoop-iron from hay bales in its stead; this in turn led to purpose-built sheet-iron gabions.


title: Gabion

text: Today, gabions are often used to protect forward operating bases (FOBs) against explosive, fragmentary, indirect fires such as mortar or artillery fire. Examples of areas within a FOB that make extensive use of gabions are sleeping quarters, mess halls, or any place where there would be a large concentration of unprotected soldiers. Gabions are also used for aircraft revetments, blast walls, and similar structures. A gabion is often referred to as a "Hesco bastion".


title: Gabion

text: Gabions may be used for attenuating dynamic load as those resulting from impacts by vehicles or rockfall for example. First, gabions may be suitable as a vehicle restraint system in scenic lower speed roads. Second, when used as facing of earth-reinforced structures with a vertical face, gabions offer a more deformable surface to impact compared to other classical geotechnical alternatives. This higher deformability results from crushing and large displacements of the fill content. As a result, the impact load transmitted to the structure is reduced, due to both impact energy dissipation and peak force attenuation. In an optimization process, the fill material can be adapted to meet specific requirements, in terms of impact response. This in particular led to the use of recycled materials (tires and ballast from railway tracks) in the core of some rockfall protection embankments.


title: Catholic (term)

text: The word catholic (derived via Late Latin "catholicus", from the Greek adjective "katholikos" 'universal') comes from the Greek phrase "katholou" 'on the whole, according to the whole, in general', and is a combination of the Greek words 'about' and 'whole'. The first known use of "Catholic" was by the church father Saint Ignatius of Antioch in his "Letter to the Smyrnaeans" (circa 110 AD). In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages.


title: Catholic (term)

text: The word in English can mean either "of the Catholic faith" or "relating to the historic doctrine and practice of the Western Church". "Catholicos", the title used for the head of some churches in Eastern Christian traditions, is derived from the same linguistic origin.


title: Catholic (term)

text: In non-ecclesiastical use, it derives its English meaning directly from its root, and is currently used to mean the following:


title: Catholic (term)

text: The term has been incorporated into the name of the largest Christian communion, the Roman Catholic Church. All of the three main branches of Christianity in the East – Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and Church of the East – had always identified themselves as "Catholic" in accordance with apostolic traditions and the Nicene Creed. Lutherans, Reformed, Anglicans and Methodists also believe that their churches are "Catholic" in the sense that they too are in continuity with the original universal church founded by the Apostles. However, each church defines the scope of the "Catholic Church" differently. For instance, the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox churches, and Church of the East, each maintain that their own denomination is identical with the original universal church, from which all other denominations broke away.


title: Catholic (term)

text: Distinguishing beliefs of Catholicity, the beliefs of most Christians who call themselves "Catholic", include the episcopal polity, that bishops are considered the highest order of ministers within the Christian religion, as well as the Nicene Creed of AD 381. In particular, along with unity, sanctity, and apostolicity, catholicity is considered one of Four Marks of the Church, found in the line of the Nicene Creed: "I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church."


title: Catholic (term)

text: During the medieval and modern times, additional distinctions arose regarding the use of the terms "Western Catholic" and "Eastern Catholic". Before the East–West Schism of 1054, those terms had just the basic geographical meanings, since only one undivided Catholicity existed, uniting the Latin-speaking Christians of West and the Greek-speaking Christians of the East. After the Schism, terminology became much more complicated, resulting in the creation of parallel and conflicting terminological systems.


title: Catholic (term)

text: The Greek adjective "katholikos", the origin of the term "catholic", means 'universal'. Directly from the Greek, or via Late Latin "catholicus", the term "catholic" entered many other languages, becoming the base for the creation of various theological terms such as "catholicism" and "catholicity" (Late Latin "catholicismus", "catholicitas").


title: Catholic (term)

text: The term "catholicism" is the English form of Late Latin "catholicismus", an abstract noun based on the adjective "catholic". The Modern Greek equivalent "" is back-formed and usually refers to the Catholic Church. The terms "catholic", "catholicism", and "catholicity" are closely related to the use of the term "Catholic Church". (See Catholic Church (disambiguation) for more uses.)


title: Catholic (term)

text: The earliest evidence of the use of that term is the "Letter to the Smyrnaeans" that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 107 to Christians in Smyrna. Exhorting Christians to remain closely united with their bishop, he wrote: "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."


title: Catholic (term)

text: From the second half of the second century, the word "catholic" began to be used to mean "orthodox" (non-heretical), "because Catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole Church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and was essentially partial and local". In 380, Emperor Theodosius I limited use of the term "Catholic Christian" exclusively to those who followed the same faith as Pope Damasus I of Rome and Pope Peter of Alexandria. Numerous other early writers including Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315–386), Augustine of Hippo (354–430) further developed the use of the term "catholic" in relation to Christianity.


title: Catholic (term)

text: The earliest recorded evidence of the use of the term "Catholic Church" is the "Letter to the Smyrnaeans" that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 107 AD to Christians in Smyrna. Exhorting Christians to remain closely united with their bishop, he wrote: