title: Shorea robusta

text: There is a standard decorative element of Hindu Indian sculpture which originated in a "yakshi" grasping the branch of a flowering tree while setting her foot against its roots. This decorative sculptural element was integrated into Indian temple architecture as "salabhanjika" or "sal tree maiden", although it is not clear either whether it is a sal tree or an asoka tree. The tree is also mentioned in the Ramayana—specifically, where Lord Rama (on request of deposed monkey-king Sugreeva for proof he can kill Sugreeva's older half-brother Vali) is asked to pierce seven "sals" in a row with a single arrow (which is later used to kill Vali, and still later to behead Ravana's brother Kumbhakarna)


title: Shorea robusta

text: In Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, one can find typical Nepali pagoda temple architectures with very rich wooden carvings, and most of the temples, such as Nyatapol Temple (Nyatapola), are made of bricks and sal tree wood.


title: Shorea robusta

text: Buddhist tradition holds that Queen Māyā of Sakya, while en route to her grandfather's kingdom, gave birth to Gautama Buddha while grasping the branch of a sal tree or an Ashoka tree in a garden in Lumbini in south Nepal.


title: Shorea robusta

text: The sal tree is also said to have been the tree under which Koṇḍañña and Vessabhū, respectively the fifth and twenty fourth Buddhas preceding Gautama Buddha, attained enlightenment.


title: Shorea robusta

text: In Buddhism, the brief flowering of the sal tree is used as a symbol of impermanence and the rapid passing of glory, particularly as an analog of "sic transit gloria mundi". In Japanese Buddhism, this is best known through the opening line of "The Tale of the Heike" – a tale of the rise and fall of a once-powerful clan – whose latter half reads , quoting the four-character idiom from a passage in the Humane King Sutra, .


title: Shorea robusta

text: In Asia, the sal tree is often confused with the "Couroupita guianensis" or cannonball tree, a tree from tropical South America introduced to Asia by the British in the 19th century. The cannonball tree has since then been planted at Buddhist and Hindu religious sites in Asia in the belief that it is the tree of sacred scriptures. In Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Theravada Buddhist countries it has been planted at Buddhist monasteries and other religious sites. In India the cannonball tree has been planted at Shiva temples and is called Shiv Kamal or Nagalingam since its flowers are said to resemble the hood of a Nāga (divine cobra) protecting a Shiva lingam.


title: Shorea robusta

text: An example of a cannonball tree erroneously named 'sal tree' is at the Pagoda at the Royal Palace of Phnom Penh in Cambodia.


title: Shorea robusta

text: In Japan the sal tree of Buddhist scriptures is identified as the deciduous camellia ("Stewartia pseudocamellia"), called shāra, 沙羅, from Sanskrit śāla.


title: Shorea robusta

text: Sal is one of the most important sources of hardwood timber in India, with hard, coarse-grained wood that is light in colour when freshly cut, but becomes dark brown with exposure. The wood is resinous and durable, and is sought-after for construction, although not well suited to planing and polishing. The wood is especially suitable for constructing frames for doors and windows.


title: Shorea robusta

text: The dry leaves of sal are a major source for the production of leaf plates called as patravali and leaf bowls in northern and eastern India, also used as leaf plates to serve food in Karnataka Canara (Dakshina Kannada, Gokarna) regions of India. The leaves are also used fresh to serve ready made "paan" (betelnut preparations) and small snacks such as boiled black "grams", "gol gappa", etc. The used leaves/plates are readily eaten by goats and cattle. The tree has therefore protected northern India from a flood of styrofoam and plastic plates that would have caused tremendous pollution. In Nepal, its leaves are used to make local plates and vessels called "tapari", "doona" and "bogata" in which rice and curry is served. However, the use of such "natural" tools have sharply declined during last decade.


title: Shorea robusta

text: Sal tree resin is known as sal dammar or Indian dammar, "ṛla" in Sanskrit. It is used as an astringent in Ayurvedic medicine, burned as incense in Hindu ceremonies, and used to caulk boats and ships.


title: Shorea robusta

text: Sal seeds and fruit are a source of lamp oil and vegetable fat. The seed oil is extracted from the seeds and used as cooking oil after refining.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is a 2019 stop-motion animated science fiction comedy film produced by Aardman Animations. The film is directed by Richard Phelan and Will Becher (in their feature directorial debuts) and written by Mark Burton and Jon Brown, based on an idea by Richard Starzak. It is a stand-alone sequel to "Shaun the Sheep Movie" (2015) and is based on the claymation television series "Shaun the Sheep", a spinoff from the "Wallace and Gromit" short film "A Close Shave". It is the first sequel ever made by Aardman and in stop-motion in general. The film stars Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Kate Harbour, and Rich Webber reprising their voice roles from the series and the previous film, whilst new cast members include Amalia Vitale, David Holt and Chris Morrell. In the film, Shaun and the flock encounter a cute alien with extraordinary powers, who crash-lands near Mossy Bottom Farm. They have to find a way to return her home in order to prevent her falling into the hands of the Ministry for Alien Detection.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: Plans for a sequel began in 2015, following the release of the first film. The film officially began production following the end of production of "Early Man" (2018). Richard Starzak was announced to return as director, however, in November 2018, the film was later announced to be directed by Becher and Phelan.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon" was released in cinemas on 18 October 2019 in the United Kingdom, and on Netflix in the United States on 14 February 2020. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, praising its animation, humour and charm and grossed $43.1 million against a $25 million budget. It was nominated at the British Academy Film Awards for Best Animated Film and at the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film, losing to "Klaus" and "Soul", respectively.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: In the town of Mossingham, Farmer John and his dog, Bingo, discover the landing of a UFO. On nearby Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun and the flock attempt to pass time with several dangerous activities, only for Bitzer to stop them. After being banned from having a barbecue for dinner, Shaun decides to order three pizzas, but when the pizzas arrive, both Bitzer—who intercepts two-thirds of the delivery—and the flock discover the pizza boxes are completely empty.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: The next morning, Shaun discovers a trail of pizza crusts and encounters the visitor. The visitor introduces herself as "Lu-La", an impish alien from the planet To-Pa who can mimic sounds and levitate objects. When Shaun introduces her to the flock, she causes mischief with a combine harvester, damaging it while transforming a field behind the farm house into unintentional crop circles. Taking advantage of the recent news of alien sightings, the Farmer deduces he can create an alien-based theme park, "Farmageddon", in which he can earn money to afford a new harvester.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: The Ministry of Alien Detection's (M.A.D.) leader, Agent Red, who has been obsessed with proving the existence of aliens since seeing two of them as a child, investigates the UFO claims. Meanwhile, Lu-La and Shaun track down the UFO, followed by Bitzer, who spots them while posting flyers for "Farmageddon" in an alien costume. On board the UFO, Lu-La transmits her memories to Shaun, revealing that she is actually a child and accidentally launched her parents' spaceship while playing on it. They realise they need an egg-shaped sphere device, dropped by Lu-La when leaving the UFO, to activate it. M.A.D. mistakes Bitzer for an alien and follows him to the UFO, capturing it with Shaun, Lu-La, and Bitzer still on board. They also find the device and take both it and the UFO back to their secret base.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: At the base, Shaun and Lu-La slip out and manage to retrieve the device, successfully restarting the ship and escaping the base. They set a course for To-Pa; en route, Shaun ignores Bitzer's instructions not to press the ship's buttons and causes it to crash-land back at the farm. With the UFO destroyed, Lu-La is left heartbroken. Feeling guilty, Shaun discovers that the device can be used to send a distress signal if he reaches a high enough point. Shaun suggests that he and Lu-La attempt to reach the top of the Farmer's "Farmageddon" theme park tower to make contact.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: With the help of the flock and Bitzer, Shaun and Lu-La climb the tower while the Farmer launches a show at the theme park. Meanwhile, Red arrives and chases Shaun and Lu-La up the tower with a mecha. Shaun manages to knock Red off the tower and successfully sends a distress signal to To-Pa. Lu-La's parents, Ub-Do and Me-Ma, quickly arrive and reunite with their daughter. Red eventually welcomes the aliens, recognizing them as the aliens she saw as a child. Shaun, Bitzer and the flock bid the aliens farewell, while the "Farmageddon" theme park and show receive rave reviews as the entire incident is regarded as part of the show's special effects. On their way back to To-Pa, the aliens discover the Farmer has accidentally boarded their UFO, prompting them to take him back to Earth.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: In a mid-credits scene, Shaun, Bitzer, and the flock play with a frisbee, while the Farmer tries out his new harvester; the frisbee gets caught in the harvester's machinery and causes it to explode.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: In a post-credits scene, One of the hazmat-suited M.A.D. agents enters a black room with a keyboard. He then removes his suit and reveals himself to be Professor Brian Cox. He proceeds to play "" on the keyboard, only to be interrupted by Timmy, who unplugs the keyboard.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: On 14 September 2015, StudioCanal announced it was working with Aardman on a sequel to "Shaun the Sheep Movie". On 25 October 2016, under the working title, "Shaun the Sheep Movie 2", Aardman confirmed a sequel would go into pre-production in January 2017 with Richard Starzak, co-director of the first film, returning.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: In November 2018, it was announced that Aardman employees Richard Phelan and Will Becher would be co-directing the film, with Starzak still attached as director, due to Peter Lord and David Sproxton giving majority ownership of the company to employees to keep it independent. However, Phelan and Becher ended up being the directors of the final cut, while Starzak received both an executive producer and story by credit. Principal photography and production officially began in November 2017 and ended in June 2019.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: The music for the film is composed by Tom Howe. It was initially believed Ilan Eshkeri, who composed the music for "Shaun the Sheep Movie", would return, but these rumors were false.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: The theme tune for the film is titled "Lazy" and is written by Justin Hayward-Young, Yoann Intonti, Timothy Lanham, Freddie Cowan, Arni Hjorvar Arnason and Cole Marsden Greif-Neill and performed by The Vaccines and Kylie Minogue. Furthermore, like the previous film, the film incorporates a remix of the series theme tune "Life's a Treat". Both Mark Thomas and Vic Reeves return to perform the remix and are joined by Nadia Rose.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon" was first released in Germany on 26 September 2019 while in the United Kingdom, it was released on 18 October 2019. Originally intended to be theatrically released in the United States on 13 December 2019 by Lionsgate, but due to the box office failure of the international releases and Early Man, the film was sold to Netflix who released it digitally on 14 February 2020.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: In January 2018, it was announced that the teaser of the film would play theatrically in front of the other Aardman film, "Early Man", worldwide, revealing the film's new title and synopsis. On 7 December 2018, Aardman announced through their social media that the teaser trailer for the film along with release dates would be arriving the following week. The teaser trailer was released online on 11 December 2018, followed by the first official trailer released on 1 April 2019. On 3 July 2019 the second trailer was released.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: As of 29 December 2019, "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon" has made $43.1 million against a $25 million budget, with the top-grossing country being UK ($9.2 million), Germany ($6.7 million) and France ($5.4 million). It currently ranks as the 16th highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time.


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes records positive reviews based on critics and an average rating of . The critical consensus reads, ""A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon" retains the charm of its small-screen source material while engagingly expanding the title character's world." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 79 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: Guy Lodge of "Variety", who reviewed the previous film, gave the film a positive review, saying, "The great pleasure of these films' bright, largely wordless slapstick is that it plays universally whilst accommodating all manner of obsessive, idiosyncratic detailing at the edges."


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" who also reviewed the previous film, gave the film a positive review, saying "That all these characters and then some have distinct personalities is all the more remarkable because no one uses actual words, instead making do quite nicely with assorted grunts, groans and indefinable grumbles."


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave 3.5/4 stars to the movie, saying "If you like anything Aardman, or anything funny really, you should make an effort to find it."


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: Carlos Aguilar of "The Wrap" gave the film a positive review, saying, "A quick-witted and uproarious homage to the sci-fi genre like only the stop-motion geniuses at Aardman Animations could imagine and handcraft."


title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

text: A related videogame, entitled "Home Sheep Home: Farmageddon Party Edition" was released on Nintendo Switch and Steam in October 2019. It was released in Japan in August 2020 by Greenlight Games. In the game, Shaun, Shirley, and Timmy find their way back to the green grass of home, all hosted by Lu-La. The puzzle-platform game reused much of the gameplay from previous "Home Sheep Home" games.


title: Lega (political party)

text: Lega (), whose official name is Lega per Salvini Premier (; abbr. LSP or LpSP), is a right-wing populist political party in Italy, led by Matteo Salvini. The LSP is the informal successor of Lega Nord (, LN) and, while sharing the latter's heartland in northern Italy, it is active all around the country.


title: Lega (political party)

text: The LSP was founded in December 2017 as the sister party of the LN and as a replacement of Us with Salvini (NcS), the LN's previous affiliate in central and southern Italy. The early LSP aimed at offering LN's values and policies to the rest of the country. Some political commentators described it as a parallel party of the LN, with the aim of politically replacing it, also because of its statutory debt of €49 million. Since January 2020 the LN has become mostly inactive, being supplanted by the LSP.


title: Lega (political party)

text: It came third in the 2018 general election and first in the 2019 European Parliament election. Like the LN, the LSP is a confederation of regional parties, of which the largest and long-running are Liga Veneta and Lega Lombarda. Despite misgivings within the party's Padanian nationalist faction, the political base of the LSP is in northern Italy, where the party gets most of its support and where it has maintained the traditional autonomist outlook of the LN, especially in Veneto and Lombardy.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In February 2021 the League joined Mario Draghi's government of national unity, providing three ministers, led by the party's deputy secretary Giancarlo Giorgetti, minister of Economic Development. Since October 2022 the party has participated in Giorgia Meloni's government with five ministers, including Giorgetti as minister of Economy and Finance and Salvini as deputy prime minister and minister of Infrastructure and Transport. The League also participates in 15 regional governments, including those of the two autonomous provinces, and counts five regional presidents, notably including Attilio Fontana (Lombardy), Luca Zaia (Veneto) and Massimiliano Fedriga (Friuli Venezia Giulia), who is also the president of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces.


title: Lega (political party)

text: The Lega Nord (LN) was established in 1989 as a federation of six regional parties from northern and north-central Italy (Liga Veneta, Lega Lombarda, Piemont Autonomista, Uniun Ligure, Lega Emiliano-Romagnola and Alleanza Toscana), which became the party's founding "national" sections in 1991. Umberto Bossi was the party's founder and later long-time federal secretary. The LN long advocated the transformation of Italy from a unitary state to a federation, fiscal federalism, regionalism and greater regional autonomy, especially for northern regions. At times, the party advocated the secession of the North, which the party referred to as "Padania", and consequently Padanian nationalism. The party always opposed illegal immigration and often adopted Eurosceptic stances, joining the Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament in 2019. Throughout its history, the LN formed alliances both with centre-right and centre-left parties, but, in general elections, it was usually part of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition and, occasionally, ran as a stand-alone party (in 1996, gaining its best-so-far result: 10.1% of the vote). In the North several regions have been led by LN members, notably including Veneto (since 2010) and Lombardy (since 2013).


title: Lega (political party)

text: In December 2013 Matteo Salvini, a member of the European Parliament and former editor of Radio Padania Libera, was elected federal secretary of the LN, after having prevailed over Bossi in a leadership election. In order to revive a party overwhelmed by scandals and which had reached historical lows in the 2013 Italian general election, Salvini led the LN though dramatic changes, first by re-orienting it toward the European nationalist right. In the run-up of the 2014 European Parliament election, Salvini formed an alliance with the French National Front led by Marine Le Pen, the Dutch Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders and other alike parties on the issues of Euroscepticism, opposition to immigration and souverainism, leading to the establishment of the Identity and Democracy Party (ID Party). The League also started a brief co-operation with CasaPound, a far-right organisation. In December 2014 launched Us with Salvini (, NcS), in order to put forward LN's issues in central and southern Italy.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In the 2017 leadership election Salvini was confirmed LN's leader, defeating Gianni Fava, from the party's traditionalist wing. The May 2017 federal congress marked the "national" turnaround. In October 2017 Salvini announced that in the 2018 general election the party would be re-branded simply as "Lega" and would field lists also in central-southern Italy. On 14 December 2017 the "Lega per Salvini Premier" party was established by long-time LN member Roberto Calderoli and its constitution was published in the "Gazzetta Ufficiale". LSP's official goals were the transformation of Italy "into a modern federal state through democratic and electoral methods" and the support of "the freedom and sovereignty of peoples at the European level". LSP's symbol was inspired from Donald Trump's campaign for the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries in the United States: a blue rectangle with the words "Lega per Salvini Premier" in white, surrounded by a thin white frame. A week later Salvini presented the new electoral logo: the word "Nord" and the Sun of the Alps were removed, the word "Lega" and the representation of Alberto da Giussano remained, while the slogan "Salvini Premier" was added.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In the 2018 general election, the League gained its best-so-far result of 17.4% of the vote, becoming the largest party within the centre-right coalition and establishing itself as the country's third largest political force. After the election, the party formed an alliance with the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), which had come first in the election with 32.7% of the vote. The so-called "yellow-green government" was led by Giuseppe Conte, an independent jurist close to the M5S, and notably included Salvini as minister of the Interior. Since the government's formation, thanks to Salvini's approval as minister, the party was regularly the country's largest party in opinion polls, at around or over 30%. In the 2019 European Parliament election, the League won 34.3% of the vote, winning for the first time a plurality of the electorate, while the M5S stopped at 17.1%. In August 2019 Salvini announced his intention to leave the coalition with the M5S, and called for a snap general election. However, after successful talks between the M5S and the Democratic Party (PD), the incumbent government was eventually replaced by a new government led by Conte. The League thus returned into the opposition, together with its electoral allies of the centre-right coalition.


title: Lega (political party)

text: During 2019, along with the LN's membership recruitment in the Centre-North, the party launched a parallel drive in the Centre-South for the LSP, practically supplanting NcS. Finally, during a federal congress on 21 December 2019, the party's constitution undwerwent some major changes, including reduced powers for the federal president, the extension of the federal secretary's and federal council's terms from three to five years, the introduction of "dual membership" and the faculty given to the federal council to grant the use of the party's symbol to other political parties. With the end of its membership drive in August 2020, the LSP became active throughout Italy. The LN, unable to be dissolved because of its burden of €49 million debt to the Italian state, was instead formally kept alive, while its membership cards were donated to former activists.


title: Lega (political party)

text: Salvini's popularity was supposed to create better chances for the League to continue its winning streak in regional elections (the latest being the 2019 regional election in Umbria, where Donatella Tesei was elected president with 57.6% of the vote and the League obtained 37.0%), particularly in Emilia-Romagna, a large region long-governed by the centre-left coalition. However, in the 2020 Emilia-Romagna regional election the party's candidate, Lucia Borgonzoni, stopped at 43.6% of the vote and was defeated by incumbent president Stefano Bonaccini (PD). The League's list obtained 32.0% and came second after the PD. The LSP, which had already peaked in opinion polls after quitting the yellow-green government, continued a slow decline in opinion polls and would be eventually eclipsed both by the PD and the FdI during 2021.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In the 2020 Venetian regional election Luca Zaia, whose popularity was the result of a long-term focus on his home-region Veneto, was re-elected for a third consecutive term with 76.8% of the vote; Liga Veneta fielded two lists, including the League's official one and Zaia's personal list, which obtained 16.9% and 44.6%, respectively. In the Tuscan regional election, League's candidate Susanna Ceccardi was defeated in her bid to become president of Tuscany. The fact that the League had grown electorally only in Veneto and had lost appeal in other regions started to weaken Salvini's leadership, which was more or less silently contested by the "centrist" wing of the party formed by Giancarlo Giorgetti, Zaia and all of the party's regional presidents, from Lombardy's Attilio Fontana to Friuli-Venezia Giulia's Massimiliano Fedriga, who would become president of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces in 2021.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In January 2021 Conte's second government fell after losing support from Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva party. Subsequently, President Sergio Mattarella appointed Mario Draghi to form a cabinet, which won support from the League, the M5S, the PD and FI. The League entered the new government with three high-profile ministers from the party's "centrist" wing: Giorgetti, the architect of the party's pro-Europeanist turn and close friend of Draghi, as minister of Economic Development, Massimo Garavaglia as minister of Tourism and Erika Stefani as minister for Disabilities. The party's support for Draghi's government stood in contrast to its Eurosceptic stances.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In June 2021 Salvini proposed a federation with FI and other centre-right parties supporting Draghi (thus excluding FdI), which has so far went nowhere, as well as a campaign for six referendums on justice along with the liberal Radical Party. In February 2022 five of the six referendums were approved by Italy's Constitutional Court, opening the way for a popular vote by June.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In the run-up of the 2022 Italian local elections the party launched a new organisation named Italy First () in southern Italy. The League will run under the "Italy First" banner in most southern cities and, most notably, in the 2022 Sicilian regional election. According to Calderoli, who registered the new symbol on Salvini's behalf, Italy First could eventually become a new political party, possibly including also FI and other centrist parties. However, as the notion of replacing the League's symbol also in northern Italy was criticised by several party members, especially in Veneto, Calderoli ruled it out.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In July 2022 the M5S did not participate in a Senate's confidence vote on a government bill. Prime Minister Draghi offered his resignation, which was rejected by President Mattarella. After a few days, Draghi sought a confidence vote again to secure the government majority supporting his cabinet, while rejecting the proposal put forward by Lega and FI of a new government without the M5S. In that occasion, the League, despite calls from its regional presidents to do otherwise, as well as the M5S, FI and FdI, did not participate in the vote. Consequently, Draghi tendered his final resignation to President Mattarella, who dissolved the houses of Parliament, leading to a snap election.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In the 2022 general election the League, which was part of the of the winning centre-right coalition, won 8.8% of the vote, compared to 26.0% gained by the Brothers of Italy (FdI) and 8.1% by FI. As a result, Giorgia Meloni, leader of FdI, accepted the task of forming a new government and announced the Meloni Cabinet, which assumed official functions after each ministers were sworn in on 22 October. The League joined the new government with five ministers: Giorgetti minister of Economy and Finance, Salvini deputy prime minister and minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Giuseppe Valditara (a former aide to Gianfranco Miglio and co-author of the party's liberal-conservative manifesto) minister of Education, Calderoli minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, and Alessandra Locatelli minister for Disabilities. Prior to that, Lorenzo Fontana, from the conservative wing of the League, had been elected President of the Chamber of Deputies.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In the wake of the disappointing result in the 2022 general election and the run-up to the 2023 Lombard regional election, some leading members of the party's traditional wing, rooted in Padanian nationalism, formed "Comitato Nord" (, CN). The Committee was inspired by Umberto Bossi and, under the leadership of Paolo Grimoldi, a former leader of Lega Lombarda, and Angelo Ciocca, a member of the European Parliament, it attracted more than one thousand members in a couple of months. The inaugural event of the Committee, held in early December, was attended by some 600 people, notably including former ministers Roberto Castelli and Francesco Speroni. Contextually, provincial congresses were held in some of the party's strongholds: critics of Salvini affiliated with the CN narrowly won in Bergamo and Brescia, while the pro-Salvini wing retained Varese for a handful of votes and Roberto Marcato, a regional minister loyal to Zaia, is leading the challenge in Veneto. Also, three regional councillors affiliated with the CN formed a separate group in the Regional Council of Lombardy and were subsequently ejected from the party (a fourth joined later on and was expelled too). In the meantime, another group of dissidents, led by Gianni Fava, who lost to Salvini in the 2017 Lega Nord leadership election and never joined the new party, formed the "Lombard Autonomist Movement" and plans to support Letizia Moratti for president, along with the separatists of Great North, in the regional election.


title: Lega (political party)

text: The League is usually described as a right-wing or far-right party at the international level. However, Miles Johnson of the "Financial Times", interviewing Matteo Salvini, pointed out that most Italian media consider the party as centre-right. Moreover, according to Antonio Polito, columnist for the "Corriere della Sera" and a former centre-left politician, the League is "at least half centrist, surely it is entirely centrist in Veneto and Lombardy, both as electorate and political culture of its governors". Differently from Salvini, the party leaders holding institutional offices, such as ministers like Giancarlo Giorgetti or regional presidents like Luca Zaia and Massimiliano Fedriga, are frequently described as "moderates", appealing to "centrist" voters and parties. The "far-right" label is rejected altogether by the party and, according to Salvini, "Italians are not a population of extremists, much less racists. We govern much of the country, and they would not vote for us if we were extremists. There is a lot of laziness on the part of the foreign press, because on the economic front we are absolutely liberal".


title: Lega (political party)

text: The League is formally part of the centre-right coalition, along with Forza Italia (FI) and the Brothers of Italy (FdI), but since 2018 the party has formed coalition governments both with the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). In early 2022, two leading Democrats, minister Dario Franceschini and Goffredo Bettini, hinted that the League could re-affirm a "centrist" position and could again form a coalition government with the PD after the next general election, respectively. Anyway, the PD's secretary Enrico Letta ruled it out.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In most regions the League forms coalitions with FdI and FI, while in South Tyrol it has teamed up with the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) since 2018. In Sardinia it has close ties with the Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az), whose leader and president of the region Christian Solinas is often counted among the League's governors, so that, since 2018, there has been a "League–Salvini Premier–Sardinian Action Party" joint parliamentary group in the Senate. Finally, in Sicily the League has formed a federation with the Movement for Autonomy.


title: Lega (political party)

text: While continuing to support autonomism, regionalism and federalism, under Salvini the League has gradually but decidedly set aside Padanian nationalism and separatism, which were long pursued by Lega Nord. Through souverainism, the party has also been making inroads in southern Italy. It is actually a matter of debate whether the League has embraced Italian nationalism and abandoned regionalism, or whether it combines nationalism and regionalism, similarly to the Ticino League in Switzerland.


title: Lega (political party)

text: The League supports the implementation of article 116 of the Italian Constitution, the so-called "differentiated" or "asymmetrical" regionalism, that is the attribution of "particular forms and conditions of autonomy" also to Regions with ordinary statute (with the consequent possibility for some Regions to have further powers than others, but still less than the five Regions with special statute).


title: Lega (political party)

text: The party's political manifesto, penned by Alessandro Amadori and Giuseppe Valditara in 2022, was described by the "Corriere della Sera" as liberal-conservative. More specifically, its authours wisely designed a "country that should be liberal in its economy and society, wisely conservative on values, profoundly republican in its collective culture".


title: Lega (political party)

text: In home affairs, the League strongly opposes illegal immigration, especially migratory flows from the sea. It is highly critical of non-governmental organizations transporting migrants to European cross-border countries, as they are believed to be complicit in "human trafficking". Within Italy's borders, the League is skeptical of asylum requests and related reception centers and hopes for the deportation of irregular immigrants. It has tried to regulate some of the immigration issues through the so-called "security decrees".


title: Lega (political party)

text: In foreign policy, the party is strongly Atlanticist and pro-Israel, but has also supported friendlier ties with Russia and has long opposed sanctions against it.


title: Lega (political party)

text: Until 2018, the League expressed a strong opposition to the Euro currency and in the 2018 general election Eurosceptic professors Alberto Bagnai and Claudio Borghi were elected in Parliament for the party. Following President Sergio Mattarella's rejection of the appointment of Paolo Savona (who had expressed himself on a "plan B" for Italy's exit from the Eurozone) as minister of the Economy in Giuseppe Conte's first government, the League reviewed its opposition to the single currency.


title: Lega (political party)

text: In economic policy, the League supports the reduction of the tax burden and the implementation of a flat income tax at 15%, while opposing limits to cash payments. As a result, according to some sources, the party is distinctly "neo-liberal", while other observers have contested any such characterisation and the League would be torn between "economic liberalism" and "Keynesian economics". For instance, Giorgetti is usually considered a liberal, while Bagnai (the party's economic spokesperson) identifies as "post-Keynesian" and "left-wing populist".


title: Lega (political party)

text: On welfare, the League is one of the major critics of the increase in the retirement age envisaged by Elsa Fornero's 2011 pension reform and during Conte's first government got the approval of the so-called "Quota 100" (retirement with 62 years of age and 38 of contributions). Furthermore, the party opposes the citizens' income and regrets having voted for it in 2018.


title: Lega (political party)

text: Since 2014, the political communication and propaganda of Salvini and the League have been entrusted to an external communication company, the "Sistema Intranet snc" of Luca Morisi and Andrea Paganella. This company uses a software known as "the Beast" which, through a series of algorithms (based on monitoring the sentiments of the network), according to many commentators, has contributed to Matteo Salvini's success on social networks. According to the various reconstructions it would be through this software that political messages, slogans, successful hashtags and scenes from Salvini's daily life would be selected. The communication strategy of the Beast was analyzed in a study by the Department of Political Sciences of the University of Padua, which states that Salvini "opened the page in 2010 ... with a strategy that is still considered effective today ... able to be in tune with the prevailing moods of a substantial part of users on the network". Morisi's ability consists in "positioning himself on the right and majority side of public opinion" and being « able to analyze in real time the orientation of comments and reactions to a post and suggesting which topics to focus on in the next post ». Morisi also invented the nickname "The Captain", with which Salvini is called by his supporters.


title: Lega (political party)

text: On 23 September 2021 Morisi resigned as spin doctor of the League's political communication for "personal and family problems". Four days later Morisi was investigated following an accusation of cocaine transfer by two Romanian boys, a case for which the Public Prosecutor's Office of Verona requested archiving on 30 November.


title: Lega (political party)

text: The League participates in 15 out of 21 sub-national governments (Italy has 20 regions, one of which, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, is composed of two autonomous provinces with dinstict autonony and a seat each in the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces: Trentino and South Tyrol). The following is a list of the most relevant local institutions led by party members.


title: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (British TV series)

text: Whose Line is it Anyway? (shortened to Whose Line? or WLIIA) is a short-form improvisational comedy television series, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson, presented by Clive Anderson, and produced for Channel 4 between 23 September 1988 and 4 February 1999. The programme's format was on a panel of four performers conducting a series of short-form improvisation games, creating comedic scenes per pre-determined situations made by the host or from suggestions by the audience. Such games include creating sound effects, performing a scene to different television and film styles, using props, and making up a song on the spot. The programme originally began as a short-lived BBC radio programme, before the concept was adapted for television.


text: During its history, the programme featured a variety of noted comedians from Britain, Canada and the United States. While initial series were frequented with performances by John Sessions, Stephen Fry, Paul Merton, Mike McShane, and Josie Lawrence, its popularity grew with the introduction of Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, who became firm regulars towards the later series. The programme itself was mainly recorded in Britain, though two series had some episodes made in New York, and its final series was shot entirely in California before the programme was cancelled due to falling viewing figures.


text: The success of "Whose Line?" spawned several domestic and international adaptations. An American version aired on ABC between 1998 and 2007 and was revived on The CW in 2013, and is broadcast in multiple countries. "Whose Line Is It Anyway? Australia" debuted on The Comedy Channel in 2016. Two similarly-themed British comedy programmes, "Mock the Week" (2005) and "Fast and Loose" (2011), were created by Patterson.


text: In 1988, Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson approached the BBC with a concept for a new comedy programme, involving a group of performers conducting games that encompassed improvisational comedy. The title of their concept was a comedic riposte to the radio programme "What's My Line", which had recently moved to a television format, merged to the title of a 1972 play, "Whose Life Is It Anyway?". Their pitch was well liked by the broadcaster, who green-lighted a radio programme for broadcast on BBC Radio 4, commissioning six episodes. Both Patterson and Leveson opted for it to be presented by Clive Anderson, with both John Sessions and Stephen Fry joining him as regular performers in each episode, and music being provided by Colin Sell.


text: After the radio series came to an end, Patterson and Leveson began discussions with the BBC on creating a televised adaption of their concept. However, the broadcaster was hesitant on making the move, leading to the pair being approached by Channel 4, who eagerly liked the idea, and securing a deal from the producers to bring the programme to their channel. The move to television was initially hit with a problem, as while it was desired for the regular cast to appear on the first televised series, Fry had begun to dislike conducting improvisational comedy. The matter was resolved by allowing him to pull out, with Sessions convinced by Fry to remain as a regular performer for the first series. In addition, Sell was unable to perform on the programme, resulting in Richard Vranch - a member of improvisational group, The Comedy Store Players, based at London's Comedy Store - becoming the resident musician for much of the programme's broadcast.


text: "Whose Line" proved a success when aired on Channel 4, effectively helping to boost the careers of some of its regular performers that appeared during early episodes, including several members from The Comedy Store Players - these included Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence and Sandi Toksvig. At times, the programme also featured a number of celebrities who made occasional appearances during the earlier series, such as Peter Cook, George Wendt, and Jonathan Pryce. While the programme drew from the talent of British comedians, it also expanded to recruiting those from the United States; comedians such as Greg Proops and Mike McShane added considerably to performances, with some episodes in the third and fourth series filmed entirely within New York and thus drawing talent purely from American performers. By the fifth series, several regular performers discontinued their involvement, yet the show was greatly enhanced by the involvement of fresh talent by this time - British comedian Tony Slattery, American comedian Ryan Stiles, and Canadian comedian Colin Mochrie, improved the reputation of the programme and provided more diverse comedy and favorable viewing figures, effectively becoming prominent regulars in episodes.


text: As series progressed, the viewing figures of "Whose Line" began to drop after reaching the peak of its popularity following the sixth series. Part of the problem was due to the constant use of regular performers, including Stiles and Mochrie, leaving little room for new talent to be showcased on the programme, with figures diminishing further by the departure of Slattery after the eighth series. By the tenth series, the programme fundamentally was filmed within Hollywood, California, and featured mainly American talent, such as comedian Wayne Brady, with Vranch replaced by Laura Hall as the in-house musician. However, after the broadcast of its final episode in February 1999, Channel 4 decided to axe the programme following the eventual slump in the show's viewing figures. Repeats of "Whose Line" continued following its cancellation, though with episodes edited and reformatted as a result.


text: Most television episodes of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" featured four performers (with an exception of six in a 1989 Christmas special) who sit in a line of chairs at the back of the stage. The host sat at a desk facing the large performance area in front of the performers. The host introduced each performer with a joke or pun, usually all related on a common theme or topic.


text: The show is made up of games that are scored by the host, who declared arbitrary point values after the game, often citing a humorous reason for his decision. The points are purely decorative, served no practical purpose, and were often awarded to audience members or other arbitrary third persons. The style of the games are varied (see Games, below). Some feature all four performers, while others feature fewer. The performers who are not involved in a game remain in their seats at the back of the stage. Humorous banter between the host and the performers between games is also sometimes featured.


text: At the conclusion of each episode, a winner or several winners are chosen arbitrarily by the host. The "prize" for winning the show is to read the credits in a certain style, chosen by the host, as they scrolled.


text: Episodes were culled down from longer recording sessions with the best game performances chosen to compile into one or more episodes. Each series includes one or two compilation shows of unaired games from different taping sessions in that series.


text: The number and type of games played vary from episode to episode, and whilst some games such as "Questions Only" and "Hoedown" became more common over time, others such as "Authors" and "Remote Control" faded from use. New games were created throughout the show's run. Some games, such as "Tag," are based on traditional improv games, while others are uniquely created for the series. Most games consist of a single long skit performed by the chosen performers, but some, such as "World's Worst" and "Scenes from a Hat," are played as a rapid-fire series of short skits.


text: While all games are designed to test the performer's improvisational skill, some also test other skills, such as singing or doing impressions. "Whose Line?" features a number of musical games, which feature one or more of the show's resident musicians playing live backing music. Occasionally, pre-recorded music is also used. While they were good sports about it, many of the performers despised the musical games. In one episode, Stephen Fry is asked to perform a rap, and starts to do so halfheartedly, but gives up after a few words, and Ryan Stiles would frequently inject insults into the Hoedown whenever he is forced to sing it, usually pointed at the host or the Hoedown itself. Colin Mochrie would generally speak his lines instead of singing them for musical games.


text: Some games require suggestions or topics. Depending on the game, these may be solicited directly from the studio audience during the taping, or written down by the audience and/or production staff in advance and then randomly drawn for the performers' use. The host uses a buzzer to signal the end of a game, or of individual sections in the rapid-fire games.


text: The first release of the UK show, featuring the first two series, was released on DVD in America on 27 March 2007 by A&E Home Entertainment, and in the UK on 25 January 2008 by Channel 4. The UK edition is edited to remove references to the ad breaks. Also, British episodes were released on VHS (in the UK only) in the mid-1990s. Additionally, a play-at-home book was printed in 1989, related to the British series.


text: Almost all of the UK versions (135 of 136 episodes) of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" are available for free to those living in the UK on All 4.


text: After the programme's cancellation by Channel 4 in 1999, Stiles introduced the programme's format to fellow comedian Drew Carey, who took great interest and subsequently pitched an American version of the same name to the ABC TV network with great success. Their pitch was to conduct the same variety of improvisational comedy-styled games as the British original, with Carey hosting the programme, and both Stiles and Mochrie being regular performers. The American format maintained the same style, although with a more notable take on a game show, with both Brady and Proops also working alongside the group in episodes.


text: On 6 March 2011, over twelve years after the series finale, a special edition of the show was recorded for "24 Hour Panel People", a marathon of UK panel shows, in aid of Comic Relief. The recording was broadcast live on the Comic Relief website at about 9:30am, while the edited compilation shows for the event were shown between 13–17 March on BBC Three. Alongside Anderson hosting the show, the format was adjusted to feature five performers, and featured performances by Humphrey Ker, Josie Lawrence, Neil Mullarkey, Tony Slattery and David Walliams.


text: In 2017, a stage-version of the show appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with some members of the original cast. The initial shows were a sell-out and extra dates and shows were put on. Sell-out runs followed at the London Palladium and The Royal Albert Hall. In April 2019, it was announced that the stage-version of the show would be returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with Tony Slattery returning as one of the original cast members.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: "The Great Gig in the Sky" is the fifth track on "The Dark Side of the Moon", the 1973 album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. The song features music by Richard Wright and non-lexical vocals by Clare Torry.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: The song began life as a Richard Wright chord progression, known variously as "The Mortality Sequence" or "The Religion Song".


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: During the first half of 1972 it was performed live as a simple organ instrumental, accompanied by spoken-word samples from the Bible and snippets of speeches by Malcolm Muggeridge, a British writer known for his conservative religious views.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: By September 1972, the lead instrument had been switched to a piano, with an arrangement very similar to the final form but without vocals and a slightly different chord sequence in the middle.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: Various sound effects were tried over the track, including recordings of NASA astronauts communicating on space missions, but none was satisfactory.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: Finally, a couple of weeks before the album was due to be finished, the band thought of having a female singer "wail" over the music.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: The band began casting around for a singer and studio engineer Alan Parsons suggested Clare Torry, a 25-year-old songwriter and session vocalist. Parsons had previously worked with Torry on a "Top of The Pops" covers album and had liked her voice. An accountant from Abbey Road Studios contacted Torry to arrange a session for the same evening, but she had other commitments, including tickets to see Chuck Berry, so a session was scheduled for the following Sunday evening between 7pm and 10pm.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: The band played the instrumental track to Torry and asked her to improvise a vocal. At first she struggled to find what was needed, but then she was inspired to sing as if she was an instrument herself. She performed two complete takes, the second one more emotional than the first. David Gilmour asked for a third take, but Torry stopped halfway through, feeling that she was getting repetitive and had already done the best she could. The final album track was assembled from all three takes. The members of the band were deeply impressed by Torry's performance but did not tell her this, and she left the studio, with a standard £30 flat fee, under the impression that her vocals would not make the final cut. She only became aware that she had been included in the final mix when she spotted the album at a local record store and saw her name in the credits. In 2005, an undisclosed out-of-court settlement in Torry's favour included giving her vocal composition credit.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: Chris Thomas, who was brought in to assist Alan Parsons in mixing the album, mentions that they were actually in mixdown at the time. On the DVD "Classic Albums: Pink Floyd – The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon", various members mention that they had this song and were not sure what to do with it. Wright further mentions that when Torry finished, she was apologetic about her performance even though those present were amazed at her improvisation.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: In 2004, Torry sued Pink Floyd and EMI for songwriting royalties, on the basis that her contribution to "Great Gig in the Sky" constituted co-authorship with Richard Wright. Originally, she had been paid the standard Sunday flat studio rate of £30 (). In 2005, prior to a hearing in the High Court, an out-of-court settlement was reached. Although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, on all pressings after 2005 the composition is co-credited to both Richard Wright and Clare Torry.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: On "Classic Albums: Pink Floyd – The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon", it is pointed out that during the recording of the album, in which death and life had been a consistent theme, the members of the band went around asking questions and recording responses from people working inside Abbey Road at the time. Among the questions, they were asked "Are you afraid of dying?". The responses of doorman Gerry O'Driscoll and the wife of their road manager Peter Watts were used, as well as other spoken parts throughout the album ("I've always been mad", "That geezer was cruisin' for a bruisin").


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: In a contemporary review for "The Dark Side of the Moon", Lloyd Grossman of "Rolling Stone" described "The Great Gig in the Sky" as a track [Pink Floyd] could have "shortened or dispensed with". However, in a readers poll from the same magazine, the track was selected as the second greatest vocal performance of all time behind "Bohemian Rhapsody".


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: An early incarnation of the song, titled "The Mortality Sequence" and lacking the vocals later contributed by Clare Torry, was performed by Pink Floyd throughout 1972. In its final version, "The Great Gig in the Sky" was performed live from 1973 to 1975, and from 1987 to 1994.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: During the band's 1974–1975 tour, David Gilmour played both pedal steel guitar and the Hammond organ, allowing Richard Wright to concentrate solely on piano (his keyboards were arranged where he couldn't play both). Gilmour's pedal steel for "Great Gig" was located accordingly beside Wright's Hammond. Vocal duties were handled by Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams, both former members of the Blackberries. The 16 November 1974 performance can be found in the "Experience" 2-CD and "Immersion" box set editions of "The Dark Side of the Moon".


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: Starting in 1987, additional touring keyboardist Jon Carin took over the Hammond parts. Up to three singers performed the vocals, each taking different parts of the song. On the "Delicate Sound of Thunder" video, with footage from June and August 1988, the vocals are shared by Rachel Fury, Durga McBroom and Margret Taylor. Clare Torry returned for the Knebworth 1990 concert, released in 2021 live album "Live at Knebworth 1990".


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: The 1994 live album "P•U•L•S•E" features a version sung by Sam Brown, Durga McBroom and Claudia Fontaine. When the Floyd's manager, Steve O'Rourke, died in 2003, Gilmour, Wright, and Mason played "Fat Old Sun" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" at O'Rourke's funeral. According to Durga McBroom, Richard Wright liked her version the best. As per his wishes, she sang the song at Wright's funeral.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: Torry joined Roger Waters to perform the song live during three dates of "K.A.O.S. On the Road" in 1987. In the 1999 leg of Waters' "In the Flesh" tour, only the piano intro was played between Breathe (reprise) and Money.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: In the 2006–08 "The Dark Side of the Moon Live" tour, "The Dark Side of the Moon" was played in its entirety and the song was performed by Carol Kenyon. "The Great Gig in the Sky" made a return in "Us + Them Tour" (2017–18), performed by Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig and documented in the concert film and live album "" (2019).


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: The song was occasionally performed in the final legs of "Rattle That Lock Tour", most notably in the Amphitheatre of Pompeii on 7 and 8 July 2016, with Lucita Jules, Louise Clare Marshall and Bryan Chambers sharing the vocals. The Pompeii performance is part of Gilmour's "Live at Pompeii" live album and film.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: A short clip of the song was used in a 1974 TV advertisement for Dole bananas. A re-recorded version was used as the backing music in a UK television advertisement for the analgesic Nurofen in 1990. The band was not involved in this version, but Clare Torry again did the vocal with Rick Wright on keyboards, Neil Conti on drums and Lati Kronlund on bass.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: The Clare Torry section was used in "Good Morning, Night", an Italian movie about the 1978 Aldo Moro kidnapping and assassination.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: In the film "School of Rock", Dewey (Jack Black) assigns the Clare Torry section to Tomika (Maryam Hassan) as homework, but it is only mentioned and not heard.


title: The Great Gig in the Sky

text: The Clare Torry section was prominently used in the trailer for the 2018 movie "Roma", written and directed by Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Christopher John Dodd (born May 27, 1944) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1981 to 2011. Dodd is the longest-serving senator in Connecticut's history. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1981.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd is a Connecticut native and a graduate of Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Maryland, and Providence College. His father, Thomas J. Dodd, was also a United States Senator from 1959 to 1971. Chris Dodd served in the Peace Corps for two years prior to entering the University of Louisville School of Law, and during law school concurrently served in the United States Army Reserve.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd returned to Connecticut, winning election in 1974 to the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 2nd congressional district and was reelected in 1976 and 1978. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1980. Dodd served as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1995 to 1997. He served as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee from 2007 until his retirement from politics. In 2006, Dodd decided to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, but eventually withdrew after running behind several other competitors.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In January 2010, Dodd announced that he would not run for re-election. Dodd was succeeded by fellow Democrat Richard Blumenthal. Dodd then served as chairman and chief lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) from 2011 to 2017. In 2018, Dodd returned to the practice of law, joining the firm Arnold & Porter. In addition to being a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One, Dodd is a close advisor to President Joe Biden and served on his vice presidential selection committee.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd was born in Willimantic, Connecticut. His parents were Grace Mary Dodd (née Murphy) and U.S. Senator Thomas Joseph Dodd; all eight of his great-grandparents were born in Ireland. He is the fifth of six children; his eldest brother, Thomas J. Dodd Jr., is a professor emeritus of the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University, and served as the U.S. ambassador to Uruguay and Costa Rica under President Bill Clinton.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd attended Georgetown Preparatory School, a Jesuit boys' school in Bethesda, Maryland. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature from Providence College in 1966. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small rural town called Moncion, in the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1968. While there, he became fluent in Spanish. (Later, while in Congress, his support for language study resulted in his being awarded the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Advocacy Award in 1986.) Dodd was awarded his Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville in 1972. He also joined the United States Army Reserve, serving until 1975.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd was part of the "Watergate class of '74," which CNN pundit David Gergen credited with bringing "a fresh burst of liberal energy to the Capitol." Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 2nd congressional district and reelected twice, he served from January 4, 1975 to January 3, 1981. During his tenure in the House, he served on the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, and was subsequently reelected in 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2004. He is the first senator from Connecticut to serve five consecutive terms.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Facing a competitive reelection bid for his Senate seat in 2010 and trailing against both of his likely Republican challengers in public opinion polling, Dodd announced in January 2010 that he would not seek re-election for a sixth term in the Senate. Polls of Connecticut voters in 2008 and 2009 had consistently suggested Dodd would have difficulty winning re-election, with 46% viewing his job performance as fair or poor and a majority stating they would vote to replace Dodd in the 2010 election.


title: Chris Dodd

text: During the 1994 elections, the Republicans won the majority in both houses of Congress. Dodd therefore entered the minority for the second time in his Senate career. He ran for the now vacant position of Senate Minority Leader, but was defeated by South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle by one vote. The vote was tied 23–23, and it was Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell who cast the deciding vote by absentee ballot in favor of Daschle.


title: Chris Dodd

text: From 1995 to 1997, he served as General Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. As General Chairman, Dodd was the DNC's spokesman. Donald Fowler served as National Chairman, running the party's day-to-day operations.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd has also involved himself in children's and family issues, founding the first Senate Children's Caucus and authoring the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires larger employers to provide employees unpaid leave in the event of illness, a sick family member, or the birth or adoption of a child. To date, more than 50 million employees have taken advantage of FMLA mandates. He is working to support a bill that would require employers to provide paid family and medical leave. For his work on behalf of children and families, the National Head Start association named him "Senator of the Decade" in 1990.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd briefly considered running for President in 2004, but ultimately decided against such a campaign and endorsed fellow Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. He then was considered as a likely running mate for his friend, eventual Democratic nominee John Kerry. He was also considered a possible candidate for replacing Daschle as Senate Minority Leader in the 109th Congress, but he declined, and that position was instead filled by Harry Reid.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd maintained an office in Hartford, Connecticut, which was burglarized in 2007 by a man stealing property for subsequent sale to support his drug habit.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On January 11, 2007, Dodd announced his candidacy for the office of President of the United States on the "Imus in the Morning" show. On January 19, 2007, Dodd made a formal announcement with supporters at the Old State House in Hartford.


title: Chris Dodd

text: OpenSecrets noted that the Dodd campaign was heavily funded by the financial services industry, which is regulated by committees Dodd chairs in the Senate.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In an unusual move, Dodd shared a plane with one of his rivals for the 2008 nomination. Dodd's friend and fellow US Senator Joe Biden was running his own long-shot campaign, and the two saved money by sharing a campaign plane.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In May, Dodd trailed in state and national polls and acknowledged he was not keeping pace with rival campaigns' fund raising. However, he said that as more voters became aware of his opposition to the Iraq War, they would support his campaign. However, his prospects did not improve; a November 7, 2007 Gallup poll placed him at 1%.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd dropped out of the primary race on the night of the January 3, 2008 Iowa caucuses after placing seventh with almost all precincts reporting, even though he had recently moved from his home state to Iowa for the campaign.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Among eight major candidates for the nomination Dodd, even with later states where he was on the ballot after withdrawal, won last place by popular vote in primary (after Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden and Mike Gravel, also including uncommitted delegates and scattering votes). He won a total of 25,252 votes in delegates primaries and 9,940 in penalized contests.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd later said he was not interested in running for Vice President or Senate Majority Leader, and endorsed former rival Barack Obama on February 26, 2008.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In February 2011, despite "repeatedly and categorically insisting that he would not work as a lobbyist," Dodd replaced Dan Glickman as chairman of and chief lobbyist for the MPAA.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On January 17, 2012, Dodd released a statement criticizing "the so-called 'Blackout Day' protesting anti-piracy legislation." Referring to the websites participating in the blackout, Dodd said, "It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power... when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests." In further comments, Dodd threatened to cut off campaign contributions to politicians who did not support the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, legislation supported by the MPAA.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On September 4, 2017, Dodd stepped down as MPAA CEO, and was replaced by former U.S. Ambassador to France and Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin.


title: Chris Dodd

text: During the 2020 Democratic primary, Dodd was an advisor and surrogate for the campaign of his friend and colleague Joe Biden. Dodd was a member of Biden's vice presidential search committee. He was reported to have spoken against picking California Senator Kamala Harris—saying that "she had no remorse" for "her ambush on Biden in the first Democratic [primary] debate"—and to have advocated for California Congresswoman Karen Bass to be selected instead because "she’s a loyal No. 2."


title: Chris Dodd

text: On March 1, 2021, the public relations and advisory company Teneo announced that it was hiring Dodd, while he was a top advisor to President Biden, as a senior advisor at the company, and that Teneo had acquired a significant minority stake in the consulting firm WestExec Advisors, which had very close ties to the new Biden administration.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In his role as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Dodd proposed a program in June 2008 that would assist troubled sub-prime mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Financial in the wake of the United States housing bubble's collapse. "Condé Nast Portfolio" reported allegations that in 2003 Dodd had refinanced the mortgages on his homes in Washington, D.C. and Connecticut through Countrywide Financial and had received favorable terms due to being placed in the "Friends of Angelo" VIP program, so named for Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. Dodd received mortgages from Countrywide at allegedly below-market rates on his Washington, D.C. and Connecticut homes. Dodd had not disclosed the below-market mortgages in any of six financial disclosure statements he filed with the Senate or Office of Government Ethics since obtaining the mortgages in 2003.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd's press secretary said "The Dodds received a competitive rate on their loans," and that they "did not seek or anticipate any special treatment, and they were not aware of any," then declined further comment. The "Hartford Courant" reported Dodd had taken "a major credibility hit" from the scandal. At the same time, the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Kent Conrad and the head of Fannie Mae Jim Johnson received mortgages on favorable terms due to their association with Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. "The Wall Street Journal", "The Washington Post", and two Connecticut papers have demanded further disclosure from Dodd regarding the Mozilo loans.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On June 17, 2008, Dodd met twice with reporters and gave accounts of his mortgages with Countrywide. He admitted to reporters in Washington, D.C. that he knew as of 2003 that he was in a VIP program, but claimed it was due to being a longtime Countrywide customer, not due to his political position. He omitted this detail in a press availability to Connecticut media.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On July 30, 2009, Dodd responded to news reports about his mortgages by releasing information from "The Wall Street Journal" showing that both mortgages he received were in line with those being offered to general public in fall 2003 in terms of points and interest rate.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On August 7, 2009, a Senate ethics panel issued its decision on the controversy. The Select Committee on Ethics said it found "no credible evidence" that Dodd knowingly sought out a special loan or treatment because of his position, but the panel also said in an open letter to Dodd that the lawmaker should have questioned why he was being put in the "Friends of Angelo" VIP program at Countrywide: "Once you became aware that your loans were in fact being handled through a program with the name 'V.I.P.,' that should have raised red flags for you."


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd was involved in issues related to the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. As part of Dodd's overall mortgage bill the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 before Congress in the summer of 2008, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson sought provisions enabling the Treasury to add additional capital and regulatory oversight over these government-sponsored enterprises. At the time, it was estimated that the federal government would need to spend $25 billion on a bailout of the firms.


title: Chris Dodd

text: During this period, Dodd denied reports claiming that these firms were in financial crisis. He called the firms "fundamentally strong," said they were in "sound situation" and "in good shape" and to "suggest they are in major trouble is not accurate." In early September, after the firms continued to report huge losses, Secretary Paulson announced a federal takeover of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Dodd expressed skepticism of the action, which the Treasury estimated could cost as much as $200 billion.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd was the top recipient in Congress, followed by John Kerry, Barack Obama, then Hillary Clinton, of campaign funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 1989–2008.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In February 2009, Kevin Rennie, a columnist at the "Hartford Courant", ran an op-ed concerning Dodd's acquisition of his vacation home in Roundstone, Ireland. The article alleged that Dodd's former partner in buying the home had ties to disgraced Bear Stearns principal Edward Downe, Jr. who had since been convicted of insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. After paying an $11 million fine for his role in the scam, Downe later obtained a pardon in the waning days of the Bill Clinton administration. The controversial pardon was granted after Dodd lobbied Clinton on Downe's behalf. Dodd's letter to the President said, "Mr. President, Ed Downe is a good person, who is truly sorry for the hurt he caused others." After Downe's pardon, Dodd bought out the interests of his partner for a price allegedly based on a 2002 bank appraisal of the Roundstone home, which yielded little profit for Dodd's partner. Rennie criticized Dodd for claiming the Roundstone home was worth less than $250,000 in Senate ethics filings; some observers estimated the likely value in excess of US$1 million.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In June 2009, Dodd provided a new statement to the Senate reporting the actual value of his Irish property at $658,000. "The Wall Street Journal" later compared this issue to the ethical charges which led to the political demise of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.


title: Chris Dodd

text: From the fall of 2008 through early 2009, the United States government spent nearly $170 billion to assist failing insurance giant American International Group. AIG then spent $165 million of this money to hand out executive "retention" bonuses to its top executives. Public outrage ensued over this perceived misuse of taxpayer dollars.


title: Chris Dodd

text: The Fox Business Network's Rich Edson broke the story claiming Dodd was responsible for the inclusion of a clause limiting excessive executive pay in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. On February 14, 2009, "The Wall Street Journal" published an article, Bankers Face Strict New Pay Cap, discussing a retroactive limit to bonus compensation inserted by Dodd into the stimulus bill that passed in the Senate.


title: Chris Dodd

text: The same article went on to mention that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers "had called Sen. Dodd and asked him to reconsider."


title: Chris Dodd

text: When the bill left conference, Dodd's provision had been amended to include a provision preventing limits on bonuses previously negotiated and under contract. This provision was lobbied for by Geithner and Summers.


title: Chris Dodd

text: As Dodd explained in a March 18, 2009 interview on CNN, at Geithner and the Obama Administration's insistence he allowed his provision's original language to include Geithner and Summers' request, which in turn allowed AIG to give out bonuses under previously negotiated contracts. However, Dodd's provision also included language allowing the Treasury Secretary to examine bonuses doled out and, if they were found to be in violation of the public interest, recoup those funds.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd retreated from his original statement that he did not know how the amendment was changed. Dodd was criticized by many in the Connecticut media for the flip-flop. In a March 20, 2009 editorial the New Haven Register called Dodd "a lying weasel" The same day, Hartford Courant columnist Rick Green called on Dodd not to seek re-election in 2010.


title: Chris Dodd

text: "The Hill" described Dodd as "reeling" from the controversy and having "stepped in it" after changing his story about the bonus amendment.


title: Chris Dodd

text: At a press conference in Enfield, Connecticut, on March 20, 2017 Dodd responded to critics and explained that his original answer to CNN was based on a misunderstanding of the question. He also said he was disappointed that the Treasury officials who asked him to make the legislative changes had not identified themselves, refusing to confirm the identity of the individuals responsible for changing the amendment.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Opensecrets.org reported that Dodd received over $223,000 from AIG employees, many of whom were Connecticut residents, for his campaigns. Additionally, realclearpolitics.com reported that Dodd's wife was a former director for Bermuda-based IPC Holdings, a company controlled by AIG. She held this position before she married him. On May 3, 2009, the Courant reported Dodd's wife served on a number of corporate boards, including the CME Group and could be earning as much as $500,000 annually for those services.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On March 30, 2009, The Courant reported that former AIG Financial Products head Joseph Cassano personally solicited contributions from his employees in Connecticut via an e-mail in fall 2006, suggesting that the contributions were related to Dodd's ascension to the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In 1985, Dodd and fellow Senator Ted Kennedy, were involved in an incident at a Washington restaurant, which a waitress reported allegations that the pair sexually assaulted her. According to an account in GQ magazine, Kennedy grabbed waitress Carla Gaviglio, and rubbed his genital area against hers, while pressing her against Dodd's lap. The incident was corroborated to the magazine by another waitress, as well as the restaurant's owner.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In late-April 2020, it was announced that Dodd was a member of the vetting committee for the selection of presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden's running mate. The appointment caused Gaviglio's allegation to re-appear in the news, in the context of the #metoo movement, and Biden's own sexual assault allegation.


title: Chris Dodd

text: During this time, Gaviglio spoke again of the incident, acknowledging that Kennedy was the instigator, but also laying blame on Dodd. When asked about the vice presidential search, she stated she would still vote for Biden, but disapproved of Dodd being part of the selection process.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd supported amending the Family and Medical Leave Act, which he authored in 1993, to include paid leave, and a corporate carbon tax to combat global warming.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd is credited with inserting the last-minute pay limit into American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The pay restrictions included prohibition of bonuses in excess of one-third of total salary for any company receiving any money from the plan and was retroactive to companies that received funds under Troubled Assets Relief Program. "Fortune" magazine however, panned this provision as likely to "drive the craftiest financial minds away from the most troubled institutions." This article also pointed out the Dodd bill delegated to the Treasury Secretary the right to approve appropriate restaurants for client entertainment.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In May 2009, Dodd was the author and lead sponsor of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on May 22, 2009. The law requires card companies give cardholders 45 days notice of any interest rate increases, prevents card companies from retroactively increasing interest rates on the existing balance of a cardholder in good standing for reasons unrelated to the cardholder's behavior with that card, and prohibits card companies from arbitrarily changing the terms of their contract with a cardholder, banning the so-called practice of "any-time, any-reason repricing." Also included in the bill were provisions requiring companies to give cardholders time to pay their bills by requiring card companies to mail billing statements 25 calendar days before the due date and individuals under the age of 21 to either show income or have a co-signer in order to obtain a credit card. In a conference call with reporters after the bill was signed, Dodd stated his intention to continue work on capping credit card interest rates at thirty percent and to establish limits on fees that merchants pay when a customer uses a credit card for a purchase.


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd announced on June 22, 2009, that he supports same-sex marriage. He had opposed gay marriage in the 2008 election, but stated that his daughters are growing up in a different generation than his and that his views have evolved over time. Same-sex couples have been able to marry in Connecticut since November 12, 2008, following the Connecticut Supreme Court's ruling. In April 2009, the legislature overwhelmingly passed and Governor Jodi Rell signed a bill making all references to marriage in law gender neutral.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In 1970, Dodd married Susan Mooney; they divorced in 1982. Afterwards, he dated at different times Bianca Jagger and Carrie Fisher, among others.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In 1999, Dodd married Jackie Marie Clegg, a native of Orem, Utah, former longtime aide to Senator Jake Garn, Republican of Utah, and former official at the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The marriage joined Dodd's family of New England Catholic Democrats with Clegg's family of LDS (Mormon) Republicans from the Utah Valley. The couple has two daughters, Grace (born September 2001) and Christina Dodd (born May 2005).


title: Chris Dodd

text: Dodd was raised as a Catholic and attends Mass. In 2007, Dodd stated that his Catholic faith taught him "to promote the common good" and "do everything possible to provide a safety net for the most vulnerable." Dodd also credited his Catholic background with his decision to join the Peace Corps. Dodd's two children were baptized in the Catholic tradition and blessed in the Mormon tradition.


title: Chris Dodd

text: On July 31, 2009, Dodd announced he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer; his aides said that it was at an early, treatable stage and Dodd would undergo surgery during the Senate August recess. The surgery, held at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, was successful.


title: Chris Dodd

text: In 2016, Dodd received the Brass Ring Award from the United Friends of the Children, a Los Angeles charitable organization, in recognition of his work on behalf of children while in the Senate.


title: Lady Marina Windsor

text: Lady Marina Charlotte Alexandra Katharine Helen Windsor (born 30 September 1992) is a British noblewoman and relative of the British royal family. Although she is a great-great-granddaughter of King George V, and a second cousin once removed of Charles III, she was removed from the line of succession to the British throne in 2008 after being confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church.


title: Lady Marina Windsor

text: Marina Charlotte Alexandra Katharine Helen Windsor was born on 30 September 1992 at the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. She is the second child of George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, and Sylvana Tomaselli. She is a younger sister of Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick, and an older sister of Lady Amelia Windsor. She is a paternal granddaughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a first cousin of Elizabeth II, and Katharine, Duchess of Kent, the only daughter of Sir William Worsley, 4th Baronet. She is a maternal descendant of the Austrian Tomaselli family. Lady Marina is named after her great-grandmother Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.


title: Lady Marina Windsor

text: On 21 January 1993, Lady Marina was christened Marina Charlotte Alexandra Katharine Helen Windsor in a Church of England ceremony by William Booth, the sub-dean of the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace. Her godparents are Lady Ralph Kerr, Katherine Ruth Panter, William Hanbury-Tenison, and Sasha Poklewski-Koziell.


title: Lady Marina Windsor

text: Until 2008, Lady Marina was 25th in the line of succession to the British throne. She forfeited her place in the line of succession, in compliance of the Act of Settlement 1701, along with her older brother, after being confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church of her mother and paternal grandmother.


title: Lady Marina Windsor

text: In 2010, Lady Marina modelled for Hardy Amies in "Tatler" alongside her siblings. She later expressed interest in working in foreign diplomacy and not a modelling career.


title: Lady Marina Windsor

text: In 2011, Lady Marina attended the wedding of her third cousin Prince William, Duke of Cambridge to Catherine Middleton.


title: Castle (season 7)

text: The seventh season of American crime-comedy-drama television series "Castle", was ordered on May 8, 2014, by ABC. The season premiered on September 29, 2014, in the United States on ABC, and the finale aired on May 11, 2015. The seventh season initially had 22 episodes. But on October 23, 2014, ABC ordered one more episode, resulting in an episode count of 23 episodes.


title: Castle (season 7)

text: Richard Castle (Fillion) is a famous mystery novelist who has killed off the main character in his popular book series and has writer's block. He is brought in by the NYPD for questioning regarding a copy-cat murder based on one of his novels. He is intrigued by this new window into crime and murder, and uses his connection with the mayor to charm his way into shadowing Detective Kate Beckett (Katic). Castle decides to use Beckett as his muse for Nikki Heat, the main character of his next book series. Beckett, an avid reader of Castle's books, initially disapproves of having Castle shadow her work, but later warms up and recognizes Castle as a useful resource in her team's investigations.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Greco-Buddhism, or Graeco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the fourth century BC and the fifth century AD in Gandhara, in present-day north-western Pakistan and parts of north-east Afghanistan. It was a cultural consequence of a long chain of interactions begun by Greek forays into India from the time of Alexander the Great. A few years after Alexander's death, the Easternmost fringes of the empire of his general Seleucus were lost in a war with the Mauryan Empire, under the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka would convert to Buddhism and spread the religious philosophy throughout his domain, as recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. This spread to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, which itself seceded from the Seleucid empire. Within its borders, the Greek fondness for statuary produced the first statues of the Buddha, leading ultimately to the modern tradition.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Following the collapse of the Mauryan Empire, Greco-Buddhism continued to flourish under the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek Kingdoms, and Kushan Empire. Mahayana Buddhism was spread from the Gangetic plains in India into Gandhara and then Central Asia during the Mauryan Era, where it became the most prevalent branch of Buddhism in Central Asia. Mahayana Buddhism was later transmitted through the Silk Road into the Han Dynasty during the Kushan era under the reign of Emperor Kanishka. Buddhist tradition details the monk, Majjhantika of Varanasi, was made responsible for spreading Buddhism in the region by Emperor Ashoka.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The introduction of Hellenistic Greece to central Asia started after the conquest of that region by Darius the Great and his Persian Achaemenid Empire. He and his successors also conquered the Anatolian peninsula (what would someday be Turkey), which at the time was inhabited by many Greek cultures. When they rebelled, those Greeks were often ethnically cleansed by being relocated to the far end of the Persian Empire, those central Asian provinces. When Alexander the Great conquered Achaemenid Empire and further regions of Central Asia in 334 BC, he thus encountered many Greeks already established in the easternmost stretches of its empire. He then ventured into Punjab (land of five rivers). Alexander crossed the Indus and Jhelum River when defeating Porus and appointing him as a satrap following the Battle of the Hydaspes. Alexander's army would mutiny and retreat along the Beas River when confronted by the Nanda Empire, thus wouldn't conquer Punjab entirely.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Thanks to relocation by the Persian empire, there was established Greek culture in the far east of Alexander's empire. He founded several cities in his new territories in the areas of the Amu Darya and Bactria, and Greek settlements further extended to the Khyber Pass, Gandhara (see Taxila), and the Punjab. Following Alexander's death on June 10, 323 BC, the Diadochi or "successors" founded their own kingdoms. General Seleucus set up the Seleucid Empire in Anatolia and Central Asia and extended as far as India.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The Mauryan Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya, would first conquer the Nanda Empire. Chandragupta would then defeat the Seleucid Empire during the Seleucid-Mauryan War. This resulted in the transfer of the Macedonian satraps in the Indus Valley and Gandhara to the Mauryan Empire. Furthermore, a marriage alliance was enacted which granted Seleucus's daughter as Chandragupta's wife for diplomatic relations. The conflict additionally led to the transfer of 500 war elephants to the Seleucid Empire from the Mauryan Empire, presumably as reparations for lives lost and damages sustained.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka established the largest Indian empire. Following the destructive Kalinga War, Ashoka converted to Buddhism. Abandoning an expansionist agenda, Ashoka would adopt humanitarian reformation in place. As ascribed in the Edicts of Ashoka, the Emperor spread Dharma as Buddhism throughout his empire. Ashoka claims to have converted many, including the Greek populations within his realm to Buddhism:


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The decline and overthrow of the Mauryans by the Shunga Empire, and of the revolt of Bactria in the Seleucid Empire led to the formation of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BC). To their north, the Greco-Bactrians were followed by the secession of the Indo-Greek Kingdom (180  BC – CE 10). Even when, centuries later, these Hellenized regions were conquered first by the Yuezhi, then by the Indo-Scythians and the Kushan Empire (1st–3rd centuries AD), Buddhism continued to thrive there.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Buddhism in India was a major religion for centuries until a major Hindu revival from around the 5th century, with remaining strongholds such as Bengal largely ended during the Islamic invasions of India.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The length of the Greek presence in Central Asia and northern India provided opportunities for interaction, not only on the artistic but also on the religious plane.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: When Alexander invaded Bactria and Gandhara, these areas may already have been under Sramanic influence, likely Buddhist and Jain. According to a legend preserved in the Pali Canon, two merchant brothers from Kamsabhoga in Bactria, Tapassu and Bhallika, visited Gautama Buddha and became his disciples. The legend states that they then returned home and spread the Buddha's teaching.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: In 326 BC, Alexander conquered the Northern region of India. King Ambhi of Taxila, known as Taxiles, surrendered his city, a notable Buddhist center, to Alexander. Alexander fought an epic battle against King Porus of Pauravas in Punjab, the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire, reconquered around 322 BC the northwest Indian territory that had been lost to Alexander the Great. However, contacts were kept with his Greco-Iranian neighbors in the Seleucid Empire. Emperor Seleucus I Nicator came to a marital agreement as part of a peace treaty, and several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes, resided at the Mauryan court.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka embraced the Buddhist faith and became a great proselytizer in the line of the traditional Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism, insisting on non-violence to humans and animals (ahimsa), and general precepts regulating the life of laypeople.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: According to the Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, some of them written in Greek and some in Aramaic, the official language of the Achaemenids, he sent Buddhist emissaries to the Greek lands in Asia and as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts name each of the rulers of the Hellenistic period:


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Finally, some of the emissaries of Ashoka, such as the famous Dharmaraksita, are described in Pali sources as leading Greek ("Yona") Buddhist monks active in Buddhist proselytism (the Mahavamsa, XII), founding the eponymous Dharmaguptaka school of Buddhism.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Alexander had established in Bactria several cities (Ai-Khanoum, Bagram) and an administration that were to last more than two centuries under the Seleucid Empire and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, all the time in direct contact with Indian territory. The Greeks sent ambassadors to the court of the Maurya Empire, such as the historian Megasthenes under Chandragupta Maurya, and later Deimachus under his son Bindusara, who reported extensively on the civilization of the Indians. Megasthenes sent detailed reports on Indian religions, which were circulated and quoted throughout the Classical world for centuries:


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The Greco-Bactrians maintained a strong Hellenistic culture at the door of India during the rule of the Maurya Empire in India, as exemplified by the archaeological site of Ai-Khanoum. When the Maurya Empire was toppled by the Shunga Empire around 180 BC, the Greco-Bactrians expanded into India, where they established the Indo-Greek Kingdom, under which Buddhism was able to flourish.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: North of Bactria was the Indo-Greek Kingdom, centered approximately around Alexandria Eschate. They controlled various areas of the northern Indian territory until AD 10.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Buddhism prospered under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been suggested that their invasion of India was intended to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Shungas (185–73 BC), who had overthrown the Mauryans. Zarmanochegas was a śramana (possibly, but not necessarily a Buddhist) who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo, Cassius Dio and Nicolaus of Damascus traveled to Antioch and Athens while Augustus (died AD 14) was ruling the Roman Empire.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The coins of the Indo-Greek king Menander I (reigned 160–135 BC), found from Afghanistan to central India, bear the inscription "Saviour King Menander" in Greek on the front. Several Indo-Greek kings after Menander, such as Zoilos I, Strato I, Heliokles II, Theophilos, Peukolaos, Menander II and Archebius display on their coins the title "Maharajasa Dharmika" (lit. "King of the Dharma") in Prakrit written in Kharoshthi.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Some of the coins of Menander I and Menander II incorporate the Buddhist symbol of the eight-spoked wheel, associated with the Greek symbols of victory, either the palm of victory, or the victory wreath handed over by the goddess Nike. According to the Milinda Pañha, at the end of his reign Menander I became a Buddhist arhat, a fact also echoed by Plutarch, who explains that his relics were shared and enshrined.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The ubiquitous symbol of the elephant in Indo-Greek coinage may also have been associated with Buddhism, as suggested by the parallel between coins of Antialcidas and Menander II, where the elephant in the coins of Antialcidas holds the same relationship to Zeus and Nike as the Buddhist wheel on the coins of Menander II. When the Zoroastrian Indo-Parthian Kingdom invaded North India in the 1st century AD, they adopted a large part of the symbolism of Indo-Greek coinage, but refrained from ever using the elephant, suggesting that its meaning was not merely geographical.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Finally, after the reign of Menander I, several Indo-Greek rulers, such as Amyntas Nikator, Nicias, Peukolaos, Hermaeus, Hippostratos and Menander II, depicted themselves or their Greek deities forming with the right hand a benediction gesture identical to the Buddhist vitarka mudra (thumb and index joined together, with other fingers extended), which in Buddhism signifies the transmission of Buddha's teaching.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: According to Ptolemy, Greek cities were founded by the Greco-Bactrians in northern India. Menander established his capital in Sagala (modern Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan) one of the centers of the blossoming Buddhist culture. A large Greek city built by Demetrius and rebuilt by Menander has been excavated at the archaeological site of Sirkap near Taxila, where Buddhist stupas were standing side-by-side with Hindu and Greek temples, indicating religious tolerance and syncretism.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Evidence of direct religious interaction between Greek and Buddhist thought during the period include the "Milinda Pañha" or "Questions of Menander", a Pali-language discourse in the Platonic style held between Menander I and the Buddhist monk Nagasena.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: The "Mahavamsa", chapter 29, records that during Menander's reign, a Greek "thera" (elder monk) named "Mahadharmaraksita" led 30,000 Buddhist monks from "the Greek city of Alexandria" (possibly Alexandria on the Caucasus, around north of today's Kabul in Afghanistan), to Sri Lanka for the dedication of a stupa, indicating that Buddhism flourished in Menander's territory and that Greeks took a very active part in it.


title: Greco-Buddhism

text: Several Buddhist dedications by Greeks in India are recorded, such as that of the Greek meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus, describing in Kharosthi how he enshrined relics of the Buddha. The inscriptions were found on a vase inside a stupa, dated to the reign of Menander or one of his successors in the 1st century BC. Finally, Buddhist tradition recognizes Menander as one of the great benefactors of the faith, together with Ashoka and Kanishka the Great.